Monday 19 December

Ezra 4:6-5:17

When attack and discouragement and assault comes - which indeed it will - history is a value defensive shield.  I don’t mean that stuff about King Canute getting shot in the eye with an arrow at the battle of Trafalgar (or whatever it was).  I mean the history of God.  I mean the history of the world from the view of God.  I mean God’s redemption narrative that has coursed and spun through generation to generation, growing ever more complex and ever more established until it has enveloped us in the safety of its core.  When people make us feel stupid for pursuing what we think God has called us to, when it all feels too hard or too forlorn, then we can bring ourselves back to our call by God.  We are servants of the God of heaven and earth.  He has shown himself faithful and just in the face of ardent opposition.  People in the past, and indeed we ourselves, have failed him and let him down.  But we don’t want to repeat that mistake.  We can see how He has continued to work for us.  His purposes have continued to prevail.  And so, dear accuser, we sniff your discouragement but we turn our noses up at it.  We see the plate of resignation that you are serving for us but we will not eat.  We will stand by our convictions.  We will press on to the goal.  We will not give up.  For our God is the God of heaven and earth and anyone who opposes him will ultimately fail.  We are more than conquerers in Christ Jesus.  And so we will keep working to the glory of His name.

Revelation 11:1-19

I remember when I read the “Left Behind” book about the Two Witnesses.  That was a waste of several hours of my life.  It nearly sent me loco.  What I wish I’d spent that time doing was thinking about the phrase “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ”.  Phewee, that is some pretty hot stuff right there.  That makes me feel some vigour when I look out of my window.  To think that God is going to take his power and apply it serious-style to the world.  That he is going to get rid of all destructive powers that destroy the earth and he is going to reward all the people who reverence Hiss name.  Wow.  That is a future that I want to believe in.  That is an intent of God that I want to feel in my bones.  I want to see this world redeemed.  I want to see my country redeemed and my city redeemed and my town redeemed and my family redeemed and my own heart redeemed.  And God is going to do it.  God is going to do it.  This isn’t some fairy-story book or inspiring film but it is the word of God speaking these promises to us.  That is something to get excited about.

Psalm 145:1-7

“Every day I will praise you.”  That sounds like a good discipline.