Signs of the Seasons

I love Autumn. I love the mild, sunny days, the chill of the mornings and evenings, the smell of smoke drifting across, but most of all the changing trees. The colours of the leaves against the deep blue of the sky, or with the sun shining through making them even more vibrant floods my soul with joy and peace. And the way the leaves float lazily to the ground or fall in a flurry, like rain, with a gust of the breeze fills me with wonder. I find myself amazed by this whole process of the trees losing their leaves.


I have heard a number of scientific explanations, such as the fact that the leaves don't actually fall off, but are pushed off by next Spring's leaf buds. (This is how you know when a tree is dead as the leaves die but don't fall off.) Another explanation is regarding the sensitivity of the trees to the subtle changes in the weather, shorter days and cooler temperatures, that we as humans are largely unaware of or remain unaffected by.


Thinking about this I find myself reflecting again on the parallels between the natural world and the spiritual world. I am reminded of a couple of places in the Bible where Jesus also draws this parallel. In Matt 24:32, He says' "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near." And in Matt 16:2-3, He rebukes the religious leaders looking for a sign, saying, 'When evening comes, you say, "It will be fair weather, for the sky is red", and in the morning, "Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast."' He goes on to reprimand them that they have no problems working with the 'natural', but when it comes to the spiritual they, who are supposedly the experts in such matters, have no understanding.


When Jesus talks to His disciples in Matthew 24 about the signs they should expect in the 'end times', there is a sense of comfort rather than condemnation. I think that in our 'natural' state, we can tend to get fearful about what will happen in these times, rather than simply being informed. Something I read this morning triggered the thought that when we worry and fear our circumstances, the things happening to us and around us, we are actually behaving in a way that is not trusting God. Trusting Him is not something that is automatic, or our natural bent. We have to work at it in the little things - like a muscle, trust gets stronger and grows as we use it. It also comes from relationship. We will struggle to trust those we do not know well.


Being informed also involves deepening our relationship with God. We need to practice hearing in the Spirit, spending time listening to God and asking the right questions, so that like the trees, we increase in our sensitivity to the signs of the times, we recognise the changing spiritual seasons. We then need to place those signs in the right context of our Biblical understanding, so we are not afraid but informed. The signs are not there to bring judgement or condemnation on us, but to help us to live with the changes as they happen. Just as Autumn, in the natural, is a sign to prepare for the hardships of winter, stocking up, harvesting, preparing a warm cosy place, so are the signs we see in the spiritual world there to help us be prepared, like the wise virgins of Matt 25. 

Its Always Darkest Before the Dawn

So justice is driven back, 
and righteousness stands at a distance; 
truth has stumbled in the streets, 
honesty cannot enter. 
Truth is nowhere to be found, 
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

Is 59:14-15a

As I read these words as a facebook post a few days ago, they resonated with my spirit in that way where you know God is saying something. While I had no problem understanding the picture that is painted and how relevant it is for the culture we live in, I was not sure what to do with it.

Reading through the whole of Isaiah 59, I was further disturbed. Words such as "No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies..." and "They...spin a spider's web...Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make" describe so well our society where spin is king, where people have a belief that if they say something often enough and loud enough, it becomes true or that hiding or modifying the truth is justified by the ends they desire to meet. However, these words remind us that God is not deceived, God sees through all the webs we spin to cover ourselves and we reap the consequences (see verse 2).

Reading this, I have a sense of outrage that justice, righteousness, truth and honesty seem to have been rendered powerless. The words "evil prospers when good men do nothing" come to mind, and I wonder why, as Christians, we seem so ready to accept powerlessness as our lot? While a part of me wants to rise up and defend justice, righteousness, truth and honesty, though, I realise equally that they need no such defence. By defending or explaining the Truth I bring the focus back on me, and the Truth loses its power. However, equally I should not fear the Truth, but simply present it and allow it to speak for itself. As verses 19 and 20 promise us, remind us: God's glory will be revered, He will act.

Verse 21 follows with the promise that God's Spirit will come on us and His words will be in our mouths and that neither will ever depart from us. Chapter 60:1-3 completes the picture, noting that it is not so much our action or behaviour that brings this about, but the action of God on our lives as we lay down them down to join with His:

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth 

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

and His glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light

and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

At times it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the darkness around us and to wonder if there is any hope. However, it is in times like this that we must stand boldly for what we believe, hold onto the Truth and not deviate one bit. We cannot afford to get distracted by what is going on around us, by the ebbs and flows of human opinion, but must keep our focus on God and what He is doing. There will come a time when the darkness will become irrelevant in the light of His glory and grace.

Faith and Patience

Sometimes when I am reading I come upon something that is profound and yet obvious at the same time. This morning was one of those times. One of the books I am reading at the moment is "There Were Two Trees in the Garden" by Rick Joyner (a book I would recommend without hesitation). In it he quotes Hebrews 6:12 as exhorting us to "be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises". Joyner goes on to point out that "True faith cannot be separated from patience." Indeed, our ability to be patient (or not) is actually a measure of our faith in God; do we really believe that He is faithful and true to His promises? 


The alternative is that we are impatient and like Abraham, give birth to our own 'Ishmaels', symbols of our lack of patience and our belief that we need to work out our own answers rather than waiting on God. And there it is again. Waiting. Waiting takes patience. I would rather be doing. 


Personally, I have felt like I am in the waiting room for a number of years now. Every now and again, I wonder if I have missed something, if I should be doing something different. It's usually when I see others going out and all the pieces seeming to fall into place for them and I wonder why it is not happening for me, why my promised 'child' is so slow in coming. But each time, as I step back, I know that I don't want to run ahead of God. Even though there may be some immediate rewards and benefits (like human approval), long term I know I will not end up where I want to be. As a wise friend pointed out the other day, if we deviate only one degree off the course of walking beside Jesus, the further we walk down that path, the further away from Him we get. 


As I continue on with my studies looking at spiritual formation, I am reminded again and again that it is not about what we do or what we know but about Who we know and what we do with Him. One of my favourite pictures from Jesus is of the vine and the branches in John 15:1-17. Jesus repeatedly affirms that it is as we abide or remain in Him that He remains in us, and that this is where true fruitfulness will come from. The more time we spend abiding with Jesus the more like Him we will become and the more faith and patience we will find we have.

His faithfulness is sufficient

This semester my studies are focussed on spiritual formation, perhaps most simply put as being about our growing in Christ-likeness. A discussion in many of the readings is that ever difficult line between what has already been done for/in us in Christ through grace (a free, unmerited gift) and the idea that this grace should change our behaviour and attitudes. The problem is that we have a tendency to measure God's approval and favour of us by what we do. We measure how loved or lovable we are (or someone else is) by various aspects of behaviour, from morals and behaviours to even our 'spirituality', 'anointing' or 'giftedness'.

It is a difficult question, though. I mean, if I am truly impacted by the love and grace of God, I will behave differently, won't I? I will be more loving toward others, more in tune with God's will, hear more clearly from Him. Surely?

On the flip side of this, however, I have wondered about how it seems to be possible to appear to hear from God and yet seem not to be transformed by Him. Then I realised that there is a huge difference between 'hearing from the Spirit' and 'walking in the Spirit'. It's all about what we do with it. Are we mere hearers, or do we actually do what we hear? (James 1:22-25)

Added to this, our hearing can be very selective. We can listen to the bits that support us, that help us maintain our position and ignore or remain deaf (blind) to those bits that challenge us to change. One of my readings talked about the idea that we even form "theologies" that enable us to ignore injustice either around us or even caused by us, to keep us in our comfortable place were we don't need to truly suffer or feel the pain of those who do. In the midst of this we walk another fine line of whether we can truly experience God's love and yet not truly love others (see 1 John 4), which might be demonstrated by standing with them in their suffering.

In the midst of this I am challenged by my own lack of love or compassion for others, particularly those who I see as perpetuating injustice. How do I truly love those who behave in ways that I see as damaging to others around them, whom I perceive as perpetrators of injustice and hypocrisy without joining them? I am reminded of the story of the unjust steward (Matt 18) and realise that I lack understanding of the size of the debt I have been released from which is why it is so easy to condemn others. 


A number of times more recently, I have been impacted by the idea that our culture has forgotten (or would rather forget) the importance of grief and lament and that even if we do acknowledge our need for these in the process of repentance, we often skip through it, we don't like to dwell there, and so move quickly on to focussing on the fact that we are forgiven and never properly comprehend our true inability to do good, to do what is right and so never fully appreciate what has been done for us on the cross. 


And that brings us to yet another of those fine lines, between condemnation and conviction. Perhaps we have experienced way too much condemnation (which says 'try harder' and 'you are not good enough') rather than conviction, where in the midst of understanding that our behaviour/attitudes are not acceptable, we experience being accepted and loved. 

Tying all this together, I got a great picture from one of my readings which has stuck with me. It is a quote from Hendrikus Berkhof as he discusses the role of grace in us, coupled with our faith (which, in turn is not ours but a gift!), and our inability to bring about any transformation in ourselves. He says:

"His faithfulness also consists in the fact that he creates and seeks our faithfulness and realizes his faithfulness in and through our faithfulness and so causes it to triumph. We do not persevere, but he perseveres, by constantly calling us, disturbing us, inspiring us ."

As much as we would like to think we have power in and of ourselves over any aspect of our lives for transformation, the reality is that He is gently pursuing, guiding and helping us every step of the way. We really don’t have to do anything but cooperate. How’s that for freedom!