Yet God is still working...


Pete Grieg identifies with Holy Saturday. He says,

Holy Saturday seems to me to describe the place in which many of us live our lives: waiting for God to speak. We know that Jesus died for us yesterday. We trust that there may be miracles tomorrow. But what of today – this eternal Sabbath when heaven is silent? Where, we wonder, is God now? (God on Mute, 193)

Can you identify with this?


Jesus has experienced all the suffering that we ever will and can empathise with us (Hebrews 4:15). We can, in a strange and unrealistic way, identify with him.

He experienced silence. And we can see that God is still working.

Is God silent in your life at the moment? Are you hearing nothing?

When God is silent, He is not absent.

God is still working. He has not left you alone. He has not left anyone of us alone. Sometimes we can't see him. Sometimes we can't hear him.

But...

Tomorrow is still coming. There will be miracles tomorrow. Goodness is coming. Celebrations are coming. He will rise from the dead!
The best is yet to come. 

Don't give up just cause there's silence... God is still working in the silence. He has not left you alone.

The beauty of a continuum is that there is an almost endless number of possibilities between the two end points. And the good news? Everyone is better off when we operate in the wide-open spaces between the polar opposites of safe and stupid.

You might be thinking?

Aren't Christians supposed to be safe, conservative, sheltered...

I don't think so.

Let me give you two reasons:
[1] God is not safe. He is described as many things in the Bible, but never safe. He does provide safety; a refuge for the lost, hurt and weary. But he is not safe.
Take this classic conversation from the Chronicles of Narnia:

          "Aslan is a Lion - the lion, the great Lion"
          "Oh, is he... quite safe?"
          "Safe, who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe.
          But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

[2] God doesn't want us to be safe. The so-called "Parable of the Talents" from Matthew 25 tells the story of three workers who were given three sums of money. One buries it and the other two go out and make a return on what they were given.
I was reading Matt Perman's discussion of the parable and I was struck by this comment:
"the person who buried his talent was rebuked and called faithless - to play it safe is not commendable to God" [What's Best Next p.64]. God will protect us, but he calls his people to go out and use what they've been given, not to play it safe.

Where do you operate? What's your natural inclination?

Each of us have a tendency to lean in one direction or the other -
looking forward
and deciding on caution;
or
looking back
and realising the consequences.

I tend to be too safe, too comfortable.
It's time to reach out for more
and see all that God has in store.

I want to operate in the sweet spot because that's where I'll be most productive, most effective, most creative, most fruitful; that's where I'll do the most good - and I'm eager to do good.

This middle ground is often elusive, but it shouldn't be.

Photo // Joshua Kim @joshua__kim

In this wide-open space we are both secure and free.

Do you need a push?
Or do you need to be pulled back?

Because if push came to shove, in the end I'd rather be safely stupid, than stupidly safe.

I started with the word, 'finally.'
Not an expression of satisfaction,
conclusion, or
frustration.
A word of summation.

"Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble." [1 Peter 3:8]
This is what Peter holds of greatest importance - that the response to all that has gone before would be a life of doing good.

In many ways, this post is a follow up to 'Of greatest importance.'

What you do matters,
when you know what's been done.

When we lose sight of what's been done, we stop doing what really matters.
Jesus has brought life from death,
healing from hurt,
purpose from chaos.

If that's what's been done, then what should we do... now...
"Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?" [1 Peter 3:13]

What are you eager about?
New coffee shops, clothes and catch up shows on Netflix?
What are you eager about?
Planning holidays overseas and hangouts with friends?
What are you eager about?
Watching your team play or going to see Taytay?

What do you hunger for?
What are you passionate about?
What are you deeply committed to?

It's easy to misdirect your passion, to be eager about the wrong things.
The problem is when we take our eyes of the greatest thing.

So stop
and look.

Then step forward, commit,
and live a life eager to do good.