This morning we looked at Isaiah 6:1-8, a famous passage where Isaiah’s vision of God completely transforms him and where God’s questions to him become the springboard to his service for God.

Isaiah’s vision is of the Lord ‘high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.’ (Is 6:1) We too need a vision of the Lord as high and exalted, a vision of God as on the throne, ruling in power. Ps 11:9 reminds us of God’s sovereignty; a vision that we serve an eternal God and an eternal kingdom (Ps 145:13) is essential if we are to stand in a secular world which dismisses God as irrelevant and unnecessary. Isaiah’s vision was also of a holy God, and we need to grasp just how different God is to mankind. God’s holiness must be real to us, not so that we can be in despair (Is 6:5), but so that we can be transformed. The third aspect of Isaiah’s vision was that ‘the whole earth is full of his glory.’ (Is 6:3) We must understand life in relation to God, that God is at the centre of life so that we are kept from a false view of reality: ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.’ (Hab 2:14) We desperately need this vision because the world tells us that God is irrelevant, not important and not worth mentioning, but the truth is so very different. It’s all about God, and when we see this, we are irrevocably changed.

There is a line in Rend Collective’s song ‘True North’ which says, ‘I will follow You into the dark, dark, dark.’ It’s a very jolly song, so the line slips into your consciousness without at first seeming incongruous, but of course, it’s a revolutionary notion. Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12) and the Bible spends so much time talking about God and light that the idea of following God into the dark seems almost blasphemous. The light shines in the darkness; the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) Is it ever true that Christians must follow God into the darkness?

If we look at the whole story arc of Scripture, we will see that darkness is not antithetical to faith. Many saints have grappled with God in the darkness. Job spoke of ‘the place of no return, the land of gloom and utter darkness, the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.’ (Job 10:21-22) Jeremiah, living in the desperate times of defeat and exile, spoke of God making him walk in darkness rather than light (Lam 3:2) and said, ‘He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.’ (Lam 3:6) The psalmist said, ‘You crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals; you covered us over with deep darkness.’ (Ps 44:19) Heman the Ezrahite went so far as to say, ‘Darkness is my closest friend.’ (Ps 88:18)

These experiences of darkness are not, therefore, either unusual or to be feared. Most of us fear the darkness to some extent. It is disorientating, difficult to navigate and extremely tiring. Everything seems so much worse in the dark, as anyone who has lain awake at night fretting and worrying can testify. But Scripture reminds us that ‘even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.’ (Ps 112:4) We may be called to follow God into the dark at times; we may be living through tumultuous times when we simply do not know what is going to happen. Micah reminds us that ‘though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.’ (Micah 7:8) We can still know the Light of the world in the midst of darkness; we can still fear no evil in the darkest valley. (Ps 23:4)

In our Bible study tonight, we continued looking at Amos, seeing how Amos brings warning of judgment to God’s people. As we have said before, with great privilege comes great responsibility, and the problem Israel faced was misusing their relationship with God as licence instead of living righteously before Him. The people abused their power, treating the poor with scorn (Amos 5:11), believing that their own righteousness and offerings were pleasing to God. God’s words to them are shocking, calling the women ‘cows of Bashan’ (Amos 4:1) and telling them He despised their religious festivals and worship (Amos 5:21-24). What God was interested in can be summed up in Amos 5:24: ‘But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.’

It’s all too easy to settle for the outward form of religion and worship; Jesus warned against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who would pray on street corners and give ostentatiously. (Matt 6:5) In Luke 18:11-12, He contrasted the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisee with the simply humility of the tax collector; He spoke also about the widow’s offering being of more value than that given by those who were rich but did not really care about giving for the right reasons. (Mark 12:38-42) What God is looking for, however, is that inward humility of heart which hears God’s word and obeys it. Only when this happens can we avoid the judgment that is otherwise coming. We should not think judgment will always happen to ‘someone else’; instead, we should search our hearts and seek God.

Planning is generally perceived as being a good thing; Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!‘ Planning has formed the heart of many a government (perhaps the most famous being Joseph Stalin’s 5-year plans) and individuals are often encouraged to make such long-term plans in order to be focussed and achieve goals. Nonetheless, whilst in principle it can be good to make plans (most of what we do needs a certain amount of preparation and planning!), we need to understand that there is a limit to our knowledge and therefore to our plans. God’s plans, on the other hand, last a lot longer than five years and because He knows everything, are never derailed by circumstances! (see Gen 3:14-15, Rom 8:28-30, 1 Cor 2:6-8).

Our planning is often limited by our inability to see far, but God does not have this problem. In Gen 39:20-23 we see that God’s hand was on Joseph, even in adverse circumstances; this period in his life demonstrates very clearly the truth of Prov 19:21 (‘Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’) So often, we see God accomplishing great things through ordinary people who may not have had any ‘grand plan’ to change the world but whose obedience and willingness to journey by faith meant great things were accomplished (e.g. Jackie Pullinger’s ministry in Hong Kong and David Wilkerson’s ministry among the gangs in New York.) This reminds us of Abram, who was called by God to journey to destinations unspecified (Gen 13:14-17). We may feel that such ‘wanderings’ showed a lack of planning and therefore a lack of faith, but in actual fact, one of the key things in our walk with God is being willing to be led by the Spirit at all times. As Isaiah reminds us,’walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.’ (Is 26:8) Sometimes, we have to be willing to let go of our plans in order to follow God’s plans; we have to be willing to wait and walk in humility before Him.

Living by faith will always involve periods of not knowing and periods of testing. While we wait, we are called to do what we know we should: to worship, to serve, to listen and to obey. Living this way means we don’t always have to anticipate what is around the next corner. Living this way, we don’t have to make provision for the unknown. Living this way we have very little investment in future plans, so we have no plans to change. Living this way requires being close to God. Living this way makes us very dependent on Him. Living this way makes Him our only safety net. Living this way can be a wild adventure – but it means letting go so that only God is in control of our lives and for most people, that’s a very scary thought. It’s the way of faith, however, down the ages, and since God’s plans can’t ever be thwarted, it’s the best place to be!

Today, on the eve of Halloween, members of Dearne Churches Together went out (initially in the pouring rain, but thankfully that stopped!) to distribute our candles and pictures of light in Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne. Our thanks to all who helped, and our prayer is that the Light of the world becomes known in more households through these symbols of light.

Goldthorpe

Bolton-on-Dearne

Thurnscoe