[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 28/Jun/2020]
In many ways I have quite enjoyed my holiday at home for the last few months. Like all of us, we had a good opportunity to get some outstanding jobs done in the home and garden. We are fortunate to have a secluded garden, with trees, shrubs and flowers, and so we were also able on many sunny days to spend some time sitting there imagining we were out in the country. But I did have a bit of a wobbly the other day, and later on it didn’t help when we heard the sad news that Dame Vera Lynn had died. For over 80 years her songs had lifted us up and given hope to millions of people when times were dark, even until recently.
I knew that I needed lifting up as I began to read the Bible passages that were set for that day. The first was from 1 Kings 19 when Elijah, fresh from his victory over the prophets of Baal, ran away from Queen Jezebel and he became so depressed he wanted to die. Well that wasn’t a very good start for me. After sending an angel to give him food and drink, God got his attention by sending a strong wind, an earthquake and fire, and Elijah listened and went off to continue serving Him.
The second passage was in Acts 12. Peter was thrown into prison by King Herod Agrippa where he awaited trial and probably death. Again, a not very happy story as I did feel a bit like being in prison myself. However, the story got better because God sent an angel who led him past the guards and opened the iron gate so that he escaped safely back to the other believers in Jesus. So there was hope for me.
Next, I read Psalm 136. I imagined the Psalmist standing in front of the people crowded into the Temple court. Then I thought of it happening as we would do it today, or hopefully soon, with him pointing to a large screen and saying that he would read the words in black giving thanks to God and they would respond by reading the words in blue. So he started off.
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good”
and the crowd shouted back,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
“Give thanks to the God of gods.”
“His faithful love endures forever.”
“Give thanks to the Lord of lords.”
“His faithful love endures forever.”
And so on to the end of the Psalm –for 26 times. I suddenly realised with each shouted response from the crowd that God was shouting at me that “His faithful love endures forever”. That was what I needed, as I thankfully thought of the countless times He had faithfully loved my family and myself in times of blessing, and times when things were going wrong.
I shouldn’t have needed reminding about God’s faithful love, and sometimes He needs to wake us up to reality by shouting at us. So let us listen to what He says, giving us hope, and “always give thanks to God for everything” (Eph. 5:20).. Then we shall make the right response – praise.
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Contributed by Michael Goble; © the Author
