The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.  Numbers 6: 24 – 26

Personally I find it very hard to imagine the Lord’s face and especially the expression on it. There is something in me that is a little bit worried that there will be a hint of disappointment, a fleeting impression of hurt, a glint of exasperation or frustration or worse still a look of irritation but as usual the truth is quite different.

I know that in reality the expression on God’s face will be one of so much love, grace and approval that we would find it hard to look at. Approving, loving glances are probably so unusual for us that we might even be embarrassed. We know what we are like and that we are not worthy to receive such love and affirmation yet that is what God gives us. He knows what we are like and yet his love and approval flow over us. His voice whispers, ‘I am so proud of you,’ and that may be something no one ever said to you before.

The Lord’s face is graciously turned towards us today and shines upon us. I like that. I love the warmth of the sun on me and God shines his love on us. We can feel its warmth with not a cloud of hurt, disappointment, exasperation, frustration or irritation in it.

As we learn to be more like Mary and sit at Jesus’ feet and look up into his face, we will feel and I mean physically feel his love for us. As his face is turned towards us, his peace washes over us.

Let this wonderful blessing be yours today.

Sleeping in peace

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  Acts 12: 6- 7

Herod had just killed John’s brother James in a persecution of the believers. Seeing that it pleased the Jews with whom he was constantly trying to keep favour, he imprisoned Peter. He was going to bring him out for public trial but the church was praying.

What I love about this story is that Peter was sleeping in prison. He was surrounded by guards, chained but he was sleeping. This does not speak of someone fearing for their life. Even though James had just been killed by Herod, Peter does not seem very worried. This speaks of someone very confident that God was with him in whatever happened next.  He was obviously not expecting to be miraculously released from prison even though that had happened before (Acts 5: 17 – 20) because as he walked out from prison, led by the angel, he thought he was dreaming (12: 9). 

Maybe he was remembering what Jesus had said to him at that daybreak breakfast after his resurrection when Jesus restored him. ‘…but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ John 21:18. Peter knew it was not his time, he was going to get old, so he could sleep peacefully even though he was bound and surrounded by guards.

Jesus too was quite confident in his time. When the ship that he was sailing across the Sea of Galilee was hit by a storm, the disciples thought they were going to drown but Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the boat. (Mark 4: 31 – 35). He knew it was neither his time to die nor the manner so he could sleep knowing he had nothing to fear.

Our days and our times are in God’s hands (Acts 17: 26). We do not need to fear. If we are saved, we do not need to fear death. It is the gateway to eternal life spent with our God and Father and his Son Jesus. Nor do we need to fear when we may die. All we need to do is live our lives to God’s glory day by day. He will look after us in the good times and the not so good times. He never leaves us and we can trust him so that whether in prison, in a boat or in our own beds, we can sleep in peace for God makes us dwell in safety (Psalm 4:8).

Jesus is Lord over the storm

Jesus was in the stern (of the boat), sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher don’t you care if we drown?’ Mark 4: 38

On one of our many night flights to and from South Africa we were suffering from some air turbulence. This is quite common on the long flights over Africa.  However on this occasion the turbulence was expected to be severe. The pilot announced to everyone that in 20 minutes time the turbulence would be very bad. Later he said that in 10 minutes the crew must have everything stowed away and they must be ready to take their seats; an unusual occurrence. All during this time I just kept praying, ‘Jesus, you are Lord over the storm. Jesus, you are Lord over the storm.’

All I can say is that 10 minutes later nothing happened. In fact 30 minutes later we were still flying quietly through the night. Jesus is indeed Lord of the storm. The disciples found that to be true as their boat hit a ‘furious squall’ so much so that waves nearly swamped the boat. Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat and the disciples, in panic, woke Jesus accusing him that he didn’t care. Jesus calmed their storm just as he calmed mine. The disciples saw Jesus rebuke the wind and the waves and it became calm. All I know is that my storm also became calm.

There can be a real tendency when things are going badly and the storms of life hit us to believe that Jesus doesn’t care. That is a lie. He does care very much indeed about all that you are going through but he wants us to turn to him to calm the storm and not try and do it by ourselves. I could no more calm the air turbulence on that flight than the disciples could calm the furious squall but Jesus can. Today if you are facing a storm that feels like life is getting out of control, declare that Jesus is Lord over the storm and trust him to calm your storm. Jesus does care and he wants you to know that he is indeed Lord over your storm.

Peace I leave you

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14: 27

Jesus spoke these encouraging words to the disciples on the night of the Passover meal just before he was betrayed, tried, flogged and crucified. He knew what lay ahead so it was important for the disciples to know before these awful events that Jesus had left them his peace. Jesus’ peace is not the world’s peace which is a hopeful expression of freedom from war or disturbance. Jesus’ peace can calm all fears and give us that inner certainty that God is for us and will never leave or forsake us.

Peace goes when difficult circumstances come against us. Times of uncertainty bring to the surface our deepest levels of fear, doubt and insecurity. Anxiety and fear of what may happen grip us. The awful sense of things being out of control causes panic to rise and our trust in God to loosen. We feel we must do something but don’t know what to do and apart from shouting at God, the options are not always very promising.

R T Kendall teaches to pray till the peace comes and he uses Paul's advice to the Philippians found in Philippians 4: 6. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present you requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. He teaches that present means to reveal as in a mystery. We need to look at our deepest levels of fear, doubt and insecurity and present or reveal them to God. God knows what they are but till we are honest with ourselves about what we REALLY fear and speak them out to God they will hinder the peace coming. It may be fear of someone dying, of not having enough money to pay the bills, of a teenager getting in trouble with the police or getting involved with the wrong crowd.  Present your fears with your prayers and petitions to God.

As we do this, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will flood our very being. It will come and guard your heart and mind – so often the whirlpool of insecurity.  The circumstances may not change but you will. You will know that God is holding all things in his hands. Having exposed your deepest fears to God, sometimes the most important words are, ‘I trust you God.’ Time and again I have found that the peace of God has entered me even if nothing else appears to have changed. God is faithful; he has never let me down.

God has left us his peace and he desires we walk in it whether things are going well or not very well. So often in the bad times we discover that all God has said about himself is true as we present to him our fears and as we let his peace come.