Doubting God

It's a challenge that we all face. It is a tactic of the satan to make us stumble, to not stand firm and trust in the God who died for us.

When do you doubt God? I'll hold my hands right up now and say that the temptation for me to give up has been very close in the past few days.

Surprised? I am. The wedding is back on, lots of people can make it, and God is in control of our trials.

Yet our sinful natures don't like that phrase 'God is in control.' Of course, as the Bible tells us, He is, and that is awesome and amazing (Romans 8). But when we doubt, we doubt that truth.

I mean, that is what I was doing yesterday when life overwhelmed me and, through a very tearful phone call with Jo, admitted to myself that everything in my life was destined to go wrong, that was my default. Yes, a lot has gone wrong, very frequently, so my logic was to label everything as going wrong, full stop, forever.

In fact, I was very much like a man of the Old Testament named Asaph.

Now Asaph, according to 1 Chronicles 6:39, was of the tribe of Levi, and a psalmist.

He wrote Psalm 77. Why not read it to yourself now as we look at it. If you don't have a Bible handy, use this link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2077&version=ESV

The first half of this passage has the writer in doubt of God. He seeks God yes, in verse 1-2, but "his soul refuses to be comforted" and he moans at remembering God.

How often have we felt like this? As Christians, we know it is right to seek God and trust in Him, but how much of that is empty words? When we are so troubled that we cannot speak, what are our thoughts of God?

Well Asaph doubts. In verses 7-9 he questions many of God's characteristics: His gracious election, His unfailing love, His faithfulness to His promises, His mercy and His compassion. These are characteristics that the whole Bible continues to proclaim about God, see how God describes Himself in Exodus 34:6-7, see Him make His promises to Abraham of land, people and blessing in Genesis 12 and 15, see Him promise to cleanse His people from their sin so that these promises can be accessed in Ezekiel 36 and 37, and see Him ultimately fullfill them in Christ Jesus.

This is what we must ask ourselves, has God forgotten us? Are our trials and tears to overwhelm us? Has God shut up His compassion?

What does Asaph do in verse 11? He focuses His mind, to remember the deeds of the Lord, to remember that God has worked and will work.

God is in control. We see that in verse 16 as the waters tremble before God, and in verses 19-20 as God parts waters in leading His people, His flock, through the turbulence. Anyone else reminded of the Exodus, as God parts the waters to let His chosen people through? Well, have a look at how those people were feeling prior to that great rescue:

"¹⁰When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. ¹¹They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." ¹³And Moses said to the people,^D)"> "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.""

If God can do that, indeed, if God can do a greater salvation, the death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, then surely He will not abandon us. See how Paul puts it in Romans 5:10 "¹⁰For if^A)"> while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

So what to do when we doubt. Whatever we do, we must fight, fight the satan. And what is our weapon, God's Word. God's living and active word, the gospel, His salvation plan that involves us, us who He allows to trust in Him.

For He is a trustworthy God, who has proved that so many times. And we need to force ourselves to remember that, even when it seems the entire world is falling apart around you: plans not going ahead, people moving away, you moving away, watching people battle around you, even when you are having a completely crap time, God never changes. He is indeed in control, open up the Bible to see that. For we have that gospel that He gives, indeed, as Jesus says in that often quoted but not always thought about verse: "For^A)"> God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Keep reminding youself, and others, of the gospel. Force yourself, and remember God is at work.

There's a great kid's song that I think sums this up well, it's called Powerful Love:-

Let’s give thanks to our God
our God is so good
he’s the God of gods
and Lord of lords
he made the heavens above
he made the land and the water
he made them just by
speaking his powerful words

His powerful love goes on
his powerful love goes on
his powerful love goes on and on forever

God struck down the Egyptians
but saved his special people
with his mighty hand
and his mighty outstretched arm
he split the sea in two
and destroyed the Egyptian army
but his special people
walked through without harm
because...

His powerful love goes on
his powerful love goes on
his powerful love goes on and on forever

Jesus Christ is God
our mighty, powerful God
he struck down all our enemies:
death and sin
and he defeated Satan
he crushed him on the head (ouch!)
he did it when he died
and rose again
because...

His powerful love goes on
his powerful love goes on
his powerful love goes on and on forever



Are you feeling doubtful of God's work in your life and situations therein? Don't feel guilty, look to the cross, force yourself to, remember the grace shown most in the gospel. For God's love, powerful love, does indeed go on and on forever.

Know anyone feeling doubtful? Why not pray for them to remember the awesome truth, and why not give them a call too?

You what?

I tell you something that really confuses me at the moment, this whole craze of trying to get Christian music into the UK charts.

The charts are a joke nowadays anyway, thanks to downloads, just look at last Christmas' fiasco with Rage Against the Machine. You can make any song be number 1 now. And some people advocate that Christian music should go in too.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about Christian music. I listen to it, a lot, but what I don't understand is throwing a Christian song, without anyone around to explain what it's about, straight at mainstream charts. The effect is a negative one. I mean, would you take a Bible verse and give it to a non-believer, and then leave it be? No, you talk to them, you explain God's message: that we humans are dead in our own sin and rebellion against God, unless we trust that God stepped into history as Jesus, who died on a cross, the only way in which we can be forgiven by God.

I just find it mad that we would take a song, which is not always based on the Bible, and throw it at the charts, and expect good things. We are not going to get popular, we preach God's message, which is exactly what the world hates. If you want popularity, you are not going to last, full stop. Sit down with a friend and explain the gospel, whatever the outcome is, don't throw a song at them and naively expect good things.

Turning popular thoughts on their head 1:-thinking we can please God

I was watching One Foot in the Grave last night, and I paraphrase a priest in light of coping with death "faith is measured by the goodness of our hearts."

Really? I mean, really?

The last thing that we want to admit as humans is that we are wrong. That we get things wrong, that we are anything other than perfect, that we can get by, even so much as being able to please God Himself.

Look at me for example. I HATE being wrong, and a trap I easily fall into is as follows: I read my Bible every day, I pray, sometimes I react well to trouble, look at me, pleasing God.

Really?

Humanity has tried over the years to try and please God on their own merits. I encourage you to read the books of 1 and 2 Kings sometime. In this book, individuals are put on the throne by God, promised long lasting kingship and dynasty if they are trusting God, trusting Him enough to obey. Note, this is about TRUSTING GOD. What happens? Look at Kings such as Solomon and Jereboham, how they behave, on their own, without trusting nor obeying God. They fail, epically. I encourage you right now to read 1 Kings 11-12, and contrast them with how a king is to be in God's eyes in Deuteronomy 17.

It is a deadly serious problem with devestating consequences, to lead people to think they can please God, that they can obtain His promises (Genesis 12 and 15, Ezekiel 34-37), on their own. Let me ask you, if we can be good, why Jesus? Why did God step into history as Jesus, and shed his blood on a wooden cross? Well, what does Romans 5 talk about?

"6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Christ died for us, so that we can be reconciled to God, not so that we can continue trusting in ourselves to inherit God's promied perfection (Ezekeil 36: 24-27: "I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ")

This is the devil's work, the fact that Christianity is stereotyped on living a good life and then going to heaven. NOT SO. We must fight this, in our lives and in our world. For you see, we are saved by Christ, and we may accept that, but as we live our lives, what is our trust in? The blood of Christ, or our works? I really encourage you to read Galatians 3, where Paul deals with this very issue in the Galatian church.


What gives you strength to get up in the morning? The thought that your efforts alone can please God? Or that He has made you clean through His blood, and that is what saves you. Live a life for God, certainly. But don't trust in what you do as you live, but what Christ has done for you already.

Has it really been this long?

"Last post 23rd November"-oh wow!

Well, welcome to my first blog of 2010 (15/2/10)


I'm currently sat in the town library, such has my life become, full of boilers breaking, stolen wheelie bins, and other such 'grown up' trivialities.

Today's culture suggests that as a student, you are encompassed in a bubble for the duration of your degree, and afterwards exposed to the 'real world'.

That just isn't true.

Yes certain things do change, but not much. For the Christian, life is hard. We are in a fallen world where things go wrong, where the devil hates us and tries to decive and accuse us off the desire to trust God, and live according to that trust. Whether you are a student or not does not make a difference. God is God, and He never changes. Read Romans 8:28-29. God is worth trusting in. Remember this as you graduate

While we are weak, God is still strong

Paul writes in his second letter to the church in Corinth, chapter 12 about that fact that God put a thorn in Paul's flesh in order to stop him boasting about his experiences. After Paul pleads with God three times in verse 8 for God to take it away, this is the response of God:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And Paul concludes in verse 10: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

We are weak people. We are not strong enough to face the world alone. We try to of course, and speaking as a man here, we hate to be wrong, to appear weak in front of others, be it other men, or indeed in front of women. Men have an inbuilt, sinful desire to be top, and not appear weak. I hate looking weak, so I and I'm sure many others are prone to arrogance.

When we are battered by the sin and suffering around us, and feel like we cannot go on, we need to remember the words of God in verse 9. For His grace is sufficient for us. He works through our weaknesses for His glory. When we suffer, God is working, when we are tired, God is working, when we are happy, God is working. God, in His mercy, is always working in our lives.

So students, when you feel tired from all your work, and feel like avoiding questionairring and flyering for a lunchbar, or chatting to a friend about Jesus, don't. For God uses our weaknesses, and the devil would love nothing more than for you to lie down, admitting defeat and not getting God's Word out to the campus.

So men, when you feel so scared of exposing yourself as weak, remember you are weak, and God still uses you.

Praise be to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in His mercy has saved us, undeserving as we are, by His grace alone, and uses us, weak, sinful human beings, for His glory. After all, as Paul later writes in His letter to the Philippian church, chapter 4, verse 13 :"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

The easily-forgettable truth of God's Sovereignty

It's easy to forget that God is completely in control of abseloutly everything. Trials and pain will come our way, and we will easily forget that we have a loving God that is completely in control. This is yet another tactic of the satan to try and undermine and destroy God's kingdom, by preying on us weak sinful human beings to make us forget about God, and try and forge our own path.

But we can do nothing without God.

A friend and I are currently going through a Bible Overview course together. So far, we have seen a perfect God make a perfect world just by speaking (Genesis 1). We've seen God make man and woman in His own image, tasked to work the land, fill it and subdue it (Genesis 1), under God. We however did not like that arrangement, and rebelled against God (Genesis 3), and were cast out of our relationship with God, hopeless without Him.

However, God in all of this is completely sovereign, and never gives up on His people. When He floods the world in Genesis 6-9, He puts in a rescue plan for Noah and his family, the only ones who are listening to Him. Here we see already God justly judging the earth, and at the same time providing and instigating a salvation plan for His people, in the form of the ark.

By Genesis 11, the people who are united against God by trying to build a tower to make themselves great above God, are scattered by God, homeless and hopeless without Him.
In Genesis 12, we see God in complete control, making promises to a man called Abram (later known as Abraham), of land, people and blessing. This is the turning point in the Bible, the point where God, despite the continuous rebellion and faliure of humanity, decides to reverse the Fall, our rebellion against God, by instigating these promises. These promises are God's salvation plan for His people. They are a gathering by God of a people He has chosen as His, to live in a land He gives them, under His rule and blessing. These promises make up God's kingdom: God's people, living in God's place, under God's rule and blessing. God promises to keep these promises, no matter what He has to do to do it. Even keeping our side for us (Genesis 15)

Amazing times!

Now we come to the book of Exodus, one of my favourite books in the Bible which completely demonstrates the Sovereign love. The beginning sees God's people (for by this point the promises are showing signs of fullfillment already) in a land that is not theirs, Egypt, and as such they are slaves. God hears the crys of His people, and tells a man called Moses that God is going to save His people. Moses doubts this initially, as do the people.
Exodus 2-6 is a hard read. We see the great juxtoposition of an amazing, sovereign God making promises of salvation for His people from slavery, yet when times are hard for them they grumble, blame Moses and therefore God. They forget the promises, and neglect the only response we as humans can possibly do, that is trust.

God does not make those promises as a target for us to work towards, nor because He owes them to us. Mankind does not deserve part of God's kingdom, and yet He gives it to us, freely, by His grace alone.

Exodus displays that God is sovereign, and that we need to and always fail to trust in Him. It's a pattern shown throughout the Bible, and always God mercifully saves. For you see, despite the doubt, despite the fear, the lack of faith and trust, which is the only and right response to God, He does save. For in Exodus 12, to save His people from the judgement on the Egyptians and from their slavery, God instigates and provides His salvation plan, that is, taking an unblemished lamb, killing it, and smearing it's blood on their door frames, so that when God strikes down the Egyptian firstborns for the enslavery of His firstborn, His people, they may be spared and rescued.

Sound familiar?

For those promises are true. God provides a salvation plan for His people, from their slavery to sin and rebellion against Him, by dying for them. God promised that He would keep His promises, whatever the cost. And the cost was Him, God the Son, come down to earth as jesus Christ, a perfect man and God, called an unblemished lamb, who stretched out His arms and shed His blood in death on a cross, so that we may be saved. We cannot work to such things, nor earn that right. God holds the safety line out to us as we drown in the sea. We cannot swim, we must grab that rope and trust that God holding the other end will pull us in.

For if we do, we are a part of God's kingdom, God's people in God's land under God's blessing. This will be finally seen when Jesus, having risen again from the dead, returns, where this earth, this tainted creation will pass away to make way for a new one, perfect and unspoilt. God's land, with us, God's people who have trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, their only way out, under God's blessing, living with God as God over our lives, our relationship fully restored, for ever (Revelation 21-22)

It's easy to forget that God is sovereign, yet it is also easy to see God is sovereign. The Bible shows it, and so can our lives.

To use myself as an example. Some of you are all too aware of the fact I was supposed to get married on Agust the 8th this year. However, a lack of jobs prevented us. It looked hopeless, and there were many, many times where I felt there was no hope, that there was no direction now, that it had all gone wrong and there was no way I could fix this mess. See what I did? I forgot that God was in control, and tried to think of my own way out. Everybody does it, don't feel guilty, don't trust in yourselves, trust in God, for He does provide.

Even though I am not married yet, nor will be for some time, God is still sovereign. He has provided me with a house, food, clothing, all in Lancaster so that I cans still serve my church family at Moorlands Evangelical Church. I am not stuck somewhere where I do not want to be, and I have a job starting soon, with room for it to become permanent. God is so good, He has never stopped being so good. It just takes us a while to remember that.

God is in control, completely in control. Remember that as trails come. He is at work, do not cry "WHY!" but "How can I serve you in this situation?" It's hard to remember, so fight to remember, the God of the Universe has never stopped being in control. He is awesome and deserves all of the credit, for He is our hope, our salvation and our joy. We can, and have done nothing without Him. He is good, please fight the satan to remember this. God is great, praise
Him!

Don't get me wrong, it is going to be hard, and it is naive to think that the satan is not active. God is supreme, but that does not mean that life is an easy happy-clappy time. The kingdom of God in it's ultimate fullfillment has not come yet. Life is going to be hard, full of great pain. It is naive to think that because God is in control, that life will be easy. It's hard, but it's not permanent, for again, those promises stand, we will see them fullfilled one day.

God is in control, life is hard. Keep these truths both in mind as you face your inevitable and painful trials. The outcome is secure, FACT. Fight to remember that we are more than conquerors, thanks to the love of God, shown most in the cross of our Lord and saviour Christ Jesus

The unsecret life of Aled Seago aged 21 and 1/4

Maybe this is whatI should have called the blog? Ahh well.

The new Adrian Mole book was out this week: 'Adrian Mole: the Prostate Years'. Now, I love this series, since I was 13 in fact!
It all started when I was selected to play Adrian in the play adaption of the first book: 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 and 3/4'. Now up until that point I had barely heard of it, so my mum got obtained a copy for me, and I read it quite quickly (as I am one to do). I loved it!

I'll admit, that when the previous title 'Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction' came out a fair few years ago now, combined with a prequal last year 'Adrian Mole: the Lost Diaries 1999-2001' I thought that that was it. 'Weapons' had tied the series off nicely, with Adrian married again, with a daughter, happy. This was an awesome ending, for I find myself empathising and indeed sympathising with Adrian, not at least because I spent 6 months of my life playing him. I find that he and I are quite similar, or at least were some years ago: unlucky in love, yearning for publication, interesting and sometimes secret family life, unpopular and at one point, keen diarists.
I find I have changed since those days, for of course the main difference between us is that I am a Christian, and Adrian can't seem to make up his mind. Adrian's life is a constant battle with continued suffering in his life: starting with his parent's divorce in the first book, bullying, constant rejection, many bouts of depression, divorces and custody battles, a son fighting in Iraq and later Afghanistan, and indeed, parents with overzealous and truely eccentric sex lives!
In this latest book we find Adrian at 39-40, the happy ending of the first book now gone. His wife Daisy is having an affair behind his back, which we as readers can see plainly while Adrian does not find out until the end of the book. She leaves, and takes their badly-behaved daughter, Gracie with her. Also, in a move I found a sobering step in Adrian's many sufferings, Adrian contracts prostate cancer, having to deal with chemotherapy throughout most of the book.
The appeal of the Adrian Mole books is that the mishaps of Adrian's life are played out as what seems on the surface as a Greek tragedy, but played out in such a way that it is sometimes funny, as Adrian is blindingly oblivious to what goes on around him, while we as readers are entertained by this, along with sharp and satirical commentary on that contextual society by a gem of an author, Sue Townsend.
I confess I do not laugh much when reading. My interest in the books lie with the characters in the unfolding story of the Mole saga, and yes, I do find some bits hillarious, now as I grow older and understand the more sophisticated of humour. For example, a line from 'The Prostate Years', which to my joy and chargin I managed to read in two days, had me laughing so loudly that I had to stop and take many deep breaths: "To my horror he removed his hair and began to cry."
I am happy to report (and be aware I am completely going to give away the ending!), that the book does end on a light note. All the way through the series, the enigmatic figure of Pandora Braithwaite flirts in and out of Adrian's life. As blokes, Pandora represents the soul mate we crave, the first crush, the first love, the girl that we compare all subsequent to, one we may never quite get over. Not everyone has figures like this in their lives, but some do, and for Adrian, Pandora is his first crush, and in a surprising twist which I could never identify with until I was 17, they become boyfriend and girlfriend, which lasts for 4-5 years. He never gets over her, and all subsequent girlfriends are irravoidbly compared. Yes there are many for Adrian, two wives and countless girlfriends. None last however. Pandora throughout the later books pops back in and out of his life, and over time, through subtle hints that began towards the end of 'Adrain Mole: the Cappucino Years' (covering the years 1997-98, ten years before 'The Prostate Years'), through 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' (2002-4), until the end of 'The Prostate years' (2007-8), which ends with an enigmatic and cliffhanger type meeting between the two as the book closes.
I love the Adrian Molem series, and this latest book is a worthy addition to the canon.