Author: feefsmall

How do you cope with bad news? If you are like David and his followers then it takes time to sink in. At first there is just disbelief and shock. Then the panic sets in as you try and find the best way to respond to the difficulty you are facing. For these people and their families their immediate objective was to walk with all the stuff they could carry the roughly twenty miles to the Jordan River and get safely across to the other side. The darkness of the first night on the run was the cover they needed to accomplish this goal. To the royal party used to a comfortable life in the palace it must have been a great shock to live at such a basic level simply trying to survive those first few days.

This meditation by King David in Psalm 4 relates to the end of the second day on the run. The ground under foot had been uneven and far from easy to cover at any speed, even without the presence of elderly people and young children. I picture them camped for a second night out in the open. There in the sight of the starry sky, not dimmed by modern light pollution, the weary travellers eagerly laid down to rest. How did David view their situation at that time? What did he have to say to God in his prayers?

(1)The upwards call (Psalm 4:1-3) Answer me when I call to You, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress;    have mercy on me and hear my prayer (Psalm 4:1). David had many flaws and weaknesses that were well known. He lived his whole life in a very public way. Yet he was never too proud to admit it when he got things wrong and let God down. He was well aware that God was a holy God who knew him better than he knew himself. He had no right to obtain favours from God. Instead, he humbly sought mercy from Him. This is a wise step for us all. God knows our hearts and we cannot hide anything from Him. The wonderful blessing is that God is so gracious to those who come humbly before Him seeking His assistance. David also had a real confidence that God would hear and answer his prayers. Psalm 4:3 states: Know that the Lord has set apart His faithful servant for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him. I hope each one of us shares this same confidence that David had in God hearing his prayers. 

(2) The inward conviction (Psalm 4:4-6) David recognised so well that we are all sinners and he was anxious that no sin would come between him and God. He wanted to take the necessary time to ensure his heart was right before God. Search your hearts and be silent (Psalm 4:4b). He wanted to make sure that though there was rightful anger at the injustice of what was happening in their land that it did not lead to ill-considered actions. He wanted to make sure that God was approached in the right way during such a tough time (Psalm 4:5). David knew that there were other people resigned to despair. Many, Lord, are asking, ‘Who will bring us prosperity?’  Let the light of Your face shine on us.  (Psalm 4:6).

Another writer of Psalms, the Jerusalem Temple worship leader Asaph wrote in Psalm 77:6 these words: I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked… But he later admitted his own serious doubts of his struggles being resolved satisfactorily. ‘Will the Lord reject for ever? Will He never show His favour again? ⁸ Has His unfailing love vanished for ever? Has His promise failed for all time? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?’ (Psalm 77:7-9). God did bring him through his difficult time and will do the same for you and me if we put our faith in Him. One of the blessings for some people in recent months has been for more time to spend on other things while confined at home. There is a time to be still in God’s presence reflecting or meditating on His Word and coming before Him with our prayers. 

3. The secret of contentment (Psalm 4:7-8) You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. There are two blessings David says he is enjoying even in these most distressing of circumstances. You have filled my heart with greater joy… He is not saying God has supernaturally made him so happy. No! Happiness is based on feelings and in times of serious crisis we are anything but happy. However, joy is contentment and a security in knowing that God has things under His control, even if I cannot see the evidence for it. Then and now God’s people are called to live by faith not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). Will you and I entrust our futures to the Lord? When we can truly say ‘yes’ to this question it is remarkable how much easier we find it to be at peace with ourselves and also to sleep at night. David here writes: In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. I sincerely hope and pray that this is your experience as well, as you and I trust God to take care of our futures.  

Our song for reflection today is: ‘In Christ alone’

Brian Talbot

Introduction

What an extraordinary day it had been as King David and those associated with him fled like a long line of refugees from the city of Jerusalem down the steep hillside heading towards the Jordan valley and its well-known river. The city is incredibly tense and quiet as people weight up their options to stay or to flee. Time is of the essence as Absalom and his supporters who had launched the military coup d’état would soon arrive. How would they treat any remaining citizens? Who would be trusted to support the new regime or who would be suspected of deeper sympathies for the aged David? Was it time for the old man to step down and let his middle-aged son take the throne? David although weak in body as the ageing processes cannot be delayed for ever is still as ‘sharp as a pin’ in his mind. He knows that his only hope of survival or even of regaining his throne is to escape across the Jordan River.

All of us have faced moments of crisis and trouble when we felt overwhelmed by events taking place around us. For some of us the events of recent months have been overwhelming, but no-one could deny the unsettling nature of so much that has been going on. The future for us now, like David then, was too difficult to predict. How did David react as an elderly man coming to terms with such difficult times? Psalm 3 was written almost certainly as a response to his time of crisis three thousand years ago.

1. The pressure exerted by David’s foes (Psalm 3:1-2) (Psalm 3:1a) Lord, how many are my foes! II Samuel 15:13-14: A messenger came and told David, ‘The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.’ All of us have had times in our lives when we have felt overwhelmed. The emotions just come over us and we cannot but feel incapable of handling whatever circumstances are in front of us. It may be that in the worst case scenario they might indeed be that bad, but like me you will have had times where a good night’s sleep has allowed our minds to be refreshed and our emotions calmed and then we are able to gain a sense of perspective.

At that point we can start to see actions that can be taken to help us go forward with what lies before us. This is the hardest part of the situation seeking to get a clear picture of what is going on before seeking to process it so that we can organise a plan of action. It is so impressive that David despite his advanced years is able to keep his mind focussed on the task in hand. In life all of us will have our disappointments and setbacks with health issues, work and family challenges and bereavements, together with supporting other people through a varied mix of their life situations.

In these situations it is a privilege and an assurance to know that we can rely on the Lord to sustain and uphold us through these times. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ ³ Surely He will save you…(Psalm 91:1-3a). I hope each one of us have the Lord as our Rock on whom we can depend in the ups and downs of life.

2. The protection provided by David’s God (Psalm 3:3-4) (Psalm3:3a) But You, Lord, are a shield around me, God you are my protector. You care for me when other people may think –doesn’t he deserve it? I won’t give a hand! In Psalm 27:7-10 David makes this point at a time when he was in another crisis situation. Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. ⁸ My heart says of You, ‘Seek His face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek. ⁹ Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Saviour. ¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. 

David’s parents never forsook him as far as I can tell. These words were a hypothetical example – even if this happened – God will never abandon me. In Psalm 34:6-7 during an earlier crisis when he was on the run from his predecessor King Saul, David while in Philistine territory was delivered by God. His autobiographical statement is most encouraging to us: This poor man called, and the Lord  heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles.⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. What a wonderful assurance! I hope you and I can share it as well in our lives today as we seek to navigate the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 virus pandemic.  

3. The peacefulness experienced during David’s sleep (Psalm 3:5-6) I lie down and sleep (Psalm 3:5a). It was because his security was in God that he could have the confidence to lie down and sleep that first night. It was not simply sheer exhaustion that brought about his sleep, though undoubtedly he was exhausted with the exertions of the day. The gift of sleep is so precious to us. But we do take it for granted. We only truly appreciate it when on those rare nights we struggle to sleep, we long for it, and if it doesn’t arrive we can feel very weary. There is here a real practical issue in our prayer life of being able to bring things to the Lord and leave them with Him. Paul’s words in Philippians 4:6-7 are so applicable here: 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

May that continue to be our experience as followers of Jesus. David went on to say: I wake again, because the Lord sustains me (Psalm 3:5b). God promises each one of us only the strength we need for one day at a time. It is a battle that we may have to fight daily. May God the Holy Spirit enable us to live this way in His resources.

4. The assurance found in David’s heart (Psalm 3:7-8) From the Lord comes deliverance. May Your blessing be on Your people (Psalm 3:8).  The civil war in Israel was just beginning and David and his companions were camped out on the other side of the Jordan River. Yet this promise would come true. Many people came to assist them with the things they needed from food to bedding; and there would be a rebuilding of their confidence in how things would work out for them to go back to their homes and get on with their lives again as before. The immediate crisis was now over, but what was important was that they committed the future to the Lord their God. We don’t know what the future holds for us either, but we trust the God who holds our future in His hands. 

Our song for reflection is: ‘God is our strength and refuge’

Brian Talbot

Psalm one and Psalm two have been deliberately placed at the start of this book of songs for a purpose. Psalm one zooms in like the microscope to help the reader or singer reflect on the kind of person God wants us to be in order that we might receive His blessing. By contrast, Psalm 2 is like the telescope that helps us look outwards at the bigger picture beyond our immediate little world.  What does this Psalm tell us about our world and our God?

1.There are people who hate God and those who follow Him (Psalm 2:1-3)  

Why do the nations conspire   and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth rise up
 and the rulers band together  against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, ³ ‘Let us break their chains   and throw off their shackles.’ We live in a world where there are many loud voices advocating their particular causes. Naturally if we want freedom to express our opinions we should also want other people to have similar freedoms. Yet we live in a world where past and present there have been many rulers who have no time for God or for tolerating the existence of Christian Churches. In 1976, for example, Enver Hoxha, leader of the Communist Party in Albania outlawed all religious practices and declared the country the world’s first completely atheistic state.

It was the great leader and the party that must be revered alone. This reign of terror failed. The regime fell in December 1990 and in the census of 2011 just over twenty years later a mere 2.5% of the population self-identified as atheists. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example; there are plenty of contemporary examples today of regimes hostile to the practice of Christianity or to other faiths.

What is important to remember is that this is far from a new development; it has been witnessed over many centuries. However, this extreme discrimination or actual persecution for holding to the Christian faith does not last forever. The day of freedom eventually comes. The challenges and discouragements in the current Covid-19 virus pandemic for most of us in the United Kingdom are on an apparently smaller scale, but they can seem so large to us. The important point to remember is this: they will not last forever.  

2. There is One who is in control (Psalm 2:4-6)

⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. ⁵ He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ⁶ ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ The Psalmist pictures God looking down at those on earth who want to prevent other people worshiping Him and bursting out in laughter. Evil things happen in our world and sometimes those who do wrong appear to get away with it. But God will have the final word. The Psalmist drew attention to an installation of a king by God in Jerusalem. It is business for Him as usual in heaven and on earth He is not confined. As a result of the Covid-19 virus pandemic church buildings have been closed for more than three months, but God’s Spirit is very much at work in the world. Record numbers of people have accessed at least one church service online during the lockdown. God is not confined by our difficulties on earth. We have our struggles and our tears at times, but we will not forget that God is on the throne.    

3. God has spoken! (Psalm 2:7-9)

⁷ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to Me, ‘You are My son;  today I have become Your father. ⁸ Ask Me  and I will make the nations Your inheritance,  the ends of the earth Your possession.⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron; You will dash them to pieces like pottery.’ God has spoken! He is building His kingdom in the hearts and lives of His people across the planet.  How often in church do we pray these words: ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10); This is what God is doing throughout the world year after year. Often it takes place quietly in the lives of individuals who commit their lives to follow Jesus. On other occasions there are more obvious answers to pray and signs of God at work.

In our church Bible verse for the year in 2020, Ephesians 3:20-21, this prayer begins with these words: Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us… I believe that God is bringing this to fruition in the life of our church during these difficult times. What will be the ultimate result of the work of God’s Spirit in our midst? ‘I don’t know’ is the honest answer, but we serve an amazing God who will be at work in the lives of people drawing them to faith in Him. These cryptic verses in Psalm 2 are understood to be God the Father setting Jesus apart for the worldwide kingdom He will rule over at the end of the age. Those who refuse to tolerate the existence of His Church and seek to wipe out its membership with their imprisonments and other forms of persecution will one day be required to give an account of their lives to God. He will have the final say as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

4. God’s message to the world leaders (Psalm 2:10-12)

¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. ¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear   and celebrate His rule with trembling.  ¹²Kiss His son, or He will be angry   and your way will lead to your destruction, for His wrath can flare up in a moment.  Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. In effect, we might say in contemporary language if you want to be on the right side of history sign up for God’s team. ‘Jesus is Lord’ was the minimum statement of faith of the Early Church and the words uttered from the lips of baptismal candidates in the first few centuries of Church history. The imagery here is of earthly rulers acknowledging that God is God and that they too must bow the knee to Him. These words of many centuries before the time of Jesus were intended as an encouragement to Gods people that despite all the obstacles in our pathways at times like this that the final triumph of King Jesus is assured. Let us go into this new day with confidence that God is on the throne of His universe and give Him all the glory and praise.

Our song for reflection today is: ’10,000 reasons’ (Bless the Lord) 

Brian Talbot

Psalm 1 is the first of 150 songs used in the regular worship of the Jewish people over the last three thousand years. It is this song that sets the tone for the rest of the book and asks its readers and singers about the choices they are making about what is really important in their lives. This is incredibly serious because there are two pathways described in this Psalm and only one is marked as ‘Blessed’ by God.  This Psalm acts as a kind of mirror inviting us to take a long hard look at our priorities about what is really important to us. The Psalm divides into two parts:

1. The choice God favours (Psalm1:1-3)

(a)Expressed negatively (Psalm 1:1) Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. There is a progression of choices portrayed with increasingly negative consequences. It begins with the attraction of that which will be harmful to our lives. The person is pictured walking in the direction of danger without making any commitment to it, even though they might find it attractive in some way.  However, because there is inadequate self-awareness of the danger of this choice this person is portrayed as standing in a place where wrong choices are being made. There is a battle of conscience here ‘Should I or should I not join in? The battle appears to be lost as the individual now pulls up a chair to sit in the company of mockers. However, the Psalmist reminds us that there are those people who stand out from the crowd and say I will not make these kinds of choices. My values and convictions are very different. I want to do what pleases God, therefore, there are attitudes I will not hold; places where I will not go and company I will not keep.    

(b) Expressed positively (Psalm 1:2) ² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. Looking at approaching life from a very different perspective the unknown author explains how we might cultivate a more God-honouring perspective on the choices we make each day of our lives. It is alarmingly simple. We are invited to set aside some time each day to read and reflect on a passage from God’s Word and to seek to apply what we have read and reflected on to our daily lives. It is always good to pray before we read the Bible passage to ask for God’s help to understand and apply it to our lives. We have easy access to the Bible. We can download it as an app on our mobile phones or we can read it in one of many printed Bibles. What matters most is reading it and making choices in the light of what God is saying to us. 

(c) The impact of these choices (Psalm 1:3) That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. There are some forms of medication we obtain from the doctor that take time to work in our minds or our bodies. However, over time they can produce encouraging results providing the patient keeps taking the medication. The person who has a healthy spiritual diet, feeding their minds with good ‘food’, will gain great benefit over time.  Now we may not be able to remember what our Bible passage was for reflection, for example, exactly six weeks ago today. Neither will we remember what we ate for dinner that evening too, but undoubtedly both inputs were to our benefits, spiritually and physically. Do you need to take action to start reading the Bible each day? Or as a Christian do I need to take steps to ensure I give this task a greater priority even this week?  

2. The choice God rejects (Psalm 1:4-6)

(a)No spiritual stability (Psalm 1:4) Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Chaff offers no resistance to the wind. It is so quickly blown away by the wind and may be seen no more. A person like this constantly changes their views wanting to be on the ‘right side of history’, but switching their opinions in response to the pressures from others, with no serious independent consideration of what is at stake. The choices made under the heat of pressure may be seriously harmful to their own lives or to others around them. But the consequences can be fatal. The choice of vocabulary here can appear harsh, but the Psalmist’s motivation is to challenge us not to drift through life making apparently unconnected choices and discovering too late how much of life we have wasted. Instead, he wants us to get his point and say: this will not be me, I will with God’s help not only seek to make good choices in life, but also to aim for the best choices for the future direction of my life that includes committing our lives to follow Him.       

(b) No hope for the future (Psalm 1:5) Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. One day each of us will stand before God to give an account of our lives for the choices we have made here on earth. One choice above all others will be determinative as to how our lives will be considered on that day. This refers to the choice we need to make concerning putting our faith and trust in God through Jesus. Has there been a time in your life when you put your faith and trust in Jesus? If not, this is the most important step in life that you need to take; your eternal destiny depends on it. Why not take that step today, by turning from your sins and to your Saviour the Lord Jesus who died in our place on the cross two thousand years ago. 

(c) The impact for today (Psalm1:6) For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. God is watching over us willing us on to make the best choices for our lives. But the responsibility is your and yours alone at the end of the day. It is never too late to commit our lives to trust Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. But that step of faith is only the beginning of a journey in fellowship with God. He also desires us to join with other Christians as an active participant in a local church. In this time of restrictions due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic we have been limited to online connections in our communities, but look forward to the day when we can meet with others regularly in local church premises.

However, we thank God that through the blessings of modern technology we have been able to meet with Christians in other parts of our country or across the world for meetings and services something most of us had never done before. This has reminded us so powerfully that the Church of Jesus Christ is found in each country across the globe. God is building His Church around the world and we have the privilege of being a part of it. Let us give Him praise today that this work continues despite all the challenges we face or obstacles to overcome, for His name’s sake, Amen

Our song for reflection today is: ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’

Brian Talbot

Intimations

• Morning worship online has moved to start at 10am and JAM at 11:30am on the Zoom platform.
• You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week.
• The Messy Church At Home information is available on our website.
• We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday’s.  This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.

JAM Kids’ focus:

Here is the new video series from Out of the Box for JAM Kids age group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB2T092-T7M

Worksheet 4 to accompany this talk

Call to worship

You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 

Joshua 23:14

We are grateful to Alan McRobbie for selecting the songs for worship for this service

Our opening song of praise and worship is:

We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship:

Opening prayer

Lord we come reverently into Your holy presence today with a sense of privilege that as children of the King of Kings we may enter directly Your presence with our praises and offering of worship.

We are so thankful for all that You have done for us, supremely through the person of Your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. We come to adore You and acknowledge that we have done nothing that merits Your generosity to us. But Your grace is amazing, Your unmerited favour to us cleanses us from our sins and clothes us with the righteousness of Jesus, so that we stand before You today in His name with great joy.

Thank you heavenly Father for the gift of Your Holy Spirit to equip and enables us to go forward with confidence into this new week, strengthen us for all that lies ahead of us. Open our hearts that we might hear You speak as Your Holy Word is read and preached later in this service, for Jesus’ sake Amen

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'”      
For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.

All Age Talk – Alan McRobbie

If you were to buy a book from a shop, it would belong fully and legally to you.

But, what if the book could talk, it might argue with you: “What are you doing? What right do you have to take me with you? I don’t want to belong to you. I’d rather belong to myself. I want to stay with all the other books here.”

What would you say? You would tell the book, “But, I paid for you and now you belong to me.” The book would have no choice but to go with you. You’re the rightful owner with full authority over the book.

I wonder if we realise that there is someone who owns us. Our owner is Jesus. He became our owner with full authority over us, at great cost to Himself. Unlike the few pounds we bought our book with.

Jesus paid a huge price with his life to buy us back to be with Him. Because He gave His life to buy us back, we belong to Him and He legally owns us.

But, although we belong to Him, Jesus still waits for us to decide to hand ourselves over to Him willingly. He would never force us. He wants us to choose Him, and He gave us a choice. Unlike the book, we can make choices and can decide what we do.

This is why it’s important for us to see that we are no longer our own. We belong to the One who bought us. If we really see all that Jesus did to have us back with Him, and why He wants us back, we’ll understand why he owns us. When we really understand how much it cost Him to own us, we would give ourselves to Him, not just because He owns us, but also because we have seen the love that he has for us and that makes us love Him too.

Once we know and understand the huge price Jesus paid to have us back and why, we can decide whether we want to come to Jesus. Jesus wants you, but do you want Him? And no one can make that decision but you.

If you want to understand more about the price Jesus paid for you and why, read Mathew, Mark, Luke or John in the Bible or if you are an adult come to our online Life and the Christian Faith course starting in August. Contact us at webmaster@broughtybaptist.org for details.

All Age Song

Prayers for others

Thank you Lord once more for the privilege of praying for other people:

As most people will be taking ‘staycations’ this year, we pray that it will still be a time of refreshing and relaxation for people despite the circumstances. May it be a time when we can slow down and allow God to speak into our hearts and lives with greater clarity. We give thanks that this is a time for individuals, churches and our society at large to re-evaluate and work out what is most important. Please pray that as a result, lives would be lived at a more sustainable and simplified pace; churches would be able to listen for the wind of the Spirit and that society would learn how to truly care for others.  

We pray for those experiencing financial difficulty at this time. We pray for CAP and other debt agencies working with people and for the multitude of food banks that are sadly having to support more people than ever.

We give thanks for the scientists across the world who are working hard on finding treatments and a vaccine for Covid19. Please pray that scientists and politicians across the world would unite together in collaboration for the common cause of fighting this pandemic.

We give thanks for the hard work of teachers across Scotland and the work they do in educating children and young people. We pray that the summer break will bring much needed rest and refreshment to school teachers and support staff. Pray for the planning that teachers and local authorities will already be doing to prepare for the autumn

In our Baptist Union of Scotland we remember to pray for:

Ali Laing (Next Generation Development Coordinator) – Give thanks for the Invest trainees who have just finished their training year and everyone who took part in the training hub, which took place online for the last couple of gathering. Please pray for us as we consider what Invest 2020 will look like this year due to Covid.

Glenrothes BC – Please pray for this church fellowship as they seek to make known the love of Jesus in the town of Glenrothes in these challenging times.

Gourock BC – We give our praise and thanks to God for his continued provision, and the generous giving of his people, as we continue our work to refurbish our church building. Please pray that our reach into the community might extend and if this needs to be in new ways, that the Lord will help us embrace them and equip us appropriately.

Granton BC, Edinburgh – Like all churches we have had to adapt re the current situation. We give thanks for online gatherings and for new and re-connections with people. Pray that as we return after Covid we will do so encouraged in the Lord.

We pray too for the other Christian churches in our local communities and across the land. As we catch a glimpse of the next stage of the future with both greater opportunities and additional challenges for our work and witness, grant us wisdom Lord to sense what You are saying to us as we go forward by faith in Your name. Help us not be fearful about the future but quietly confidence that You have plans for our future, plans to give us a hope and a future.

We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: We ask that you would comfort those who have been bereaved in recent weeks. Help them to come to terms with their loss and to know Your presence with them each step of the way. We remember those with ongoing health problems, particularly those that have been waiting a long time for hospital treatment or operations. We remember Nina Goldthorp as she goes into hospital this week and pray that her operation goes well. We pray too for Moraig Piggot for healing after a recent back injury.     

In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time …,  in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen….

Bible Reading

 The Message

Pre-recorded message

Jeremiah 29:1-14 A vision for the future

Introduction

Their world had changed for ever. Life as they had known it back in Judah was a memory of the past, but not a future possibility. Some false prophets in the Jewish community had claimed a word from God to the effect that in only a short time our nightmare will all be over and we can go back to our homes and communities and pick up the pieces where we left off. It would be a nice dream to do that, but it wasn’t going to happen. At worst it was giving false hopes to deeply traumatised people.

Today we might call that emotional abuse.  Jeremiah the faithful prophet of God knew that someone would have to pick up the pieces when the hopes of these exiles in Babylon were dashed again. The messages contained in Jeremiah 29 were a resetting of the mindset of God’s people going forward. God was not only the God of their past but also of their future. This is so important to us in these uncertain times.

If we look over the two thousand years of church history the biggest periods of church growth came in the generations after very difficult times. God has not changed so there is no reason not to be optimistic about the future in the medium to longer term.

We have lived through one of the most difficult periods of time in the last hundred years in the United Kingdom during the last four months. We will live in the near future in equally uncertain times as we enter a less restricted chapter of the lock down leading hopefully to the new normality for the foreseeable future.

This passage in Jeremiah 29 is particularly helpful at this time in helping us reset our hopes and expectations for the coming months. We have to accept that we do not know what will happen in the future. Some things we do in church will be similar to what we did before. Other things will be very different. On a positive note last Sunday having Wit and Helen join us from Northern Thailand at the zoom service was remarkable; it breathes new life into our commitment to support overseas mission and enables link missionaries or indigenous workers to join us for Sunday worship at minimal cost and saves many hours of travel. The world has become a much smaller place. What does this passage teach us?    

1. Letting go of the Past (Jeremiah 29:1-4)

¹This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²(This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) ³He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: ⁴This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Memory is a good thing and we value this gift from God. However, how we use it has a powerful impact shaping how we live in the present and plan for the future. This community of people were bound by the past and understandably so. They were now exiles in a foreign land and living in the midst of a people whose languages, cultures and religions were all foreign to them. It was an overwhelming experience and they wanted to retreat into the safety of the past. They wanted to believe that the clock could be put back and life to be just the same as it had been a number of years earlier in the ‘good-old days’.

This is a temptation in every generation as our memories select the highlights of our earlier years, often overlooking or playing down the difficulties, and as we get old it can become easier and easier to focus our entire energies on that past life. For some of us it may be happy memories that we need to accept are of a former era and cannot be recreated in the present, but that God has other blessings and joys in store for us in the future that can only be ours if we are willing to go forward by accepting that the future will not be the same as our past, but acknowledging that God’s hand is upon us and we can trust Him to take care of our future.

Jeremiah reminds us in this key verse: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jer.29:11). We also release the happy memories to their rightful place in the past and focus our energies on the present and the future that God has in store for us. Others of us here could be struggling to let go of bad memories of the past.

Inappropriate words by others or by ourselves that have seared themselves on our minds or appalling actions that keep reoccurring in our thoughts and prevent us from enjoying the blessings and encouragements God has in store for us in the coming years. Is there something that you need to name before the Lord and allow His Spirit to deliver you from being bound by it? The devil is into a ministry of condemnation and he rejoices in our times of despair and even depressions, but God wants to lift us up from the devil’s condemnation to experience His forgiveness for past failings and His affirmation of love for us as His children.

Paul said this to the Christians in Rome: ¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). We are set free to embrace the future God has for us :For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jer.29:11).

Here the key verse is Jeremiah 29:4: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Why have the things we individually and collectively have experienced during this Covid-19 virus pandemic taken place? It is because in the sovereign and mysterious purposes of God He has allowed them to take place, in order that we may learn to draw closer to Him. This does not mean that the events of recent months have been a good thing.

We all wish there had been no pandemic. However, we must determine in such situations not to allow our present and future lives to be determined by the past. I was deeply moved some years ago seeing the response of the Amish People in America at a time of an awful tragedy in their midst. The question put by the Amish community leader on Monday 2 October 2006, the day five of their young girls were murdered in their schoolhouse, to a watching world was this: What is God trying to teach us through these circumstances? [see CBSNews.com, 4 October 2006 for more similar Amish responses]

What has taken place cannot be reversed, but while it is appropriate always to acknowledge the past or take account of it, it must serve as an opportunity to move forward with God into the future. When we place our future in God’s hands there is a security that can be found in no other person or way of life.

2. Embracing the Present (Jeremiah 29:5-9)

(a)Practical Advice (Jeremiah 29:5-7)“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

What was Jeremiah saying in simple words to these people? He tells them very firmly that they are in the place where God wants them to be. They ought not to be wishing they were living somewhere else. Instead at that moment in time God had called them to be His witnesses in Babylon and God would bless them as they put Him first in that place.

In the same way God has called the majority of us participating in this service to live in this area and worship here in Broughty Ferry Baptist Church; but the same principle applies wherever in God’s world we live, work and worship. He wants us to do our very best in each area of our lives for Him. Jeremiah is summarising here the full range of activities in the home and at work and in the wider community.

Biblical Christianity is not simply concerned with explicitly church-based activities or our personal devotional lives, although they are of crucial importance for our spiritual growth, but it is also concerned about us bringing glory to God through the use of the gifts and abilities He has given us in the workplace, and in the wider community as well as in our homes and church community.

We are called by the Lord to play a full role as citizens in our land which for some of us may involve us in our local food bank or a school Parent Council or other civic bodies, and a smaller number still in local, regional and national political life. Notice Jeremiah’s plea regarding the city in which they lived: Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.  This is very similar practical advice to the more general challenging words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16-18:

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

We must never think that anything we do is unimportant to God. He created us to be a holistic people with time for work, but also time for rest; time for families and church family; space to enjoy music and the arts and the beauty of His creation. The most challenging task for most of us is how to handle the twenty-four hours we possess each day adequately.

We need to be able to delight in the ordinary things of life the growth and development of a baby or a child; the accomplishments of a young person growing up; the intricacy and beauty of nature and appreciate the wonders of creation. In our nation’s culture the most important things are rarely celebrated. Faithful dedicated love between a man and a woman in marriage over many decades, for example, is ridiculed and regarded with little respect by too many in the media and most especially by our current Westminster government.

Family members or friends who care selflessly for years for a dependent loved one are also rarely honoured for their work; yet what they do in the sight of God is as valuable as accomplishments in the workplace or on the sports field.    

(b) A Powerful Warning (Jeremiah 29:8-9) ⁸Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. ⁹They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

We have our challenges both as individuals and as churches in discerning how God wants us to live as His witnesses at the time and in the context of our contemporary culture. In the new situation God through Jeremiah told the exiles build and plant.

Put down roots –Increase in number there; do not decrease. God is building His church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18: I will build My Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it (KJV)Remember in the call of Jeremiah, the prophet was told to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow (Jer.1:10). The people were battening down the hatches in adverse circumstances and telling the unpopular messenger, the young Jeremiah, that there was no need to change things as they will be okay at some unidentified point in the future. In such a context Jeremiah preached the famous temple sermon, from outside the Jerusalem Temple because he was not allowed to give it inside the premises. God’s blessing is not automatic; if His people will not heed His voice then He will remove their witness.

In Jeremiah 7:12-15 the prophet reminded the people of the derelict state of the first collective place of witness for the nation in the time of King Saul: ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. ¹⁵I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.’

We need to be honest that not all churches will grow and prosper in the years following the ending of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. There are some that will close for a variety of reasons. Sadly some will close because they have lost confidence in proclaiming the unchanging truth of God’s Word from their pulpit and the need to share our faith with other people. Families grow in number by the birth of new members, physically in our nuclear families, and spiritually in our church families.

A church that has Jesus Christ as its head in practice not just in its theology, will be happy to declare, in the famous words of the former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only organisation in existence in the world that exists primarily for the benefit of non-members! We need to dedicate ourselves afresh in the coming days to live out our mission statement: ‘Building a Christ centred church: looking to Christ, growing in Christ and sharing Christ’. God sometimes has to shake the foundations before His people will listen to what He is saying, then and now. Jeremiah will go on to indicate that a God-centred people are a praying people. This will also need to be hallmark of this church in the coming years too.  

3. Working for the Future (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

Jeremiah’s call was not only negative but also (Jer.1:10) to build and to plant. The up-building, the prosperity, could only come when God’s people had seen their situation as God had done. Here was:

(a) God’s Plan (Jeremiah 29:10-11) This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What can God accomplish through you and me in the coming years if we have the faith to entrust our lives into His hands? We live in an unfair world. Some people seem to pass through life without any apparent major crises at all, except bereavements. Others appear to face one tough time after another. The majority of us are somewhere in between. Yet through it all we need to remember God’s plans for us as His people, individually, in our families and in church families. Our responsibility is to claim the promises of God.

(b) Our Responsibility (Jeremiah 29:12-13) Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. In Daniel 9 the aged saint remembers that the prophesied time is nearly up. How does he take it to God? (Dan 9:3) So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. How does he pray? Identification of himself with the nation in sin and need for repentance. 

⁴I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. ⁶We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.  ⁷“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.

⁸O Lord, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰ we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. ¹²You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster.

From where does Daniel gain confidence that God will keep His promises? It is from the evidence of past deliverance from Egypt; Daniel 9:15: “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand. On what basis does he ask for help now?  (Daniel 9:18)We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. Prayerful Bible-based pleas move the heart of our loving Father in heaven then and now in 2020.

(c) God’s Promise (Jer.29:14) I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” God promises that His Word that goes out of His mouth. ..will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what I desire (Isaiah55:11) If we turn to seek His face as we should then the days of blessing in conversions of people who don’t know Jesus; restorations of backsliders who have gone away from Jesus and powerful ministries of Spirit-filled believers will be much in evidence in our midst. God does not promise a timescale. He says seek My face and claim My promises, for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁵ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is:

Closing Prayer:

Thank you Lord that You are the God of hope who place our feet solid foundations.  We will face difficulties, disappointments and have our tears, but we will also have our joys, our encouragements and future blessings because You are Lord over all. As we enter the summer period, normally a quieter period of rest and reflection before a new session begins, we ask that You would give us a sense of Your peace and Your presence with us as we continue in these uncertain times. We go, though, with confidence because You have plans to give us a hope and a future, for Jeseus’ sake, Amen 

Benediction:  The Grace

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore, Amen

Remember tonight the national online prayer service at 7pm.

There is so much in the world that we cannot change. Even in our own locality there are so many things over which we have no influence. We have all felt a sense of powerlessness in the face of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. Our lives feel like they have been put on hold until this invisible enemy is vanquished. For those in work and able to continue their daily routine as close as possible to normal the last few months have been in some ways less challenging, but for the majority of us we have been in a very different place seeking to adjust to a ‘new normal’ way of life for a period of months. Of course it is always better to focus on what we can do rather than what we cannot do. Job in chapter thirty-one of the book named after him, in his final comments on the way he has been living, draws attention to the factors over which we have control in our lives. He appeals to Almighty God to examine his life and to pass judgement fairly on him. What topics does Job highlight for us in Job 31?

1. Job as a human being (Job 31:1-12) In verses 1-4 he focuses on how as a man he has viewed the women he has encountered in his daily life. In essence, he is addressing the subject of lust and declares that he made a self-conscious decision to discipline himself to always view a woman respectfully and honourably and not in a manner for self-gratification. Given that the audience to his words are his friends who have known him for many years, they would know the kind of person Job was. Therefore, Job could not pretend to be someone different to the man they had known. In verses 5-8 he moves on to declare he has never deceived someone, by contrast on this subject I am blameless (Job 31:6); then, in Job 31:9-12, he states he has been faithful to his wife and not engaged in any inappropriate relationships. I have control over my attitudes, words and actions as a human being, says Job, therefore, I have honoured God in each area of my personal life. Can you and I state before God that we are people of integrity? Our country needs more people like this in all walks of life and within all types of communities.          

2. Job as an employer (Job 31:13-15) Job was a wealthy businessman who had a lot of employees. How had he treated them over the years with respect to their working environment? Had he been fair in settling their terms for pay and conditions?  Our witness to other people as a Christian consists of so much more than our words of testimony. People want to know how it works in our conduct.  Am I the same in my attitudes or actions on a Sunday in church and Monday to Saturday in all manner of other places? If not, why not?

3. Job as a neighbour (Job 31:16-23, 29-32) Did I have time for other people when they requested assistance? Was I willing to make some time to build good relationships with the people who live nearby my home? ‘Yes’ said Job. I have done this consistently. He had not engaged in a public relations exercise. It was genuine care for the needs of other people. This was not just local people who lived in his area, but also travellers passing through and others who needed food to eat. In current times our movements are restricted, but we can write messages to others on paper or online to encourage one another. We can make phone calls or possibly hold conversations across the garden fence. In the recent past during this pandemic in our city so many people have looked out for their neighbours doing shopping, collecting prescriptions, mowing lawns and so much more where that was required. It doesn’t have to be a big commitment, sometimes it may simply be a willingness to listen to a person going through a tough time.         

4. Job as a worshipper (Job 31:24-28) What comes first in my life? Job was clear that money and possessions did not have first place in his affections. Nor did he worship other gods. Instead he was a dedicated and committed worshiper of the one true God. There was no-one or no thing that received a greater allegiance than Job had promised to God. He was faithful to the God who loved and cared for him – is that true of you and me as well?

5. Job as a steward (Job 31:38-40) did he care for the environment in the land where he lived? Was there appropriate crop management to maximise the yields at harvest time? Did he treat his tenant farmers fairly as he issued guidance on how to maintain fertile and productive land? It is interesting that environmental concerns were being mentioned here several thousand years ago,  

In summary, Job was outlining his attempt to live for God each day of the work and in whatever location he found himself. Like him, our focus should be primarily on what we can do for God and for other people in their times of need, rather than on what we cannot do.  As we live God-honouring lives, let us ask God how we may best serve Him and other people at this time, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Our song for reflection today is: ‘As the deer pants for the water’

Brian Talbot

We have our hopes and aspirations for the future, but struggle to predict what will happen in practice with any degree of accuracy. We know that from the weather forecasts. For today or the next few days the predictions are usually fairly accurate, but once you look for a few weeks ahead or a few months it is an altogether different picture. On 9 December 1960 one of the United Kingdom’s longest-running soap operas began. After watching one or two episodes a TV critic of one the daily newspapers wrote the following: ‘It is unthinkable that the British population would be interested enough to watch the ordinary goings on in an average working class street in the north of England; and even twice a week it would be unspeakably boring.’ I think that author would be amazed to think that Coronation Street was still attracting huge audiences more than half a century later. However, it is unwise to be too critical of the mistaken judgements of others because the future is much harder to predict accurately, especially in 2020 in the light of the Covid-19 virus pandemic!

In the earlier part of Job 23 it is easy to see the frustration and at times the despair of Job as he cannot see a way out of the crisis he has been experiencing. In yesterdays’ message I gave some examples of prominent figures in the Bible as well as one of Wales’ most famous Christian ministers from the eighteenth century who had experienced this difficult time in his spiritual journey. If we go back a few more centuries into the medieval times there are many Christian leaders who wrote about their experience of ‘the dark night of the soul’. Their faith in God was very real, but there were times when they did not sense God’s presence with them.

There are also occasions like the famous walk to Emmaus on the first Easter Sunday, the day when Jesus rose from the dead, two thousand years ago. Two dispirited followers of Jesus Cleopas and his wife were going home from Jerusalem. They had heard others tell of Jesus being alive after death, but they were not inclined to believe it. A stranger accompanied them on the journey and asked questions about their sadness and then proceeded to give a Bible study on the Old Testament references to Jesus. It was only sometime later after the stranger had been invited into their home for supper and was praying over the food before them that they recognised it was Jesus (Luke 24:13-35). Then and now God’s people can be so low in their spirits that they fail to sense God’s presence with them. However, in Job chapter 23 Job shares from his experience two more things with us.

1. He remained steadfast in his faith in the darkness (Job 23:10-12) But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. ¹¹ My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His way without turning aside. ¹² I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread. These wonderful words of testimony have not come from the lips of a man in the prime of life and for whom things are going well. On the contrary, he is struggling in the darkness, a plight made worse by the unhelpful advice of his friends.

Job is effectively testifying that God’s grace is sufficient to help get him through this hard time. Let us pause for a moment. We have the whole Bible, possibly daily Bible reading notes and many helpful Christian books to aid us in our walk of faith. Job had considerably less spiritual resources than us, but the little he had was sufficient to reassure him and keep him going on his faith journey. Are you and I making good use of the faith resources we have today? Let us not miss out on reading and reflecting on the Bible as we face the opportunities and challenges each day brings. May we also take time in prayer to bring our praises and our petitions to Him.   

2. He begins to emerge from the darkness (Job 23:16-17) God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. ¹⁷ Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face. Unless you know you are perfect! You like me and everyone else has made mistakes in the past. In our attitudes, speech and actions there are times when we got things wrong, possibly to the detriment of other people or ourselves. Yet God in His goodness truly forgives us our sins and gives us a fresh start in our lives – but sometimes we are not willing to let go and release ourselves from our past failures. Some other people, who by contrast have had great successes in the past, are unable to accept these times have finished and the present day is a different experience.

Others still who have gone through times of deep depression or some other form of struggles can lose hope that there can be a better future for them. Praise God that Job retained his hope in God’s goodness for the future.  He resolved that his current experience of ‘darkness’ would not define either him or his future. I hope and pray that each one of us will be people of hope who believe that beyond this Covid-19 virus pandemic God has plans for our good and for His glory, for Jesus’ sake, Amen

Our song for reflection today is: ‘Light of the world’

Brian Talbot

The Christian life is not an easy life. There are occasions when we have exceedingly hard times to endure and our pleas for deliverance appear to go unanswered. Job here had grown weary of the superficial answers of his friends who wanted to give simple explanations for everything. Their motivation was good.  They wanted to honour God. However, the way they sought to live it out in practice was deeply unhelpful to their suffering friend. There are times when other people simply need to know we care. They know we cannot fix their situation and are not expecting us to try and do something that is impossible. In his inner pain and weariness Job is pleading with God to intervene.

But he has a problem because there appears to be silence from God.  If only I knew where to find Him…was his cry. There are similar words in Job 23:8-9: ‘But if I go to the east, He is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find Him. ⁹ When He is at work in the north, I do not see Him; when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him. We must be supportive and be found standing alongside a brother or sister enduring such times. There are many difficulties we cannot overcome, but equally trust that in time God can and will.

Job is not alone in this predicament. Many of the most godly and influential Christian leaders over the centuries have testified that they too have experienced the silence or felt absence of God.  Martin Luther in his times of deep depression sometimes spoke of God as ‘the hidden God’. It was also something experienced by some of the Psalmists. Psalm 10:1 states: Why, Lord, do You stand far off? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? Another Psalm of David that uses similar language is Psalm 13:1-4: How long, Lord? Will You forget me for ever? How long will you hide Your face from me? ² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, ⁴ and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my foes will rejoice when I fall. Isaiah too made this statement in Isaiah 45:15: Truly You are a God who has been hiding Himself, the God and Saviour of Israel. Christmas Evans (1766-1838), possibly the most talented preacher in Welsh Baptist history, and a great man of God endured this problem. He wrote that in 1795 after a year of coldness of heart and not finding God, he was on a journey in the mountains near Cader Idris (Dolgellau) in North Wales and felt compelled to stop and spend time with God in prayer. 

He later recorded what happened that day: ‘The struggle lasted for three hours; it rose again and again like one wave after another, or a high flowing tide driven by a strong wind, until my nature became faint by weeping and crying. Thus I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul, gifts and labours -all my life – every day and evening hour that remained for me; and all my cares I committed to Christ. The road was mountainous and lonely and I was wholly alone and suffered no interruption in my wrestlings with God.’ God met with him again that day and the sense of His presence returned to Evans whose remarkable ministry continued throughout Wales. If these God-honouring people endured such times as these then we cannot assume it may never be our experience too for a season. What is so important in these times is to remember that God promises never to leave nor forsake us. He will keep His word. 

Our song for reflection today is: ‘Though trials may come’

Brian Talbot

We come to the middle of another week, here in Scotland we are entering the summer school holidays. It is good to take time today to thank God for the grace and strength He has given us to get through these hard times of recent months. We will do that at the start of our church prayer meeting on zoom this evening, before bringing our prayers to God.  

Job 19:25 I know that my redeemer lives

In Job chapter nineteen verses twenty-five to twenty-seven there are some remarkable words. I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. ²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; ²⁷ I myself will see Him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! This is an amazing declaration of faith from a man who lived as long before the time of Jesus as we have lived after it.

However, these words must be appreciated from within their context. It is an exceedingly dark time for Job and he is struggling to come to terms with the judgemental and harsh attitudes of his friends. In fact the longer they continued to speak with him the more distressed he became. They did notice but instead of acting compassionately the opposite approach was taken.  What had caused Job to feel he was in such a dark place at this time? How did he understand his situation? He felt that:

1. He was unpitied by his friends (Job 19:1-5) ‘How long will you torment me and crush me with words? ³ Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me (Job 19:2-3). ‘It was your fault Job that you are suffering’ is a simplistic summary of their arguments. Such an approach is cruel and pastorally inappropriate to begin with, but what is worse is that it was completely untrue. The most obvious lesson to learn from the actions of Jobs friends is not to assume we know everything about a situation. It is rare that we will know all the facts about particular situations. We must be very careful not to play God and judge others as they did with Job.

2. He was unpitied by God (Job 19:6-12) ‘Though I cry, “Violence!” I get no response though I call for help, there is no justice. ⁸ He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass; He has shrouded my paths in darkness (Job 19:7-8). Many a true child of God has had times when their prayers seemed to go unheard, when their cries to God seemed to bounce back unheard from the skies. You can be in a right relationship with God and living in an appropriate way and still experience this darkness.

Remember King David’s opening words in Psalm 22:1-2: My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? ² My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. It was not only David that uttered these words, Jesus on the cross uttered them (Mark 15:34). It is not our place in a situation of tragedy or extreme suffering to give ‘the’ or even ‘an’ explanation. It is okay and the right thing as a Christian to admit that we are deeply sorry a situation has occurred, and to offer our deepest sympathies. Job, like Jesus two millennia later, was leading a God-honouring life at the time his horrendous trials took place. There is a good reason there are Psalms of lament in the Bible. Sometimes we need that vocabulary when things are very far from ‘okay’.  

3. He was unpitied by others (Job 19:13-22) This whole section is about Job’s perception of how other people felt about him. It does not mean this was an accurate understanding, but what matters here is that this is how Job understood this situation. He felt horribly alone. One comment I have heard many times over the years, from widows and widowers, for example, after the death of a spouse, is their sadness that some friends choose not to visit out of fear of not knowing what to say, forgetting that no form of words can act like a ‘magic wand’ and wave the troubles away. It is in this context that the precious words of Job 19:23-27 are located, not when all in life was sunshine and the dark clouds had vanished away!

4. His trust in God despite the situation (Job 19:23-27) I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. ²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; ²⁷ I myself will see Him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! In that culture kinsman-redeemers could rescue a person from a precarious existence. To understand how that operated in practice read the short book of Ruth in the Old Testament where Boaz fulfilled that responsibility for Ruth. Job asserts his redeemer is alive and one day will stand on the earth.

As Christians we are privileged to have the New Testament and see the clear teaching that it is Jesus who will fulfil these hopes of Job (For example, Acts 1:7-11;  Matthew 24, I Thessalonians 4:13-18). Job is declaring his resurrection hope that beyond this life is God’s new world where he will be so thrilled to meet God and spend eternity with Him. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:27c). Death for him was not something to fear because God had something better prepared for Him for the future. I hope and pray each one of us has put our faith in Jesus and consequently can share this glorious hope for the future.    

Our song for reflection today is a solo version of Samuel Medley’s hymn:  ‘I know that my redeemer lives’

A much more familiar song on this theme is ‘Blessed be Your name’

I am thankful to Claire McNutt for providing our prayer points for today

Pointers for Prayer

• Give thanks for the people who introduced you to Jesus and who have helped you on your journey of faith. Pray for boldness and encouragement for our church family as we seek to share Jesus with others.
• Give thanks for the positive progress made in Scotland after a significant reduction in covid cases and deaths. Pray that this would be sustained as restrictions are eased and pray for those parts of the UK where cases are rising again.
• Pray for wisdom for the governments in each part of the UK and for the experts who provide them with guidance, as they make decisions about the future.
• Pray for asylum seekers who have come to our country, that they would be treated with love, compassion and fairness. Remember all those involved in the incident in Glasgow last Friday. Pray for the recovery of those injured and also for the mental and emotional health of the asylum seekers, hotel workers, emergency services and medical staff who were involved in the aftermath.
• Give thanks for the work of Wit and Helen (BMS missionaries in Thailand) that we heard about during our Sunday Zoom service. Pray for them as they try to re-establish their groups after the covid virus, for wisdom as they try to reach out to men in the community and that the new believers would grow in their faith.
• Give thanks for the teachers and university/college staff who have worked tirelessly in exceptional circumstances and pray for strength and help as they navigate the possibilities for next term. Pray for times of rest and recuperation over the summer.
• Pray for our young people who are due to start or go back to college/university courses after the summer, as they work their way through these changed circumstances. Pray for those who are now working as they adjust to life after leaving school and for those who are seeking work to help to fund their studies. 
• Pray for those in our church family who have ongoing health concerns, that they would receive the treatment, care and healing that they need. Please pray for Brian’s mum and Ali Torbet’s mum who have both had recent falls.
• Pray for those who are struggling with the length of time they have been shielding and ask for God’s comfort and strength for them.
• Pray for Brian, the deacons, the Youth Team and the Children & Families group as we all seek wisdom and guidance for our work in the future.
• Pray for our church to be committed to looking to Christ, growing in Christ and sharing Christ as we move forward together into an unknown future.

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We are all familiar with the term ‘witnesses’. If a serious crime occurs on the streets of our country the police officers responsible for resolving what happened and what conclusions should be drawn from them, at an early stage seek to find any witnesses to the event in question.

An eyewitness who saw what happened is invaluable. Many years ago there was a well-known Harrison Ford film set in the Amish Community in the USA that was entitled ‘The Witness’. In the film, an Amish woman’s young son on a rare visit to a city witnessed the killing of a police officer. The power of the testimony of this frightened young boy was crucial in solving that crime.

Job had become increasingly distressed that his friends were not accepting his claim that he was an innocent man who had lived an upright life. Their worldview contained a foundational conviction that assumed people to whom bad things happened must have done bad things to deserve it. Therefore, Job must be suffering as a punishment for his unknown misconduct. Job as a committed believer wants to believe that there is someone in heaven who will be his witness, who will advocate on his behalf. What did Job believe and what did he say on this subject?

1. There is a witness in heaven

Job 16:19-21 states: Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. ²⁰ My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; ²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. 

What do we understand Job believes about the One who he believes is his witness in heaven? I know that Job is correct in his belief, because John the apostle writes in I John 2:1: My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 

How did Job come to know this was the case given that he lived around two thousand years before the time of Jesus on earth? We may never know the answer, but sometimes we ourselves ‘know’ something is true even if we have no way of proving it.

If Job could take comfort from knowing that someone he cannot name is speaking for him in heaven, how much more we as Christians can be assured by it when we know it is Jesus, who gave His life for us on the cross so that we might be forgiven for all our sins and welcomed into God’s family.

Job speaks of this witness or advocate in this way: My intercessor is my friend … These words remind me of Proverbs 18:24One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. There are quite a variety of English translations of the Hebrew saying behind Proverbs 18:24, but the meaning is clear to those of us used to social media.

We may have many on-line ‘friends’, but how many are people we could turn to in a time of crisis? How many could we trust to share confidential matters and serve as accountability partners? By definition, the answer for us all would be very few of them. However, we can turn with absolute confidence in prayer to the Lord Jesus with all our needs and concerns. Why can we do this?

2. The work of our witness   

At the heart of the Christian faith is the sacrifice of Jesus in giving His life for us, taking the punishment for our sins so that we don’t have to do so later. There is a big contrast for us to the example of Job. In Job 1:5 we have a glimpse into Job’s understanding of his faith and his concern for the spiritual wellbeing of his children.

It states: Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom. Why don’t we need to do something like that? Hebrews 10:11-14 explains why –because Jesus in one perfect sacrifice for ever did away with the need for the old sacrificial system.  Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time He waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice He has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy. Hallelujah! This is so amazing Jesus did it all in our place. Our witness in heaven now has already died in our place on the cross two thousand years ago so that we can be welcomed into God’s family, when we come to Him by faith in Jesus. 

What does this mean now when we want to ask God for help and guidance in our lives today? The Bible states very clearly that Jesus understands the problems we face and in His time on earth modelled for us a way of living through the good times and the tough.

Even on earth Jesus was already praying for His first followers, for example, Simon Peter. (See Luke 22:31—32: ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you [you plural-The first disciples] as wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you (singular), Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’

Therefore, we too can be encouraged in our prayers to bring our needs to God the Father through Him with the help of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 7:25 states: Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. This is the focus of the work of our witness in heaven today. Job in his day and we in ours can bring our prayers in the name of Jesus to God the Father with confidence, and know He will hear and will answer them.   

Our song for reflection today is: ‘Father I place into Your hands’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbLjp4-8NdY

Brian Talbot