Tuesday 16 August

2 Chronicles 5:2-7:10

This is the drum-beat that underlies this narrative.  This is the thumping rhythm for the whole of this book.  God is good.  Genesis established it and the Torah explained it and the history books explored it and the prophets shouted it.  But do we know it?  God is good.  The word ‘good’ is actually surprisingly potent.  It’s a strong word that can reverberate around a room.  It seems to imply action and positive intent and ripe juicy exuberance.  He is good.  God is good.  That’s a message for the church today.  That’s a message for the world today.  Let us press ourselves into the goodness of God.  But that’s not the end of it.  God is not only good; his love also endures for ever.  Love is maybe a slightly more compromised word.  So I like a suggested alternative translation - “his mercy is endless”.  Endless mercy.  That’s the foghorn that blasts unexpectedly, tilting us off our seats in a fluster of movement.  That is the continuing shock of the kingdom, the eternally-repeating drama of the gospel.  His mercy is endless.  We can never plumb its depths, we can never chart its horizons.  What an astoundingly glorious inheritance we have received.  What a wonderful faith we hold.  Our God is indeed good.  And his mercies are endless.

1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1

When the wife takes the kids out and I’m at home on my own I like to sit in my pants, break wind and watch all sorts of obscure sport.  It’s great to get some time for myself for a change.  For those few precious moments I can do whatever I want.  But when they stay away longer than I planned I start to find my ‘me time’ gets a little bit boring; there’s only so much pleasure that can be gained from watching women’s judo.  And I start to realise that now would be a perfect time to fix that door handle or play my guitar or speak to a friend on the phone.  Paul’s only pointing out what my experience has shown - doing stuff that is permissible is not actually as fun as doing stuff that is beneficial.  Giving is better than receiving.  Using your time, money and energy to do something for someone else - mowing their grass, making them a cake, listening to their problems - is actually far better than just spending them on yourself.  If we choose to seek the good of many then our lives will undeniably become richer.  And we will know we are imitating Paul, just as he imitated Jesus.

Probers 20:5-14

“Stay awake and you will have food to spare”.  Huh?  He obviously never got the late night munchies.