In Genesis 18: 1 we read, “The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby…”

Later a conversation between them goes like this:

“Where is your wife, Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh” (Gen 18: 9 – 15).

They say laughter is the best medicine, but Sarah’s response to the Lord in this story is not one of joy or amusement. This is a laugh of disbelief, almost sarcasm, “Oh sure, that at age one hundred, I would enjoy intimacy with my husband, and that things in my very old body might start working again, like they did many moons ago, so that I may bear a child! I’m old enough to be a great, great grandmother!”

What hasn’t hit her yet is that we are talking about Almighty God here. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

I wonder how easily you and I turn to disbelief, even sarcasm.

“Oh right! (some might say) So you expect me to just ‘let go’ and sail along in some bliss-filled imaginary, Christian bubble, forgetting the fact that the money is due tomorrow, and I have zero dollars in my account.”

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

“I have tried all those things you are talking about. They don’t work. Nothing works!”

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

“It’s funny, I used to have faith like you. I prayed all the time. I still believe of course, but in my own way. God helps those who help themselves” Is anything too hard for the Lord?

No, nothing is too hard for the Lord. He can bring new life to a hundred-year-old woman, he can cause that baby to grow and eventually become a father himself. The Lord can form the generations that follow into a bigger and bigger family until they become a nation. He can mould that nation into a people he calls his own and he can birth his own substance as God incarnate, Jesus Christ, His Son right in the heart of that nation and into the middle of history.  

And he can cause that Son to do something so unexpected, so profound, so universe changing as to provide salvation and new life through his willing death on the cross and then powerful resurrection from the dead. God can take a hundred-year-old lady and create children for himself so numerous as to be beyond counting.

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them (Mark 10: 13 – 16).

We do tend to complicate things, don’t we? I saw a photo recently of some “do-it-yourself” plumbing where a guy had tried to connect a water pipe to his toilet cistern. What should have been a fairly straightforward job turned out like a long, plastic snake with twists and curves in every direction. The caption underneath read, “I only had bends in my truck”.

Like many, I tend to subscribe to the notion that the simplest solution to a situation is probably the best one. In a way, I think Jesus is saying the same thing here. Knowing the Father, receiving the Kingdom of God – well, even a child can do it!

After Jesus had uttered these words, an affluent young man approached him with a question: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10: 17). The ensuing conversation saw Jesus quickly put his discerning finger on the pulse of the man’s real need: to let go of his dependence on possessions and self-righteousness. You don’t need religious pride or riches to enter the Kingdom of God, it’s much simpler than that.

After the man left, “disheartened”, Jesus’ disciples probably had a ton of questions, but Jesus took the initiative: “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” in v 23, and then “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!

It is interesting to note that this is the first time Jesus has called his disciples, “children”. Is he deliberately calling them children to make a point? I think he is, with a touch of irony. In other words, Don’t be like that rich guy, don’t think you can earn your way into God’s kingdom by works, religious deeds, wealth or human importance. It really is much simpler than that. Enter the Kingdom the same way a child enters any relationship: trust, a personal connection. Humility. Unspoken faith in one who offers a loving and safe relationship.

We enter the kingdom by coming to Jesus, knowing that He loves and forgives. We have empty pockets; in that we have no payment or merits to offer but we are drawn to His love. And in the warmth of acceptance and belonging, we are happy to live for Him and do His will. 

Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”

He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people. ”

But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us” (Numbers 10: 29 – 32)

Years ago, a friend of mine wrote a song for our church, based on this passage, called “Come with us and we will do you good”. I don’t recall the tune or the rest of the lyrics, but I do remember that we sung it most weeks. The basic idea of the song was that as followers of Jesus, we are wonderfully caught up in God’s plans for the world and motivated to share the good news of Christ’s death, resurrection and new life through faith in Him.

We, along with other believers around the world, were excited about our mission, we felt our lives had purpose and we wanted to invite all and anybody around us to join us in that journey.

Come with us. God is with us. There are good things to come, and we want to share them with you.

When Moses’ brother-in-law (that is, Hobab) started to feel the draw to return to his home country, Moses effectively said three things to try to persuade him to stay with him and the travelling Israelites enroute to the Promised Land. First, you will be treated well, “for the Lord has promised good things to Israel”. Moses is not offering an easy life, he knows that the immediate future promises nothing but tough, wilderness living. But he can guarantee the faithfulness of God both now and in the Promised Land ahead.

Second, he effectively says ‘we need you’. We need your eyes and experience to choose the best places to camp on the way. We are not asking you to join us to bolster numbers, we want you to play your unique part with the gifts and abilities the Lord has given you.

And thirdly, Moses promises, that Hobab will share in all the good things that God gives the Israelite community. ‘Come with us, it may not be easy, but God is with us. There is a glorious future ahead and your gifts and abilities will help us to get there. You will share in the joys and blessings the Lord gives to us. Come with us and we will do you good.

When we share our faith with those who don’t yet know Jesus, we are giving the same invitation. Come with us, repent of your sin and ask Jesus to be Lord of your life. The days in front of you may not always be easy, but Jesus promises to never leave you. And we will love and support each other along the way. There is a glorious future ahead, and your gifts and abilities are vital to God’s great purposes. Come and share the joys of a new life in Jesus Christ. 

I am sure you have been taught, as I have, that whenever the Bible repeats something, it must be particularly important. Like Paul exhorting the Philippian church to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4: 4).

Or… in Isaiah’s vision in chapter 6, he is somehow permitted to see with his own eyes the magnificent splendour of the Lord on His throne. One seraph calls out to another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

Not just one “holy” but three. The Lord is Holy. Holy. Holy. In other words, let that truth be underlined and highlighted, meditated on, etched into our consciousness. Our God is a Holy God.

However, when we reach Psalm 136 and what looks like a history lesson for young Israelite students, we find a phrase being spoken, not twice, not even three times.

Twenty-six times, in fact.

His steadfast love endures forever.

Our psalmist takes us on a sweeping tour of the Pentateuch from Creation to the edge of the Promised Land and at every turn, he is compelled to remind us, “His steadfast love endures forever”.

From the outset we are called to give thanks. Why? For (or because) His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks ^“to him who by understanding made the heavens…

for his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps 136:5).

Gives thanks “to him who divided the Red Sea in two,

for his steadfast love endures forever” in verse 13.

“and gave their land as a heritage,

for his steadfast love endures forever in verse 21.

Twenty-six times.

If there was one truth the Lord wanted to impart, branded into the conscience of every Israelite soul, it was that His love is steadfast, unwavering and unchanging. And that this love is not fleeting but continues for all time.

It turns out this is a truth permeating every book of Scripture. Every poem and prophecy, every song and story, every letter and law, over and over and over: His steadfast love endures forever.

It will not fade away. It will not give up. It will not grow weary. The Lord’s steadfast love endures forever.

It radiates with the morning sun and stays close through the darkest night. It keeps the line open for our prayers and forgives us when we fall short of His best. It disciplines us for our good and welcomes us into the Lord’s presence - 24/7. The Lord’s steadfast love endures forever.

We can rely on it, plant our faith in it, stand on it in the battle and rest in it on our beds. The Lord’s steadfast love endures forever.

It is precious beyond price. “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps 136: 26). 

A human face can tell us many things. A smile may be warm, encouraging, inviting or conniving. A person’s eyes may look at you, past you, though you or deep into your soul. A face may be menacing or soaked in love. Faces have the ability reveal what lies behind them.

However, God made it clear to Moses that he would not be permitted to see His face.

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Ex 33:18-20).

Whether God has an actual physical face is, perhaps, a topic for another conversation, but The Lord has made clear that we will not get to know Him in the same way we might a friend or a spouse: by seeing with eyes and subconsciously noting the others’ expressions. However, we will know Him through other ways He chooses to reveal himself.  

So, what is the face of God that we can see? Moses was invited into the presence of God (a few verses earlier), entering a tent marked by a pillar of cloud where, we are told that “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Ex 33: 11). Assuming the Bible does not contradict itself, what might that mean? Especially as we are exhorted to “seek God’s face”, for example, in Psalm 24.

One explanation may be found in Numbers 12: 8, where The Lord, speaking about Moses, said to Aaron and Miriam: ^“With him (that is, Moses) I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD.”

And earlier in the book of Numbers we read, “When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the LORD spoke to him” (Numbers 7: 89)

Moses saw the form of The Lord, but got to know Him through what he heard,

Just as there are an infinite number of ways that a message can be sent through facial expressions, so The Lord has no limits as to how He might convey His words and His heart to us through His voice. And, of course, the idea of God’s voice can mean many things.

For some it might be an impression laid on their heart or a nudge on their conscience. It might be a verse of Scripture, silently bringing a new perspective to a personal situation. It might be a peace that came out of nowhere, or a sense that I must keep praying until he says it’s enough.

However the Lord chooses to speak or show himself, the song of Asaph is an ongoing call throughout the ages and down to today: “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11). 

⁹How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.

¹⁰With my whole heart I seek you;

let me not wander from your commandments!

¹¹I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119: 9 – 11)

When I was growing up in the UK in the 1970s, I would often hear people talking about keeping something “for a rainy day”. That is, saving money in case it is needed in the future. The rainy day could be any crisis when funds are short. The idiom is still used today

The psalmist in our reading has been asking how he might keep his way pure. How he might live his life with moral integrity. He wouldn’t just be thinking about sexual purity, as important as that is, but other areas of his life too. He would be mindful of his speech and his choice of words, as well as his thoughts and actions, hoping they are good and righteous in the sight of God.

In this short section of an 8-verse stanza, the psalmist let’s us know what he is putting into practice to try and live a life he can be proud of.  At first sight it might seem like a human attempt to be Godly. We all know that we cannot overcome sinful tendencies in our lives without the grace of God. It is because of what Christ has done on the cross, that we have hope of “being transformed into His likeness”.

But the psalmist, even though he knows nothing of Jesus (because this was written before Jesus came to Earth), does know that He needs God’s Word. The Lord and His spoken and written word are his hope. So, he will guard his way (that is, think carefully about his decisions) by measuring it against what God has said.

He has committed himself to seeking God. He will not stray from the ideal that The Lord’s commandments must be his number one source of inspiration.

And he has stored up the Word of God in his heart.

What might this mean?

Obviously, memorisation can help. If we read something often enough, we can start to remember it “off by heart”. Learning portions of scripture was a normal part of my diet in the Sunday school of the little village church I grew up in. Perhaps this is a lost practice in today’s world, but well worth recovering if we are to raise a generation strong in the Word of God.

But perhaps the need is more basic than that. Do we even read the Bible regularly? There is something about absorbing Scripture through the eyes, perhaps even speaking it out, and then letting it marinate in my mind and heart, imagining the story, applying it to my world, letting it move me, challenge me, that can only happen as the Holy Spirit engages with our spirits, breathing life, inspiring hope.

I remember Bible verses that speak to my soul, and I can’t forget stories that shock me or hold me accountable.

And all this quietly stores up in the recesses of my mind and heart, for the day when God will bring it to the surface and use it. 

¹³ “If my people would only listen to me,

if Israel would only follow my ways,

¹⁴ how quickly I would subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes!

¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,

and their punishment would last forever.

¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;

with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” (Ps 81:13-16)

If only I had listened to God. The decision I made that I knew in my heart-of-hearts was not the Lord’s will. If I had only read God’s Word and sought Godly counsel, things may have turned out differently.  

Psalm 81 sounds like it is set in the midst of a national festival, possibly the Feast of Trumpets or the Feast of Tabernacles. The first few verses explode with energy, music and joyful shouts of celebration, commemorating the ancient stories of God’s powerful rescue of a people from slavery in Egypt.

But then a mystery voice cuts the moment. The scene was only a dream, a memory, as if a sleeper has awoken to a harsh reality. Those days are long gone. God did do those things, and the sleeper remembers what the Lord said at the time:

“⁸ Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—

if you would only listen to me, Israel!

⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you;

you shall not worship any god other than me” (Ps 81: 8 – 9)

The one rubbing his eyes from sleep hears more from the Lord, spoken years later:

¹¹ “But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not submit to me.

¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices” (Ps 81: 11 – 12).

It is a frightening thing for the Lord to give people over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own devices. The reality of life for the one remembering and writing this psalm is that he and his family, and his nation, are exiles, held captive in a foreign land, a punishment inflicted by the Lord for continuous disobedience and the worship of false gods.

The Lord is a forgiving God, but he never lets us escape from the consequences of our decisions.

Human beings can be stubborn and, if we are honest, that includes you and me. Even as believers, we might sometimes pay more attention to our emotions and the spirit of the age than the Word of God. The mystery voice reveals the heart of our God, “if my people would only listen to me”.

The Lord wanted His people to be fed with the finest of wheat and be satisfied with honey from the rock. Today, He still wants the best for us. Life. Beautiful, purposeful life with an eternal celebration of relationship with the Father through faith in Jesus, within the bounds of His Word and His Ways and under the protective umbrella of the Lordship of Christ.

“If my people would only listen to me”. 

“Take delight in the LORD,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

“The LORD makes firm the steps

of the one who delights in him” (Psalms 37: 4, 23)

Like much of the sayings in The Book of Proverbs, David has written a psalm contrasting the fate of the wicked with the righteous. In his black and white view of the world (compared to today), the righteous will shine like the dawn, enjoying peace and prosperity, while the wicked, though temporarily successful in their schemes, will eventually lose their power and perish (or “go up in smoke” v 20).

One of his reasons for composing the psalm is simply to say, “do not fret” (he says it 3 times). Do not be overly anxious when bad people continue to be bad people – God will hold them accountable.

Life, is of course, more complicated than that and God’s people are called to respond actively, not passively, to injustice in the world, the needs of the poor and destructive ripples that can flow from compromised leaders and flawed human beings.

But for those who seek to honour God with their lives, David’s psalm is timeless. Trust in the Lord; commit your way to Him; be patient. David then ends his psalm with a promise:

“The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

The LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him” Ps 37: 39 – 40.

How might we take refuge in the Lord? One way is by delighting in Him.

The Westminster catechism tells us that “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever”. We exist to worship Him – yes! To give glory and honour to Him – absolutely! But to enjoy Him too. To delight in Him. God wants us to find joy in Him.

When we stop and find space in the day to shut out our worries and stresses, we might reflect on how much the Lord has done for us. How He has changed us, transformed us from the person we once were. We can marvel at the fact that He includes us in His plans, even though we don’t deserve it. We can remember specific times of encouragement, a word that spoke to us or a remarkable answer to prayer.

We can be grateful for what we have. Material things. Money, the ability to earn money but more importantly, people. Those the Lord has brought into our lives and made precious to us. And the relationship with have with Him – our Father in heaven. Always present, always sovereign, always patient. Always kind.

So much to enjoy. And we haven’t even started to talk about the wonder of His creation, which we can delight in as we walk through that park or along that beach, side-by-side with the One who made it.

The promises of David's psalm are “firm steps” and the desires of our heart for those who delight in the Lord.

To be honest, I think to have a heart that daily delights in our maker is reward enough, but it is comforting to know that while we are simply enjoying Him, He is quietly planning good steps ahead for us. 

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So, they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered.

 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” (John 21: 1 – 7).

One of the things I love about Jesus, is that no word or action is ever wasted. We know from other post-resurrection accounts that Jesus was not always recognised straight away. His appearance had changed in some way. Mary Magdalene didn’t know it was Jesus she saw outside the empty tomb and the two travelers walking to Emmaus spoke to him for the better part of a day before they figured out who He was.

Is it possible that that same thing is happening here? I think it is. Jesus does something that will make His disciples realise who He is. Particularly for Simon Peter and John. He repeated the very first miracle they ever saw Him do.

Recorded in Luke’s Gospel, we remember the account of Jesus calling His first disciples. Simon Peter seemed happy for Jesus to teach from His boat with the crowds gathered at the water’s edge and while he and his mates cleaned the nets. At the end of His teaching, Jesus told Simon to put the boat out again and throw the nets over. Even though the fishermen had worked hard all night with no catch (and had only just washed the nets), Simon did what he was asked.

Just like today’s story there was a huge catch of fish, way beyond normal expectations. No wonder the same disciples three years later exclaimed with a gasp, “it is the Lord!”. It’s Him! We have seen this before. Only He can do that.

God granted us a powerful gift when He gave us the ability to look back and re-live a moment. Although some life events can be painful to recall, the Bible is full of encouragements to remember the good. And good memories of the Lord at work may help us understand the present.

For example, a “blast from the past” recollection of a person may be a prompt to pray for them. An intentional look back to God’s grace on your life can only increase thankfulness and trust for the future. And perhaps when we are mindful of the Lord’s dealings in our lives, not forgetting what He has spoken and what He has done, we might more easily recognise His presence and His voice today. To be able to say again of His leading, “it is the Lord! This is what He wants me to do today”. 

Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Ex 4: 10 – 12).

I sometimes wish that my mind could be quicker than it is. To be able to give a witty response to every situation and make the world laugh around me. To say just the right thing in the moment.

But Moses isn’t complaining about a shortage of comedic skills, or even a lack of wise rhetoric. His problem may have been more basic.

Some have suggested he had a speech impediment, making it difficult for him to express himself with confidence. Perhaps he didn’t feel he knew the language of the Egyptian royal court well enough to be understood. Or he might have been prone to panic attacks with the thought of standing up in front of others and making a speech.

Whatever the reason, Moses considered himself “slow of speech and tongue” therefore believed God had made a huge mistake in choosing him to be His spokesperson.

Towards the end of Jesus’ life, there is a hint that He guessed some of His disciples might struggle with public speaking, or even just articulating their faith to others when they needed to. “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12: 11 – 12).

In both of our passages today, the Lord promises to teach the person what they need to say.

I have found in my own life that speaking well does not come naturally to me. In my early years as a high school teacher, I did not have the natural confidence to address uninterested teenagers. And years later, serving in pastoral ministry, I will still agonise over the right words to share with a brother or a sister in a sensitive conversation.

But one thing I can say is that the Lord does help. He does give wisdom when you ask for it, even if you have to pray about it for a while, chew it over or seek advice. Over time, he has graciously allowed me to learn boldness, particularly when I know He has given me something to say.

And he can do the same for you.

One of the best preachers I have ever known, would often struggle with a stutter when he spoke. I think God helped him more than anyone knew, but He kept my friend reliant on Him at the same time.

The Lord will help us and teach us what to say, but never to the point where we become proud of our wisdom or oratory skills. If we can get that balance right, what an amazing thought it is that we might be a spokesperson for God himself. 

“Your ways, God, are holy.

What god is as great as our God?

You are the God who performs miracles;

you display your power among the peoples.

With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph” (Ps 77: 13 – 15).

This is a really good question to ask: What god is as great as our God?

Gods (with a small ‘g’) in the Bible were, of course, not gods at all. They were man-conceived and man-made. The writings of the Old Testament often refer to them as idols, statues of earthly creatures or representations of how ancient peoples imagined their deities would appear if they could see them. Made of wood, stone, or metal, some were small and portable, kept in tents or family dwellings; others were large, towering over worshippers in their temples.

Isaiah 40 describes the stupidity of creating idols, when they are compared to the living God.

“With whom, then, will you compare God?

To what image will you liken him?

As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and fashions silver chains for it.

A person too poor to present such an offering

selects wood that will not rot;

they look for a skilled worker

to set up an idol that will not topple.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth (Is 40: 18 – 22)

Idols can topple over. Our God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth.

Why pray to something that humans have created, something that needs help standing up, when the One ruling the heavens and seated on the throne invites us to pray to Him? The One who performs miracles; the One who displays infinite power; the One who redeems us with His mighty arm. He invites us to worship and pray to Him.

Our modern-day idols are just as worthless. We might not bow the knee to a wooden statuette, but how important to us is our social media status? Or the praise of those around me. Do you care about those things more than you care about who you are in God? If you are not sure, compare your average daily screen time with the time you spent reading the Bible this morning, Who do you draw your value from? You contemporaries or your heavenly Father? Do you worship the desire to be liked by others, or do you worship the One who created you, formed you and loves you?

Just like the ancient statues of stone or gold, our present-day idols only hold power if we give it to them. If we lean on them for favour, love, or fortune, we will surely only discover empty and lifeless promises.

But worship the Living God and bow the knee to Him and a whole universe of possibilities open up. Because… what god can possibly be as great as our God?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).

Sometimes when I am finding it hard to find a place of peace and trust, it is because I have started to imagine all sorts of possible scenarios that might play out. I see in my minds eye all the worst things that can happen. All the unpleasant conversations that might take place.

In this 3-part devotion series, we have examined what it might mean to trust in the Lord with all your heart. We have suggested that a conscious focus on the attributes of God that particularly speak to the human heart can help us as we navigate life’s challenges. For example, if we remind ourselves that God is kind and God is faithful, we might more easily find the peace that we need because we know He will be faithful and kind towards us.

And if we avoid the temptation to link our faith with what we think we know about a person or what we might believe about a situation, we can instead rest in the truth that God sees and understands all things, and so we can trust Him.

The third line of this proverb simply tells us to submit to Him. In all our ways. This sounds to me like a reminder to declare that He is Lord. The Scriptures constantly tell us that the Lord is on His throne and that Jesus reigns at the right hand of the Father. He is sovereign, no-one is higher than Him. But sometimes we need to consciously submit all of our decisions, all of our problems, all of our comings and goings to His Lordship.

Regardless of how we may want a situation to play out, we must come to a place where we can say, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Lord, you are a kind and good God and your have your perfect will. You have greater knowledge than me. While I sometimes base decisions on my assumptions, you see the actual truth. So, I submit my ways to you.

With these instructions in place that Lord promises He will make our paths straight. What does this mean? As we said in the first devotion in this series, a straight path implies that we won’t be zigzagging all over the shop trying to find peace or struggling to make sense of a situation.

A straight path will have no turns trying to distract us from our destination – a life of fruitfulness and purpose under the guiding hand of God.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).

In the first 4-minute devotion in this series, we said that our trust in the Lord during difficult situations, sometimes needs to move from our heads to our hearts. It is one thing to declare our faith in God and meditate on His promises, which are both good things to do during life’s pressures, but it is another to find a heart at peace throughout the ordeal.

We suggested one thing that might help: to think on those of God’s attributes that particularly speak to the human heart. For example, God is kind, and His everlasting kindness is always directed towards us. And God is faithful. God keeps His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. As spiritual descendants of God’s chosen people through faith in the risen Christ, His faithfulness will always reach to us.

The second instruction in this short proverb is to “lean not on your own understanding”. In other words, look beyond the limits of your thinking and imagination. I have found that simple trust in God during challenging circumstances can be easily killed when I allow my mind to wander. When I think I understand every part of the situation; when I cannot see a way through, when I make assumptions about other people. When I put too much confidence in my own understanding of what is going on.

A friend of mine tells the story of working with a person whose attitude towards him seemed uncaring, rude, and even, at times, hostile. He wondered what he had done to offend him and even became afraid of “saying the wrong thing”. He felt he had to “walk on eggshells” around him. He struggled to come to terms with the thought that a Christian brother would behave like this workmate.

Until, one day, he realised that his partner was displaying some symptoms of a mental health condition. A well-known neurological disorder. The man wasn’t meaning to be rude; his brain was just wired differently. With a little more understanding of the situation, my friend was able to pray for a new perspective and trust God for a way forward.

When we focus only on what we think we know, when we forget to question our assumptions, when we believe we have all the facts (when we don’t), it is easy to lean on our own understanding, instead of trusting God to solve the puzzle from the view He has of the bigger picture.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight”.

Seeking the Lord for His understanding is so much better than making judgments with only a handful of the facts.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).

Christians can, on occasion, find it hard to trust God in the situations that they face. It is not that God is not trustworthy, more that we can sometimes struggle to look away from the things that make us anxious, to a place where we rest in the peace that God wants to give us.

Today’s two verses from the Book of Proverbs give us three instructions that I believe help us to obey Jesus’ teaching in Matt 6 when he said, “do not worry about your life” (Matt 6: 25).

First, “trust in the Lord with all of your heart”. If you have been a follower of Jesus for any amount of time you will have read many verses that tell us, or encourage us, to put our trust in God. We can speak out our faith in God in difficult circumstances and we can read stories of others who have remained steadfast, hanging on to the promises of the Lord through life’s challenges.

But sometimes the concept of trust stays in our heads (that is, “I know I need to put my faith in God in this situation, so I’ll just keep saying the verses”) but it doesn’t reach our hearts. God wants us – you, to trust Him from the depths of your heart. How do we do that?

I am still learning this, but I find it helpful to think about those attributes of God’s character that particularly speak to the human heart. Here are a couple that speak to me:

First, God is kind. Following the Lords severe judgment of the nation of Israel by way of their Babylonian captivity, He made this promise to His children through the prophet Isaiah,

“In a surge of anger

I hid my face from you for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness

I will have compassion on you,”

says the LORD your Redeemer (Isaiah 54: 8).

God is a God of compassion, and His everlasting kindness is always directed towards His people – towards us. Therefore, He will treat you kindly in your situation.

Second, God is faithful. What does it mean that God is faithful? Deuteronomy 7: 9 reminds us that “…he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

A thousand generations is a very long time. If five generations is about a hundred years, then a thousand must be at least two hundred times that. As Christians, our spiritual roots come from God’s chosen people in the scriptures, way back in history. And Christ himself. Jesus perfectly loved His Father and kept His commandments. Therefore, God faithfully keeps His covenant of love to Him and therefore, also to us.

In other words, God is faithful to us because He is faithful to His Son and to His people. And so, God will be faithful to you, in your situation. He will not let you down. He sees it all and knows how to work it out.

Therefore, you can trust Him with all of your heart. And the promise is: He will make your paths straight. We don’t need to be zigzagging all over the shop trying to find peace or struggling to make a decision. We can trust Him with all of our heart. 

“If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say — if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 124: 1 – 8)

I wonder if you have ever pondered a memory where, on reflection, if God hadn’t answered that prayer, if that thing hadn’t happened, if that person hadn’t arrived when they did, your situation might have turned out very differently.

Sometimes we only see the hand of the Lord when we look back afterwards.

I remember a time, when for a long season, I couldn’t work out what God was doing. A couple of people, good people, misunderstood my reasons for a decision that I made, and they began to think the worst of me. I tried to explain what was going on, we had several conversations, but things just went from bad to worse.

There isn’t space here to tell the whole story, but as things continued to go pear-shaped, I struggled to discern what God was up to. Until I realised (very slowly) that The Lord had plans I knew nothing about. New plans for me and new plans for the others involved in the situation.

Now, when I reflect on that portion of my life, I realise, like the psalmist, that if the Lord hadn’t been on our side (or “for us”, as he promises in Rom 8: 31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”), if He hadn’t granted me wise counsel form another brother at just the right time, if circumstances had played out differently, well… I dread to think how things might have turned out.

But the truth is, God fulfilled his purposes, and He answered prayers, even though some answers were unexpected. He made me realise how much I needed Him, and He challenged me on a few things too.

If the Lord hadn’t been on my side, if (with His help) I hadn’t clung to His promises, remembering that He is the Maker of heaven and earth (and so can do anything), I might not have seen the victory. I might have missed the new thing He was creating.

When stuff happens, it is easy to take our eyes off the Lord, to forget that as His children, He is “on our side”. It may take a while to realise that he is readjusting some plans and expectations, so that “our side” is shaped to His purposes, but He will keep us safe in the battle that gets us there.

Remember: The Lord is on your side. And His purposes in your situation are good purposes.

“Show me your ways, LORD,

teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long” (Ps 25: 4 – 5).

I don’t know if David intended this when he wrote Psalm 25, but it seems to me there is a big difference between God’s Ways and His Paths.

The phrase “God’s Ways” in the Scriptures can refer to several things. It might be His plans or his actions, or His decisions, but it is always related to His character. His ways are who He is, seen by what He decides to do (or not do). It describes how His principles shape His will; how His wisdom drives His judgments and choices.

If we were to liken these descriptions to a human analogy, God’s ways are like the rules and principles of safe driving - the rules of the road or Highway Code as it is referred to in some countries. With that picture in mind, God’s paths can be His directions to your destination.

When we pray, “show me your ways” we are asking Him to reveal to our minds and hearts how we can drive our lives within the wise and safe boundaries of His will and within the principles of His Word. When we pray, “teach me your paths”, this overlaps with a desire to know His ways, but it is also asking for specific guidance.

“Lord, what is my destination?” “How do I get there?” “Do I go the long way round, or is there a shortcut?” “Is there a blockage in the road some distance away that I don’t yet see?” “Do I turn left here or right?”

Sometimes I think I need to pray something like, “Lord, teach me to recognise your paths”. The Lord doesn’t need to change the way He speaks, but I need to learn to how hear and discern His voice better than I do. If I am driving the car of my life too fast, the Lord’s directions to take a slow detour may not be heard above the roar of the engine.

The Ways of the Lord are referred to four more times in Psalm 25. God instructs sinners in His ways and the humble are taught His way. The ways of the Lord are loving and faithful and those that fear the Lord are given first-hand instruction as to the ways they should choose.

Our loving Heavenly Father has much to teach us on our journey towards His destination. He wants to transform our minds and our characters to be more like His, so that while driving safely, we move with passion and purpose. He also wants to teach us how to read His map, what speed to drive down each part and where and when to stop and take a break.

Sometimes we may come to a fork in the road and wonder which way to go. He may whisper “this way” to those who can hear, or He may say, “You choose. You know my ways, I have equipped and empowered you to make good decisions”. 

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he famously lists the essential offices that leaders carry in churches under his care – people who serve as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Their purpose? “To equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

God wants his people to be mature in their faith, full of Christ, equipped for every task, “Built up”.

The apostle continues: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph 4: 11 – 16)

I want you to notice that although we rightly celebrate and honour the role of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as they equip us to serve God, mould us towards unity and increase our knowledge of Jesus, the responsibility for growth also lies on us.

Paul tells us we can grow by speaking the truth to each other in love, and we can grow by building up one another in love. Paul sees growth as a together activity. Within a community that is soaked in love.

Like a human body, the parts of Christ’s body cannot exist on their own. We are joined to each other, “held together by every supporting ligament”. We grow in our faith as a unity. Together. Together in love.

The body of Christ “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work”. I can convince myself that I am growing in my faith as I study Scriptures on my own. That is an important part of my day, but if I only read God’s Word in solitude, I don’t hear the insights of those who are different to me. I miss the joy of seeing a verse impact a friend in a new way, and I’ll lose the benefit of a brother’s Godly challenge as he speaks the truth in love.

I can try to be brave as I face life’s challenges, seeking the Lord for help, waiting for His promises to come to pass. But on my own will never be enough. There will always be something missing. As God’s children, we are joined, held together, which means my tears become your tears and your sorrows become mine. The new creation of God’s people under Christ as the head, and shepherded by his appointed leaders, still needs to “build itself up in love, as each part does its work”.

Building and growing is not a solo activity in the New Testament. It requires the challenge of sharing my life with others; opening up when I’d rather face the darkness alone. Finding the work Christ wants me to do to strengthen his body in the place where he has called me to serve alongside others. 

After Joseph (of technicolour dream coat fame) had been in an Egyptian prison for some time, we read that he had an unusual conversation with two of Pharaoh’s officials.

Both had been forced into custody following an offense with their master and one morning they woke up, each one remembering a vivid dream. As they relayed their dreams to the young Hebrew, Joseph was able to interpret them. With chilling accuracy.

Within 3 days, the Egyptian king called for his officials to be released from their chains, one being restored to his original position in the court, the other to be executed. Joseph’s predictions had not only come true, but they were correct even to the details as to how the executed man will die.

Joseph was not a popular brother growing up among members of his family. He was clearly daddy’s favourite and there were times when humility and wisdom might have gone a long way. Some would likely have called him arrogant, but one thing rings clear throughout the biblical narrative and that is that he had a call on his life. God had purposes for him, and he knew it.

So, when he found himself confined in a foreign jail, he must have wondered about God’s plans for him. Were they all in his imagination? Were the dreams he had as a teenager just silly dreams, meaning nothing? Did hope evaporate years ago?

One thing that impresses me, though, about Joseph in this story is his attitude to God and his attitude to others. As hard as it must have been from him to live for so long in basic prison conditions, he does not appear to be self-focused. It is Joseph who notices that Pharaohs officials are troubled as they reflect on their respective dreams. He then takes the trouble to ask, “Why do you look so sad today?” (Gen 40: 7).

When they told him their predicament that they knew of no-one to help them understand their dreams, Joseph was quick to offer help.

But he was also quick to give glory to God. “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” (Gen 40: 8).

Joseph could have made any number of self-serving decisions that day. He could have been so absorbed in his problems that he failed to notice burdens others were carrying. He might have seen the concerned looks on the faces of his fellow prisoners but then choose to look away and ignore them. He might have helped them interpret the dreams but then claim that his skills came from his own cleverness and greatness.

Instead, Joseph, chose to care for those around him and give glory to God. I think God saw that. I think God saw that Joseph was faithful to sense The Lord’s promptings away from the limelight and do His will.

On that day, the favourite son of Jacob was faithful in small things, and if you know the end of the story, we know that God eventually trusted him with a ministry the size of the nation.

The master in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents says to one of the servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matt 25: 21)

I believe that is the heart of God towards us as we seek to be faithful to Him in the small things of life.

“Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (Gen 15: 13 – 14).

400 years is a long time. I have problems waiting 20 minutes for an overdue doctor’s appointment but 400 years! God waited that long for His purposes to be completed. Why would God allow His people to be servants (enslaved and oppressed as the CSB puts it) for so many years?

The writer of Genesis tells us a little more in the next couple of verses: “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (v 15 – 16).

God was not in a rush for the descendants of Abraham (then, Abram) to enter their Promised Land because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete”. Basically, Abram, your kids and grandkids and great grandkids etc are going have to wait because the Amorites haven’t finished sinning yet! Why would God be content with such a slow-moving timetable?

And what have the Amorites got to do with anything?

The Exodus narrative is a key theme of the Bible. The story of Moses leading God’s people out of enslavement (when the 400 years was eventually up), is told and re-told many times throughout the Scriptures. The Lord often referred to himself as “…the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves (Lev 26: 13).

Centuries later, the prophet Jeremiah reminded God’s people of that truth (in 7: 21) as did Hosea: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos 11: 1).

When Matthew describes the Christmas narrative of Joseph, Mary and their newborn, Jesus, fleeing to Egypt to escape the clutches of a jealous king Herod, and their eventual return to Israel, the same Hosea reference to the Exodus story is quoted, suggesting Jesus as a fulfillment to it.

A grown-up Jesus miraculously met with Moses on the Mount of transfiguration and our Lord eventually became the Passover lamb. The meal before the Exodus evolved into a meal of bread and wine signifying for all time Christ’s death for our sins on the cross.

God seemed shockingly patient with the Amorites as they continued to sin before Him for hundreds of years, whilst His people quietly formed themselves into a nation, waiting for his salvation.

Time ambled on through centuries and millennia, occasionally marking an instant of God’s presence or intervention (e.g. Esther being raised to Queen “at such a time as this” to save God’s people from annihilation), God patience always waiting for the perfect moment for the next step of His plan: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5: 6)

God is infinitely patient because He knows His timing of all things. He sees all the circumstances, knows when the variables will fall into place, and like Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, “…is never late, nor is he early, (but) he arrives precisely when he means to”. 

When was the last time you had a day when you felt like something of you was coming apart? Unravelling. It had taken every effort to keep things together throughout the ordeal and now you are scrambling to work out how to put your brain and heart back in order.

When David wrote Psalm 23, the great king and war hero likened himself to a sheep! I have to admit - not the first animal I would think of to try to describe the man. Surely a bear or a lion – the very creatures he had once defeated in face-to-face combat (see 1 Sam 17: 34 – 36).

But the once shepherd, in prayer before Almighty God, saw himself as a sheep. With His Lord as the shepherd. Probably because the battle-hardened soldier king knows what it feels like to have your strength sapped from your very core.

And with that in mind he wrote this…

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

 He restores my soul…” (Ps 23: 1 – 3)

The rest of the psalm talks about enemies and dark valleys but here at the beginning, David has found peace. We don’t know the specific context of Psalm 23, but David experienced enough traumatic adventures during one lifetime to last several. And if this psalm is anything to go by, there must have been at least some occasions when David found the Lord putting him back together, Restoring his soul.

Can we glean anything from these few lines to help us in such times?

First of all, David declares “I shall not want”. This is a bold statement of faith. Whatever the enemy may throw at me, The Lord will give me everything I need. I need not fear that I am going through this on my own. My Father in Heaven and great provider, knows what I need before I ask him, as Jesus taught in Matt 6: 8. And He is with me.

David then describes the Lord, making him lie down in green pastures. I don’t believe that the Lord forces us to do anything (even though He could). But David has learned to sense the promptings of the Spirit and discern his leading to the point where he knows the green pasture is where he is meant to be.

In this place of peace, the sun is warm and there is plenty to eat. He can feed on God’s Word as well as the food God provides and he might even catch up on some well-needed sleep.

The Lord then leads David beside still or quiet waters. Jesus once described the Holy Spirit as water in John 7. We are told he “said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7: 37 – 39).

There is obviously a difference between quiet waters and a river, but the point is there is an invitation to drink. Just as David was led beside quiet waters to drink.  To drink of the Lord. To drink of His Holy Spirit.

No wonder he found his soul restored.