Author: Carol Purves

Saved but stuck

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We have been saved by Christ’s sacrifice, we have been forgiven our sin, but we can be stuck. It is as if we have entered the gates of heaven but haven’t taken a step inside to enjoy the wonders of that place.

I am reminded of the children of Israel who set out on an eleven day journey which took forty years. Why did this short journey take so long? Because the people didn’t listen to God. He was with them all the time in the pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but they just weren’t paying attention. They were ignoring the voice of God. In fact the first generation of those who left Egypt never entered the Promised Land

We are on our own journey of up to one hundred years or so. We have our own pillar of fire and pillar of cloud to guide us. God is always with us day and night, but are we listening? Are we growing in our spiritual life or are we stuck?

It’s not as if we didn’t know God’s presence, we see Him all the time in nature, in His miracles and blessings towards us . On every day of our lives we could sit down and list out a hundred blessings, but we do need to listen. He is guiding and instructing us all the time. Our part is to listen and obey (my father’s favourite hymn was Trust and Obey) That is the only way we can grow and not be spiritually stuck..

Reaching God

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Why is it when we need God the most, we find it the hardest to reach Him. In pain, bereavement, sin or danger our need for God is great. Often our prayers seem stuck as if we re talking to ourselves. The anguish which is physical, mental and spiritual feels too difficult to overcome. But God hasn’t moved away; He is right there in the trouble. He has never moved, He is conscious of our next thought even when we are stuck.

The Psalmist often had these feelings and a number of the psalms start with cries of pain, but end with a triumphant shout. Psalm 10 ‘Why God do You stand afar off?’ Why do You hide Yourself in time of trouble? which later says ‘The Lord is King for ever and ever.’ Psalm 143 ‘Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy.’ which ends ‘I meditate on all Your works.’ Psalm 22 ‘My God. my God, why are You so far from me.’ finishing ‘They will proclaim His righteousness.to a people yet unborn.’

We need the perseverance of the Psalmist. God is always right beside us.

Only One Life

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‘Only one life, it will soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.’ C .T. Studd

I wonder what percentage of our life is done for ourselves, what percentage is done for the approbation of others and what percentage is done for Christ. We might not like the answer if we knew. Trying to gain the approval of others is a thankless task. For one thing we will never gain the approval of everyone. Someone will always disagree with us. We can’t make people like us. People are fickle, one minute they will approves of us, the next we are their enemies. And many people will move away from our lives. How many people are on our Christmas card list this year that were on it 30 or 40 years ago? People move out of our lives, by death or location.

Living our life for ourselves, might please us for short while, but soon it will pall; there is no satisfaction in only pleasing ourselves. But we want our life’s endeavours to last. We are working for eternity.

‘Some will use gold or silver or precious stones in building on the foundation; others will use wood, or grass or straw. And the quality of each person’s work will be seen when the day of Christ exposes it.’ 1 Corinthians 3:12

Obedience

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‘To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.’ 1 Samuel 15:22

.’Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.’ 1 John 5:3

We are probably more willing to praise and thank God than obey Him. Singing praises to Him and shouting ‘Hallelujah’ is easier than doing what He wants us to do. Every time we read the Bible we are challenged. As we hear the Holy Spirit there is an instruction for us to follow, an action that needs to be done. Our excuses are endless, ‘We’re too busy,’ ‘we don’t have the ability,’ ‘someone else is more capable than us.’ Or probably the best excuse, ‘I think I misunderstood You, Lord. You can’t possibly mean me.’

A good Biblical example of this is found in Jonah. The message seems pretty clear and unambiguous, ‘Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it’. Jonah 1:1. For Jonah fleeing to Tarshish was better than obedience. We can never flee from God . Jonah should have read Psalm 139. ‘Where can I go from Your spirit?’ verse 1. ‘If I go to the heavens, You are there.’ verse 8. ‘If I rise on the wings of the dawn ……….. even there Your hand will guide me.’ verses 9 & 10

Disobedience will not place us in a whale’s belly but it will rid us of our peace, it will limit the work of God.

The Older Ones

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The woman had been caught in adultery, the punishment was death by stoning. Old Testament law stated that both the man and the woman were to be punished, so the Pharisees were wrong straight away. But we know they cared nothing about the wrong-doers, they were only looking for a way to trap Jesus.

This was supposed to present Jesus with a problem, should He uphold the Law or give permission for a woman to be killed. We can imagine the self-righteous rubbing their hands in glee, ‘We’ve caught Him out this time.’ Then Jesus leads them on, as He almost ignores them. ‘Oh, He doesn’t know what to say.’ Then He slowly stands up and fixes them with a penetrating stare. Yes of course, she must be stoned, then ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again Jesus has the upper hand. The accusers began to creep away, and I like this bit, ‘beginning with the older ones.’ The younger men brazoned it out for a while, until they couldn’t pretend they were sinless.

It is said the faults we see in others are the ones we’re guilty of. Oops, does that mean I’m lazy, selfish and impatient? Probably. I don’t think I’m in any position to cast stones.

In the Boat

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If you’re like me you have problems every day, mostly small and insignificant but frustrated plans and upsets all the time. They are small things that go wrong. but with God’s help easily sorted. But that’s the point, He doesn’t say ‘This is Saturday, I’ll take a day off’ or ‘It’s Tuesday, I won’t be needed today.’ Every day He is with us.

In this Biblical story when Jesus was in the boat with His disciples a typical storm blows up. The disciples should have been used to these storms, they were quite frequent. Jesus was in the boat. Although He was resting they should have known were safe.

We never need to face our storms alone, for how can our finite minds cope with the storms of life? When we look at our problems we only see our part of the difficulty. We can ‘t see the whole picture ourselves. Only God knows the overall situation, we don’t have to figure it our ourselves.. God is only a prayer away. 24/7 He is with us, guiding, protecting, counselling, even when we forget to ask for His guidance. I sometimes have to say to Him ‘Thank You for the answer to the prayer i didn’t even get round to asking.’ Whether we are awake or asleep, He will help. God is with us in the boat.

Dreams

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Dreams in the Bible were very significant. Even today in closed countries, men and women see Jesus in their dreams and seek to know more about Him, in spite of the danger. My dreams are just rubbishy with no significance. Maybe that’s because I don’t need them. God can speak to me through the Bible (I have quite a few different versions), through my Christian friends and my prayer time.

In Genesis 41, Pharaoh was being troubled by his dreams and after speaking with his once-imprisoned cup-bearer, he sent for Joseph, an interpreter of dreams. Under God’s revelation he was able to declare there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. By collecting and storing a fifth of the produce during the good years, they would be able to survive the famine years.

Many of us now are in our plentiful years, but we need to be prepared for the lean years which can come at any time, like bereavement, loss of health or ability or lack of money. We can do this by building up our spiritual life while we can. Time spent with God is an investment for eternity. By speaking with Him now we will recognise Him more. By regular church connections we will learn much from the sermons and fellowship with other Christians and be able to pray for each other in our times of need. Now is the time to ‘fill our barns’ that we may lay up treasure in heaven.

Encouragement

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Last week I had the opportunity to zoom with a group of writers that I only make contact with twice a year. During the meeting I learned that many of my friends were going through difficult tims, bereavements, marriage breakdowns, family illness and so on. The list seemed quite long. I was then able to make a list of action. There were those I could phone, text or email and one I could even visit. I was able to be in the position of encouragement.

In the past I have been encouraged by the prayers and contacts of others. When I’ve been in danger or trouble, the messages I’ve received have uplifted me. Now it is my turn. Of course, I pray for them, for there is nothing better but people also need to know that they are being remembered.

I recall that many years ago I had a long period of illness and was not able to attend church for many months. During that time I received no encouragement or contact with my church. When I was fit enough to return, I was told ‘We’ve been praying for you.’ But I didn’t know that, I had felt rejected.

We know that prayers do make a difference but we also need to let people know they are remembered. So when we get a heavenly nudge we must let people know they are being prayed for.

Autumn Leaves

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‘As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22

At the beginning of the week the vibrant coloured leaves hung on the trees, looking stunning as they were back-lit by the weak autumn sun. By the next night after a strong wind, they were dancing on my lawn separated from their life-giving tree. The once stunning colours began to fade as they were wind-swept to and fro

We can be like these autumn leaves, beautiful while we are attached to our tree of life, God. Once we become detached we are disorientated by every shade of opinion and distraction that arises. Our faith, unlike the leaves, is not seasonal. Our God is a constant. He does not slumber or sleep. It is not necessary for us to be blown about by every passing wind. Looking at the characters in the Bible we see people that took their eyes off God and then floundered. The Israelites spent decades in the wilderness because they disobeyed God as their leader. Peter walked on the water until he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink.

It is just the same with us. Watching the church on zoom, when we could be at church, we are missing out on Christian fellowship, preferring to go to a football match instead of attending church, we will miss out on the blessing. Because of the change in the hour, we cut down our prayer time. Finding the Bible confusing because we don’t read it often enough. All reasons to become tossed about.

May we not become like autumn leaves.

Punishment

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Forty years is a long time in anyone’s life. That was how long the Israelites had to further wander in the wilderness as punishment for their disobedience. ‘For forty years, one for each year of the forty days you explored the land, you will suffer for your sins and know what its like to have Me against you.’ Numbers 14:2

How awful to have God as an enemy, that is what sin does, separates us from God. God had performed so many miracles for the Israelites – escaping Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, provision of manna and then quails, but that was not enough. Rejecting the Promised Land was the final straw. They would never enter the land, they would grow old and die still wandering in the desert. It was an almost complete breakdown of of a once great nation.

Do we sometimes forget God’s great power and the many blessings He has given us? Have we lost the ‘fear of the Lord.’