Speechless

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There are times when we say, almost casually, ‘I was speechless.’ What we actually mean is that we are so surprised by something that we don’t know what to say for the moment. It doesn’t mean our vocal chords are jammed, just that we are surprised into silence. This wasn’t the case with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.

The announcement from an angel that he and his wife would have a son, a very special son, stunned him into silence and as part of God’s plan he couldn’t speak for nine months. Finally it was his obedience in announcing the name of his son that released his vocal chords.

Our comments ‘ I was speechless’ don’t go to these extreme measures but I wonder how much we blurt out words when we should remain silent. In our prayers surely there are times when we babble on to God. ‘Please bless …, please give me …. please hear my prayer.’

There is a time to wait patiently before God. How must Zachariah have felt not being able to speak for those nine months? Because of his silence he was forced to do more listening, to his wife, to his friends and also to God. Biblically we are often asked to wait and in that waiting there will be listening. Yes, we need to ask things of God and praise Him but He knows our requests. There is also a time to listen so God can speak into the silence.

Lord, give us Samuel’s ear.

Nothing!

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‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to His cross I cling.’ Hymn – Rock of Ages, 1776, Augustus Toplady.

Nothing, what nothing? How hard this can be? Nothing, absolutely nothing. So often we want to bring something. Surely we can give something to God, what about our lovely singing voice. But we only have that because it was given to us by Him. (Not a gift he has given me!) What about the words I write and have printed? (That is something I have been gifted) No, I can only bring it to God because He has given it to me in the first place.

What about our good works? No, they are only our reasonable service. Christianity is not like some religions where a person hopes to balance their good works against the bad. Our righteousness is only like filthy rags. Nothing in my hand I bring. We are entirely dependant on the loving mercy of God. We have done nothing to deserve it. Christ did it all for us on the cross.

In the final day when we stand before the throne of God, it will be no good telling Him we’ve been a pillar of the community and placing our good works before Him. We will only be able to utter, Jesus died for MY sins. Without His sacrifice we can have nothing, do nothing, be nothing.

The Lord is Near

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The Lord is near, we need not fear. ‘God is our Refuge and Strength…. therefore we need not fear.’ Ps 46:1-2. Fear is a paralyzing emotion. We become frozen to the spot, we can’t think rationally. Everything goes into slow motion in that period of time. There is no thought of the past and no expectation of the future. Only that one fearful moment seems to have any meaning. Fear can last for a moment or for an imagined eternity. It can be emotional, physically or spiritual. All fear is real and all-consuming.

It is the moment after the onset of fear that is important. We cannot conquer fear alone, but with God as our help we can be truimphant. Think of the last time you had real fear, what did you do? Did you turn to God or did you struggle on alone. It is a question I must also ask myself. In those agonising moments, words of scripture can float into our minds. That it why it is important to ‘hide God’s words in our hearts.’ Then when all reasonable thought has gone, they will be there.

Wait

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i say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait on Him.’ Lamentations 3:24

This is one of the many exhortations in the Bible to wait. Not easy, as we are impatient creatures. Romans 8:28 says ”All things work together for good.’ More waiting here. They will work together for good eventually, it might even be after we’ve gone. The Bible and hymns are full of messages asking us to wait. We don’t like waiting, our pace of life doesn’t coincide with Gods.

Our God is a God of eternity. His view is not of 80 or 90 years like ours. His plans started in the Garden of Eden and finish in the City of Gold. What a small time span we have by comparison. But our waiting does not need to passive and marked by inactivity, it can be filled with God-planned activity but still resting and waiting in the Lord. There will be times when we can look back and be thankful that we had to wait. To rush forward can mean disaster.

I’m a person full of good ideas and schemes. If I go forward with these ideas without waiting and praying I shudder to think the trouble I would get into. Be still my soul and wait for the Lord. His timing is perfect and by waiting patiently for Him we will be saved from many a pitfall.

My Guide

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‘Do not turn to the right or the left, keep your foot from evil.’ Proverbs 4:27

It is good to have role models, people who we admire and can follow. But we need to remember that anyone we look up to is only human. Like us they can sin and do wrong. They are tempted as we are and sometimes succumb to temptation.

Many years ago I recall an infrequent visitor to our church who was a great evangelist and that is what we nicknamed him. During his visits there would be speaking in tongues which only happened when he was there. He would lay hands on people and pray blessings on them for special blessings.’ He was considered a very good Christian, spreading the gospel and was admired by everyone. This was fine until one day he was arrested by the police for a crime which was so bad he ended up in prison for child pornography. We had been looking up to a man who was seriously flawed. Every person is sinful to some degree, though this was an extreme case. I grew up in the day of the great evangelists like Billy Graham. We looked up to these men but they must have been imperfect people as well.

There is only one person we can fully look up to – the perfect Jesus Christ. While admiring good Christian leaders can be helpful, it must be remembered that they are fallible human beings. The one without sin is the perfect Son of God. He alone has our praise and admiration.

Not in a Backwater.

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‘God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.’ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

We probably all know of a backwater somewhere which is stagnant and smelly. The water has no means of escape and nothing lives in this pool of water; it is dead. As Christians we are not called to be like this, we are called to be streams of living water, made to spread the love of God. We are alive and vibrant. Our faith is to be shared not kept to ourselves. We are Christians who need to make a difference and we have the chance to do this every day.

When we are in situations where there is hatred we can spread love, the love of Jesus. Sometimes a single word from us can defuse a volatile situation. When forgiveness is needed, we can give it. If there is doubt and despair, we can share our faith to give hope. Some situations are dark and evil. The darkness will flee before God’s penetrating light. We can comfort the bereaved and find time to listen.

At times it will be our God-given spoken word that will be needed. It might be our love that can be given, the world doesn’t have time to give to the needy, we as Christians, do. Often it will be an inward prayer to bring strength into the situation. The world needs our God.

Romance

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It was very light reading, a romance with a happy ending. All through the book, although the reader didn’t know it, ‘he’ was madly in love with ‘her’. He had been willing to make every sacrifice for her, do anything, go anywhere. His love was so great.

As I closed the book with a contented sigh, I realised I had just read the story of the gospel. God loves us so much and would make any sacrifice for us, as witnessed on the cross. He never forces His affections on us. He just waits, everything He does is for our good as He wants the best for us all through our lives.

I realised that every book of romance is the story of God’s love for us. God is love as the Bible tells us. All the love in the world stems from Him. He has given us a world to enjoy because He loves us. He has given us the ability to love, be loved and form relationships. We love because He first loved us. He loves us through and through.

In the book I was reading ‘she’ slowly comes to realise that he loves her and she comes to love him too. So they fall in love together and ‘live happily ever after.’ And just like the love story in the book, we come to love Him and we ‘live happily ever after’ in His promised land for ever. In the words of James G. Small written in 1866

I’ve found a friend, oh such a friend. He loved me ‘ere i knew Him,

He drew me with the chords of love and thus He bound me to Him.

Holy Idleness

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My friend sent me a text telling me about her visit to Holy Island. Unfortunately prescriptive text was used and she was telling me about her ‘Holy Idleness.’ Do we all need more ‘Holy Idleness’ in our lives?

It does seem the world is getting faster and faster, everything is geared to happen more quickly and save time. Instant is an overused word. Coffee is now instant. Our microwave and air fryers are designed to give us food more quicker than conventional ovens. We can do our shopping instantly online, no more rushing round the shops. Young people speak quicker, no doubt to save time, though in some cases more time is wasted asking them what they actually said. ‘Miracle grow’ is used to make plants grow quicker. We can now get ‘drive though’ drinks and meals. Quicker and quicker. I feel out of breath just typing this all out. Since the phrase ‘Stop the world, I want to get off’ was coined, life has speeded u even more. Work can be more demanding, everything to save time.

The Bible does not tell us to rush through life. Just the opposite, ‘Be still and know that I am God’. Psalm 46:10. The world frowns on this idea, but our idleness can be holy. We can stop and appreciate the wonderful world God has given us, we sit and look at the birds and butterflies, stand and admire the scenery. We can be idle and holy. In our idleness, words of scripture drift into our mind, thoughts of peace and adoration float up.

Lord, supply me times of Idle Holiness.’ Amen.

One False Step

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‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ A old Chinese proverb. We all have times in our lives when we are afraid to take the first step, either through inertia or fear of making the wrong step. The first step is the most difficult.

We must make sure that the first step is in the right direction and is God-guided. Sadly we can take our next step in the wrong direction. The it is always more difficult to get back on track. . What can we do about this? Three things. The Bible has been compiled for us to read; it is for guidance . How often have we read a passage and felt it was just for us at that particular time.. The Bible is active and alive.

Prayer is readily available to us. There are no broken connections between us and God. He is always more ready to listen than we are to talk. By communicating with God He will guide our footsteps. And finally Christian fellowship is essential for Christian growth. By working with other Christians we will get comfort, guidance, encouragement and help.

Silent Prayers

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It would be great if we could speak the love of God openly, but there are many times when it would be counter productive. We would cause offence and hinder God’s work. But our inward attitude can be important. We see a mother who ignores her child’s words, ‘Look, Mummy,’ because she is busy talking on the phone. There is no way we can say anything but we can talk to God about this immediately. We can pray that the mother will pay more attention to her child . May the little one know she is loved.

We see a husband and wife arguing openly in the street. It is nothing to do with us but we can silently pray that they have a kinder attitude to each other.. God is our silent listener. Ecclesiastes 3:7 tells us ‘there is a time to be silent and a time to speak.’ We can spend as much time talking to God as we spend talking to others. His ear is always open to listen.

Nor should we be in judgment of others. We don’t know the full story. How many times have we been guilty of similar mistakes? And haven’t we sometimes ignored our youngsters and argued with our partners? At these times God might be showing us where we are in the wrong, so that we can mend our ways Maybe our prayer should be, ‘Lord, forgive us.’