Tuesday 31 May

1 Samuel 29:1-31:13

I’ve spent some time at Besor Ravine.  Knackered and unable to go on I vegged about at the back of church wishing I had enough desire to push me into action to help redeem the lost.  But I just felt worn out and hurt so I sat and rested and relied on others to get the job done.  I think David shows that there is no condemnation for taking time to recover like that.  I think David shows that God is deeply merciful and incredibly generous in dishing out his treasures.  That was certainly my experience.  God is not looking for opportunities to exclude us or cut us out - he is for us not against us, he has qualified us to share in the inheritance of his holy people, he has made us more than conquerers.  This is the grace in which we stand.  But grace is not meant to be an excuse to holiday at Besor while others spill the sweat, grace is not meant to move us from the hope that is held out in the gospel.  There are still raiding parties to be pursued, there are still sons and daughters to be rescued.  David showed the grace of God to his men and, with that backdrop, they went on to conquer the land.

John 19:28-20:9

John takes his time to give a detailed explanation of the death of Jesus.  In this he is like a boxer circling his opponent and clinically landing blows in every weak part of their defence, exposing the paucity of their technique and the doomed nature of their advance.  Boom - there was blood and water flowing from his side as the bodily fluids separated after death.  Boom - there were scriptures written centuries before which predicted the exact nature of this event.  Boom - there were two trustworthy men who took guardianship of Jesus’ body and wrapped it in the cloths.  Boom - the tomb was new and had never been used so the strips of linen could only have been left by one particular man.  The assault has been vicious and the opponent is spinning.  But he has not finished.  He tightens his eyes and strengthens his swing - the stone had been removed and the strips of cloth were lying there separate from the linen, he himself had seen this, John - the disciple who Jesus loved.  He had not understood that it had to happen but he saw it and believed.  The opponent is on the floor now and he has been counted out of the game.  Either you accuse John of cheating or you accept that he has won.  He has shown that ‘he is risen’ if he has shown anything at all.  But he still gives us one more chapter to soak up the immensity of this fact.  John so wants us to believe in Jesus and, by believing, to have life in his name.

Psalm 68:28-35

“Summon your power, O God, show us your strength as you have done before... you are awesome”  Oh yeah, now that is a psalm I can really pray!

Monday 30 May

1 Samuel 26:1-28:25

It’s a cracking yarn this one.  I haven’t got a clue about the theology of this spirit of Samuel though.  Was it actually him or an image of him or the resurrected version of him or something else?  I guess it’s one we could mull on forever and still not know.  Maybe we can ask Jesus when we see him but somehow I don’t think we will be too bothered about it by then.  Something that is a bit more “main and plain” is David’s obsession with speaking about the Lord.  In the single verse of 26:23 David mentions the Lord 3 different times in 3 different ways.  David sees the Lord in everything - in opportunities, in roles people play and in principles of how life works.  To get stuff right we need to hold all three together in an intimate tension.  To get stuff right we need to rest in daily submissive interaction with God, not just following one particular set of rules or principles.  The message seems to be that we should not blandly ask God to show us the way and then grasp the first opportunity that arises while saying “God opened the door...”.  That doesn’t really speak of real confidence in the power of God to bring about goodness.  It doesn’t really seem to be obsessive enough about engaging with God in a meaningful way.  Finding Saul asleep with a spear next to his head sounds like a pretty open door to me but God may open doors that he just doesn’t want us to take.  Why?  To invite us to intimacy.  To prompt us to write our own cannon of psalms just like David did.  This whole thing is about relationship with God.  This whole thing is about daily looking for God, speaking with God, listening to God and acting with God.  Anything else is just like looking for a flea.  It’s like hunting partridges in the mountains.

John 19:1-27

The cross is so baffling.  Every time I really come back to it I feel my ears ringing with silence, I feel my soul having the carpet pulled from under its feet, I feel my tear ducts swelling into action.  It just completely undoes everything that is self-seeking and proud in me.  It leaks away the tension of trying to be best and of wanting to win.  Most kings who are on crosses are pretty rubbish kings.  Most kings on crosses are being proven to be failures.  But this king on this cross at this particular moment is at the height of his powers.  That doesn’t make sense.  Not in 21st century London at least it doesn’t.  You can’t lose in order to win - you need to fight to win.  You can’t die in order to gain - you need to beat others to gain.  But the cross carves up all of that in me.  It convicts it and smashes it and clears it all away.  Maybe the cross challenges different things in you - I suspect few people are naturally as selfishly ambitious as I am - but it does need to challenge you.  If it doesn’t then think on it for a bit.  Don’t move on in bible-in-a-year until it grips you and tips your life on the floor.  If we come away from the cross not thinking that everything is up for grabs then maybe we have not really come to the cross at all.  We need to spend some time at the cross.  We need to be picking up the cross and carrying it around in our life.  We need to let the cross scar us and challenge us time and time and time again.  For if we don’t really come to the cross then we can’t really come to the empty tomb either.  And the empty tomb is the bit to get excited about.  We really don’t want to miss out on the empty tomb...

Psalm 68:21-27

What the heck are these hairy crowns that the psalmist wants crushed? (v21)  Surely he didn't have a run-in with Donal Trump did he??

Sunday 29 May

1 Samuel 24:1-25:44

Poor old Samuel.  This bloke had slogged his guts out serving Israel and guiding them for pretty much his whole life and yet, when he dies, he doesn’t even get as much as one whole verse devoted to him.  There is almost as much detail about Saul relieving himself in the cave as there is about Samuel’s death.  I guess it is a good job that neither he, nor we, live for earthly glory.  Nabal did though.  What a miserable sod he was.  He happily soaked up the benefits of David’s protection but wouldn’t give even the slightest scrap back and, to really make a point, he suggests he doesn’t even know where David is from.  This is the king in waiting, the head of the king’s bodyguard that Nabal is talking about.  It was a deliberate slight by a man who seemed to think that his self-made riches set him above anyone else.  Sometimes I get a bit like Nabal. Sometimes I like to dismiss others as not worthy of my attention and certainly not deserving of my generosity.  It’s a good job Lesley (my wife) is like Abigail.  She is an intelligent and beautiful woman who is quick to make peace through giving away her husband’s hard-earned wealth (only joking - sort of). It’s important for us to listen to the Abigails around us for through them the Lord keeps us from bloodshed (physical or spiritual or otherwise).  Its also important for us to listen to them so they don’t go off and become other people’s wives but that is a whole different story.  God has put people into SWLV who overflow with generosity of spirit and openness to others.  They are wonderful people.  I want to listen to them and learn to become more like them as they are like the Lord.

John 18:25-40

We have it laid out here plainly - Jesus is a king.  People bow to kings. People serve kings. People honour kings and cheer for kings. People look to kings for protection and they look to kings for provision.  People look to kings for identity, for missions, for flags and for callings.  Jesus is a king.  We should treat him like a king.  But Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world and that is a less familiar concept.  What could that mean?  Jesus’ next line is instructive: his kingdom is from another place, not ‘in’ another place but ‘from’ it.  His kingdom is intrinsically different to any kingdom that Pilate could know.  It was not formed with the same intent as kingdoms of this world.  It is not about acquiring land or wealth or reputation - it has more than enough of all of those things to keep it going till the end of time.  That is what I think he means when he says it is not ‘of’ this world.  But I think Jesus is clear that his kingdom is ‘for’ this world.  And that his kingdom is breaking ‘into’ this world.  Jesus is bringing his kingdom to earth not to claim land but to give it away, not to plunder wealth but to sell it, not to build a reputation but to share one.  Jesus’ kingdom is about one thing only on this world - it is about people.  He came to seek and save the lost, to bring life, to bring true light to enlighten every man woman and child.  He calls us as his subjects to share his passions and his method, to bow and to serve by valuing people and by rescuing them.  Jesus is our king.  And may his kingdom come.

Psalm 68-15-20

Verse 18 is helpfully explained for us by Paul in Ephesians 4:7-10.  There is one word that is different in his version though.  That’s an interesting one to ponder on...

Saturday 28 May

1 Samuel 21:1-23:29

David does act pretty weird sometimes.  He lies his pants off when he meets Ahimelech (thereby getting Ahimelech killed), he nicks God’s bread from the tabernacle and then, in an act that sounds like it comes from Scooby Doo, he acts like a dribbling madman in order to escape from the king of Gath.  The verdict of the bible - that he has a heart like God - is starting to look very generous indeed.  But hasn’t that always been the way with God?  Isn’t that the way with the church?  We bodge-up everything he gives us and yet he still calls us his radiant bride.  And David also took in Abiathar the Nobber and welcomed all those who were in distress or in debt or discontented.  He didn’t turn away the hurt or the broken.  He made them into a rabble for justice, a rabble for God.  And hasn’t that always been the way with God.  Isn’t the the way for the church?  To be known as a refuge for the distressed and the debt-ridden.  To be known as the rabble who welcome all and who empower all to engage with their God and inflict heavy losses on the Philistines.  I think David really did have a heart like God, and the church does too, even if it looks like it has saliva running down its beard.

John 18:1-24

They fell to the ground.  As an incidental detail, it is fairly epic.  They are going about quietly pursuing their nefarious business when kersplat, everyone hits the deck; soil up nostrils, dust in gums, olives into eyeballs.  Jesus identifies himself and such a powerful wave of the Spirit is unleashed that it looked like they were playing ring-a-ring-a-roses.  It’s not like Jesus said anything particularly interesting - just his first name and his home town.  It’s the sort of stuff you use for internet banking passwords.  But when Jesus says it, it does a whole lot more than log you on to your current account.  When Jesus unveils something of himself even those who are aggressively opposed to him can’t help but fall to the ground.  This isn’t just Jesus unleashing a supernatural self-defence mechanism.  It is God showing a bit of himself to a humanity who are hopelessly incapable of comprehending it.  The light shines in the darkness but the darkness cannot grasp it.  We don’t need to defend Jesus or hide him away like an embarrassing mad-uncle.  He’s got something about him that will floor any person in the whole of the universe.  Our role is just to display Jesus to people as best as we can and let him worry about the consequences.  Some may grasp who he is and some may not.  Some may choose to bow down and some may not.  But even those who don't bow will one day fall to the ground.  There's going to be a day when there is only one man left standing, and the rest of us will be filling our nostrils with soil.

Proverbs 13:10-19

Teaching is great.  We’ve got to keep on teaching.  Teaching can turn a person from the snares of death.

Friday 27 May

1 Samuel 19:1-20:42

Maybe Jonathan had been watching too much Spooks?  I can’t think of any other reason why he would have come up with this convoluted plan of shooting arrows and shouting codes for David.  It was completely pointless wasn’t it?  Because, after playing out the “secret message” he then not only waltzed up to David and spoke with him but he also engaged in an extended emotional farewell.  It wasn’t really very Jason Bourne was it?  This relationship between David and Jonathan is interesting though not because it shows them as being gay (honestly some people have got to get a grip on their exegetical principles) but because it illustrates the character of God.  David is regularly described as being someone after God’s heart (eg Acts 13:22) so his attitudes can be taken to reflect God’s.  David has been told Saul is trying to kill him but he is still willing to play his harp for him to try to comfort him.  David seems to choose to believe the best in others.  David has also become a war hero, and yet he does not regard himself as above playing his hap to try to comfort Saul.  David suffers an attempt on his life by Saul and yet he doesn’t reciprocate but flees to Samuel. David accepts the complexity of life and trusts God to bring justice.  And, most of all in this particular passage, we see David is willing to cross faction lines and build deep, loving friendships with people, even with his enemies.  This is the picture of God.  We were his enemies.  Through our sin we were aligned with those who killed Jesus.  But God crossed the faction line and sought a deep loving friendship with us.  God has made us his friends.  

John 17:6-26

I can’t believe Jesus prayed for me.  I sort of knew he did it but the hammering force of him actually calling it out in words has only just hit me.  My heart feels like its penduluming around in my chest.  That he would think to do that!  It’s staggering.  What he prayed for me though is still puzzling me slightly.  I get what is going on when Jesus prayed for the disciples - protection from the evil one, experience of the full measure of joy and sanctification - this is all good stuff that I long to see happening in my life.  But this request that we all would be “one”?  It needs some thought.  One thing I’m sure of is that it is not just a desire for bland ecumenism; Jesus doesn’t just ask that we will be in organisational unity but that we will be “one” just as the Father and he are “one”.  This, I think, is the key to understanding what this means.  Jesus was one with the Father because the Father was in him.  The Father was in Jesus because Jesus was completely submitted to the will of the Father, saying only the words the Father gave him and doing only what he saw the Father doing.  If we are to be one in Jesus then our call is all to be completely submitted together to the will of Jesus.  To bind ourselves in a commitment to saying only the words that Jesus gives us and to doing only the things that we see Jesus doing.  Our focus is not so much to be agreeing with people as yielding to God.  As we do that, we call other believers into this place of absolute abandonment of personal agendas.  If that is where we get to, then we will really appear to be the body of Christ that God has made us.  Then it will be clear to all of us and to all the world that the Father does deeply love us even as he deeply loves Jesus.

Psalm 68:7-14

“you refreshed your weary inheritance”.  I want to claim that one today...

Thursday 26 May

1 Samuel 17:38-18:30

Woo ha! My boys loved this story so much when I read it to them.  They saw that it proves God is the biggest strongest one in the whole universe and he can bash anything, even a massive massive giant.  They jumped up shouting “show me those robbers and mean people who don’t love Jesus and we will bash them with stones and cut off their heads and throw their carcasses to the birds and then everyone will know that God is the greatest one ever!!”.  We have confiscated their catapults.  It’s funny though because while I’ve seen this story in nearly every single childrens’ bible I’ve never once seen the one about David’s wedding present to his father-in-law. Yeowch!  I wonder if he had them gift-wrapped?  The beef in this casserole though is surely the twin concept that David had great success because God was with him (18:14) and that God was with David because David knew that “the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (17:47).  This isn’t the power of positive thinking or even a formula for a full and happy life but just an appreciation that God runs this whole show and that life will go well if we listen to him.  Whatever battles we are facing - juggling multiple responsibilities, striving for personal morality, engaging with difficult people at work - we can know that they are actually the Lord’s battles.  And, if we acknowledge that and seek His glorification in all of them, then we are probably on a good track towards seeing success in at least some of our ventures.

John 16:5-17:5

For the whole of John’s gospel we’ve been getting closer and closer to seeing this concept of eternal life spelt out loud and proud in simple, unambiguous language.  It’s like we’ve been climbing the spiral staircase inside the Tower in the Palace of Westminster, feeling like we must be getting closer to Big Ben but also feeling slightly dizzy and exhausted from the circular nature of our journey.  Now, just as we have reached the top and laid eyes on the Great Bell some bright spark has pulled the bell-rope and clanged the bellmetal right in our faces.  Our ears, our faces, our minds resound with the reverberating truth that this is eternal life: to know God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he sent.  “But he aint’ here” we bellow above the dazzling din, and we are stuck in this God-forsaken place with no earthly way to find him.  The bell is swinging so powerfully and so fast that we feel it is completely beyond us to behold it and know it and live in it.  Eternal life may have sounded grand but, in practice, perhaps it is not for us?  But no.  That is to deny how John introduced this theme and to ignore what Jesus said about the Counsellor.  It is better for us that Jesus is not here.  It is better for us that his Spirit is with us.  You see, this eternal life stuff is not about our efforts, it is not about us reaching out to touch the bell.  It is about the Spirit of God coming to us and convicting us of our sin, leading us into truth and making Jesus known to us.  Eternal life is received, not won.  It is about His work, not our work.  All that remains for us is simply to be alert and to be open.  To enjoy what we are given and to be faithful in response.  We must go on being filled with the Spirit.  We must not grieve the Spirit but be alert to his voice.  We need to be prayed for in ministry time.  We need to give him time in our days.

Psalm 68:1-6

God sets the lonely in families.  Isn’t that just the most moving thing to think about in a society as separated and lonely as ours.  O God, would you help us as your church to be family to the lonely, and that we may lead forth prisoners in singing.

Wednesday 25 May

1 Samuel 16:1-17:37

“Fill your horn with oil and be on your way” (16:1).  Someone had a word very similar to that for me once.  I, like Samuel, was feeling sorry for myself over things that had blown up around me and thought that I just needed some time out.  Not so, says the Lord.  Get on and find the next place where I’m asking you to serve with me.  Serving is important, pouring out your oil is important.  I wonder if some of us just need to hear that from the Lord?  But just serving is not enough.  Just serving in our own strength according to our own whims is a sure fire way to inflict a few scars on those around us.  Even dedicated-to-the-Lord-from-birth Samuel was close to making a proper hash of it until he heard the Lord steering him in another way.  It’s a devastatingly simple principle - look for chances to serve and then, when they come, seek the Lord’s direction on them.  It’s just as simple as praying a few words and expecting them to be heard.  It’s what David did and he seemed to fare him pretty well.

John 15:1-16:4

It’s so jolly sat here on this vine.  The Father really deeply loves me and accepts me and I love him so, so much I just sit here soaking in his glorious presence and.... what!! What are you doing with those secateurs Jesus?  You need to be careful with those; they could really hurt someone.  And what in the blazes are you doing with that bonfire??  When you said the Father was the gardener I thought you meant gardening like I do gardening - switching on the sprinkler once in a while and watching with semi-feigned interest to see how everything gets on?  Are you kidding?  You can’t actually mean that you are going to prune and cut off and train?  Haven’t you heard about belong, believe, behave?  Don’t you know that all your blessings belong to me and I can do whatever I want with them?  You surely can’t actually expect me to bear fruit?  And, why are you going chucking around that word obey?  Don’t you know that that went out of fashion with the nylon pleat?  Well, at least it can’t get any worse.  At least you’ve given us all the bad news now haven’t you Jesus.  Haven’t you?  Oh.  They are going to hate us are they?  Well that is just dandy.  But you do say you love me.  You really really do love me.  You were the one who died for me.  So I will stick with this thing.  But please do help me get my head round it.  Please do help me remain in your love.

Psalm 67:1-7

It’s shocking that so far back in the Old Testament there was already such a strong desire to see the nations being made glad in the praise of God.  And this was even before the coming of Jesus.

Tuesday 24 May

1 Samuel 14:24-15:35

His body may have been decaying but his mind was as sharp as a flint’s edge.  “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears?”  he said.  Isn’t that just one of the most outstanding put-downs of all time?  It’s like he picked up a slightly rotting kipper and slapped it gently but very intentionally around both cheeks of king Saul.  He may have sounded harsh but Samuel was calling out what needed to be declared.  Israel’s king was bankrupt.  He did not know what he was doing.  The key verse that sums up the confusing but ultimately tragic state of Saul is 15:30 - “I have sinned.  But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God”.  Saul admitted he had not done what Yahweh wanted but he still saw Yahweh as being Samuel’s god and not his own.  He didn’t have that personal connection to the one who had called him and was overseeing him.  That is what Samuel got all huffy about.  If that is where you get to - seeing God as someone else’s thing but not your own - then it is high time to put down your staff and pick up your journals.  It’s time to stop for a bit and remind yourself of who God is and what he has done for you.  This whole thing is entirely contingent upon us knowing God.  If anything is getting in the way of that - worship practices or kingdom advances or leadership responsibilities - then things need to change.  God is calling us to know him and, more than that, to remain in him.  Why would we choose to be anywhere else?

John 14:1-31

Sometimes you wonder whether Jesus was trying to be as confusing as possible.  All this talk of “if this, then that” and “the Father this” and “the Counsellor that” makes my head spin.  Essentially, trying to distill it down, I believe that this is Jesus trying to explain the Trinity to us in a way that we might be able to understand.  And, for the 2000 years since Jesus said this, we humans have stood with confused looks on our faces, scratching our heads and saying “sorry, can you just go back over that again?”.  The fault with this is entirely at our end, not remotely at Jesus’s.  The truth is that there is something about God that is exotically mysterious and beyond us.  Something that we could never possibly understand.  But, as Jesus is stressing here, there is also something about God that is slap bang in our faces, touchable, visible, teaching us and caring for us.  There is the Father, seen in the Son, known in the Holy Spirit.  God is not distant and remote - he is here, calming our hearts, showing us the Father, giving us peace.  You know, it is interesting that I’ve never heard anyone refer to the Holy Spirit as the Counsellor.  I’ve never heard anyone pray “Come, O Counsellor”.  And yet, in some ways it is a more descriptive title than Holy Spirit, or at least it emphasises the relational aspect of God more than the usual term does.  It’s not that I want a change, I just want us to all receive all that God has for us.  To know him close and to feel him soothing us and calming us.  That would be a fine thing.  That would be a great way of us knowing that even though our God is too mysterious for us, we are in Him and He is in us.

Proverbs 12:28-13:9

“The desires of the diligent are fully satisfied”.  Oh crud.  What about the slapdash?  Can't we get what we want as well??

Monday 23 May

1 Samuel 13:1-14:23

Poor old Saul.  I actually feel a little bit sorry for him.  I am one of those keep-glancing-at-the-watch-she-said-she’d-be-here-two-minutes-ago kind of guys so I can understand why he decided to press on without Samuel.  After all, Samuel was really old and gray.  Maybe his mobility scooter had broken down, or maybe he had just dropped dead?  Surely the absolute best thing to do would be to sacrifice to the Lord and then get on with bashing the Philistines?  But Samuel arrives and cuts Saul down for his actions.  “You acted foolishly” he said.  Why?  Because Saul thought it was down to him to beat the Philistines.  Did he not know that God had made a covenant to protect Israel and bring them into the land if only they would worship him and obey him?  Saul should have been more willing to trust God to protect his own people.  And this same ignorance of God led Saul to believe that the offerings were just about performing certain religious acts to satisfy a distant deity.  But he was tragically wrong.  The great prophetic voices of Isaiah and Amos had not yet been heard in Israel but their sentiment was already well established (see tomorrow's reading) - God desires mercy not sacrifice, love for him and obedience to his commands rather than ritualistic fulfillment of certain prescribed activities.  Saul just didn’t seem to know God. He didn’t seem to trust God and he didn’t seem to love God.  His son did (as we see him seeking God’s guidance about attacking the Philistines) but Saul did not.  When it comes to priorities in the kingdom, the knowledge and love of God comes above them all, even above arriving on time for meetings.

John 13:18-38

Two crackajack snippets in this passage: what an incredible level of disclosure that Jesus would tell John in advance that Judas would be the one to betray him.  It could have put the whole cross and resurrection plan in jeopardy if John had jumped up and started berating Judas and yet Jesus takes that risk for the sake of deepening his relationship with John.  It almost feels reckless.  I believe Jesus is equally reckless in pursuit of deeper relationships with us.  If we would just recline next to him and ask him questions we may be gobsmacked by what he discloses.  And, for Jesus to say he is giving a ‘new command’ is quite something isn’t it?  And for him to say that it will be the defining mark of discipleship? Wow.  I think we really do seek to love one another at SWLV.  We have been overwhelmed by how much people have done for us while we have been here.  But I still want to press into this more.  I want to give people more time, more encouragement, more support and more of the Father.  I think that is what it means to love “as (Jesus) loved (us)” but I’m such an amateur in this I know I need to learn more from Jesus and from the rest of us.  Oh God would you please help me to recline by Jesus and ask him questions and to lavish love on my fellow followers of you.

Psalm 66:13-20

“I will sacrifice fat animals to you”.

 

“don’t worry kitty, this won’t hurt a bit...”

Sunday 22 May

1 Samuel 10:9-12:25

Cranky.  That’s what Samuel sounds like to me.  I imagine his gnarled old hand bashing his staff down on a rock as he lambasts the Israelites for their catalogue of sins.  But, despite his obvious frustration with the people it is clear that he still feels a very strong commitment to them - to pray for them and to teach them the way that is good and right (12:23).  Indeed, Samuel says it would be a sin for him to neglect to pray for the people.  Surely this is the way of the Lord.  Surely God calls us to faithfulness in relationships despite their tendency to put you in a rage or leave you broken and confused.  If God has put people in our lives, especially if he has put people under our leadership then I don’t think it is for us to turn our back on them without prior permission for him.  We are called to love one another and go on loving one another even when we want to shove a cabbage down their throat.  And one sure way of showing love is to pray.  To pray for people’s growth and health and intimacy with the Father.  And, all being well, hopefully somebody will be doing the same for us.  For if we do that, the Spirit may well come on all of us and make us all into different, more holy people.  

John 12:37-13:17

We should not be pessimists, for He came to save the world.  He did not come to point out error and to judge and to condemn.  Sadly that seems to be the reputation that we as His followers have won for ourselves but that is not why he came.  He came to bring positives, to bring life, to bring hope.  He came to spot potential and to bring it about.  He saw what could be brilliant and wonderful and beautiful.  He went beyond pure analysis and sought to instill within creation a fresh taste of joy.  Like a sprinkler flicking water on parched grass turning it from brown to green before your very eyes.  Any old bloke can say that their neighbour’s grass is brown.  It takes a rare generosity of spirit to  walk across the boundary markers and water their grass, to take the time and effort to nurture their property into health.  That is what he has done in our lives; He has changed things for the better.  He has marinaded us in goodness.  He has leveraged us some hope.  And that is what he invites us into.  To be bringers of hope and life, to be spotters of good and encouragers of men.  Not in a naff “everything’s alright Jack” kind of way but in a real Jesus way - of taking off our outer clothing, wrapping a towel around our waist, pouring some water into a basin and washing some feet.  Of helping people become all that they can be through the cleansing and restoring water of the Spirit.

Psalm 66:1-12

He has brought us into a place of abundance.  Let’s not leave this abundance to get dusty on the shelves.

Saturday 21 May

1 Samuel 8:1-10:8

Amid the historically significant event of Israel appointing their first king we see a theologically significant development in the understanding of the role of the Spirit of the Lord.  The Spirit will now come upon particular people where-ever they are and crucially will change them into a different person.  It used to be that the Lord was encountered by someone getting up and going to the tent of meeting (as Joshua and Moses did).  Now God is no longer willing to wait upon people visiting him.  He himself gets up and goes to find them.  This is the missionary heart of our God.  The Spirit also previously used to empower people temporarily to perform particular tasks (such as Bezalel and Oholiab making the tabernacle) or to speak certain words of prophecy.  Now, quite shockingly, we see the Spirit making a permanent transformation in Saul so that he is equipped to fulfill the role that God has given him.  This is a glorious act of grace.  The crippling and tragic consequences of the Fall of Adam are being redeemed in the heart of Saul.  This is the fatherly heart of our God.  But, as we know, this work of the Spirit has not at this point in the bible been unleashed to transform all men and women, young and old.  And Saul, while he was no longer the same, still did not know the continual sanctifying work of God in his life, transforming him into ever increasing shades of glory.  The Spirit coming on Saul was an unimaginable privilege.  But, compared to what we have, it is like nothing at all.  It truly is a deep and full measure of grace in which we stand.  What a privilege to have the very Spirit of God dwelling inside our bodies.

John 12:12-36

Did God fluff his lines?  If you are going to bother speaking from heaven wouldn’t you say something a bit more significant and specific than “I have glorified my name and will glorify it again” (v28). It hardly gives a clear direction about what God is doing or what he thinks about Jesus.  Couldn’t he have disclosed the secret of the Trinity or said “Oi you lot, Jesus is my boy so stop hassling him”?  Well, first of all the voice speaks directly into the chief obsession of the Father - seeing his name glorified.  Secondly, the voice gets people to look with interest at Jesus.  By speaking, the Father invites people to crane their neck and check out the activity of the Son.  In particular, coming at this point in the story, the Father seems to want to draw attention to the upcoming death of the Christ.  And, in response to the voice, Jesus gives his own death some huge implications - it is a missionary act to spread many seeds and to draw people to Jesus; it is an aggressive act of judgement on the world and the driving out of Satan and; it is a worshipful act to glorify the Father.  What are we meant to do with this?  Well, these three implications form the bedrock for the 3 primary activities of our faith - drawing the world to Jesus, pushing back Satan’s influence in our lives and doing all to glorify the Father.  Or, put another way, mission, nurture and worship.  Giving ourselves to these is what it means to put our trust in the light.  Giving ourselves to these is how we can cry with Jesus - Father, glorify your name.

Psalm 65:1-13

A lot of worship seems to spring from the belief that God made and cares for this land.

Friday 20 May

1 Samuel 5:1-7:17

This is not just religious activity.  This is not just about our actions.  This is Ebenezer.  This is about the God of Israel acting as a real live personality within this world.  God is not some distant spirit or a vague idea.  He is impressing himself upon this world robustly and repeatedly.  He smashes down the statue of Dagan, he afflicts Ashdod, Gath and Ekron with Tumors, he causes the cows to carry the ark straight to Israel’s land.  All of these things happen without a single follower of God being involved.  God is well able to defend himself.  God is well able to achieve his purposes in the world without the faintest hint of our help.  This has long been a Vineyard value.  “Let go and let God”, “God grows the Christian”, “Come Holy Spirit”.  They are all founded upon this remarkable idea that God has power on this earth to pursue purposes for his people.  It is a really liberating thing to accept that we are joining in God’s activity.  It means we can feel free to watch to see what he is doing before getting all rattled about the 1001 things we feel we need to do for Him.  I can’t help thinking about the Kevin Prosch song “His Banner Over me” which has the line in it - “You do all things well, just look at our lives”.  I’ve been places previously where they added an “and” into the middle to change the meaning such that it draws a comparison between God doing things well and us doing things rubbish; “you do all things well and just look at our lives”. Now I’m sure he could have written the line like that and it would have been theologically OK but to change the line from what Prosch wrote to this is surely a problem.  Surely that change is a denial of Ebenezer.  Surely it denies that God has had traction on our lives, that he has actually set our feet upon the rock and bestowed upon us all the riches of the heavenly realms.   Surely it denies the fact that God is smashing Dagons around us and is bringing the Ark of his presence into our midst.  Surely it is a denial of God being mighty and powerful and rampantly active in this world.   Let us long hold onto the truth of Ebenezer.  Without that, we are just performing religious activities.

John 11:45-12:11

Way back at the start of this gospel we compared John to a film director montaging together defining moments of his hero’s life.  Now it seems that this film is a tragedy.  It looked so much like it would be a thriller with Jesus coming out narrowly victorious in his fractious clash with the Pharisees.  But no.  John decides now is the time to drop in the spoilers about Caiaphas’ prophecy and Judas’ betrayal and Jesus’ anointing for burial.  Clearly most readers of the gospel will already have known the story went this way but it is fascinating that John chose only to bring it into the narrative at this point.  He obviously felt that he wanted to display the full extent of Jesus’ grandeur before bringing in the difficult fact of his death.  I guess this may validate our general approach to telling other people about Jesus - of first exposing them to his unrivalled greatness and majestic love and then leading them to the cross for repentance.  The truth is that Jesus is so great and the thing he did was so significant that people couldn’t help themselves but be caught up into it.  Some got caught up in support, wittingly or not, affirming that he would die for all the people and putting their faith in him.  Others got caught up in defiance, seeking to kill him or Lazarus, or finding themselves rebelling against his claims to be more important even than money.  This story of John’s remains the biggest show in town.  It continues to be one that captures people in defiance or support.  And, while it may seem like a tragedy, we know it has got the most almighty twist at the end.

Proverbs 12:18-27

A kind word cheers people up.  

Thursday 19 May

1 Samuel 2:27-4:22

Ichabod; the glory has departed Israel.  It is as damning a verdict as could be passed on the ministry of Eli.  As we go through this sordid period in Israel’s history I find again and again that leadership is utterly crucial to the fate of the nation.  So many leaders just don’t seem to cut it.  Perhaps if we look at why then we might be able to learn from their mistakes.  I think there are two main ones - 1) he was complacent.  Eli lost sight of the privilege in which he stood.  He was extremely richly favoured by God and yet it just became normal to him.  He should have treasured the extraordinary grace he had been shown but his treasure became the approval of his sons.  If we want to lead well we need to force ourselves to remember, to repent and then to fall on our faces in gratitude and worship.  2) he didn’t consistently exert the authority God had given him.  It is fascinating to me that Eli strongly rebuked Hannah (1:14) - mistakenly as it turned out - but held back from actually rebuking his sons; he expresses disapproval but does not tell them to stop or use his parental or priestly power to discipline them.  He may have thought this was loving for them but it wasn’t - they ended up slaughtered by the Philistines.  Maybe he was just scared of them.  If we have been given authority by God - which every leader has - we must exert it, no matter how awkward that can feel.  Fear can not be allowed to stand in the way of our obedience to God.  God delegates such hugely important roles to his people and, if we can only be full of gratitude, quick to repent and willing to exert authority then there is very little limit to what we can see him do through us.

John 11:1-44

With 3 words he raised a man.  And one of the words was restrictive; if he hadn’t named Lazarus who knows how many wrapped bodies would have emerged from the tombs?  It’s quite a display of power.  It could make you feel very intimidated.  But he also wept.  He wept.  I must confess I have never wept over someone else’s misfortune.  I’ve cried over the depth of my sin and blubbed with joy while trying to give my wedding speech.  But feeling someone else’s pain to the extent that my heart tears a little?  That requires a depth of empathy seriously beyond anything I have yet acquired.  I like to feel that I’m the one who can get the job done.  I’ve got the stiff upper lip that helps me make the right decisions even in the difficult situations.  Jesus makes that sound stupid.  He blubbed like a baby and sorted out the problem.  To have in one man both the epitome of supportive friendship and the pinnacle of transformative power well, that man would have to be a liberator of epic proportions.  And so we can come to him - the Son of God who has come into the world - both with trepidation and with boldness.  We shuffle towards God Most High, towards the One who wields intoxicatingly potent power.  And we fling ourselves heavily upon the extended embrace of the Lord who Sees Us, the one who came to build solidarity with us.  We know that God feels raging sorrow over the pains that plague us.  We know that the Almighty Maker and Restorer of All is not unmoved by our plight.  

Psalm 64:1-10

We often see the Psalmist telling God stuff that He must have known very well already.  But biblical prayer does not seem to be about passing on information.  Biblical prayer, at least in the psalms seems to be about building into intimacy with God and trust of him.  It is founded upon the disclosure of real feelings, of tangible fears and of impertinent request for God to act.

Wednesday 18 May

1 Samuel 1:1-2:26

Eating roasted meat?  Even though it is early morning I can still feel a bit of drool at the corner of my mouth just at the thought of it.  Weeping in bitterness of soul?  It’s not something that I have ever put near the top of my daily to-do list.  And yet one is a grave and wicked sin that will lead to death while the other will lead to life and joy.  One sizzles and crackles with pride while the other wails and groans with humility.  The sons of Eli were flouting God’s regulations on how offerings should be served (Leviticus 3 & 4) because they liked their meat to be crispy.  Worship and sacrifice had become about bringing pleasure to them rather than bringing pleasure to Him.  The tragedy is that the sons were already benefitting from the people’s worship.  In his generosity the Father had allocated to them the boiled meat that was generated from the sacrifices.  They had, in a twisted display of disrespect and presumption, decided the Father’s provision for them was not good enough and they were going to steal some of his (the fat).  This is where the enemy seeks to get us.  Church attendance, giving, serving, singing, reading and praying all so easily become focussed on us.  What suits our week and our budget and our mood and our desires.  We need to beware such inclinations.  And if that is where we find ourselves?  If we feel far from God and condemned by our situation?  Hannah shows us the way.  Weeping.  Praying. Humbly crying out to God.  I think I need to re-write my to-do list...

John 10:22-42

The big story rolls on here - Jesus is at pains to point out that he is saying things entirely consistent with the Hebrew scriptures and with his actions.  Check it out and you will see - if God was going to do something massive on earth, would it look any different to Jesus?  And, while this journey continues, we are treated to a dazzling array of precious truths so great it is like walking round the Jewel House at the Tower of London.  Each one is worth memorising and meditating on.  Each one would underpin a radically transformed life.  Jesus knows us.  We will never perish.  The Father has given us to Jesus.  We cannot be snatched out of Jesus’ hand.  These are immense sources of comfort.  Words that take our fears, our concerns about our identity, our dread about our future and smash them on the rocks.  Words that creep in under our defences and begin to mould our inner being.  They cause us to pray differently, to think differently, to walk differently.  And, if we ever begin to get done with them, then we can start on the fact that Jesus and the Father are one and that they are both in each other.  This is truly a rich inheritance, an eternal feast that we can pick at and digest for the rest of our days.  I feel so privileged to have been invited into this thing.  To have been given to Jesus by the Father.

Psalm 63:1-11

The psalmist thinks that God’s love is better than life.  I wonder what that belief would do to you?

Tuesday 17 May

Ruth 3:1-4:22

How old actually was Boaz?  He must have been fairly senile not to have noticed a strange woman sneaking into his bed during the night.  Either that or he moved even more strongly than I in the gift of sleeping-through-babies-crying-and-other-such-events.  

What we read today reinforces what we saw yesterday - that as we approach the Father and lie at his feet (whether in the middle of the night or not) he declares to us “I will do for you all you ask” and then feeds us, redeems us and restores hope to us.  But, there is more to this story than just that.  Ruth teaches us that the Father does not just lavish love on his people.  He doesn’t just leave people as passive recipients.  He grafts us into being active participants in his huge plan to redeem the world.  Ruth becomes a crucial link in the chain of Israel’s monarchy and of the ancestry of Jesus. The truth has always been that God uses people to further his purposes in the world.  We nod knowingly when someone says it.  But when it comes to believing that we could actually do something that would be a critical link in the chain of God’s redemptive plan well, we just seem to shake our heads and walk away.  It may be, just like Ruth, raising children to be everything the Father wants them to be, it could be helping a friend walk through their confusion about Jesus, it might be bringing a friend to church, it might be leading a house group or a thousand other things.  I suspect, like Ruth, we will not realise the significance of what it is that God actually does through us.  But we need to know that he wants to use us.  We need to know that he, in a mystifying act of grace, does turn us into critical members of the kingdom with eternally significant works prepared for us to do. After all, none of us could be less qualified for this than Ruth.

John 9:35-10:21

I must confess that the ability of demons to open the eyes of the blind is a topic that I have never heard discussed at any coffee shop I have ever visited.  I suspect that many of my friends would think it is a retrograde view that comes from another age.  But the activity of demons, incredibly, is not the thing in this passage that is most likely to prompt the gag-reflex.  That honour lies in the offensively exclusive statements Jesus makes about himself.  Jesus raises his eyes to the crowds and, without the faintest whiff of irony or self-aggrandisement,  informs them that he is their only hope in life.  He eyeballs men and women and tells them that without his love, they are screwed.  The legacy that Jesus established and John passed on is defined by exclusive statements about Jesus.  It is a legacy we have received but that I seem to shuffle my feet in fulfilling.  I'm increasingly convinced that we are not called to be nice.  We are not called to make people happy or to educate them or to heal them.  We are not called to improve our local area or to write good books.  At least, that is not the sum of our calling.  That is not the root or the foundation or the framework of our task.  These are really good things and things that we hope for.  But, ultimately, our calling is to help people find Jesus and then, through him, to see our world renewed and redeemed.  Our calling is to show people the good farmer who gives overflowing life and who came back from the dead.  Our calling is to help people make a decision about what they are going to do with Jesus and then to help them do it.  Our calling is to expose the death that lies outside of the kingdom and to offer and demonstrate the life that is found in the King.  I feel like Jesus needs to be talked about more.  Not in a sappy, or an arrogant or an un-natural way, but as the watchman who opens the gate to life.  As the one who calls out every single person's name and invites them to come in and find peace.

Psalm 62:1-12

Those are 2 real good things that the psalmist has heard.

Monday 16 May

Ruth 1:1-2:23

The last time we saw a Moabite woman she was being speared through the stomach during an illicit sexual liaison with Zimri son of Salu (Numbers 25).  The Moabite women were seen to epitomise evil and corruption, to be a dangerous snare to Israel.  So it is incredibly shocking to see a Moabite woman being welcomed into Israel to such an extent that she is given a bible book of her own.  From Ruth's side, what sets her apart from Orpah and the other Moabite women is that she sought refuge under the wings of the God of Israel.  But, to give that more than just a passing mention would be to lose sight of the big story in this book.  Ruth is the story of God’s willingness to welcome anyone.  Ruth is the story of the God’s happiness to provide for any person who comes to him.  Ruth is the illustration of our God’s character - rich in generosity, abounding in love, willing to appear contradictory and fickle just for the sake of having people join his family.  Ruth should have been one of the last people to receive forgiveness and welcome from our God.  She, like Paul after her, serves as an example and an encouragement to us - we are deeply loved by a God who has endless reserves of patience and forgiveness.  There are many Ruths out there today who God is drawing to himself.  We just need to leave sheaves of barley out for them to pick up.

John 9:1-34

For the past few chapters John has been drilling into the issue of faith and division over Jesus.  Today he illustrates this divisiveness through the rollercoaster ride to faith of this man born blind.  Each time John shows how objections or barriers to faith - here expressed through the man’s parents and the Pharisees - are artificial and invalid.  People may obscure the truth because of their fear of others.  People may flat out deny the truth because of their prejudices and instinct for self-preservation.  But if you come to Jesus with an open mind you will see that he is from God.  Jesus has healed a man born blind.  Eyes that were not properly formed in the womb had their creation process completed by Him.  Jesus can mould, sustain and extend creation.  His power is compelling.  Any sane person would submit their life to the One who manages all creation.  Any sane person would at the very least explore who this man is, at less press into his identity and potential sources of his power.  That is the call on the church today, to demonstrate the power of Jesus and then give people an opportunity to explore who he is.  Demonstration and proclamation, that is the mandate for the church.  Some will react badly but those who are open will be amazed at what they discover.

Proverbs 12:8-17

I am a nobody but sadly I have no servant.  But I still think I’m better off than if I pretended to be somebody and had no food.

Sunday 15 May

Judges 20:1-21:25

I feel like someone has picked up last week’s bin bag and emptied it over my head. I honestly don’t know what to write.  Just when we thought it was starting to get back on track they go and hit a new low.  And Paul says in Romans that we are meant to rejoice at the privilege of being grafted into this crowd?  Rejoice? It’s like a national embarrassment.  And, what is worse, in 21:15 the Israelites try to pin the blame for all this mess on the Lord.  I know I’ve written the same thing for the last 3 days now but I just don’t know how the Lord could have put up with this horror-show.  If there was any doubt surely this confirms the fact that humanity has no hope on its own.  Even when the Lord is around we still make an utter pigs-ear of it all.  What is needed is a complete renewal.  A work that replaces the wicked core of these people with something tender and good.  As Ezekiel says many years later, what people need is for God to do an act of regeneration, to replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.

John 8:31-59

What can we get from this showdown with the Pharisees?  Well I guess one key thing is that it reveals Jesus’ understanding of the devil.  The devil is a bit of a background figure for the majority of the bible.  Where he came from is not really explained and his exact relationship to God is not disclosed.  But he has a massive impact on the whole redemption story.  Jesus confirms this when he speaks of the devil as being real, being active and being savagely opposed to the will of God.  Jesus said that the devil is waging war against God and, crucially, is doing so through people.  It is no wonder when some people react negatively to our love of Jesus and our advocacy for him.  It doesn’t necessarily mean we are being insensitive or arrogant or doing anything wrong (although we might be).  You se we don’t just live in a world that is fallen.  We don’t just have hearts that are tragically slanted towards sin.  We also have a being roaming around among us trying to do us harm, trying to destroy us and assault the truth the we received from Jesus.  This sounds alien and ridiculous to our ears but Jesus taught it and we would do well to think on it.  We need to remember that we live in the midst of a war-zone.

Psalm 61:1-8

This desire to see the king enthroned for ever crystallized into the hope for a glorious Messiah-king who would rule well over Israel.

Saturday 14 May

Judges 18:1-19:30

Wow.  That is some crazy, messed-up stuff.  That is properly sick.  Micah shouldn’t have had his own idol, Jonathan the priest shouldn’t have ‘priested’ anywhere other than at the House of God, the Danites shouldn’t have taken the land that Joshua allocated to the Ephraimites, the Danites shouldn’t have massacred the Laishites, the Gibeahites shouldn’t have left it to an old man to host the travellers, the wicked men should not have pounded on the door demanding sex with the traveller, the old man should not have offered his virgin daughter as a token, the traveller should not have given his concubine to the wicked men, the wicked men should not have gang-raped her all night and the traveller should have been a little more concerned than just opening the door in the morning and saying “get up”.  What on earth must God have made of all of this?  He no doubt felt more revulsion over this than we ever could.  But the amazing thing we know is that God didn’t look at this and just dish out a punishment.  He decides to act in one decisive way.  He leans over the the Word and says to him “start packing your things...”

John 8:12-30

Amid this fairly dense passage is an incredible insight into the sheer intimacy there was between Jesus and the Father.  I’ve noticed that recently I have thought a lot about Jesus and about God as Lord but this concept of God as Father has ever so slightly been nudged to one side.  I hope this realisation will see that being remedied.  Absolutely fundamental to Jesus’ life was his utter dependance on his Father.  He knew exactly what his Father had taught him.  He knew that his Father had sent him, was with him and had not left him alone.  Even more than that, he knew that his Father was pleased with every single thing he was doing.  How could he have had such confidence about these things?  I’m not in that place, but I do want to be.  I want to be constantly aware of the Father’s presence with me and of his desires for my life in general and for this moment in particular.  I want to feel his pleasure at what I am doing.  I want to put myself in a place where I can be taught by the Father and where I live completely out of that learning.  Jesus please help me become like you in this.  Jesus I put my faith in you.

Psalm 60:5-12

Here’s an interesting example of Israel’s hope that God would trample down her enemies.  God really would toss his sandal over Edom, but not in the way that the Psalmist expected.

Thursday 12 May

Judges 14:1-15:20

These case-studies of grace and failure are getting exhausting.  Samson should not have married a Philistine, but he did.  He should not have treated his parents with disrespect, but he did.  As a Nazirite (no fruit of the vine allowed) he would have been better off not to have gone near the Vineyards, but he did.  He should not have gone near the dead lion, but he did.  As a Nazirite he should not have been near dead bodies, but he did.  In fact he created a lot of dead bodies.  He probably should not have messed around with foxes, but he did.  He should not have touched the jaw-bone of the donkey, but he did.  If it wasn’t for Hebrews 11 (which calls him a hero of the faith) I’d be all set to write Samson off as a plonker.  Indeed in Hebrews it lists Samson among a group of others whose “weakness was turned to strength”.  And, what happened to him in the physical surely happens to us in the spiritual.  If we can bring weakness to God then he will turn it into strength.  The focus is not on the weakness but on the bringing.  Will we continue to keep our hair long and unkempt - will we continue to seek Jesus radically and completely?  If we will then the baffling law of grace can be relied upon - despite our failures, despite our weaknesses, despite our rebellion and neglect of God, he will take what we bring and will turn it into strength.  He will make us very heroes of the faith.

John 7:14-44

It’s always important to remember with John that the whole point of his book is to convince people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing we may have life in his name (20:31).  John has blasted us with the hurricane-like force of Jesus’ personality and power and now he is picking up some of the objections we might have about whether this man, no matter how powerful, could actually be the Source of Life for us.  Yesterday the objection was that his words are too difficult and that some don’t follow him.  Today the objection is to do with expectations - in some ways Jesus doesn’t look like the Source of Life that people were expecting.  Firstly, he breaks the Jewish laws that he claims to be fulfilling and secondly, he is just a bloke from Galilee.  I think these objections are still around today if in a slightly different form - if Jesus is the Source of Life for me why is he not doing the sort of things I want him to do - and - wasn’t Jesus just a vaguely historical figure who lived in Israel 2000 years ago.  The response to the first objection is “stop judging by mere appearances” and the response to the second is “he may be a bloke from Galilee but he was sent there by God”.  Neither of these responses would have made it into the closing speech of ‘A Few Good Men’ but that is partly the point - Jesus wasn’t so much about battering people with arguments (although he did a bit of that with the Pharisees) as he was about inviting them in to experience his kingdom and to discover that He really is Truth.  Choose to do God’s will, then you will know if my teaching comes from God.  Look at how I heal people and make a right judgement.  Come to me and drink. Believe in me and streams of living water will flow through you.  As we seek to invite people to receive life from Jesus we would do well to follow Jesus’ own lead - to invite them in and let them find out through experience that Jesus really is the Christ of God.

Proverbs 11:29-12:7

How we are with our family is a strong indicator of our character, and it is likely to determine what we inherit in life.

Friday 13 May

Judges 16:1-17:13

Whatever happened to an eye for an eye?  If the Lord had granted Samson’s actual request for revenge then he would only have given him enough strength to push over a candlestick.  That candlestick would then have knocked out one man’s eyeballs as it fell to the floor.  But the Lord didn’t do that.  He gave Samson enough strength to crush 3000 people.  Did the Lord just get his calculations wrong?  I don’t think so.  As the Philistines mocked Samson they were implicitly mocking God and as they celebrated Samson’s capture they began to worship Dagon as the sovereign lord of their land.  This was a power encounter between the false god Dagon and the Sovereign Lord of the earth.  In such a contest there can only ever be one winner.  So what can we take from this?  God is always doing a bigger thing that just sorting out personal gripes. God is obsessed with own name being glorified across the whole world.  Not because he is an egomaniac but because it is better for everyone to know that he is the one who can help them, he is the one who can heal them, he is the one who can protect them and he is the one who rules over them.  Personal issues still do get his attention - Samson got what he wanted and then some! - but this thing is about more than that.  It is about the world appreciating the Yahweh is the Sovereign Lord of all.

John 7:45-8:11

This is a bit of an odd section.  I guess the unbelief of the Jewish leaders reinforces the point that some people reject Jesus.  And their rejection is not based on sensible consideration but on prejudice and pride.  I guess some people have so much to lose if they acknowledge Jesus that they are very loathe to do so.  But, John is clear to point out that if people do approach Jesus with an open mind they will likely come back as the temple guards did, saying “no-one ever spoke the way this man does”.  The truth is that many people all across South West London are in the place of the guards.  From the outside they may look like they hate Jesus because that is what their close companions are saying but, in fact, they are finding themselves strangely attracted by him.  Jesus himself said that the harvest field in white.  Many many people are out there wanting to discover more about Jesus, wanting to work out what he is all about, why he spoke the way he does and what they should do about it.  It is for us, as Jesus’ body on this earth, to find them and help them in their search.  Please Jesus would you give us eyes to see them and boldness to approach them in love.

Psalm 60:1-4

Ouch.  Sometimes life hurts.  But with God there is always a ‘but’.  There is always something he is doing to redeem, to protect and to restore.

Wednesday 11 May

Judges 12:1-13:25

At this point Israel just starts to look gormless and clueless.  Ephraim and Manasseh shouldn’t have been fighting each other - they were co-heirs of the covenant for goodness sake!  They certainly shouldn’t have been indulging in lisp-based ethnic cleansing.  Ibzan shouldn’t have been marrying outside his clan as he would have known if he’d ever bothered with Deuteronomy and, Abdon should have done a little more with his leadership than furnish his children with their own personal donkeys.  But, once again we see the Lord sending his representative into a seething mass of lawlessness and destruction.  Once again we see the Lord responding to rebellion and neglect with both compassion and justice.  Justice dictates that Israel will be subjected to the Philistines but compassion finds a sterile and childless woman and promises her a child who will be the deliverer for Israel.  There should be no doubting it; God is willing to lose all dignity just to give his people a chance at redemption.  Even Manoah’s innate ability to act like a buffoon couldn’t hold back the Lord’s redemptive efforts.  God could have told Manoah to go and read his bible - all the answers he sought were right there in Numbers 6 - but he didn’t, he sent his angel back to interact with this imbecile and assure him and his wife that the Lord’s Spirit was back in town.  So here we can see the repeated theme of Judges and the bible; no matter how rebellious you are, no matter how bankrupt or idiotic, you are not beyond the compassionate saving work of God.  If you seek him, even if you don’t really know how to seek him, you will find him and he will lead you into a brighter hope than you ever dared imagine.

John 6:60-7:13

As the divine identity of Jesus has been revealed and the required response to him prescribed, the fabric of Israel’s society begins to disintegrate around him.  People are streaming away from him. People are severing and making ties because of him.  And Jesus seems to have no problems with it.  Jesus is not an apologetic people-pleaser.  He did not come to give everyone a nice shoulder pat.  He came to reign and he came to give life.  And he is happier to have a few people really grasping real life than to have great crowds mooching about in life’s pale imitation.  Eternal life is such a precious commodity but some don’t want it at all and that others just want to water down.  Jesus refused to go that way, and John did too.  Jesus is the Holy One of God who is the same yesterday today and forever.  He has the words of eternal life.  And no-one else does.  As I seek to live in this eternal life I find it a constant battle to take it in its unadulterated form.  I want to make it easier and less offensive to me and my friends.  I don’t like to see them grumbling.  I don’t like to see people calling Jesus a deceiver.  I don’t like to find myself confused and perplexed with no-one else to go to except for Jesus.  But the weird thing is that that is eternal life.  That is where joy and peace everlasting are found.  It is bizarre but it is true.  Jesus loves to give this life, this most precious commodity to his people.  And he refuses to undervalue them by watering it down.

Psalm 59:9-17

If I’m honest this one does sound a little vindictive.  He does seem to know where his help is found though.