How deep are your roots?

All the rainstorms of recent winters have completely uncovered the root system of two trees in my street. A powerful reminder  that if your root system is deep, strong and extensive, you will weather every storm and needn't be afraid that you'll fall.
How strong are your roots? The current world crisis is a good time to start sending them even deeper by spending time with God and His Word.

Where are you placing your trust?

Having finished 1st Kings yesterday, today I began reading in the Old Testament book of 2nd Kings. The first chapter recounts an episode from the life of King Ahaziah of Israel - not a particularly well known king, though Bible readers will be more familiar with the things that happened during the reign of his parents, Ahab and Jezebel.

After this Ahaziah had an accident that left him seriously injured, he sent messengers to the temple of a foreign god, to ask whether he would recover or not. But the messengers were intercepted by the prophet Elijah, who chided the king for not seeking the true God of Israel, and sent back word that Ahaziah would surely die. Despite several attempts to arrest the troublesome prophet, the king does indeed die by the end of the chapter.

I wonder if the outcome would have been different if Ahaziah had placed his trust in the God who is unfailingly trustworthy, instead of seeking help from other, less dependable sources. This chapter speaks to me of the folly of seeking reassurance or guidance from anyone or anything other than the Lord.

Some sources, like medical science, do have value and can often be trusted (even though history tells us that doctors and scientists do sometimes change their opinion when new research happens in the next generation.) Other sources, like horoscopes or spiritism, are overtly evil and indeed the Bible expressly forbids us from having anything to do with them.  But none of these sources are a substitute for healing from God and obeying what He shows us.  Let's not fall into the trap of completely placing our trust in the wrong places.

Amidst this coronavirus crisis, we're going to be hearing all kinds of information from the media, and so far that information seems to be changing from day to day. "Wearing a mask will protect you," has already given way to, "Wearing a mask is only useful if you already have symptoms. It won't really give you any protection."

It would be foolish for us to ignore the advice of doctors and medical professionals... but it would be even more foolish for us to fail to stop and listen, and hear the advice of the God who created us and loves us beyond measure.

You've probably heard of those study Bibles that have really wide margins to allow people (probably the more artistically inclined among us) to doodle and draw as they process and apply what they are reading in the scriptures. I love this example that I saw today from someone who was reading in the book of Joshus. The word COVID has been turned into an acronym for Christ over viruses and infectious diseases, while the 19 has been applied to Joshua 1:9 - Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. That is one example of someone who took time to listen for God's perspective. Let's all do the same.

When the whole world is shaken...

It's been nearly twenty years since our KKI Go Camp in Midrand, South Africa, had these verses as our theme. The young people's outreach T-shirts had a design that proclaimed, "Unbreakable, Unshakeable," and our goal was to help them consider what it means to live godly lives in a constantly changing world that is often hostile to people of faith. What does it mean to be part of an unshakeable kingdom, even as we live in a world that is constantly being shaken?

Who could have foreseen back then that modern society's presuppositions and common beliefs would be shaken to the extent that a government form in 2020 is likely to ask you if you are male, female or other? Who could have foreseen that biological males (transgender females) would have a legally protected right to go into the same Ladies toilets as little girls?

In more recent years, over the past decade or so, our broader KKI family has spoken a lot about God's "unshakeable kingdom." (Hebrews 12: 28) As our 21st Century world continues to be shaken in many ways, we recognise the importance of building our lives upon the only things that are unshakeable: our God and His Word.

In just a few short weeks since the start of this year, the coronavirus has swept around the globe, bringing fear and panic in its wake. Travel is disrupted as flights are cancelled and airports close. Shops and restaurants, schools and universities are all being closed down. Citizens in several nations (like here in Spain) are being commanded by their government to stay confined to their homes for several weeks. Security guards stand in the supermarket aisles in case panic buying and stockpiling lead to violent interactions between customers... The world as we know it is being violently shaken, and there's a great deal of uncertainty about how long this current situation might last.

But something very interesting is emerging in the midst of all this shaking; I'm already seeing it here in my own context in Spain. As fear grips the nation, Christians are standing out because of the sense of peace they have amidst the storm. As selfishness and greed spread faster than the virus itself, people are noticing that their Christian neighbours are offering to share what they have instead of hoarding it. In some nations (like Italy), people "imprisoned" in their own homes are standing at their windows or on their balcony, joining in praise songs together across the neighbourhood. People who become sick are phoning their Christian friends to ask them to pray... This seemingly catastrophic situation is opening doors for people to observe with their own eyes that there are others around them who are, "unbreakable, unshakeable," and they're starting to want the sort of peace and security that those Christians have.

I have no idea how long this coronavirus pandemic will last. But one thing I do know: six months from now, or a year from now, or however long it takes for this medical emergency to abate, the one thing that will stand out in people's memories, in our kids' memories, in our friends' memories... is whether we who know the God of the universe were any different from anyone else amidst the crisis: whether our lives were a testimony of an unshakeable kingdom or whether we were just as full of fear and panic as the non-believers around us; whether our generosity impacted those near us or whether we were selfishly stocking up on toilet paper the same as everyone else; whether we kept our eyes fixed on Jesus, or mainly kept them fixed on the websites that tracked the spread of the virus...

I've been intrigued to compare this virus situation with those that were faced by Christians in earlier generations. A Swiss friend has written a musical about the life of George Müller, who refused to be intimidated by the cholera outbreak of 1832 and saw it instead as an opportunity to rise up and change the lives of a whole generation of children whose parents had died in the epidemic. The stories of Müller's trusting for God's provision to feed those orphans are legendary. His personal journal is filled with 50,000 accounts of answered prayer.

Other situations that were eerily similar were the atomic bomb fears of the 1940s or the communist fears of the 1950s. Well known author, C. S. Lewis, in a 1948 book about living in an atomic age, wrote things that went against the prevailing and often irrational fears of the time. "If we're all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb," he said, "Let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things - like praying, working, teaching, reading, bathing the children... chatting to our friends... not huddled together like frightened sheep, thinking about bombs." Substitute the word "virus" for "bomb" in what he wrote, and it's uncannily relevant for the situations we face today. Are we living unshakeable lives in a violently shaking world, or are we just as full of fear and panic as the people around us who have never entered the Kingdom of God?

Read on below for an example of God's response to someone dealing with fear...

When fear eclipses faith...

For the past couple of weeks, I've been reading in the Old Testament book of 1st Kings, and yesterday I reached chapter 19. You probably know the story well. After a rather dramatic showdown on Mount Carmel (where Elijah's God was spectacularly shown to be more powerful than Baal), Elijah hears that his life is under threat and that Queen Jezebel is seeking to have him killed.

Probably already emotionally exhausted from the Mount Carmel confrontation, the prophet becomes completely overwhelmed: he lets fear get the better of him, and he runs away. Fleeing for his life, he treks into the wilderness until he finally collapses under a tree. He is so discouraged and disillusioned that he even tells God he wants to die. He feels completely alone, as if no one understands him and no one else is truly faithful to God.

You probably remember how God first ministers to Elijah's immediate physical needs - for food, drink and sleep - but then He begins to address the prophet's deeper, underlying spiritual and emotional needs. A huge display of power (wind, earthquake, fire) demonstrates the strength and sovereignty of God, but it's with a gentle whisper that He begins to speak to Elijah's heart. He asks him a simple question: What are you doing here, Elijah?  Why did you let fear get the better of you? Why are you crying under a tree, and hiding away in a cave?

God's response to fear is always the same. He wraps us in His arms and He tells us, "Fear not! Don't be afraid." But after God has Elijah's attention, after He's asked him what he's doing here, God's voice tells him where he actually should be: "Go back, the same way that you came." Whenever we allow our fears to make us run away, God's response will often be what we see here: He will need to send us back to where He wants us to be, and not the place we allowed our fear to take us to. Very often we'll find that our fears were unfounded and that we got things out of perspective. (Elijah thought he was the only faithful believer left, but God told him there were 7000 others who had never bowed the knee to Baal.)

All the media hype around the coronavirus is of course an attempt to make people be wise and careful; but it's also promoting fear and panic. As Christians, we want to embrace wisdom; having faith is not a substitute for following current guidelines about hygiene, hand washing or social distance. But we don't want to embrace fear; there is no place for fear in the kingdom of God. Our response to a situation like the coronavirus will be very telling; it will test whether our lives are built on an unshakeable foundation or whether we will easily be swept off course by fear and doubt.

In KKI, we speak about a "bear and lion" principle of discipling young people. It's from 1 Samuel 17: 36, where David feels ready to face the giant, Goliath, because he has previously seen God help him face the attacks of a lion and a bear.  The bear and lion were his training ground and when it came time to face the giant, David embraced faith instead of fear.

I feel as if this coronavirus is a bit like the lion and bear for the people of God. It's our training ground, a place of testing to see if we can walk the talk when it comes to being part of God's unshakeable kingdom. If we can't refuse fear and demonstrate trust in the face of a virus, where will we be when times of persecution threaten us? Jesus warned us in the New Testament that wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences and persecution would all come against us in the last days of world history. The world is going to be even more shaken up than it has been so far, and we won't cope very well if our lives aren't firmly grounded in Him.

And so I have to ask myself again: six months, or twelve months, or eighteen months from now, when I look back on this season of coronavirus, will I see that my life was different from those around me, that there was an "unshakeable" quality that pointed other people to the God who can never be shaken? Or will I see that a sense of fear was paralysing me and blowing me off course?

I don't believe that this virus came from God. But I do believe that He can use it to test us and purify us, to make us the sort of people who can demonstrate His peace and His presence to a world where shaking fills people with fear and despair.

From snow to sun, from cedars to Spain

I'm back in Spain... before I even had time to write a blog post about our time in Lebanon. My original plan for this month was to be in the Middle East for ten days, but the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation around the world meant that emergency measures had to be taken and my trip was cut short after only six days.

Airlines were cancelling tickets, especially to and from Europe, and then I got word that the Spanish government had declared a state of emergency and would be closing everything down for a period of two weeks. This meant I needed to find a way of getting back to Spain, or perhaps getting to Scotland instead, before European nations started closing their borders and shutting down airports.

As my airline had cancelled my homeward ticket without offering me an alternative, I spent hours on the phone last weekend, trying to get hold of the airline so that I could be rescheduled to fly on Sunday. Despite hours on hold (being told for more than two hours that my call would be answered "very shortly") I never did manage to speak to anyone, and it seemed there was a distinct possibility that I could be stranded in Lebanon for several weeks.

I sent out a request for prayer and I decided to go to the airport on Sunday - to ask to be put on the afternoon flight to Paris and the onward flight to Malaga. As Spanish airports were due to close at 8 am on Monday, it was imperative that I arrive back in Malaga by Sunday night. 

I arrived at Beirut airport before noon, only to discover that there were few airport staff around. They had already begun talking about closing down the airport within the next few days. Amazingly, a real answer to prayer, we somehow found a hidden Air France office in a back corridor. They told us we weren't meant to be back there, but they were very kind and they managed to put me on to the same flights that I would have been on later in the week. They even upgraded me to Premium Economy so that I had a bigger seat with more legroom. What a prompt and encouraging answer to prayer!

However, things still weren't smooth sailing from there on out. Once we arrived in Paris, I discovered that my connecting flight had a 2-hour delay, because airport disruptions meant that it hadn't arrived in Paris yet. When it finally did arrive, the pilot said that he thought there was no point heading back to Malaga at such a late hour, because there might be no ground staff on duty to receive the plane. (I only know this because I overheard Paris gate staff having an anxious discussion in French.) It was time to send out another request for prayer....

God answers prayer and the story ended well. We were eventually given clearance to fly and finally arrived back in Malaga at 2.30 am. I was back in my own house, being welcomed by the cats, at around 3 o'clock in the morning. Meanwhile, other members of our ILT team that had been with me in Lebanon were experiencing their own miracles to get back to the USA, the UK, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

So now I'm back in Spain, which has shot into fourth place worldwide in terms of new incidences of the virus being diagnosed. (Friends of mine arrived home from Madrid last weekend, and are currently suffering the symptoms of corona, as are other friends who recently celebrated a family wedding.) For this reason, the Spanish government has followed Italy's example and announced a state of emergency (un estado de alerta) to be enforced immediately. This basically means that the whole nation is in lockdown for the next two weeks. No one is allowed to leave their home unless they have a legitimate reason for doing so. (Legitimate reasons include going to the doctor or going to a supermarket to do your shopping. Taking your dog out to do its business is also considered a legitimate reason, but some people have been stopped by the police, checking that they are genuinely close to home and not using their dog as an excuse to go for a longer walk or run. There are very hefty fines if you do.)

France has now also announced lockdown and curfew, which means that if I hadn't managed to fly from Paris to Malaga on Sunday night, I would not be back home in Spain at the moment. I am so thankful for the people who were praying and for our God who answers prayer.

It seems strange to realise that last week I was visiting Kurdish refugees in Lebanon, walking on snowy peaks among ancient cedars and eating fish in the old city of Sidon.... This week I'm sitting by my fireplace in Spain or I'm buying my groceries in a supermarket that has security guards in the aisles and tape markings at the checkout to help you maintain at least one metre distance from the customer in front of you.

What security there is, however, in knowing that, when the whole world is being shaken and fear is running rampant, we serve a God whose kingdom is unshakeable and who tells us, "Fear not!"

The danger of second-hand hearing from God...

As King Jeroboam continued to lead the northern kingdom of Israel into idolatry (see yesterday's post) God, on more than one occasion, sent a prophet to warn him about the error of his ways. In 1 Kings chapter 13, we read of a time when God even sent a man of God all the way from the southern kingdom of Judah to prophesy against the evil that Jeroboam was perpetuating at his new "places of worship" in Dan and Bethel.

There's no doubt that this man is a genuine prophet who knows how to hear from the Lord. He foretells the future reign of young King Josiah and the things that will happen at that time. When Jeroboam attempts to have him detained, the king's hand becomes paralysed and the prophet from Judah heals him. The sign that he foretold (that the pagan altar would crack open, spilling ashes on the ground) happens right there and then, proving the veracity of the prophet's message.  Yes, this man knew how to hear God's voice.

I often think of this man's story when I'm speaking to young people about learning to hear God's voice for ourselves, because it illustrates the importance of testing words that come from others. God does often speak to us through other people, but those words are usually a confirmation of things that He has already been speaking to us personally. It's vitally important that we know how to hear directly from God for our own lives, because He will hold us accountable for what we do with that.

In this story, the man of God from Judah had heard God telling him not to stay for anything to eat or drink in Bethel, but to come straight home again after prophesying to Jeroboam. So when the king invites him to stay for a meal, he declines, explaining that God told him not to linger for anything to eat or drink.

But when he is already on the way home, an older prophet, for reasons we're not told, rides after him and lies to him, telling the younger man that an angel told him to invite him back to his home for a meal. The Judah prophet trusts the older man and goes back with him for something to eat and drink. However, after deceiving him in this way, the older man then gives him a prophecy that actually is from the Lord: the prophet from Judah is going to pray a price for disobeying what God told him. Sure enough, on his way home again, the younger man is killed by a lion.

I remember feeling outraged, one of the first times that I studied this passage, back in the 1980s. The younger man acted in good faith and paid for it with his life, while the older man who deliberately lied to him apparently got off scot free! But God reminded me at the time that this passage simply doesn't tell us the end of the story for the Bethel prophet or how God may have dealt with him in the future. What it does warn us is that we will be held fully responsible for our own obedience or disobedience to the things things God has spoken to us, irrespective of what others may have said to us.

In yesterday's post, I wrote about "easy allegiance" - when we settle for a form of Christianity that is easier than the real thing. One of the areas where this can be a particular danger is when it comes to hearing God's instructions and guidance for our lives. Unless we had the privilege of learning to hear God's voice when we were children (4 year olds seem to have no trouble at all knowing what God is saying to them) it often requires patience and practice when we're a little older. We need to learn to be comfortable with waiting in silence and stilling our own thoughts and distractions so that we can really hear from God. Sometimes it seems easier to have someone else, a pastor or a leader, hear from God for us.

But hearing and obeying God is an essential part of being a Christian and, as today's story reminds us, it's vitally important that we learn how to hear from God first hand and not only second hand through others. He longs for us to listen to Him and joyfully, and carefully, obey.

Easy allegiance - when true obedience is too much trouble

I'm reading each morning this month in the book of 1st Kings - that season in Bible history when the formerly united nation of Israel is divided into two separate kingdoms - the kingdom of Judah in the south and the kingdom of Israel in the north.

The big split happened when Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was too arrogant to take advice from those older and wiser than himself; despite their counsel, he announced his intention to be a harsh taskmaster over the nation of Israel. Most of Israel rebelled and proclaimed a new king for themselves instead of Rehoboam. Only the tribe of Judah remained faithful to him. And thus began centuries of the nation being divided into two kingdoms, each with their own king.

The northern tribes chose a man called Jeroboam to be their king. In fact, this had been foretold by a prophet, quite a number of years earlier. While King Rehoboam of Judah still had the Palace and the Temple in Jerusalem, King Jeroboam of Israel began to centre the northern kingdom's political and religious life around historically significant locations such as Shechem, Peniel and Bethel. The problem was that Jeroboam was ambitious, and therefore a bit concerned that people's going to the Jerusalem temple to worship God might renew their allegiance to Rehoboam and weaken his own position as king.

And so Jeroboam begin to establish some alternative forms of worship. First, he had two golden calves made and he set these up at either end of his kingdom, one at Dan in the north and the other at Bethel in the south. It's unclear whether his original intention was for them to represent the Lord or whether he was knowingly promoting idolatry from the beginning. He said to the people, "Here are your gods that brought you out of Egypt." Of course, that's how a lot of idolatry and compromise begins; it starts with something familiar and true (there's a God that brought our ancestors out of Egypt) but adapts it to suit our own convenience.

Jeroboam may have been doing this in his own interest, but his steps also offered the people an easy allegiance. He even said to the people, "It's too much trouble for you to go down to Jerusalem and worship the Lord Yahweh there." Instead, here are your friendly neighbourhood gods, all within easy travelling distance, whether you live in the north or the south of the country. (1 Kings 12: 28 - 29)

Such blatant idolatry may be shocking to us on a superficial reading of the text, but it's not so very different from the easy allegiance that can creep into some churches nowadays. Whenever it becomes "too much trouble" or too costly to worship and obey the one true God, we will inevitably slip into easier alternatives to true obedience.

When it's "too much trouble" to get out of bed on Sunday morning, we'll opt to watch a service on TV instead, and only go to church when we feel like it.

When it's "too much trouble" to welcome people of different backgrounds and cultures into our church family, we'll tend to huddle in our middle class, well dressed, monocultural congregations.

When it's difficult to have victory over our invisible sins - like criticism, gossip, pride or materialism - we'll focus instead on condemning those with more visible failings - like smoking,   drinking, wearing "unsuitable" clothes or having an ugly tattoo.

When it's costly or feels awkward for us to share the gospel with our neighbours, friends or workmates, we'll slip into an unremarkable form of Christianity that never takes a stand for the claims of Christ.

When it's "too much trouble" to spend time studying the Word or listening in silence to hear God's voice or battling in prayer for that lost family member... when following Jesus requires difficult steps of obedience or perseverance or faith... we'll back off and say that this may work for some, but not for me.

And so, little by little, we slip into an easy allegiance that is no allegiance at all. Or, as Paul described it when writing to Timothy, a religion that has an outward appearance of godliness but lacks the power of real faith. (2 Timothy 3: 5)

Very soon, modern day idols will have crept in. For the Israelites in 1 Kings 12, it was golden statues, pagan priests and an alternative festival to the feast of tabernacles. For church folks today, it might mean giving unbiblical importance to how we dress, the type of music we sing or the way we do communion. Like the Pharisees in Jesus' day, our own preferences and traditions become idols and are given more allegiance than biblical truths.

Where is there a danger of "easy allegiance" in my life?