Last night (more accurately, early this morning) part of the chimney on our house collapsed. We were roused from sweet sleep by a thundering, crashing noise that made no sense at all. As we tried to fathom what had made the noise and attempted to make sense of the commotion, we discovered bricks from the chimney had fallen, crashing onto the pavement at the front of the house and shattering the conservatory roof in places at the back.

It was dark and difficult to see exactly what had happened; we had to pick up the broken bricks and try to made things tidier. There is still much to be sorted and fixed, for clearly the chimney is unstable and needs urgent attention. As I lay in bed an hour later, half-fearful of going back to sleep in case the collapse continued and further damage was done, I thought about the fragility of life and how circumstances can easily shatter our confidence and trust.

A broken relationship out of nowhere, smashing our confidence and self-esteem just like the smashed conservatory.

A job loss or financial difficulty, shattering our normality and causing us to despair.

The diagnosis of an illness crushing our hopes and dreams and leaving us in cold fear and dread.

Things always seem worse at night. Our fears and anxieties seem magnified. There was little we could practically do until daylight came, insurance companies contacted, builders called out, so the night time frequently becomes a mirror of the helplessness and impotence we often feel in life.

As we picked up broken pieces and gave thanks that this had actually happened at night, imagining what would have happened to an innocent passer-by if they had been struck by a brick, I was reminded of the song: “You assemble all our broken, shattered pieces, more beautiful than I have ever known.” (Aaron Shust, ‘Long Live the King’)

There seems little beauty in the disasters that crash into our lives. But I am encouraged because we have a Saviour who picks up every broken piece by hand. He allows the dirt on the pieces to soil His hands. He allows the shards of brokenness to make His hands bleed. His hands know all about wounds and scars. And He weeps with those who weep, this Man of Sorrows, who is familiar and acquainted with sorrow and pain and suffering. He is able to sympathise and empathise with us in our weaknesses and sorrows because He has walked on this earth and know what pain is. But He is also able to heal, to restore, to make something beautiful from the ashes of the disasters that happen. He is good.

Yan did not only outline some of the problems which blind us and cause us not to have a clear view of God. He also looked at Job 23:8-12 to show us how we can overcome obstacles to see God more clearly in our everyday lives.

1. Purity of Life
Job’s circumstances have caused him to feel as though God is absent. ‘But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.’ (Job 23:8-9) This is often our experience; we feel God’s absence at times more keenly than we feel His presence. But Job knows there is purpose in the testing God brings to our lives: ‘when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.’ (Job 23:10) He knows that he will be purified through trials.

2. Pursue God
Job’s desire is to pursue God: ‘My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.’ (Job 23:11) If we become God-chasers rather than people-followers, we will have a greater revelation of spiritual truth.

3. The Priority of Obedience
‘I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.’ (Job 23:12) The key to clear vision and an ongoing revelation of God is to obey His commands. Jesus defined love through obedience and at the wedding of Cana, the servants were told to do whatever Jesus told them. (John 2) The result was that ordinary water was turned into wine. Often, we fail to see how the ordinary can become extraordinary, but God works in our obedience to bring amazing things to pass!

4. A Passion for God’s Word
A passion for God has to be the motivating factor in our lives. God’s Word is valued more highly than food! This means, surely, that we need to give as high a priority to meditating on God’s Word as we do to feeding our bodies. Matt 4:4 reminds us that we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth.

Last night, Yan Hadley spoke on the subject of boldness and the things that blind us and spoil our vision of God.

Hebrews 10:22 urges us to ‘draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.’ The confidence of our relationship with God is determined by the clarity of our revelation of God. When we see the presence of God in our lives, we gain confidence. Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. He had clarity of revelation which enabled Him to endure the horror of the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2). We need to share the psalmist’s confidence that ‘I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’ (Ps 27:13)

The Bible assures us that God is with us (see Is 43:2, Matt 18: 20, Hebrews 13:5, Ps 46:1). Our problem is sometimes a failure to recognise God’s presence with us. God is always with us. 2 Kings 6 reminds that we need our eyes opening to see God, rather than the problems which surround.

Problems which blind us
1. A critical and judgmental spirit
In 2 Samuel 6:12 onwards, we read of the return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. David is overcome with joy and danced before God with all His might, for the symbol of God’s presence was returning. He was filled with excitement and jubilation at this, but his wife (Michal) was critical of David because she had no revelation of what God’s presence meant. She despised David in her heart, for she could not see the significance of what was happening. Her attitude blinded her to the reality of the presence of God.

Similarly, the Pharisees often failed to perceive God with them in the form of Jesus. They had religion but no revelation (see Luke 19:28-40, Matthew 23:16-26). Jesus condemned them as blind.

2. Fear and the storms of life
Worry, fear and anxiety often overshadow us and shrink our faith, causing us to lose focus. In Matt 24:22-27, we see the disciples afraid in the storm – so afraid they fail to recognise Jesus walking on water to them. The magnificence of past revelation (they had just witnessed the feeding of the five thousand) was diminished by the magnitutde of their present problem. So often, we allow the present circumstances to rob us of our spiritual memories. Fear grips us like a vice. In these circumstances, we need to ‘magnify the Lord’ (Ps 34:3) in order to see how big God really is – far bigger than the circumstances and than our fears!

3. Heartbreak and emotional turmoil
Mary’s heartbreak at the death of Jesus meant that she failed to recognise Jesus, even when He was standing next to her (John 20:11-16). Feelings often dictate our faith, but we need to let our faith determine our feelings. Psalm 42 encourages us to speak faith into our feelings. When ‘heartbreak hits like a hurricane’ (Kutless), we need to draw on the grace and help God provides. Tragedy can either turn us away from God or draw us closer to Him. His grace is always available to us.

4. Disappointment and disillusionment
When we feel disappointed and let down, we can easily feel devastated and lose our vision of God. Luke 24:13-32 looks at the disappointment of two disciples on the road to Emmaus. All their hopes had been pinned on Jesus, but His death left them confused and disillusioned. All their hopes were shattered and they did not recognise Jesus even as He walked beside them. Prov 13:12 reminds us that ‘hope deferred makes the heart sick.’ The disciples were speaking about Jesus in the past tense but needed to understand that He is that ‘ever-present help’ we need. Prov 3:5-6 reminds us not to lean on our own understanding in times of disappointment, but to trust God’s ways.

5. Unbelief and low expectations
In John 21:4-6, Jesus is cooking breakfast for His disciples on the shore while they are struggling to fish. Even after the Resurrection, they still have difficulty recognising Jesus at times. Sometimes we just don’t expect God to intervene in our situations or have low expectations of His involvement in our daily lives. We need to be careful not to let unbelief blind us (see Mk 16:14, Heb 3:19). Instead, we need to understand that if we will believe, we will see the glory of God. (John 11:40) Our unbelief and low expectations must be confessed and repented of so that we, the righteous, can be bold as a lion (Prov 28:1).

Kevin preached from 2 Chronicles 5:13-6:12, concluding his series on the building of the temple. This reading looks at the dedication of the temple, dreamt of by David but built by his son, Solomon, as prophesied by Nathan.

Get Back Up Again
It was David’s desire to build a temple for the ark of the covenant, but although Nathan originally endorsed this plan, God spoke clearly saying that David, although a great king and warrior, was not the man to do this job (2 Samuel 7). When God says ‘No’, it can be difficult for us to come to terms with, but we need to be like the figure skaters who fall when practising but who get up again and practise repeatedly in order to perfect their skills. As Toby Mac sings:

“We lose our way,
We get back up again,
It’s never too late
To get back up again
One day you’re gonna shine again.”(‘Get Back Up’, Toby Mac)
‘Get Back Up’, Toby Mac

God keeps His promises
God is faithful to do what He has promised. David gave Solomon the charge to build the temple, as God had told him. He urged Solomon to know God, serve Him and seek Him, reminding him that there was always more. He knew the truth of the fact that God does not fail or forsake us (see 1 Chron 28:20).

Lord, do it again
We long to see God move again. We need to see Him move afresh in our lives. Each time we come into His presence, we need to meet with Him and be changed. We shouldn’t go out unchanged from His presence. The woman who touched the hem of the cloak of Jesus was changed and healed by that touch. We need to be prepared to reach out and touch the God who does not change (see Hebrews 13:8, Luke 24:22-23).

At the dedication of the temple, God’s glory fell. We pray ‘fill this place with Your holy presence so that we are overwhelmed and changed’. Despair is turned to hope as we are in God’s presence. Matt 20:29-34 recounts the healing of two blind beggars. Jesus asked them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ We need to be unafraid to ask God and to let Him know the longings and yearnings of our hearts.

Twice a year I grit my teeth when shopping and steadfastly ignore the cards for ‘Mother’s Day’ and ‘Father’s Day’ because of the positioning of the apostrophe. Since, I reason, these celebrations are for all mothers and all fathers, I dislike the fact that the apostrophe indicates the singular ‘mother’ and ‘father’.

Apostrophes are fantastic punctuation marks and I despair over their misuse. They indicate the omission of letters (in examples such as ‘they’re’, the apostrophe indicates the omission of the letter a) or show possession (the boy’s sister = the sister of the boy.) If the noun is plural and ends in s, the apostrophe goes after the s, thus the boys’ sister = the sister of the boys. One punctuation mark changing the whole meaning of the sentence. How hard can that be to understand?

Today is Fathers’ Day, and I salute the many fathers in the world who do a fantastic job of bringing up their children. I’m grateful for my father and for my hushand’s fathering skills. But today, according to the cards, is Father’s Day and actually, I can live with that too. For God is our Father and Sunday is definitely His day, so yes, it’s Father’s Day too! He is our Father in heaven, as the Lord’s prayer teaches, and a father to the fatherless (Ps 68). He is the best father we could have and we need to honour and serve Him every day, not just once a year.

When my son was very small, he had a fascination with clocks. In fact, his first word was ‘clo’ (though it was actually addressed to a barometer, we were so excited to hear this recognisable word that that discrepancy never bothered us, nor the fact that he was more interested in pointing out inanimate objects rather than addressing his parents, as is usually the case with toddlers…)

When he was small, any outing usually ended up looking at clocks. Shopping trips in Goldthorpe ended at ‘Daddy Clock’ (aka the parish church, so named by him because it was big, like daddies are!):

Trips to Barnsley ended up in the Co-op department store (long since gone), gazing adoringly at grandfather clocks (for years, he vowed to buy his own once he was working and could afford it!)

I can also remember a Christmas trip to Sheffield where Garry went to the shops in Orchard Square and I stayed with Stephen gazing at the German clock there:

Years later, we enjoyed a visit to Wells Cathedral enormously, partly because of the astronomical clock there, where the dial represents the geocentric view of the universe, with sun and moon revolving round a central fixed earth. It may be unique in showing a philosophical model of the pre-Copernican universe.

This fascination with clocks was also connected to a story we used to read about a ‘clock man’ whose mantra was “It’s always the right time to do God’s will.” I don’t remember the details of that story anymore, but that saying became part of our family phrases. Whenever we struggled with doing something or tended to procrastinate, we would remind ourselves “it’s always the right time to do God’s will.” Good children’s stories speak as powerfully to the adults reading them as to the children, I’ve found! Truth is truth, after all.

At the moment, I am waiting – at times hopefully, at times expectantly, at times desperately, at times dejectedly – for God’s answer to something very specific which has (in my eyes, at least) a definite time limit on it. I am waiting for God’s time and discovering more and more that His time and my time are not always aligned. Just as a clock can be slow or fast and on those occasions is inaccurate in telling the time, my timing is generally not always in sync with God’s! It’s always the right time to do God’s will, yes, but there are times when we are waiting for God to move, waiting for Him to slot the next piece into the jigsaw of our lives and the waiting-for-the-right-time is difficult. Ecclesiastes 3 talks about there being a time for everything, but recognising the right time for things and waiting for the right time can be frustrating and (if I’m honest) burdensome. Sometimes God’s promises come with timings (eg Gen 21:2, Ex 9:18), but often we are left with the instruction to ‘trust and obey’ even as we wait for God’s time. Our natural impatience can lead us to take things into our own hands (often with disastrous results – look at Abraham’s decision to sleep with Hagar or God’s rejection of Saul because of his impatience and disobedience in 1 Samuel 15, for example.) In the end, we are wise if we hold off and allow God to work things out in His time, which (as we are reminded in Galatians 4) is a set time, fully ripened and ready. At just the right time, Paul says, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6). Let’s attempt to adjust our clocks to God’s time and be content because our times are in His hands (Ps 31:5).

In the meantime, we are ‘waiting here for You’. It’s all we can do. We can’t make the impossible happen. Only God can do that.
‘Waiting Here For You’, Christy Nockels