Life + Faith

Author: Jon

  • On Connection

    The other day I was out for my daily bout of exercise, the intentional walk to get out of the house and get the body moving, and as I passed one particular person in the street I noticed how enthusiastic they were in saying ‘hello’. It may have been a very brief interaction but through the tone of voice and the hand-waving I could tell that they were keen for the interaction. And it reminded me of the need for connection, particularly in these days when you never quite know how people are really doing and what they need. 

    However, connection is so needed for all of us, whether we are extroverted or introverted. The modern meaning of connection has really diminished the way we think about interacting with others. You see, connection is what I do when I plug my phone into it’s charger, or when I have a Zoom meeting, or when I message someone on social media. Connection in modern parlance is often lowered to online interactions that make us feel like we’ve interacted with someone but really we’ve just liked a post as we scroll through our feed. So instead, what we really need is a significant interaction whereby we are able to express our joy at seeing and speaking with another. The joy evident in the person I was walking by was palpable as they waved, said a big ‘hello’, and slowed down a little to look me in the eye. 

    It feels like this is lacking right now. 

    The Bible doesn’t use the word connection for interacting with others, perhaps it would if it was written today. But it certainly makes clear that humankind is made for human interactions. Relationships are a key to humanity and its sense of well-being. Relationships are what the story of God highlights, whether it’s between people, between nations, or between humanity and God himself. 

    Right back in the Creation story, in Genesis 2:18, we hear God’s word about the situation Adam finds himself in, ‘Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”’ It was evident, even from the beginning, that humankind was made for relationships, for significant ‘connection’, if we wish to use that word. Adam tried to ‘connect’ with the animals but none of them were sufficient enough. Instead, it was another human being that filled the relational tank and provided the connection needed to function in a healthy way. 

    We can’t read the Creation narrative without mentioning the relationship with God either. This was obviously severed significantly at the Fall, but it is one that humanity continues to wrestle with and desire throughout the Old and New Testaments. If you are a believer in Jesus then you will realise that it is through him we are able to have that restored relationship back with God.  

    But connection with others, with people in our communities, our friends, family, and neighbours is something we’ve been created for. Part of being human is to connect relationally with others. And that’s part of why this moment is so tough for so many. 

    Perhaps one of the practical steps we could take to help others during this time is rather than try to avoid interactions with one-another, is to actually acknowledge the presence of others. Whether it’s a wave, a nod, an enthusiastic ‘hello’, a ‘great to see you’, or some other human response to acknowledge them. When I’m out on my walk it is now a regular occurrence to find those walking toward me to move over to the other side of the road. I know it’s so we can all stay distant from each other for health reasons, however it’s a pretty sad state of affairs if walking by each other is now something to avoid. 

    With lockdown continuing there provides for us an opportunity to show something different. To impact our community by doing some small things while out and about. In sharing a connective moment with others while out for exercise or at the shops we might be able to be people who shine light into the lives of others in this challenging time.

  • The Lord of The Lockdowns

    It’s now a familiar feeling. 

    Deflated, sad, disappointed, upset, anxious, depressed even. These are the kinds of emotions people in Melbourne are experiencing, and plenty more as well. Up and down on the COVID rollercoaster we go as we are given little freedoms before locking down again as outbreaks of this disease are made known to the authorities. This way of living doesn’t do much good for one’s health and wellbeing. The perpetual unknown of when the next lockdown might be is doing a number on the ‘nerves’, to use the old vernacular. 

    I’m not sure about you but I’ve had all the feels. The frustration, the sadness, the anxiety, and the general I don’t give a stuff. I know I’m not the only one. In fact, I was speaking with six others on a Zoom chat the other day and five of them mentioned they were all dealing with mental health issues in some capacity. Anecdotally, this is a significant percentage. 

    However, as I plug away at doing the things I need to do, whether it’s family life or church life, I keep reminding myself that the Lord is the Lord of the lockdown. It sounds cliche, I know. But in these days where there is a general despondency across the whole community, and in spite of the hardship this puts so many people and families in, it is important to be reminded that there is God who is over this. He is still sovereign and true, and as we work through these lockdowns we can still have hope because he is Lord. 

    Perhaps this is just me trying to grasp onto the hope that is required right now!

    Hope is of course not gone, particularly when you compare our situation to others across the world. I certainly live in a healthy place, and a wealthy place, and have everything I need. I am grateful for this. Compared to other parts of the world we are doing so well that even having the ability to be in lockdown shows we’re very much in a place of privilege. Yet, this doesn’t negate the feelings, emotions, and realities that a lockdown brings. It is hard, it is painful, and it is frustrating. But there is hope, not only because of the ability to lead a life here in Melbourne in the future but also because of the greater hope we have in our Lord.

    I have been reading through the book of Genesis these past couple of weeks and in chapter 15 there is a key reminder of the promises God gives Abram. He has made a covenant with Abram, that he will be father to multitudes from his own seed. However, Abram continues to want confirmation of this promise and to be reminded of it again (It’d already been promised in chapter 12). We are often like Abram, needing to be reminded of what God has promised us. And in his promises through his scriptures he has told us that he is with us, that he is listening to us, that he is caring and compassionate to us, and that he is kind and gracious toward us. 

    This compassionate and caring God displays this to us through Jesus, and the commitment of love he has toward his people by the cross. For it is in the cross we find the reflection of God’s incredible compassion, care, kindness, and grace towards his creation. When we come to the Lord and are in a mess because the lockdown has been extended, or the numbers aren’t looking great, then we can know that he is still with us and still cares. His faithfulness and compassion are what we are to trust and hope in because that is what will sustain us to live lives worthy of his name, even in lockdown.

  • Psalm 103: Praise The Lord

    It is certainly difficult to go through this Psalm without recognising the call to praise. The beginning and the ending couch this Psalm in words to encourage praise.

    Note how personal the writer King David is as he expresses himself.

    “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits” in v1-2.

    And in v20-22,

    “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul.”

    This is something deeply personal, something coming deep from within here. It is like David is willing himself to praise.

    There are times, aren’t there, when we have to will ourselves to do something. Whether it is chores around the house to trying to work through our emotions in a lockdown due to a global pandemic. Here David sounds like he is willing himself to praise. Like the marathon runner willing herself to get to the finish line so too David is willing himself to praise.

    Often praise, encouragement and thanks don’t come easy. Often we can be so consumed with our own self and all the problems we have to deal with that we soon forget or fall out of habit of praise, of thankfulness, of gratitude. Here we get the sense of David, writing in reflection from years of experience, willing himself to praise God for who he is and what he has done.

    For David realises all of what God has done. Not only for him personally, but also for the whole of humanity. He remembers God and all his deeds and dwells on the action of his compassionate God, which in turn draws him to praise.

    As we close this three-part series on Psalm 103 I encourage you to remember, dwell, and praise God this week.

    It has been a tough 12 months.

    You may have taken the opportunity to sit with God and spend more time with him this year. But, in the conversations I’m having with people I suspect the majority have not. And so I wonder whether this might be a good time to spend some time with the Lord.

    If you’re one who is in a habit of doing so, I encourage you to keep going.

    But, if you’re one who hasn’t sat with God, opened his scriptures, read and thought of the things of God in a while then I encourage you to do so this week.

    Take 30-60 minutes. Open a Psalm, maybe even this one. Write down a few things that strike you as you read it. Pray about what is on your heart. Express those fears and worries and anxieties to God. And dwell for a period of time, something we’re not used to, on your compassionate God who is slow to anger and abounding in love.

    Because when you do, experience tells me that the Lord will meet you where you are at and will draw you toward praise just as David is here.

    It will do your soul and your life much benefit.

    This is the third of a three-part series on Psalm 103. The first post, ‘Remember The Lord’, can be found here. And the second, ‘Dwell on The Lord’, is here.

  • Psalm 103: Dwell On The Lord

    In recent months there have been numerous articles suggesting more Australians have been thinking about aspects of faith and spirituality. COVID seems to have had an impact, not only in the way we think about health and operate as such, but also in matters of faith, priorities in life, and the dwelling on eternity. Something about this past year has driven people to think about these things!

    On one hand this is great. This should be the case due to what the world has experienced this year–coming to terms with our lack of control, the limits on our own capacity, and the realities of living in a broken world. Further, the personal reactions we’ve had due to the circumstances we’ve been through have led many to question and reflect on life. This year has been a reminder that there are greater things going on in the world than you or me.

    But on the other hand this has been such an exhausting year for many that the capacity to contemplate and dwell on aspects of faith, and dwell on the Lord and his goodness specifically, has diminished. The impetus, the motivation, the inclination to sit with God is hard at the best of times, but add in the fear, stress, worry of 2020 and we find ourselves hindered in doing so.

    Here in Psalm 103 we find, I believe, a passage of scripture to dwell on as we enter somewhat of a new year. In the earlier verses of this psalm we are encouraged to remember the Lord, and we are given plenty of examples. But to take it a step further, we are also given scriptures here to dwell on.

    You see, the writer David continues in v5-12 by dwelling on who God is and what he has done. In turn he helps us to dwell upon God, naming the character of God alongside the benefits of God.

    There is the reminder of God’s work in bringing his people out of Egypt through Moses, which leads to statements of truth about God’s character. David speaks of God’s compassion and grace, his slowness in becoming angry, and his abounding love in v8. This verse, v8, is such a significant refrain in the whole of the OT.

    It is referred to in Exodus 34:6; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 145:8; Joel 2:13; and Jonah 4:2. If you ever want or need a short and succinct answer to the question of who God is, this is the answer, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”

    This is God’s covenantal love; his marriage promise to his people encapsulated in one verse.

    God’s commitment to his people of the Old Testament and his continued commitment to his people in the New Testament through Christ.

    We are reminded here of the incarnation, God coming in the form of a man for the rescue of the world. God has such compassionate love for humanity that he came to be part of our lives. In physical terms this occurred through Jesus of the first century, in spiritual terms this comes to us today through his Spirit. And so when we place our faith in him, recognising our need for God and having that need met through faith in Christ, then we are receiving his compassionate love, his covenantal love, his promised love.

    As we walk through 2021 may we dwell on this compassionate love of God knowing the truth of v9-12. Knowing he does not accuse us, he does not hold his anger toward us, he does not treat us as we deserve, he does not repay us for the sins we commit, and nor is he vengeful toward us.

    9 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
    10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
    11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
    12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

    Instead, the Lord’s love is as far as the east is from the west, displayed through our Lord Jesus Christ.

    This is the second of a three part series on Psalm 103. The first post, ‘Remember The Lord’, can be found here.

  • Psalm 103: Remember The Lord

    In Psalm 103 we come to a psalm of thanksgiving, perhaps better described as a hymn of gratitude, as the writer, King David, moves from heartfelt personal praise to inviting all of Israel and all of God’s people to remember the Lord, dwell on what he has done, and give him praise. 

    In v2 we read, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits…”

    I’m not sure about you but it’s very easy to forget things. I would’ve forgotten more of my life than remembered it. I’m sure you are the same. 

    I mean, we all like to think we’ve got good memories and can remember a lot, which of course our amazing brains can. But we’re also not all blessed, or perhaps cursed, with a photographic memory. And so we remember many things we’ve done, sights we’ve seen, and words we’ve listened to. But the reality is that we forget more than we remember. Which to me seems like one of the Lord’s graces toward us. 

    Who wants to remember those really embarrassing comments we’ve made to colleagues or others we don’t know so well? Who wants to remember that embarrassing experience we had in high school or going through those years of puberty? Who wants to remember the acute grief we experience when a loved one passes away? There is actually plenty in life that we don’t want to remember.

    But, there is also the negative side to forgetting things. We find ourselves forgetting names, numbers, faces, people, dates and times. And as we get older this can have repercussions on our quality of life. 

    But David’s point in this Psalm is not a negative one, it’s a positive one. It’s the encouragement to remember what the Lord has done, to remember the benefits that come with knowing God. For there are plenty of benefits that the Lord has given us and when we remember these things we are led to praise and gratitude for them and for him. 

    This whole Psalm seems to list the benefits available to us, but in v1-6 we read specific benefits of: 

    • The forgiveness of sin
    • The healing of disease
    • The redemption of life from pit
    • The crowning of love and compassion upon us
    • The satisfaction of our desires
    • The righteousness and justice of God

    In the busyness of life it is easy to forget the benefits that come with being crowned a child of God. And these are incredible benefits! Even David, considered to be a ‘man after God’s own heart’(Acts 13:22) evidently needs to be reminded of these things. 

    And all these benefits we see fulfilled through our Lord Jesus. This baby Jesus we remember at Christmas, this God-child we read of through the Prophets and writings of scripture, this Son of God born to a teenager in a derelict town, is the one who fulfils all these benefits and provides us with all these benefits through his life and death on a cross. 

    And so who would want to forget these things?

    We take photos to remember the experiences we’ve had and the places we’ve been to. When we look back on photos we’ve taken, our memories take us back to what we’ve done and experienced. We don’t want to forget that sunrise, or that waterfall, or that animal we got up close to. We don’t want to forget that party with friends, or that dinner with family, or that person we met. And so we take a photo as a keepsake, to help us remember. 

    This list here is a reminder for us, a keepsake, as is all of scripture, which helps us remember God for who he is and what he has done.