For many, this has been a challenging time, and as we come out of lockdown there are no doubt concerns and questions about how safe it is to do so, especially in view of the daily media reports and more so if it has come close to home and impacted people that we know and love.
Questions will arise:
Do we know what reality is anymore?
What is the nature of this world I’m about to go back out into?
Is it safe to do so?
Will people be sensible?
Some of the difficulty throughout has been trying to filter through the vast amounts of information out there, some of it quite contradictory, as scientists, analysts, statisticians, politicians, and journalists, approach things from differing angles and agendas. We can end up confused and lost in the deluge of ‘facts’, statistics, analysis, and opinions.
As I have thought about life in this season, the image that has kept coming to my mind is that of wheels within wheels, where everything is connected, the one part needs the other, and therefore at some point, there must be a return to some kind of normality otherwise life as we know it is not sustainable.
Also, life is messy and unpredictable at times (or maybe frequently, and for some all the time) and has contradictory elements to it, life and death, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, poverty and wealth, pain and freedom, etc.. We have just celebrated VE day, yet conflicts still rage in different parts of the world.
Then there’s the fact that we are all different, we have differing personalities, we see and feel things in different ways, some are more reserved, want to be sure it’s going to be ok, others, more outgoing, risk-takers, let’s go get, and that’s ok, that’s how God wired us, and that’s why we need one another, it can provide healthy checks and balances and stimuli and at the same time why it can be a challenge to work out what the next move is!
Whatever the season, it’s always a time for faith, whatever our personality. We were built for faith, and it’s opposite doesn’t do us any good. Faith though is not blind or foolish, that’s what the enemy tempted Jesus to in the wilderness. Faith must be exercised in the lockdown and faith exercised in the lifting of it.
There is in fact what we might call an everyday kind of faith, the faith that is required for our daily life, it’s just that most of the time we don’t give it a thought, we take it for granted, whether it’s stepping out the door, catching a train, driving a car, flying, walking down the street etc.. every day our lives demand of us some kind of faith in smaller or larger portions.
As Christians, we believe in a sovereign God, a God who is not distant but present to us.
As Christians, we can turn to God, turn to his Word, and listen to his voice.
As Christians, we can pray out our concerns, and commit them to him, and receive the peace that he alone can give, a peace that passes all human understanding.
As Christians, we can receive his wisdom as to how to respond and live in these times in a way that is a witness to the world and doesn’t allow the enemy to get the better of us.
As Christians, we can be strengthened to get up and go and take back the ground that the enemy has taken.
They may be small steps, but every step counts, and every step a step of faith.
The Word 4 Life 