God is in control – Page 4

The old passes

We see it everywhere, it’s all around us and it’s so ever present that we expect it. We never doubt that it will happen. The seasons; they come like clock work every year. They vary in their expression but the change is inevitable. As a Canadian I often vainly hope that this is the year that winter won’t arrive, but it always does. If we’re lucky it’s mild and short-lived, but come it does.

As I clear away the dead from the winter, I discover the new growth underneath. Brave little starts pushing their way through the dirt. The difficulty of shedding the old and starting the new. All things must pass. Everything will die. But new growth comes, as sure as the seasons.

I believe deeply we as a culture are in a transition between the passing of winter and the burgeoning of spring. The dead needs to be shed and the new growth encouraged and safeguarded. Believe in new beginnings and nurture all that is good.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here!

The great gardener

Spring is here. Always later in Calgary than almost everywhere else. I spent some time yesterday and today digging in my garden. Doing a bit of clean up and weeding. Working around the new growth, trying to not disrupt the perennials that are trying to peak their way above the ground.

Weeding the garden beds, raking, and thinking about what fertilizer I might need this year. What I can plant and where I should plant it. I love gardening. Time I can take for myself, by myself.

The decisions I make now dictate what will grow in my garden over the summer months. I won’t have grapes at harvest time, because I’m not planting them. I can only harvest what I plant. Weather, conditions and the vagaries of nature will impact the success of my harvest but I decide what to plant.

It’s the same in my life, there are many things I can’t control, illness, economics, the government, the list could go on. I can however, decide who I will walk with through the trials of life. I can decide whose guidance and commandment I will let influence my decisions. I can’t control the weather, but I can choose the gardener.

Isaiah 58: 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Who sustains us?

I saw a meme today. That’s a weird thing to say, isn’t it? In the world before the seismic shift that is our new technological age, I would have never said, “I saw a meme.” If I did say it, you wouldn’t know what I was talking about. But here we are, we find ourselves in a new world. This meme simply said, “Fear says ‘What if,’ Faith says ‘Even if.'”

I love when a complex idea can be encapsulated in a single sentence. This sentence does indeed do this. Bad things will happen to everyone. We can’t judge our place with God by how trouble free our life is. Rather, we need to look for Him in those times of trial and be confident in the relationship we develop during difficulties. The strength we build from our faith helps us with the ups and downs in life.

This is one of my favourite old hymns. I used to sing it in the car to the kids when they were little.

Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

The tide is turning

I was listening to G.K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” There was a line that jumped out at me. “The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.” This simple line struck me as so profound.

I have been trying to make sense of our world. And when I try to do that I can work my way into a terrible state; angry, frustrated, scared, and tired. My head begins to ache with the effort. If I choose to look for God’s hand in the world, rather than rationalize, I am more contented.

And when I look for God’s hand I see it. People are standing up and speaking truth. Leaders are beginning to rise and other brave souls are starting to support them publicly. The pendulum is starting to swing back. Light is starting to push back against the darkness. It is happening.

God is moving.

We can’t guess what form it will take, and we can’t predict what will happen. But I see it… I see it happening. I hear the rumblings. People are coalescing. They are aligning themselves with God and they are growing in strength. Every day a bit louder. The rumbling is increasing. Men of power and influence cannot hear it, they can’t see it. A hurricane is coming their way, and they can’t see it, they are blind. But I see it and I know it’s coming. For now, it’s a small cloud on the horizon.

Take heart the tide is turning.

1 Kings 18: 44 The seventh time the servant reported,
“A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot
and go down before the rain stops you.'”