How We Got Here

Jehovah Jireh is one of the names given to God. It means ‘the Lord will provide’ and the Biblical reference to this is found in Genesis 22, where Abraham goes out to sacrifice his son, Isaac, but is prevented from doing so by the angel of the Lord. Abraham finds a ram in a thicket which he sacrifices instead of his son; we are told, ‘Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” ‘ (Genesis 22:14)

The provision of God for His people is a topic which could fill many pages. We too have seen many examples of God’s provision on this journey.

The funding from Coalfields Regeneration Trust is one example of God’s provision, and a truly amazing one at that! But there are countless other examples of provision. The chairs which the shop next door had available at a reduced price on our first day as owners of St Mark’s, not to mention the van which could fetch scaffolding for us when we had nothing big enough to transport it. The people who streamed in to help with decoration, including a plasterer, bricklayer and professional painter and decorator (who were not church members, but were friends or relatives of members who just ‘happened’ to be willing to give up their time and expertise free of charge.) Hope House Church in Barnsley, who were willing to lend us their scaffolding so that work could proceed straightaway. Ronseal and Crown Paints have donated varnish and paint to help us. Then there was the amazing collection generously and lavishly given by members of the church. There have been so many examples of people and things being available at just the right time that this surely goes beyond coincidence.

Our response to God’s provision should be one of gratitude and awed thankfulness. “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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3:20-21)

We should also reflect on the amazing truth that God works in partnership with people. God’s provision often comes through people. Are we willing to listen to Him to hear how He wants us to be part of His provision to others?

Before and after photos of the main hall and the corridor.

What a difference a few weeks of work makes!

Even more amazing is the fact that God is working on each one of us to change us to become more like Jesus. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18)

Not even my kindest friend could ever describe me as mathematically-inclined (I’m a wordsmith, not a number-cruncher!) But one thing I have looked at recently is the Biblical ratio of work to rest: “Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.” (Exodus 20:8)

God Himself is a model for us in this whole idea of work and rest: “…by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from the work of creating He had done.” (Genesis 2:2-3) He spent six days creating the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day He rested.

The renovation of St Mark’s is a long-term project. It will require a lot of work from a lot of people and, like any long-term project, will need that work to be ongoing for a long time. The building work chronicled here is actually only a tiny fraction (another mathematical term!) of the actual work God wants to do, since the building is only a tool, not, in actual fact, the work itself. It’s simply a means to an end, a facility to enable us to reach out to our local community in the way God wants.

One thing we must learn, therefore, is how to rest as well as how to work. We need to learn how to enter God’s rest and not simply rely on our own strength, talents and giftings. We need to be aware of times and seasons and learn how to work whole-heartedly but also how to rest devotedly, dedicating all we are and all we do to God.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us that those who hope or wait on the Lord will renew their strength. The work:rest ratio reminds us that this is a cycle. We work and need to rest; we rest and need to work. The two things have to be held together in balance to make a whole. Let’s learn to do both and to dedicate our whole lives as a living sacrifice to God.

For those of you new to the world of blogs, a quick word to say that this one is indeed run on the Biblical principle that the first shall be last and the last shall be first! In other words, the newest posts are the ones at the top of the page. If you want to read in chronological order, you will need to start with the ‘older posts’ and read backwards, so to speak.

I love the way God does things differently!!

The work continued. Here is the children’s room as it currently looks. The handprints were done by young people in church; in fact, this room was mainly decorated by young people.

What kind of mark are you leaving on this world?

One of the aims of this blog is to remind people of God’s faithfulness. It’s all too easy, given our human tendency to forget, to lose sight of what God has done: in the bustle of life, in the everyday busyness of ordinary events, in the sheer monotony that is our normal life, we simply forget.

The people of Israel tended to forget all God had done too. We look back at those nation-changing events in Exodus – the plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea – and wonder incredulously how Israel could so quickly forget the slavery of Egypt and the miraculous deliverance of God, how they could lament the loss of the cucumbers, onions and garlic of Egypt and forget the bondage of slavery there, how they could witnesss God’s daily provision of manna and still complain. Yet we too so easily forget what God has done and fail to remember His provision and providence; we too easily lapse into complaint and doubt.

Forgetting is not necessarily a deliberate act, but the antidote is what we actively, deliberately, determinedly choose to remember. Anamnesis – the act of remembrance, the opposite of amnesia – is necessary. We choose to remember what God has done in the past to remind us of His faithfulness, truthfulness, dependability and power for both the present and the future. We need to be strong in the Lord if we are to stand and one way to be strong is to remember what God has done.

This blog, then, is a reminder of God’s provision and grace to a particular people in a particular place at a particular moment in history. It is a call to remember God’s faithfulness (which reaches to the skies and which continues through all generations). It is a stone of remembrance like the twelve stones placed by Joshua in the middle of the River Jordan when the Israelites were finally about to enter the Promised Land. It is a way for us not to forget all God has done.

‘Everything changes, but You stay the same;
Your word and kingdom endure.
We lean on the promise of all that You are
And trust forevermore.’
(‘How Great Is Your Faithfulness’, Matt Redman & Jonas Myrin)