[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 23/Aug/2017]
It is in your word that I place my complete hope. (Psalm 119:147)
Last Sunday Lesley bravely shared her disappointments about the proposed sale of her house and her anxieties for her health and future tests. Yet she was able to witness how promises from God’s word gave her trust in Him and amazing peace.
Some years ago I was sitting in a church where the minister was holding up his wife’s engagement ring as an illustration of what he was saying. He joked that we would be unable to see the diamond as it was so small, but at that moment I was able to see it very clearly. A ray of sunshine from a window caught a facet of the stone and bounced from facet to facet, put there by the diamond cutter, until the light flashed to me near the back of the church.
That experience has always spoken to me about how God’s word is multi-faceted and speaks to us in different ways at different times according to our needs at that time. Sometimes I read a verse I have read many times before and yet it seems to be saying something different. When this happens I believe that God is showing us something new from the storehouse of His word that is right for us at that moment even by using a different translation.
I could give a number of examples of this in my own life but here are two. On one occasion at work I had a problem with a colleague. At lunchtime I took my lunch to a local park and read these words at random from a pocket Good News Bible in Psalm 55. “If it were an enemy that mocked me, I could endure it … but it is you my companion, my colleague and close friend.” By using the word “colleague” in that Bible version God was telling me that He understood how I felt in that situation and gave me strength.
Also, when I first started having problems with my back and legs four years ago I kept falling to the ground. At the same time I read these words from Habakkuk 3:16 in the New Living Translation. “My legs gave way beneath me.” How specific God is at the time He speaks to us. My legs really did give way and when I looked at other versions they only spoke of trembling knees. A few verses later He promised to be my strength.
As we read the Bible may we see flashes of light as He speaks to us in our needs. May we trust Him for the future and find, as Lesley has, the amazing peace that comes from God our Father.
“Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105)
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Contributed by Michael Goble; © the Author
