Dear Congregation,
Someone recently described living under the covid-restrictions as running a race we didn’t want to run, only to find that it is a marathon no one is happy about. He said:
‘It’s like we were all signed up for a marathon we didn’t want to run, and as we approach what looks like the finish line, we are told, ‘Just keep running!’”
Here in Victoria this week it certainly seems like that as the lockdown has been extended, and the path out looks as daunting as staying within. On top of the call to persevere, there is the reality of burdens to carry, and for some they keep getting added to and more demanding – both on their heart as well as on living.
It is significant that Thursday was ‘RUOK?-day’ when we were encouraged to connect with someone, to listen to them, as they expressed their hardships and its impact on them To share life together, even for a few moments – in the spirit of the 60’s song by The Hollies, ‘He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother!’
We do find support and encouragement from each other when the ‘lifting’ or running is hard. In Gal 6:2 we read “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The word “burden” here carries the sense of the pressure of a weight, which may be relieved or transferred. We seek and give help in facing troubles and temptations that come in life and threaten to crush us.
But the Bible also calls us to look beyond our companions in life to the who rules through providence over life, to God. In Psalm 50:15 God is quoted as saying, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
In our Elders meeting yesterday, as we expressed our pastoral care for individuals and families in the congregation, especially in the extend covid-restrictions, one of the Elder’s drew our attention to Daniel and his three friends.
These were all men of faith, each removed and isolated from their ‘normal’ life, living in a new and strange ‘land’, but were able to give and gain vital encouragement and blessing within their fellowship together. More, they looked to God, trusting in His Word, knowing that He is not removed form their situation but with them in it even as He stood in ruling power over it.
This is perhaps no better put than when the 3 men were on the verge of being tossed into the super-heated furnace because they would not share the place and honour of God in their hearts and daily lives with any other. The king mockingly said, and no doubt with some sadness at the thought of losing these three eminent men, “And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” (Dan 3:15)
Yet despite the genuinely anxiety-producing certainties that faced them they looked unto God and left their life in His hands, saying –
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Dan 3:16-18)
As we look to God and see His sovereignty and His love the ‘What-ifs’ are replaced by ‘Even-ifs’.
J. D. Greear put it this way:
These men met their worry about what if with the confidence of even if. And that confidence only comes from the promise that God is. God is all-loving. God is all-powerful. God is ever-watchful. Most beautifully, God is present with us in suffering, having demonstrated his love for us by dying on the cross. These “God is” realities transform our worries. They give us the power to take our what-ifs and replace them with even-ifs.
In Christ we look forward to this new week, to the evidences of His gracious and loving care even-if it comes wrapped in a mess of troubles; and we look forward to serving Him by bearing one another’s burdens – looking unto God, resting in God, bearing witness to God.
Together in Christ’s love and service,
John
Your Pastor