Revd Graham’s weekly message:
The world seems a crazy place at the moment: from RAAC concrete closing some schools to the goings on in Ukraine and Russia. We are all steering an uncertain course through the effects of inflation and rising (or is that falling?) energy costs. I have been thinking, how did we get to this point? What in the recent past has brought us to this point? Have there been any decisions made in history, recent or not, that have put us into the position in which we find ourselves? It seems to me that there is a lot of finger-pointing, placing blame at someone’s particular door.
As we journey through life we make decisions along the way; some have short term consequences, others are more long term. When the people of Israel travelled from Egypt to the Promised Land things were rather more difficult than they should have been. To put it in a nutshell they waivered from following God to making their own images and idols and worshipping them.
I love the passage in Psalm 115 when speaking about idols it says: “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes have they, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; noses have they, but cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel; feet have they, but cannot walk; not a whisper do they make from their throats. Those who make them shall become like them and so will all who put their trust in them.”
It has no effect on our lives if we put our trust in the material things; we may live a more comfortable life in the short term, but to put our trust in something that will give us long term hope for the future is far better. I pray that we have the courage to put our trust in God – for the long term.
With God’s peace and blessing
Revd Graham
