In the run-up to the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival on 1 & 2 September, there are a variety of free workshops running throughout July and August. Why not come along to some of these and try your hand at new things?

In addition, there will be the opportunity to play crazy golf and be involved in crafts and games for children at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesdays in August (15 August, 22 August and 29 August). So don’t ever say there’s nothing to do in the school holidays!

Recently, Stephen asked us the question ‘What is God like?’ Our view of God, A.W. Tozer said, is the most important thing about us, and C. S. Lewis once observed that the danger he faced was not that he might cease to believe in God, but that he might come to believe ‘such dreadful things about him’ because of the grief he was then experiencing. (‘A Grief Observed’) Grief and trials do that to us: they rock our foundations and make us question all we believe about God. They can erod our confidence in the goodness of God, causing us to question either His motives or His ability, or both.

Novels like ‘The Shack’ (which has recently been released as a film) attempt to tackle these difficult questions, showing us how easily sadness and grief, especially when caused by violence or terrorism, can cause us to doubt God’s nature. The Bible teaches us facts about God which appear to us to be contradictory: that God is both just and merciful, for example. We struggle with these ideas, wrestling with our limited understanding and assuming ultimately that what we know of God can be derived from our own experiences of Him.

Our knowledge of God, however, has to be based on more than our limited understanding and personal experience. The revelation of God through Jesus Christ gives us a fuller picture of God than was known in the Old Testament, but even so, we must learn to live with mystery. God is all-knowing, all-wise, all-just, all-powerful; the Bible constantly reaffirms that He is love and He is good. This is the correcting lens to tragedy, pain, bewilderment and anguish. We squint in the light, trying to see clearly; in the dark, we cannot see at all. But in all circumstances, we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) What we believe matters as well as that we believe.

I recently invigilated a geography GCSE exam which had questions about coastal erosion. Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, drainage or high winds. The nearest example to us is probably Scarborough, where the 70 metre high coastal cliffs, although protected at the toe, have been subject to a range of smallscale to largescale slumping failures. This kind of erosion is often gradual, but has dangerous consequences.

The erosion of faith similarly does not happen instantly; we are often faced with trials and difficulties over a long period of time, and these can gradually chip away at our confidence, faith and trust. David, in his youth, was persecuted by Saul over a long period of time. Even when he had the opportunity to take revenge and harm Saul, he refused to do so, realising that God would sort the matter out. (‘David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?  As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.’ 1 Sam 26:9-11) Over time, however, David’s confidence was eroded, and he ended up taking refuge amongst the Philistines and even feigning insanity to protect himself. (‘David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” 1 Sam 27:1) The constant pressure of living as a hunted man took its toll on David’s faith.

A similar thing can be seen in the life of Elijah, whose confidence against the opposition of Ahab and Jezebel led to the defeat of Baal’s prophets on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:15-46). Not long after, however, when Jezebel threatened his life, he was afraid and ran for his life (1 Kings 19:3), feeling abandoned, alone and defeated, so depressed that he wanted to die (1 Kings 19:4, 10).

How do we guard our lives against this kind of erosion? Faith erosion happens when our strength is depleted, when our perspective becomes short-term and when we focus more on circumstances and people than on God. David himself learned how to handle long-term pressure; in 1 Sam 29 and 30, we see him under great pressure from enemies and from dissension within his own ranks, but the difference here is that he ‘found strength in the Lord his God.’ (1 Sam 30:6) He learned to encourage himself in God by keeping his eyes firmly fixed on God, rather than on his enemies. Peter tells us to ‘cast all your cares on God, because he cares for you.’ (1 Pet 5:7) Don’t let circumstances or other people grind you down. Continue to wait and hope in the God who daily bears our burdens and saves us from certain death. (Ps 68:19-20)

Rom 13:11-4 reminds us that what occupies our thinking will determine how we live. Eph 4:17-24 makes it plain that we have to live a different kind of life to how we used to live if we are to live wisely.

Putting on the new self is not like wearing an all-in-one suit which can be put on to cover every part of our bodies:

It is more like putting on individual pieces of armour:

However, we have a tendency to ‘mix and match’ the old and the new, trying to keep some elements of our ‘old life’ whilst putting on some aspects of the new (which Garry illustrated through this rather odd attire!)

We tend to live inconsistent lives precisely because of this mismatch. Eph 4:25-5:15 shows us how our lives need to be altered by our faith (speaking truthfully instead of lying, living honestly instead of stealing, avoiding sexual immorality, living in a way where we control our emotions rather than being controlled by them.)  We need to apply God’s word to our lives so that our reactions (which reflect our true state of spirituality) conform to what the Bible says.

Where there were gaps in a soldier’s armour, the soldier was open to being wounded in battle and rendered unfit for service. We need to ensure that we hold ourselves to Biblical standards and that we put on the armour of God, not living inconsistent lives but yielding wholeheartedly to God so that our lives reflect His nature.

Life has a habit of tripping us up, situations arising where people say ‘gotcha!’

Some of these life scenarios are simply annoying, like the time Garry got stuck descending from Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire:

Others are more serious, like the way the angler fish lures its prey with its inviting light…

Some situations, like the accident which killed the MAF pilot in Papua New Guinea when he flew into the Hindenberg Wall (a narrow set of mountain peaks), are fatal. The Bible makes it clear that to avoid these ‘gotcha!’ situations, we need both knowledge and wisdom (see 1 Cor 1:25, Js 1:5, Js 3:17).

The biggest trap of all is the lie that life can be lived adequately and wisely without God. Many try to do this, but Prov 1:7 reminds us that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Prov 2:1-6 tells us that a search for wisdom is necessary if we are to navigate the pitfalls in life. We need first of all to be saved and then go on to live the life God has planned for us if we are to embrace true wisdom.

God urged His people to leave Assyria and touch no unclean thing, to depart from there and be pure. (Is 52:11) The call for holiness will always involve a separation from things that are impure and unclean because God is pure and clean. Much of the Old Testament law had to do with working out cleanliness and purity in everyday living.

Paul quotes Is 52:11 in 2 Cor 6, explaining it by saying, ‘Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?’ (2 Cor 6:14-15) Paul is not saying we should have nothing at all to do with non-Christians – we live in the world with them and are called to live out our faith in such a way that they will see our good deeds and praise God because of them –  but he is saying that we should not choose to link our lives irrevocably to them – in marriage, in business, in ways that will involve us walking together in step, the way that oxen have to walk together in unity when they are yoked together.

The call to holiness has immense practical implications for us. It means choosing wisely our friends, partners and business colleagues. It means thinking seriously about God in every area of our living, refusing to separate ‘secular’ and ‘sacred’, but allowing God into every area of our lives. It also means living with a long-term perspective. We have promises and hopes that will not only last for a lifetime of seventy or eighty years; we have blessings that are promised us to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and throughout eternity!

Ultimately, we can have confidence in God to complete the work He has begun in us. ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.’ (1 Thess 5:23-24)