Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Oct 19 2020 - Hebrews 11:17-31 – Trusting when we do not understand

Faith means trusting God even when we do not understand the path he calls us to tread. Abraham trusted God even when called to offer Isaac as a sacrifice – even though all his hopes, and all of the promises of God, were bound up with that child. We know that God intervened and provided a substitute so that Isaac might be saved; nevertheless, it's a strange, puzzling and disturbing story. Here it is recalled as a great example of faith, "Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death" (Hebrews 13.19). Abraham was convinced that he could trust God despite being called to sacrifice his son.

We will not be asked to sacrifice our own children, at least, not in the way in which this was asked of Abraham. Nevertheless, for most of us there will be times when we find it difficult to understand the way God deals with us. There will be times when the path of discipleship will seem to be a path marked by loss; when the very things that it seemed God had promised us are taken from us. It is particularly at such times that we need to trust God and to walk by faith and not by sight. We need to believe that God knows what he is doing and that there is nothing that he takes from us which will not richly be repaid. God gave his Son for us. God raised his Son from the dead for us. He will turn our darkness into dawn and each loss into rich reward – even if we cannot see it at the moment. Faith trusts where it cannot see because it places all its confidence and hope in a faithful God and a trustworthy Saviour.

The Israelites may not have understood why they had to kill a lamb and paint its blood on their doorposts that day in Egypt. They may not have understood why it was so important for them to remain within their houses that Passover night. They had to live by faith, doing what God commanded. But later they could see clearly that God had rescued them from Egypt that night and had kept them safe from his wrath through the blood of the lamb. Year by year they would celebrate this great act of God’s salvation.

Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. We celebrate an even greater salvation. Our lives become a celebration of that great salvation as we live by faith in him who loved us and gave himself for us: trusting even when we cannot understand the way he leads us; choosing, if that is where our path lies, to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin; regarding disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than all the treasures this world can offer because we are looking forward to the reward he has in store for us at the end of our journey. Like Moses, we need to have our eyes fixed on “him who is invisible” – on Jesus who has walked this path before us and who is now crowned with glory and honour.

Faithful Father, thank you for these case notes of faith which demonstrate that you can be trusted in every situation encountered by the lives of your people. Thank you especially for our faithful Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us and has promised to be with us every step of the way. By your Spirit, enable us to live lives of faith which demonstrate to those around us and to generations to come that you are faithful.

Oct 19 2019 - Isaiah 51:17-52:12 – Wake up!

The Lord calls upon his people to wake up from the lethargy of their despair (51:17). He had made them drink the cup of his wrath because of their disobedience. He is now taking that cup away from them. They will not have to drink from it again (51:22). That cup of God's judgment has now been passed on to those who have tormented them; Babylon will now feel the weight of God's judgment.

The city of Jerusalem, or Zion, had shared in the fate of the people of God. When God's people had been taken off into captivity the city had been abandoned and reduced to rubble. Now it is called to wake up from its dusty slumbers and put on garments of splendour. It is to be filled again with a people who know, love and worship the Lord (52:1).

In 52:7 we read of messengers being sent running to Jerusalem to proclaim the good news that God is about to save and restore his people:

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

The city is pictured with watchman standing on its fallen walls, seeking to guard the ruins from further attack and destruction. They will be the first to see the Lord himself leading his people back into their inheritance; they will shout with joy as they see the Lord returning to Zion (52:8; see also the lovely picture in 52:12 of the way the Lord leads and cares for his people – as in the days of the Exodus). What God is about to do will transform the mockery of the world into worship:

The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. (52:10)

But how is this mighty act of salvation to be accomplished? The Lord will raise up a Saviour for his people, one who will not save by military power but by giving himself for the salvation of his people (more of that in our next reading from Isaiah). It is the Suffering Servant of the Lord who will amaze the nations with his saving power.

During the time of the Reformation, Martin Luther wrote a book entitled The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. He was aware that the church of his day needed God to visit it again with his salvation, waken it up to its own dire state and lead it out of captivity. We are surely aware of the need for God to visit us again in our day. Many church buildings stand as empty, or all but empty, monuments to the glories of a past age. Others are crumbling to dust or have been converted for other use. The number of those who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus seem to be diminishing – at least in the UK. It is easy to lose heart.

But God has not changed. What he has done in the past he can do again in our day. We need to shake off the dust of discouragement and realise afresh that our God is able to do more than we ask or imagine. We need to clothe ourselves with strength – a strength that comes from him and not from ourselves – and to proclaim what God has done in Christ for the salvation of the world, that "all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God."

Father God, many still mock your name, pointing to the ruins of your church and dismissing every suggestion of your power. Yet we rejoice that you are God and that "Our God reigns!" Awaken us with the joy of your salvation and open the eyes of the world to see your saving power in the Lord Jesus Christ: power made perfect in weakness; life given to the dead; light shining upon those who sit in darkness; hope given to those who languish in despair. Give us beautiful feet to run with the good news of your salvation. Equip us by your Spirit to call upon the world, "Awake, awake!"

Peter Misselbrook