Fighting talk

Well, now we're on to the life of David in our Bible reading programme. And it's a bit of a whistle stop tour. But one of the interesting things about David is that he has a clear promise of what God is going to do, from when Samuel anoints him as King; but getting there is long, drawn out, dangerous and at times looks highly unlikely.

And when you come to 2 Samuel 5 it still takes 7 years for the full promise to be realised. And David has to fight for it. Last week, as Moses and the people of Israel came out of Egypt they were told, "The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14). Now David has to take the initiative and fight himself to see what God has promised come to pass. Conclusion: you can't read one bit of the Bible and draw a "simple" principle from it that will apply in every situation. Conclusion (2): God deals with us as individuals and expects us to work through with Him how to handle the specifics of the situations we face. In other words, we mustn't treat the Bible as if it's a book of off-the-shelf answers for all situations. God's Word is far more bespoke and made to measure....more costly to us, perhaps, and requiring more patience, but vastly more precious too.

Eyes wide open?

What do Moses and Abraham have in common? That's not the opening to a slightly obscure, embarrassing attempt at a joke (honest); rather a quick reflection on what's come out of the readings on the lives of these two Old Testament giants. In both cases - for Abraham in Genesis 18 (with the three visitors), and Moses in Exodus 3 (with the burning bush) - it would have been easy for them to have been so absorbed in what they were doing, in their priorities, that they missed God seeking to get their attention. Fortunately, hospitality in one case and curiosity in the other, meant that God did get their attention.

But when we're in our daily/weekly routine, I wonder if there's much time and space for hospitality or curiosity sometimes. And I wonder what we miss because of that. At our Biblefresh group this week I was amazed that 4 out of 11 people present could testify to having heard the audible voice of God at some point in their lives. Even so, that's far from the norm. Maybe we just need to keep our eyes peeled (grim phrase, I've always thought) a bit more for the ways that God is trying to get our attention. At least I do.

Last thoughts on Abraham

Well, just as we've moved on to Moses in our Bible readings, some final reflections on Abraham.

I was struck by Aeon's comment yesterday (you can listen here) about how Abraham invariably pitched his tents under trees (eg Genesis 12:6, 13:18), and that the shade of trees was considered a holy place where you could meet with God. And then of course, there is the observation that wherever he goes Abraham builds an altar (eg Genesis 12:7)....

Taking these two together I think gives an insight into what sustained Abraham, as he journeyed around, not sure where he was going to end up, and trying to hold on to promises from God that must have seemed more and more unrealistic as time went on. Basically, in the middle of all that, he put himself in places where he would be likely to meet with God. Surely, that speaks to us - in an often hostile environment, where we too struggle at times to hold on to God, we need to be those who deliberately put ourselves in places where we are likely to meet with God; in personal prayer, worship and Bible reading, and in corporate worship and around the communion table. Not exactly rocket science, maybe. But true all the same.

How to read the Bible for all it's worth....?

I came across this quote from C.H. Spurgeon, one of the figures from Church history I can't help but admire. It certainly challenges the way I read the Bible:

He [Christ] leans over me, he puts his finger along the lines, I can see his pierced hand: I will read it as in his presence. I will read it, knowing that he is the substance of it, - that he is the proof of this book as well as the writer of it; the sum of this Scripture as well as the author of it.....You will get at the soul of Scripture when you can keep Jesus with you while you are reading.

Who'd have thought....?

Well, so there was an (admittedly failed) attempt at theological discussion at the Treasury Select Committee yesterday, initiated by an MP to the Chief Executive of Barclays, who appeared seriously out of his depth....then continued after a fashion on the website of the Guardian newspaper. Click here for more. Strange days indeed.

Questions, questions

I continue to be encouraged by the number of people who are taking copies of the Bible reading programme that we are following at WCF. And by what I'm hearing from people who are obviously using it to read their Bibles, and then asking me all kinds of questions on the back of it. (While I'm here, I'll just mention in passing that there are all kinds of other Bible related initiatives at the moment, and give a plug for an old friend of mine who has just started a blog as he reads through the Bible in chronological order this year. You can find it here.)

One of the things that strikes me, especially as we're going through Genesis is that lots of people are faced with all kinds of questions in what they read. Now, you'll probably know that I'm all for asking questions, and not just taking things at face value. But sometimes it seems to me that the questions can also become distractions, red herrings. Things that will actually create distance between God's Word and us, so that we can't hear what it says to us. So, how do we handle this? This is by no means the final word on this - any suggestions you've got, please leave as a comment - but here are a few guidelines that might help with this:

• What is the main point of these verses I've read? Do I need to know the answer to this question before I can take that on board?
• Does the question relate to some aspect of what we can believe about God, or how we live the Christian life - or is it a question of detail, of history?
• Am I trying to read this as if it were a modern day newspaper rather than an ancient, human document - that in ways we'll never fully grasp is also the always relevant word of God?
• How can I get nearer to an answer...who can I ask, what resources can I access? Surely it's better to do a little research rather than remain stuck on something. In particular, try & find out how Christians through the ages have answered the question. Let's face it after 2000 years it's unlikely that we'll be the first ones to ask something.
• Above all, and I know this might sound simplistic, but why not talk it over with the Lord. If you get stuck on something it could even be that you're meant to take a bit more time over it, thinking and praying because God wants to speak to you through it.

I guess to sum it up - where possible, let your questions be springboards to relationship with God, rather than barriers. Of course, that's not always easy; but that's why we're encouraging small groups to discuss these readings together. Any thoughts?

New Year, new look....

Thought it was about time for a change in the appearance of this blog....hope you like it!

Start at the Beginning

Well, here's the first post connected to our Bible reading programme...if you're following it, you'll know that we've started with the early chapters of Genesis. So often these passages become footballs of controversy, kicked around by Christians who seem to have lost sight of the fact that they are playing for the same side, and that most of the goals that they celebrate scoring are in fact in their own net. It seems to me that these opening sections of the whole Bible are hugely significant, not so much for the insights they do or don't give into how we got here, but for what they tell us about God, and why He put us here; and why things are the mess they sometimes seem to be.

That's why the focus in Sunday's message (you can listen to it here if you missed it) was on what God wants to say to us at the start of 2011, rather than on a prolonged discussion of creation and evolution. If all Scripture is God-breathed and "useful...for training in righteousness", then we need to be trained by these verses, not simply informed by them. And I pray that will be true for all the rest of the portions of Scripture we look at too.