Darkness versus Light

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‘Even the darkness will not be darkness to You.’ Psalm 139:13.

There is no hiding from God, even those who don’t believe in Him are fully exposed to His light. He throws a spotlight on our lives and nothing is hidden. Yet what a blessing it is from God that He allows a period of darkness. Our human state couldn’t cope with light all the time. Even those who have to work during the night are allowed a period of rest. But there is no darkness with God. To God darkness is light. He has night vision, with nothing hidden from Him. This also a warning to us that He sees right into our souls.

I have read that the people of North Korea are taught that Kim Jon-un can read their minds, so they mustn’t even think badly about him and his government. Kim Jong-un is actually powerless compared with our God, who does know our thoughts and everything about us. God sees the injustices of the world, He sees the broken-hearted, nothing is hidden from Him. ‘Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I hide from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there, if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.’ Psalm 139:7-8

An Extraordinary Day

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The day started like any other, after a fruitless night fishing Simon Peter was sitting by the seashore mending his nets. Although the catch had been minimal the nets had become snagged and needing mending. His mates, James and John were in the next boat doing the same thing. Gradually they noticed the seashore becoming busier. Crowds were gathering to hear the new young teacher that everyone was talking about, Jesus.

This Jesus then got into Simon’s boat and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. His boat bobbing out on the water made a great pulpit. Everyone could see and hear Him as His voice floated over the waves.

Simon was impressed by what he heard but was surprised when Jesus said, ‘Pull out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch.’ Simon had to put Him straight. ‘We’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything, but because you say so, I will.’ They then caught so many fish that the nets began to break (more net-mending!) Overcome Simon cried out ‘Away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.’ Jesus replied ‘Don’t be afraid, from now on you will become fishers of men.’

The day which had started in a normal way became life-changing by the evening.

Parties

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The love of parties is pretty universal, whether its a rowdy one with flashing lights or a more sedate one. I imagine the Israelites enjoyed their parties with their sacrificing and praising God. We know that David did, though his exuberance raised some eyebrows. Jesus also like parties. He was happy to be at the wedding celebration at Cana with his family and disciples.

Jesus told a story about a party, one that was being held to celebrate the return of a lost son. Having spent his father’s inheritance and lived a wayward life, the lad didn’t deserve anything but his father forgave him, welcomed him back and threw a party. Sadly his older brother didn’t want to join in and missed out on all the fun. There are people today who don’t want to join God’s party. They just don’t want to know. Their eyes are shut, their minds closed. Have they not been told, don’t they know?

There will be one final party, one that will not have a closing time. It will last through eternity. Everyone is invited, sadly not everyone will come. They will be like the invited in another story Jesus told. There will be many excuses, the invitation will be ignored.

A Sabbath Attitude

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In Exodus God gave very strict instructions about the keeping of the Sabbath; failure to do so involved death. Today that sounds very harsh. At that time the Israelites were travelling in the desert and were free from the restraints of the Egyptians. It is probable that in Egypt they would have had to work seven days a week. Now they had freedom to obey the new laws.

Jesus found that the Pharisees took the instructions to an extreme level and condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. Don’t you want to shout, ‘Hey, look, the man has been healed, does it matter what day of the week it is. It’s a miracle.’

When I was growing up I lived near a synagogue and had many Jewish neighbours. Some of them kept the Sabbath very strictly and even called on their neighbours to help them with a few tasks on their Sabbath.

Today God asks us to keep our Sundays holy and different. In our culture many of us have to work on Sundays and I was once accused of being wrong because I read a Monday paper which had been printed on a Sunday. We need to guard against being legalist. What we need is an attitude of the Sabbath. It has been proved that working without breaks is counter-productive. It does not cause more work being done. God gave us the Sabbath or our Sunday because it is good for us. Let us guard it.

Light

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‘I am the light of the world.’ John 8:12

When we read the story of creation, what is the first thing God does? Genesis 1:3 tells us. God says ‘Let there be light and there was light.’ Without light the other element s of creation couldn’t even be seen. and right up to this day ‘man fears darkness rather than light.’ When I was a youngster my younger brother used to have night terrors. I would often wake in the night to hear my parents comforting him. The darkness had brought a terror on him.

Darkness is associated with robbers and thieves doing their robbing and thieving. Our cities are illuminated in artificial light so that travellers can find their way and the countryside is a place to be lost without the light of the moon.

But it is not just physical darkness that we need to fear; there is also darkness of the soul. We need the light of Christ to shine in our hearts. This is a light that will be displayed by our our living. God’s light will give us a better judgment in life, we will be living under His wisdom and not our own. It is God’s light in people that shines on everyone. It is that light that introduced hospitals, hospices and all manner of good works.

Jesus said that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. May we pray that our light will ‘shine brightly before men!

An Ever-present God

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‘Be pleased to save me, O Lord, come quickly, Lord, to help me.’ Psalm 40:13

Like David, how often have we prayed this prayer? So many times we are in danger and in need of help. We shoot to heaven our arrow prayers, or we have a long term problem and cry to God to resolve it. But God is not like a genie who needs to be summoned . up. He is always there. Not only is He always there, He also wants us turn to Him for help. He wants to hear from us, it is His wish to communicate with us. Our God is not like Baal who was goaded by Elijah, ‘Is your God asleep or on holiday?’ God is more than ready to hear our prayers. He is our constant friend and closer than a brother. Why are we so reluctant to speak to Him in our joys and in our sorrows?

God asks us to be yoked to Him, that means sharing everything with Him. We can’t cope alone. He wishes to take the heavy part of the yoking. The more we read the Bible, the more we will read of God being there for His people. The God of the Bible is our God of today. He is our Rock and Deliverer.

It was Good

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After seven days God looked at what He had made and saw that it was good, very good. Genesis 1. What He made are the things which we still see today- crashing waves, soaring mountains, roaring lions and beautiful sunsets. All these things that we can see are stamped ‘made by God.’ And without Him nothing was made that was made. It is not just the magnificent that He has made, also the various colours on a tiny pansy and the completely unnoticed wayside flower.

My latest picture of delight was not a vast landscape but a visit to a local lake, which made for me memories. I walked right round the lake which was less than a mile. The water lilies sat on the water in splendour, swans glided by majestically, while ducks scurried to and fro. I passed a few fishermen concentrating on their pastime. Many different types of birds flew overhead against the blue sky. Except for the birdsong and the breeze in the trees the only sound was the crunch of my feet on the gravel.

It is lovely to imagine God sitting in His heaven with a smile on His face Thinking on what he had made. When I see what the Creator has created. along with Him, I say, ‘And it was very good.’

A Book of Grammar

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Sitting waiting to be called for a hospital appointment can be a long job. Well that was just what I was doing the other day; I took a book with me to read. I expect you would like me to say It was some wonderful Christian book, but all mine were heavier than I wanted to carry. So I slipped a small book entitled ‘A Dictionary of Grammar’ into my bag. Anybody looking at my reading would have thought me a nerd but I was happy during my long wait. I read about so many definitions which I hadn’t thought about since my school days and others I don’t think I ever knew. There was the word ‘anadiphlosis’ which I realise I often use, a repetition of a word of phrase for literary effect. For example, ‘I love reading the Bible, the Bible which guides me in my life’.

God chose words as one way to communicate His love to us. The words in the Bible are full of His corrections, guidance, explanations and above all, His love. When we read for pleasure, we must make sure plenty of time is also spent reading His Word. Where else could you find sixty-six books of such immense value in one binding?