Rector’s Reflections
Thursday 18th July 2024
See, I am making all things new
The fact that God has told us that He is always at work, in every place and at every point in time, should provide us with a sense of comfort. The fact that God is always at work to bring about new beginnings should give us hope. But often this is not the case: we are annoyed, and perhaps angry, with God. Why is this so?
It might well be because we want to micro-manage God. We want God to work in particular ways. We have produced a plan in our minds, and we expect God to follow it. But what if God has a different plan in mind? As human beings, we can the tendency to assume that we know all the relevant facts, and have a complete mastery of what needs to be done to get the desired result. But what human being can ever hope to have complete knowledge of a situation? And what human being can ever have perfect wisdom, so as to know what is for the best in every situation in life?
Part of the problem is that human beings do not always accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions. We like to shift the blame to someone else. When we make a bad choice, and things do not turn out as we would like, it is tempting to look around for someone to blame. And who better to blame than God? Our reasoning goes something like this: we are prepared to accept that God is at work, making all things new, when everything happens as we would like it to happen. But what if things don’t turn out exactly as we would have wished- what if the changes we see in our life and our world involve pain, suffering and disappointment? We then blame God. But we don’t pause to think about our own responsibility for much of the pain, suffering and disappointment which we experience.
And we also do not allow ourselves time to consider the possibility that that are times when a new beginning cannot come about without it being accompanied by some pain and suffering. In such situations, the pain and suffering are a necessary adjunct to the birth of the new; they are to be endured because the suffering is outweighed by some greater good. As I write these words, I am reminded of an old proverb : “You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs”. I am not saying the pain and suffering is good in itself; it isn’t. But sometimes pain and suffering have to be placed in a wider context, and when we do so, we see that the pain and suffering is not without some meaning and purpose.
Finally, I think human beings find it very hard to trust God. Our trust in God can remain more theoretical than practical. We can believe that God is all loving and all powerful, and so it is logical for us to trust our lives to Him. But we can doubt this in our hearts, and how many of us allow cold logic to guide the direction of our lives? It is so hard for us truly to trust that God knows what’s doing. This is especially so when we stressed or unwell, or dealing with some matter which really matters to us. Trusting God to look after the trivialities of life is fairly straightforward; but trusting God to look after the things which really matter – our job, perhaps, or our health, or our relationships- well, that’s quite a different matter.
For all these reasons, we can read words telling us that God is “making all news things”, but we are not able to let the words sink in. We want to remain in control of the situation, and tell God how He is to act. We are unwilling to surrender ourselves to God’s love and God’s wisdom. Fortunately, God understands our human limitations. It is not easy for us humans to trust God, and God knows this to be the case. Let me finish with Luke’s account of Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives:
[Jesus] came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples’ and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come unto the time of trial”.
When we find ourselves in a time of trial, may the words of Jesus be found on our lips, also: ”Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”