Today’s household object is the Bible itself and our passage is Acts 8:27-35, where Philip helps an Ethiopian reading Scripture to understand what he is reading.

The word ‘Bible’ simply means ‘book’, and we are privileged to have access to God’s word. The Bible is part of our spiritual furniture, just as it is part of the fixtures and fitting in some hotels to this day. Yet it is not enough to own a Bible or to have it on a shelf in our homes; we must pick up this wonderful book and read it to discover more about God and ourselves. Sometimes it can baffle us and bewilder us. We need to understand its many different genres (history, poetry, prophecy, factual accounts and letters); we need to delve into its context and culture to gain understanding.

This is one reason we are urged to come to church services and to do Bible studies, so that we can better understand the Bible and therefore can be taught by God. There are many resources available these days to help us read and understand the Bible, but the one thing which cannot be taught is the desire to actually open the book and read it. We have to have that desire to read, that willingness to wrestle with difficult passages, that hunger and thirst to know more of God. No one else can impart that to us. We have to pick up the book and read; we have to ask God to reveal Himself to us as we read. If we do that, we will find God Himself in the pages of this marvellous book.

Today’s household object is the pen and the Bible passage is Job 19:23-29.

Before we had computers, we had pens to write with! The pen is one of the most valuable inventions of humankind; it is a powerful tool. It can record truth, and the passage today contains some of the most inspiring words in the whole of the Bible: Job’s declaration by faith that, even in the midst of great trials and sorrow, ‘my Redeemer lives, and that at the last He will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God.’ He asks for an iron pen so that these truths can be recorded permanently.

When I go on holiday, I enjoy writing in sand, but that is always with the knowledge that as the tide comes in, my words will be washed away. Job realises that even though our bodies blow away as dust, the words we have spoken and written and the deeds we have done can be remembered from one generation to another. Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’… which should make us pause when we are writing to ensure that we write truth that can last. May Jesus, God’s living Word, write His words on our hearts so that we can write His truth that can set people free.

1 Samuel 24 comes when David is still on the run from Saul. Suddenly, the paths of the two men cross in a cave, and David actually has the upper hand through the element of surprise. Urged on by his men to see this as God’s way of finally getting rid of Saul and thus establishing his claim to be king, David resists the temptation to kill Saul and shows mercy instead of vengeance. He speaks to Saul and reminds him that he has never harmed him, even when he has had the opportunity, and promises loyalty to him. Saul, with the evidence of a torn robe showing him just how close David actually got to him, is forced to acknowledge the truth of David’s words and asks him to show mercy to his descendants when he is gone (something David has already sworn to do because of his covenant with Jonathan.)

The chapter shows us much about mercy. Mercy is defined as ‘compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.’ In a surprising turn of events, David the hunted is in a position to harm Saul, but he refuses to succumb to this temptation (even though his men urge him to, based on their interpretation of what God has promised him ultimately, the chance to be king of Israel.) David demonstrates a trust in God’s sovereignty and an attitude of submissive servanthood which seem surprising to us given his prowess as a warrior. David does not wish harm to Saul; he recognises him as the Lord’s anointed, and he is prepared to wait for God to make him king. He does not need to manipulate the situation or commit wrongdoing – doing the ‘right thing’ in the ‘wrong way’ violates how we are meant to live; as we teach children, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.’ David’s way of mercy goes against the grain, but it is the way of the cross, where grace and mercy meet. We are to be merciful to others, just as our heavenly Father is merciful to us (Luke 6:36).

Today’s household object is the computer and the Bible passage is Ezekiel 36:24-29, where God promises to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.

The blue screen of death. Have you ever faced that? You turn on your computer, and instead of it whirring into life, you simply see a blue screen. You can’t access any of the files on the computer; you can’t connect to the Internet. Things that normally take seconds are just impossible to achieve. Sometimes, the problem is with the hard disk which acts as the computer’s memory. It can be corrupted and we may need expert help in recovering the precious data it contains.

Ezekiel was a prophet during the difficult days of exile, when God’s people were far from their homeland. They felt disoriented, depressed and frustrated. ‘Their memories of the past and their hopes for the future, along with their possessions and networks of relationships, had been disrupted.’ (‘At Home In Lent’, P 124) It was into this situation that Ezekiel brought a word of hope, that God would give them new hearts of flesh to replace the seized-up, sinful ones of ‘stone.’

The gospel story tells us that we can have a clean start, a fresh start, that God can and will restore and renew what is broken, enabling anyone to start afresh, any time. That’s good news!

Today’s household object is the television and the Bible passage is Mark 8:22-26.

Television allows us to see the world through new eyes, giving us access to the whole world. What we see can dismay and depress us or drive us to prayer; it can lift our spirits, make us laugh or cry, and can also teach us and inform us. As with so many things, it can be a good servant but a poor master; we need to learn to be wise in what we allow our eyes to see and our ears to hear, but we also need to appreciate the different viewpoints which this device can show us.

In our reading, Jesus healed a blind man in two stages: initially, the man saw people, but they looked like trees walking! This reminds us that we need to see the world through God’s eyes; we need spiritual vision and discernment as we view the world. Easter reminds us that what happened looked like failure and disaster to most people, but was actually all part of God’s plan for our salvation. We need to see as God sees.