Believe it or Not!
There is something wrong right now,
We have all lost our face to face connections,
We are isolated and alone in our own homes,
The law is holding us captive for our protection.
How do we deal with this conundrum?
How do we trust God in such a situation?
Where is he when people are dying in plague proportions?
Surely, this is not the abundant life He promised to believers.
Any time we are feeling this way we need to ask Him some questions?
But He is not here to give us answers you might say,
Yes, but He gave us His word in the book that we call the Bible,
It has survived for over 2000 years and is His inspired word still.
What does God say about Himself through these pages that He has given us?
What is our relationship to God?
What do we call Him?
What is His role in our lives?
What we call Him says something about our relationship,
Jesus called Him, ‘Abba’, Daddy,
Jesus tells us God is our Father,
The one who sent him to restore us into God’s family.
God is our go-to Superhero,
He is our refuge and strength,
God doesn’t let us down,
He is always faithful.
God is our ever-present hope,
He knows everything and is everywhere,
He is all powerful and has control over everything,
He is the only hope we have now and, in the life, to come.
Whenever we draw near to God,
He always draws near to us,
He is loving and compassionate,
We know all these things through Jesus
Jesus says that God gives good gifts to His children,
He is so good and so ready to forgive and so loving,
That is His nature and who He is,
He is my strength and my King.
Jesus came as King sent by the Father,
He came in the name of the Lord of all,
He came with the power to save the world,
He came to bring us what we need – to bring hope!
He came to bring the love of the Father to us,
He came to bring life in the kingdom of heaven to us,
He came to bring us the gift of forgiveness and full transformation,
He came to bring us the peace of understanding that Jesus has saved us.
What does this mean?
Does it mean if I call on Him, I won’t get the Corona Virus?
Does it mean I have invisible armour on to protect me from harm?
Does it mean all my money and superannuation is safe?
That’s what the world, society, Christians and non-Christians alike would like,
But Jesus told us at the outset that God sent him for a different purpose,
His Father sent him to live, die and rise again to suffer for our horrendous sin,
That we can be made holy and acceptable to spend eternity in Heaven.
Sin and evil became part of the created world when humanity turned away from God,
The laws of nature too are fallen, and humanity can choose to follow good or evil,
Life is therefore full of both good and bad situations of our own making,
But one thing remains the same for as long as the world lasts.
God promises us that nothing will separate us from His love in Christ Jesus,
Neither the power of evil, the power of great nations and ruler in this world,
Neither cancer, Corona Viruses, heart disease or evil terrorists murdering innocents,
Nor life doing what ever people focus on, nor car accidents, drugs or dying.
God loved us before we were conceived, and in our mother’s womb,
He loved us when we were naughty disobedient children and self-serving adults,
He loved us when we became parents and grandparents and He continue to love us still,
He has invited us to join Him now and in eternity and have a hope and a future forever.
We see God at work in the hearts and minds of people around us,
They are people who give their heart to serving and caring for others doing what is not natural,
People who volunteer and give freely their time and talents to help others and show love,
In the beautiful blessings He gives us in our children and human love.
We see God’s love in nature and its great diversity and grandeur,
In the awesome intricacies of the human body and the ongoing discoveries made to heal it,
In the knowledge we continue to gain of the world and the expanding universe,
And in the unquenched desire we all have for love, fulfilment and happiness.
Our God continues to love all people,
The rich, the poor, the widow, the murderers,
He continues to send rain and seed time and harvest,
And He continues to send out His God News of saving love to the world until the end comes.
N.P. Schiller
Sunday, 5 April 2020
