Tough times challenge our resolve; and that means our trust is also challenged.
The possibility of a swine flu pandemic challenges the trust that the people of Mexico and, increasingly, of other countries around the world, have in their health ministries and in the World Health Organization.
Ongoing clashes between security forces and militants in Pakistan are challenging the trust its people placed in the peace deal that brought Sharia law to the Swat district.
Last week, the Chancellor presented his budget to the British people, arguing that the measures it contained would steer the country through the current financial crisis. As such, it was an invitation to voters to keep faith with the government despite current difficulties.
Similarly, David Cameron’s promise of an ‘age of thrift’ is a bid to convince the electorate that it is the Conservatives, rather than Labour, who can be trusted with the nation’s finances.
Hezekiah, king of Judah, was devoted to God. However, when faced with tough times, he too found his trust in God was challenged, not least by those seeking his downfall. Yet even in the midst of trying circumstances he remained devoted to God, and saw God intervene in those circumstances.
Isaiah’s prophecy of Sennacherib’s fall reminds us that God is sovereign over the events of this world. He is therefore worthy of our total trust – we cannot serve two masters – no matter how bad things seem.
As it should have been with the covenanted people of Judah, so our devotion to God should be evident in the circumstances of our everyday lives. And that includes the way we approach contemporary issues – including health, conflict, finance, debt and party politics, to name just a few.
Nigel Hopper
Monday, 27 April 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Power struggle
The use and abuse of power has been everywhere in the news lately.
The jailing in Iran of the journalist, Roxana Saberi, is evidence of power being wielded in the cause of either justice or injustice, depending on whose side you take.
The liberation from Somali pirates of Sea Captain Richard Phillips by US Navy seals, and then of 20 Yemeni fishermen by Dutch forces saw power being used in the cause of freedom.
President Obama’s talk of a ‘new beginning’ with Cuba finds arguably the most powerful man in the world seeking to exercise his power in the cause of reconciliation.
Closer to home, serious questions have been raised about the extent to which some officers policing the G20 protests in London abused their power by using excessive force. And local councils face new restrictions on their surveillance powers, following accusations that they are currently abusing them.
In all of this it’s all too easy to regard God as a powerless presence in our world. However, the tales told in 2 Kings of the exploits of Elijah and Elisha confront us with the truth that God is able to work mightily in power in his world, through the presence of his Spirit.
Nowhere is this more dramatically displayed than in the resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrated last week. And according to Paul, this same power that raised Christ from the dead is now at work in us (Ephesians 1:18–21). So, like Elijah and Elisha, we have been empowered by God to make all the difference in the world.
Nigel Hopper
The jailing in Iran of the journalist, Roxana Saberi, is evidence of power being wielded in the cause of either justice or injustice, depending on whose side you take.
The liberation from Somali pirates of Sea Captain Richard Phillips by US Navy seals, and then of 20 Yemeni fishermen by Dutch forces saw power being used in the cause of freedom.
President Obama’s talk of a ‘new beginning’ with Cuba finds arguably the most powerful man in the world seeking to exercise his power in the cause of reconciliation.
Closer to home, serious questions have been raised about the extent to which some officers policing the G20 protests in London abused their power by using excessive force. And local councils face new restrictions on their surveillance powers, following accusations that they are currently abusing them.
In all of this it’s all too easy to regard God as a powerless presence in our world. However, the tales told in 2 Kings of the exploits of Elijah and Elisha confront us with the truth that God is able to work mightily in power in his world, through the presence of his Spirit.
Nowhere is this more dramatically displayed than in the resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrated last week. And according to Paul, this same power that raised Christ from the dead is now at work in us (Ephesians 1:18–21). So, like Elijah and Elisha, we have been empowered by God to make all the difference in the world.
Nigel Hopper
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Is the world out of control?
We live in a world of unpredictable events. One in which things don’t always go according to plan.
When James Harrison’s wife walked out on him after an argument at their trailer park home in Washington state, how could she have known that a few hours later he would shoot their five children, before turning the gun on himself?
When North Korea launched their rocket on Sunday, it became apparent to the international community that their warnings hadn’t been heeded as they’d hoped and planned.
And we may yet discover that the launch itself didn’t go quite as planned.When the Bond Super Puma helicopter left BP’s Miller oilfield last Wednesday, the 16 people on board could never have known that it was a journey they wouldn’t survive. And nor, of course, could their families and friends.
Who could have predicted that Gavin and Stacey star, Matthew Horne, would collapse on stage last week?
Who could have foreseen that Lewis Hamilton would end up being disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix?
And how could Madonna have known that when she flew out of Malawi on Sunday, her plans to adopt a second child from that country would be hanging in the balance?
Have faith
There is no getting away from the fact that much of the time we experience life as a seemingly random series of events, over which neither we, nor anyone else has any control. There are those for whom this perceived randomness is an insurmountable barrier to faith.
At times we might wonder if we shouldn’t count ourselves among them.
Reading John 18 and 19, however, we find ourselves summoned afresh to faith. Narrating the events of Easter from Gethsemane to Golgotha to the grave, John repeatedly reassures us that everything that happened to Jesus was in accordance with God’s plan and purpose. And Jesus knew it.
God is in control! If we seek him in the events of our day, we will surely find him. Just as Jesus found him even in the agonies of Easter.
Nigel Hopper
When James Harrison’s wife walked out on him after an argument at their trailer park home in Washington state, how could she have known that a few hours later he would shoot their five children, before turning the gun on himself?
When North Korea launched their rocket on Sunday, it became apparent to the international community that their warnings hadn’t been heeded as they’d hoped and planned.
And we may yet discover that the launch itself didn’t go quite as planned.When the Bond Super Puma helicopter left BP’s Miller oilfield last Wednesday, the 16 people on board could never have known that it was a journey they wouldn’t survive. And nor, of course, could their families and friends.
Who could have predicted that Gavin and Stacey star, Matthew Horne, would collapse on stage last week?
Who could have foreseen that Lewis Hamilton would end up being disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix?
And how could Madonna have known that when she flew out of Malawi on Sunday, her plans to adopt a second child from that country would be hanging in the balance?
Have faith
There is no getting away from the fact that much of the time we experience life as a seemingly random series of events, over which neither we, nor anyone else has any control. There are those for whom this perceived randomness is an insurmountable barrier to faith.
At times we might wonder if we shouldn’t count ourselves among them.
Reading John 18 and 19, however, we find ourselves summoned afresh to faith. Narrating the events of Easter from Gethsemane to Golgotha to the grave, John repeatedly reassures us that everything that happened to Jesus was in accordance with God’s plan and purpose. And Jesus knew it.
God is in control! If we seek him in the events of our day, we will surely find him. Just as Jesus found him even in the agonies of Easter.
Nigel Hopper
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