Recently, 250,000 people attended the
IAAF World Athletics Championships hoping to see Usain Bolt break the record
for the 100m or at least finish ahead of the pack. But it was not what they expected. Bolt came in third. The race was won by a man who had twice been banned
because of using drugs to enhance his performance. Many in that crowd gave expression to their
feelings by booing Justin Gattin. It was
not what they expected.
If you read fiction or watch drama
programmes, do you find yourself automatically making presumptions about the
final outcome? Doreen and I certainly do
that, and derive pleasure when we have guessed correctly.
When God offers us his love and mercy,
and invites us to become followers of Jesus, it is easy to presume how the
journey of faith will develop. The same
often happens in various chapters of our lives, as we pass through new or
challenging experiences. Too often we
second-guess God, only to discover we got it wrong. Sometimes we anticipate difficulties, only to
find that God has smoothed the way. At other times, we expect an easy journey,
only to find a time of trial. As the
writer of Ecclesiastes states, “The race is not to
the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen
to them all.”
Pondering on surprising outcomes, I
found myself thinking about two Old Testament characters, whose stories have a
surprising twist.
The first of these is Jacob, who fleeing
from the understandable wrath of his brother Esau, whom he had cheated out of
an important blessing, encountered God through a dream (See Genesis 28). I guess that was not what he expected. God makes a gracious promise to Jacob, to
which he responds with a promise to honour God in the future. Arriving at his intended destination, he
meets and falls in love with beautiful Rachel.
His uncle Laban is willing to reward Jacob for his labour as a shepherd,
but when Jacob asks for the hand of Rachel, he discovers that his uncle sets
the price at seven years unpaid service.
But when the seven years are up, and the morning after the wedding
feast, Jacob awakens to discover that he has slept not with beautiful Rachel,
but her somewhat less attractive older sister.
Laban makes him work another seven years
for Rachel. Then for the next six years
as his uncle changes his wages detrimentally ten times. It seems that everything that Jacob strives
for is met with disappointment and challenge.
I wonder, did he question where was the promise of God being
fulfilled? It was probably not what he
was expecting.
The irony of devious Jacob suffering at
the hand of a devious uncle is not lost to the reader. And at the end, Jacob returns and finds, not
an angry vindictive Esau, but a welcoming brother. That was not what he expected.
Through all the disappointments and
trials, two things happened. Jacob was
being made to be the man God wanted. He
also became the father of eleven sons and a daughter. A twelfth son was added
later. One of those sons was Joseph
(Jacob’s favourite). As a young man of
17 God gave him two dreams, indicating one day, his parents and older brothers
would bow down to him. But it was 22
years before God’s promise was fulfilled.
Over those years he was rejected by his brothers out of jealousy, thrown
into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape, cast into prison for
around thirteen years, and let down by a fellow prisoner. I suspect that was not what he expected!
But by the time his brothers came,
seeking to buy corn, Joseph had been released from prison and been elevated to
the second most important person in Egypt.
Consequently, his brothers failed to recognise him. Finally, after some crafty manipulation
Joseph managed to get his whole family to Egypt, causing him to weep
uncontrollably as God’s gracious promise was fulfilled in God’s time and in God’s
way.
They could never have expected that God’s
purpose revealed to Joseph at 17 would turn out for their blessing when he was 39. It was not what they expected. Later, after Jacob had died, his brothers
feared for their safety. Joseph put
their minds at rest by pointing out that although their actions had evil
intent, God meant it for good (Genesis
50:20).
Many of us treasure the statement in Romans
8:28, “we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.”.
I would like to hope that those reading this, not only know Jesus as Saviour,
but have also made him Lord. When we
surrender to his will and invite him to work out his purposes in our lives, it
will not always be what we expect. We
might meet unexpected blessing or unexpected trials, but as Jacob and Joseph
found out God’s way is best. A David
wrote in his song, “As for God, his way
is perfect: the Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take
refuge in him.” (2
Samuel 22:31)
From
the Diary
This past Sunday I was asked if I could
cover the service at the prison for an Anglican Chaplain who was off sick. It happened that I was free, and valued the
opportunity for a second service after the previous week which had been marked
with much blessing.
Last Saturday, Gordon Banks and I conducted
the online seminar. Much of the week had
been spent in preparation. All but one
person declared this to be helpful, with most describing it as “very helpful”. Similarly, all but one indicated they would
be happy to recommend the webinars to others, most would do so
enthusiastically. We work hard to make
these webinars useful to rural Christians and rural churches. But probably 90% of those who receive these
Praise & Prayer News have yet to discover their value.
To help us understand why this might be,
we are asking you to complete a simple and short survey. You can do so anonymously if you wish. Please do help us make the webinar programme
more effective. The survey looks at
various aspects and will only take a few moments of your time.
Tuesday 8th
August – HMP Gartree
Wednesday 9th
to Friday 11th – Doreen will be on a short break with relatives in
Kent while I travel on to East Sussex for some important meetings and a short
break too.
Sunday 13th
– Newark Congregational Church, Nottinghamshire
Monday 14th to
Friday 18th – “Holiday at Home” outreach, Market Harborough
Saturday 19th
– East Midlands Mission Support Group Meeting
Sunday 20th
– Welby Lane Mission, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
Thank you.
Barry
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