‘The best things in life take time’ Wes King sings in the intriguingly named song ‘Slow Miracles’.

We are often impatient creatures, wanting answers to our prayers instantly, ever mindful of Isaiah 65:24: ‘before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.’ We expect God to do things according to our timescales, and our timescales rarely involve waiting.

God’s timescales, however, do. There is no getting around that fact. He urges patience, talks about it as a fruit of the Spirit, something that has to be cultivated in our lives if we are to grow in character and participate in the divine nature. Patience and perseverance only come about through waiting. God does not inhabit time the way that we do (with Him, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day, Peter reminds us), but there is a purpose in His patience:

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:8-9)

Slowness does not equal lateness. God operates on the right timescales. He is neither early nor late. When the right time had come, He sent His Son to earth (Gal 4:4). Jesus lived for thirty years in relative obscurity, ‘doing life’, learning to be human, learning obedience through what he suffered, learning a trade, living an ordinary life. His ministry, often perceived in a blaze of glory and amazing miracles, took three years of faithful preaching and service. C. S. Lewis argued that the miracles Jesus did were simply reflections of what happens in nature on a faster timescale (water turned into wine instantly, for example, without all the fermentation process!)

Sometimes we need to look for the ‘slow miracles’ in our lives and be prepared to wait. As with the Psalmist, we need to “wait for the Lord;be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Ps 27:14) A slow miracle is nontheless still, by definition, a miracle.

We also had a birthday to celebrate on Sunday!

Guest speaker Yan Handley spoke on the dangers of drifting on Sunday evening, from Hebrews 2:1-4. This passage is addressed to God’s people and we need to heed the solemn question ‘How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?’

The dangers of drifting apply to all of us (‘we’ is used 5 times in these verses.) No one is immune from the danger. This warning is not given to frighten us, but to encourage us to be faithful to God. Our great salvation means we are saved from sin, sickness and from Satan’s power, giving us a sure and certain hope in the new life God gives. Jesus’s sacrifice was worth so much (see 1 Pet 1:18-19) and therefore we respond not simply out of obligation or duty but out of love: as C. T. Studd said, “no sacrifice is too great for me to make for Him, because His sacrifice was so great for us.”

The verses in Hebrews go on to tell us that God’s witness was declared by Jesus, confirmed by those who heard it and was testified to by God Himself through signs, wonders and various miracles. Jesus declared that we needed to repent, for the Kingdom of God was near (Mark 1:15). Repentance involves complete submission, acknowledging God’s Word as having the ultimate authority in our lives. The kingdom is the ‘pearl of great price’, worth everything. Those who heard that life-giving gospel gave a total commitment to Jesus. The radical nature of the gospel means that we forsake everything for God and deny ourselves, for with the measure that we give, it will be given to us (Luke 6:38). We also need God’s own witness to the gospel in the shape of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to enable us to enter into the fullness of the life God has for us. This requires our absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit, not on our own methodology or ideas.

Yan also looked at:

(1) the causes of drifting.
It’s a human tendency to blame others or circumstances for whatever happens to us, but we have to admit that the weakness of our own human natures leads us astray. We neglect, or ignore, God’s salvation at our peril. Carelessness, compromise and complacency can cause us to drift from God. We need to choose to draw near to God (James 4:7-8), disciplining ourselves in prayer, Bible study, evangelism and fellowship. As anyone who has ever been on an inflatable water bed can testify, it requires no effort to drift, whereas a godly life requires effort and commitment. Samson pleased himself, rather than God, and drifted badly. Solomon, the wisest man on the earth, drifted because he wanted to please other people rather than God. Drifting occurs little by little but can easily happen if we are not attentive and vigilant.

(2) the consequences of drifting
We have an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion (1 Pet 5:8) and if we drift, we ruin our potential, lose joy and peace and power and make ourselves more vulnerable to demonic powers. We are urged not to give the devil any foothold in our lives (Eph 4:21) and need to find the place of righteousness in God where the enemy has no authority over us (see John 14:30). Drifting leads to a hardening of the heart, to possessing a ‘sinful, unbelieving heart’ (Heb 3:12-14), whereas the fear of the Lord will keep us from drifting. We don’t want to be like the foolish virgins (who were unprepared for the arrival of the Bridegroom, despite having once had oil), or the foolish steward (who was unwilling to use what the Master had given him to the best of his abilities) or the foolish builder (who was unconcerned about the foundations of his building.)

(3) the cure for drifting.
The cure for drifting is a firm anchor (Heb 6:19) which depends on the steadfast love and faithfulness of God (Lam 3:22-23, Rom 8: 35-39). As with any relationship, however, we need to respond to God’s love and build ourselves up, praying in the Holy Spirit and keeping ourselves in God’s love (Jude v 20-21). We also need our love to be manifested in practical obedience.

When we pay more careful attention to what we have heard, there is a sense of urgency in our lives. We don’t pretend, but honestly confess our own sins, taking responsibility for them (as did the Prodigal Son), repenting from the heart (Revelation 3:19) and diligently committing ourselves to God (2 Pet 1:5), making every effort to add to our faith the characteristics God requires of maturity. That way, we can stand firm and not let ourselves be burdened again with a yoke of slavery (Gal 5:1).

Mark spoke from Ps 46 on Sunday morning, looking especially at verse 10: ‘Be still and know that I am God.’

We are often so busy running around seeking blessing that we fail to be still before God and, ironically, miss the blessings He has for us. We can flit from church to church or run after big name speakers,looking for spiritual thrills all the time. Psalm 46 looks at how great and awesome God is. We need to do the same.

God’s power is such that He can do amazing things with just a word, even bringing wars to an end (Ps 46:6, 9). His admonition to be still is not simply addressed to His people, but to the world, for even His enemies can do nothing when He acts. Enemies are removed; they need to stop fighting God, for He will always be the winner!

God is with us (Ps 46:7, 11). He is our refuge, our strength, our help – not only in times of ease, but in times of trouble. His command is for us to be still, just as it was to Moses before the parting of the Red Sea (‘Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’ (Ex 14:1-15))

God brought victory to the Israelites and made a way for them where there was no way. When we are in turmoil, God has a plan He is working out. We need to be still to recognise His authority in our lives. We can take refuge in God and understand that however bad things are for us, He will fight for us and even evil forces will submit to Him.

God stops the warring. He brings us peace. He, then, gets the glory.

Last night was the family service on the theme of Samson and strength.

We had a quiz about Samson. Some questions were fairly easy:

Some were not!

By the end of the quiz, we all knew a lot more about Samson!

Then Stephen preached on his life, talking about the miraculous foretelling of his birth and how the Lord blessed him with great strength. The source of Samson’s great strength was the Spirit of the Lord working in him (Judges 14:19), but as with most gifts, there were potential problems as well. Samson was strong in body and physical strength, but he was weak in judgment and spiritual wisdom. God seems to give gifts not just to bless us but to test us, for He wants to know how we will use those gifts and if we will surrender them to Him. If we are given the gift of creativity or beauty or knowledge, will we acknowledge God in all we do and are or will we become proud and boastful? Each gift carries blessings, but also responsibilities. Samson had the gift of physical strength, but didn’t really learn how to master it. He grew up with indulgent parents and made unwise choices when it came to women. As a result his focus was more on his own comfort and needs than on serving God. He misused his gift because he lived a self-indulgent life and did not have the discipline to seek God throughout. He made life choices based on his own wants, and there were eternal consequences from these choices.

What we need and what we want are usually two different things and Satan wants us to depend on our wants. He tries to convince us that our wants are really our needs. Samson finally learned to rely on God, after he had suffered greatly (having his eyes gouged out by the Philistines and losing his great strength through the cutting of his hair.) God’s strength was channelled through him in his final act of bringing down the pillars and killing the Philistines in his own sacrifice.

Each of us has great potential, but the question remains ‘What are we going to do with our gifts?’ We need to surrender all our gifts and talents to God and involve Him in every aspect of our lives, so that we live disciplined, dedicated lives, not self-indulgent, unchannelled ones.

This morning we looked at the characters of Joab and Abner, ‘helping’ David to become king (see 2 Samuel 2 & 3). This story shows us much about how NOT to do things, since neither man was prepared to seek God and wait for His timing, learning to do things His way, and motivation counts for a lot in God’s eyes.

David is at this point in the story king of Judah. He has come a long way since being anointed king by Samuel in 1 Samuel 16 and has experienced the highs of victory (defeating the Philistine giant Goliath in 1 Samuel 17) and the lows of persecution (forced to flee from Saul’s jealousy and violence and live in the caves of En-Gedi and Adullam, even seeking refuge with the Philistines to save his life at one point.) Now he faces the challenge of putting into practice all he has learned in the wilderness. Will he continue to rely on God and do things God’s way or will he succumb to the temptations and pressures of living the world’s way?

Joab, his nephew, was, apparently, loyal to David and was a leader in the southern part of the kingdom, in Judah. Abner was the son of Ner and was the commander of Saul’s army (2 Sam 2:9), based in the northern part of the kingdom. Abner, loyal to Saul, had taken his son Ish-Bosheth and set him up as king of the northern tribes (2 Sam 2:8). There were thus two kings and two kingdoms and, predictably, as a result, there were divided loyalties. Not for nothing will Jesus later teach His disciples that “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.” (Luke 11:17)

The two clash in 2 Samuel 2:12-17, resulting in a battle where men are senselessly killed, including the death of Joab’s brother, Asahel, killed by Abner (2 Sam 3:23). Violence begets more violence and the seeds of future problems between Joab and Abner are sown here. In the next chapter (2 Sam 3), we see how Abner is offended by Ish-Bosheth, who questions him as to why he has slept with Saul’s concubine, and how he decides that David is the better bet to back. Effectively, he defects to David’s side. In terms of gaining a fierce strategist and an opportunistic schemer, David has definitely won. But if we analyse the characters of Joab and Abner a little more closely, we can see that there is little to rejoice over from God’s point of view.

Abner may use pious language to defend his decision to Ish-Bosheth and other leaders, invoking God as he does, but the clue to what motivates him is in the phrase “if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath.” (2 Sam 3:9) Similarly, Joab’s fury at David’s forgiveness towards Abner, resulting in his murder of Abner, may be defended by him on strategic grounds, but the real motivation is given in 2 Samuel 3:27: “And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.” Selfish motives, personal pride, unforgiveness and resentment are often the real reasons behind our actions. As T.S. Eliot acknowledged in his play ‘Murder in the Cathedral’: ‘The last temptation is the greatest treason/ To do the right deed for the wrong reason.’

Both Joab and Abner believed that they were doing God’s will; they believed they were helping David to fulfil his kingly destiny. But we have to be aware that motivation counts for as much in God’s kingdom as action: the ends never justify the means. The means these two men employed were not God’s means, for God acts always out of love. The difference between Joab and Abner and David was not that David never sinned: we know assuredly that he did, for the Bible is nothing if not brutally honest! But David learned to wait on God; he had a spirit of forgiveness and knew how to cry to God for mercy. The psalms reveal David’s heart to us (Ps 27:14; Ps 37:1-6) and show us he has learned to trust God, the faithful one, to give him the desires of his heart.

The ways God wants us to learn include laying down our lives and our weapons in order to find victory. We cannot understand this with reason but need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit to learn more about how death ultimately is the way to life (John 12:24-25, 1 Cor 2:14). Then we will have the courage to believe that waiting and trusting are not irrelevant lessons in our modern society and to learn daily to trust and wait on God.