Long arms & short faith and a long story

01 Mar Long arms & short faith and a long story

Good Wednesday morning y’all!

If you’re wondering about that subject/title line up there…we’ll get there soon enough, but first a few important pieces…

1. Thank you Paul for the excellent Safe Ministry Training session we held Sunday after worship. It was a fairly straightforward block of material but the sharing & discoveries founded on the Scriptures was outstanding. As it becomes time for us to reacquaint ourselves with the nature & purpose of the church being a place where everyone is safe from harm, we’ll certainly try to do the group training in a similar way. It was a very enriching encouraging afternoon…and of course food is always a favourite thing!
2. Our weekly Zoom Bible Study Catch-up is as always…Friday – 3rd March @ 1:00 PM—  Join Zoom Meeting  —  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83586782734  —  Meeting ID: 835 8678 2734

If you have not yet jumped in…this week is a good one to start! We’ll look at the texts from the past Sunday & discover all the wonders of God’s Word together.

3. Living Water Prays together this Saturday – 4^th March @ 10:00 a.m. It can easily be one of the best hours of your week. We’ll be focussing on praying for our Compassion Partners & the young people our families support through regular partnership. We pray for other things too…you should be there if it’s at all possible.
4. Sunday – 5^th March is one of those wonderful Sundays in our month where we celebrate Giving Beyond Ourselves (designated for Compassion) AND Morning Tea. Make your plans to be there and maybe invite someone to join you who wouldn’t otherwise be there.

 

Now…about that title/subject line up there…Sometimes God shows me something often enough that I can’t “unsee” it…what God shows me is just too clear & I can’t look away or forget what I’ve been shown. For instance…I was reading Numbers 11. It’s after the Exodus but just before God’s people get to the land God has promised them. IN Numbers 13 & 14 they condemn themselves by their exceptional rebellion in refusing to enter the land because they’re afraid of the seven nations already living there even though God has promised he will drive those nations out. But Numbers 11 is one more “lack of faith” moment by the Israelites.

They’re hungry. God has provided water & manna but they want meat…so God’s going to give them meat. BUT…before he does God asks an incredible question: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is my arm too short? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!’” (Num 11:23) I love that…Is my arm too short? Have I lost my strength? Am I powerless to meet your needs? Remember, temptation is always built around the lie that God isn’t “enough” or “up to my needs.” So God confronts that lie…Am I powerless in this situation? Have I done countless mighty works to bring you this far only to run out of gas on the home stretch? Have I got short arms? Of course the Israelites discover God’s arms are infinitely long enough for them & all their needs. God’s arms are never too short to reach into his world to address the needs of those he has created in love to enjoy his love. God always has long arms, but our faith is what is short. We simply get overwhelmed by fear or frustration or any of a thousand other things & we perceive God’s arms as shorter than they truly are & therefore we fail to enjoy all that God’s long arms can provide. How many of our issues arise in life & literally knock us off our feet because our short faith refuses to trust God’s long arms?

In that sense…I do not want to re-hash the last 3 years of world history. I’m happy to have a conversation if you buy the coffee…but I know we can’t wind back the calendar, so I share this to make a similar observation. The Cochrane Review is the gold standard in the review of medical literature. It is world renown and respected. They recently published an exhaustive review of the use of masks to prevent the spread of respiratory virus like SARS-CoV-2 (what we commonly call Covid 19). The link to the full review is here: Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses – Jefferson, T – 2023 | Cochrane Library  — but the key takeaway is this: “Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks…” (emphasis mine) If you had dared suggest this in 2020, 21 or 22 you’d have been howled down & chased out of public sight. But now the science is in & it is exactly what a local GP told me in August 2020. Respiratory viruses are too small to be caught by a mask AND most of us wear masks improperly therefore they are of little to no value.

Do I wear a mask now? Yes, but only when the hospital, nursing home, or GP Surgery says I have to or I can’t come in. Do I believe I’m helping anyone? No. But I even try to abide by rules I’m sure are of no value because I have a responsibility to governing authorities. A mask is not an imposition on my faith. It is an inconvenience that I know will not protect me or you from a respiratory virus. It never did & apparently never has. I prefer to trust God’s long arms for my health & safety & respect the authorities God has instituted to govern us in this instance.

Why do I share that? I am increasingly convinced that time & truth will demonstrate that much of what we experienced during the pandemic, was media & governmental overreactions to SARS-CoV-2 that left many afraid & most confused. Like the negligible value of masks, more evidence is being brought forward, almost daily, that the disease’s origins are not what we were led to believe, & that lockdowns, school closures, travel & gathering restrictions and other enforced measures may have caused more harm than good. I am convinced I, like many others, was short on faith in God’s long arms…and for that I apologize…I should have led you better. That sort of lapse won’t happen again. I’m looking at God’s long arms & repenting of my short faith.

I will also go back to what I shared in March of 2020 from CS Lewis. I’ll paraphrase here…Before the pandemic, we were all destined to leave this life by dying. It’s an ugly reality of sinful flesh that “we are dust & to dust we shall return.” It could be any number of things, but eventually, something gets us. But greater than that certainty is the assurance Jesus gives in John 10:27-30 – “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, & they follow me. I give them eternal life, & they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, & he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” Those long arms are also strong arms. Let’s commit our lives & our well-being & our life as God’s people to those arms. Thank you for hearing me out & for putting up with my sometimes short faith.

We’ve got a long way to go before God calls time…I’m trusting our harvest is as plentiful as God promises, and I’m counting on his arms for the strength to accomplish what his word commands we do.

Peace

John