A Different View

Last summer I enjoyed a holiday based at my cousin's home at Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. One evening, I decided to travel to Buxton to watch Eastwood Town play their first pre-season friendly match against the club there.  Unfortunately the result was a home win, but I’m sure the game was beneficial to both teams.  As I overheard someone near to me saying at the other match I watched that week at Alfreton, “all goals are helpful, even the ones scored against you!” – the home team lost that match 4-1, playing against the Football League side, Chesterfield.

Now, when I watch a match I usually position myself, if possible, somewhere near the halfway line.  This has much to do with my eyesight, for I find it difficult to determine just what is happening at one goalmouth if viewed from the other end of the ground.  Present at that Buxton-Eastwood match was one spectator who, being dressed in a business suit, stood out from the crowd.  I believe him to be a director of Eastwood Town, and I noticed that, for much of the second half, he was positioned behind the goal that Eastwood were attacking.

Presumably this was to focus on his team’s performance in that particular aspect of their game.  His purpose was different from that of a neutral spectator like me, so he deliberately secured a viewpoint that was most beneficial for him.  It’s not every day that one encounters a football director, so I hope I may be forgiven for placing undue emphasis on the experience.  But it did set me thinking about his interest in the game, and the responsibilities he holds regarding football in the town and to the club in particular.

My Bible readings that week had been from the book of Job, and I related this experience to the end of that book.  After Job’s friends have each had their say about his situation, Job turns to God to justify himself, demanding to know whatever evidence there might be against him to result in all his suffering (ch.31.)   The young man Elihu then puts in his twopence worth, delaying the account of God’s response to Job (and thus reminding us that He answers us in His own good time … not ours!)  Finally comes the reply, and it’s not a point-for-point rebuttal of Job’s protestations of innocence.  For the detail, I invite you to read chapters 38 & 39 – but take a deep breath first!  In summary, The Lord makes Job aware that there is another dimension to all of this that is beyond his understanding. 

When we are baffled by something that just doesn’t make sense, we would do well to realise that there is probably a completely different way to look at the situation.  Then we may find ourselves echoing Job’s words at 42:3, “Surely I spoke of things I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

Granddad

Can you imagine it?  “What are you thinking about, granddad?”  “Things before you were born, my dear ... things before your mother was born!”  Grandfather is looking back down the years, to a time perhaps fifty years ago, when he was at school, or perhaps in his teens or twenties.  Maybe he even remembers in his own childhood asking his grandfather the same thing, and getting a similar response. 

This whole subject fascinates me, and I sometimes wonder about how far back just a few generations can take us.  If my grandparents in their childhood had asked about their grandparents’ early memories, the answers would have brought to mind days of great change: the days of the 1820’s and -30’s, when a number of famous Acts of Parliament introduced Catholic emancipation, electoral reform and a broadening of the way that the poor were relieved.  In fact, two of my great-great-grandfathers would have remembered, at the age of 16, news of the battle of Waterloo!

How different life would have been in those days, just three life-times away!  It’s thoughts like this that call to mind the fact that life itself is composed of changes, be they big or small.  Look for instance at the dramatic advances in communication media over just the last five years – or the fashions of a few years ago and how out of place they’d seem today.  This month many will be watching the FA Cup Final; you probably know that a regular part of the preliminaries to this annual event is the singing of that famous hymn, Abide with me.  Do you remember the words of the second verse?  “Change and decay in all around I see: O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”

Are there people whose mood seems to change like the weather; people on whom you can’t depend, with whom you have to spend a while in silence, waiting to know just how to address them today?  Such people carry uncertainty with them, like a cloud, and if your circumstances mean that you are frequently in their company, life itself can become quite unbearable.  How refreshing it is that our God is just the opposite.  As Francis Lyte reminded us in that hymn, God never changes.  And we don’t just have to take his word for it.  Our Bibles tell us of “the Father of the heavenly lights, who doesn’t change like shifting shadows” (Jas. 1:17), and this echoes other verses, like “I say my purpose will stand; I will do all that I please” (Is. 46:10), “I, the Lord, do not change.” (Mal. 3:6) and “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” (Rom. 11:29).

We have just celebrated Easter, and the gift of salvation marked by Jesus’ death on the Cross and His Resurrection.  Isn’t this evidence enough of God standing by his promises, doing what he pleases, never changing?  Next time you see grandparents and grandchildren together, imagine their conversation.  Consider the vast range of their experiences: the changes that they have seen, and that will take place over their collective lifetimes, and reflect on the eternal, unchanging nature of our Lord.