The LORD appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." Jeremiah 31.3 (NKJV) I'm sure you've all seen a beautiful sunset. The above drawing was based on a photo of one when the rays of the suns light just shone out. You know what I mean - when you can see the light reaching out across the sky. And the colours! As an artist and a painter, I am so often blown away by the colours God paints across the sky. And the idea that this is how the world was made; that all these different things come together and hold in place for those colours to be there. I find it quite insane sometimes! I can't get enough of sunrises and sunsets. The remind me that my God is creative. And that I was created also to be creative.
There's this old hymn that we've sung a few times at my church before lockdown which says: 'There's the wonder of sunset at evening, The wonder as sunrise I see; But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul Is the wonder that God loves me.' (A hymn written by George Beverly Shea.) A sunset can be an incredible sight. The depth of the stars in space can be an unfathomable occurrence. The intricacies of a flower, it's colours, and how it thrives can be an epic tale. But it is all such small things compared with seeing the incredible, unfathomable, intricate beauty and truth of God's love for us. God's love doesn't fade into night. God's love can't be travelled across, no matter if you could travel forever. God's love doesn't droop or wilt or die. It is the same today as it ever was, and whatever we see or don't see around us, there is nothing that could take that away from us. "Yes, I have loved you," says God. YOU. Stay safe, and take care!
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[Daniel, to Goliath:] You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel's armies, whom you curse and mock. 1 Samuel 17.45 It doesn't take a giant to kill a giant! I remember back when we actually went to church, one of the girls (age 5-6) would repeatedly ask me for the story of David and Goliath. I'd try and convince her to have a different one sometimes, but we'd always come back to this tale at some point! She clearly passed that love on to her little brother too, whose dad asked him why he loves the story so much this week. And with an innocent look and a smile on his face, he answered, "because tiny David killed the giant Goliath!"
With kids, good and bad is so easy! If the good one kills the bad one, it's happy days! I remember when I lived with a family a couple of years ago, and we were watching The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe for film night, and when it got to the ending fight scene, the 4-year-old girl saw Aslan's army go charging off and was shouting, "Yes, go, go, go, kill the witch," like she was in some 16th century witch-hunt!!! It's not so easy now. Did Goliath want to fight for the Philistines, or was he forced because of his great size? Why was this war happening anyway? Who had started it (if it's ever that simple...)? I'm not a fan of violence, in any form, and this tale has lots of it! But there are times when I have felt like what I was up against was bigger than I could overcome. Like I'm tiny David against the giant Goliath. When I was going through my times of disordered eating and struggling with anorexia, it has felt like a giant standing between me and the way to being healthy again. And those times certainly felt like a fight. A fight it was often easier not to fight, like the Israelites, cowering and shaking in their tents, not putting anyone forward, hoping it would all just be fine in the end, even if they didn't actually do anything. They could take the mocking and the shame, the humiliation - but they weren't willing to take the pain of trying to fight and losing. And each time I've felt like I was in the hands of anorexia (those giant hands coming out forwards out of my illustration), I am convinced that I have only survived because I finally let God come and fight it for me. God is the reason tiny David killed the giant Goliath. And God is the reason we can overcome things that are far too big for us to overcome on our own! If you feel like you're up against something way bigger than you can overcome, remember today that it doesn't take a giant to kill a giant. God is there, waiting for you to let God in and transform the possibilities! Stay safe, and take care! Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! Psalm 119.118 I guess lots of the thoughts in these posts recently have been about hope. Throughout the Bible, there are so many people who depend on their hope in God’s promise of a good life, a long life, productive fields, good weather, idyllic peacefulness... (like that depicted above). They believed that if they lived faithfully to the ways God had told them to live, God would be faithful to them to, in the form of the promised goodness and blessing they’d been covenanted.
In some respects, this is why I live in some of the ways I choose to live too. I believe God has given us insights into practices and ways to try and live that benefit us, those our lives affect and the planet we live on. This is why I eat a mostly vegetarian diet, why I don’t drink caffeine or alcohol, and why I set my life around a rhythm of weekly rest. It’s also why I do (nearly) regular exercise, choose to give away a percentage of what I earn and try to be kind and generous to the other people in my life. Of course, there are ways I could do better - some days I eat too many Skittles, for example! Sometimes I don’t feel like being kind, and want all my time for myself. Some weeks exercise is slow and painful or boring or just too much effort! But I try. And just like people in the Bible - they realised that even sometimes when they were trying really hard to live in all the right ways, it could never guarantee the idyllic, perfect life they’d been promised. And on those days, they - like I - found God’s promise true still, but yet unfulfilled. And they kept hope in its future fulfilment. Crying out to God, “...and let me not be put to shame in my hope!” Interestingly (to me, anyway!), there is at least some benefit starting to be seen in trying to make health choices in line with biblical principles. There were some studies a little while back called The Blue Zone Studies, which featured Seventh-Day Adventists as some of the people who live the longest, which it puts down to our ”discouragement of eating meat, rich foods, caffeinated drinks and ‘stimulating’ condiments and spices” (whatever they are, lol!). God has promised good things. And in my life, I have known numerous times when God has followed through on that promise. I have also known times when it’s certainly felt like those promises had been abandoned, only to realise later that they were still there, ready to give me new hope precisely when I needed it most. That’s life! This is what the Bible shows - through good times, and through droughts, through joyful dances, and laments, God is there and gives us purpose and direction in how to live in line with the hope we have been given. Hope of what is perfect; hope of painless, fear-less, stress-less good! So we pray, and we hope! As always, stay safe, and take care! For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4.15 There have been a few intermittent days between day 10 and day 11 as I had some time off for Easter, though I'm grateful to my church leaders who have continued giving updates and posts, day-by-day. The post for today came from one of the church leaders who works as a psychologist, and he shared that many times people come to him with a strong sense of hopelessness. They have infirmities or issues, but the most common thing they all share is a sentiment that they alone are going through this. That no-one understands, they're on their own, and there's nothing anyone could do to help, because they just don't know what it's like.
And it's not just people in need of professional help who have this experience. I'm convinced we all do, at times. And especially right now, when we don't spend as much time with other people and are left with what people are willing to share digitally (which we know from studies and from ourselves is generally the best bits!). It's easy to think no-one understands what I'm feeling. It's easy to tell ourselves that we should be happier, that we're the lucky few who have good provisions, good homes, good people to talk to still, good connections - but underneath it all we don't and we feel that nobody could understand that. Well no matter what we're feeling, and regardless of whether we think we have "the right" to feel that or not, I'm thankful that there is someone who knows exactly what I'm thinking and feeling, and understands me probably better than I do myself. So, when you find that you're down and feeling alone, take encouragement from the fact that Jesus knows you fully, understands what you're feeling, and loves you. God doesn't care what you think you "should" be feeling. God cares about you. Hang in there - and if you need to, reach out for a chat, any time! Stay safe, and take care! P.S. I made this illustration by following a tutorial from Teela Cunningham which you can get to by clicking on the link! I had great fun following along and I really like the end product! It just makes me think of hope! I love it! But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as humans see: humans look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16.7 I’ve seen a few posts recently being super angry at people for their “unnecessary” reasons for being outside... Everyone likes to be the righteous one. Well, it makes me realise how glad I am that God doesn’t view our actions the way we view the actions of others, based on our own disgruntled senses of and need for superiority.
Maybe that person in the park doesn’t have a garden like I do, and suffers from anxiety, calmed only by the wide open space that reminds her of God’s care of even the grass of the fields. Maybe that person buying house paint has worked with her hands all her life and is losing grasp of herself sitting doing nothing and so is doing up the house to feel useful and keep her mind and hands busy each day in lockdown. Maybe that neighbour standing a little too close as she talks to the family in the next garden down is so, so lonely, and doesn’t have the social connections I do in my household or via online communication. When God picked out a king, he sent he prophet Samuel to go and anoint him, and from how things looked, Samuel got the king wrong EVERY time. There is often another way to view things. I’m going to keep trying to look at people the way God does - valuing them for nothing they’ve done, but simply because they are precious. I fall short. Time and time again. Especially now. But I’ll keep trying. Stay safe, and take care! |
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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