Who we believe someone to be in our heart will strongly colour our interpretation of their actions. As the Covid-19 virus holds our nations hostage, most of us have the luxury of evaluating our national leaders and their decisions from a distance and with the benefit of hindsight. In recent decades, American politics have been intensely polarised. Whilst there will be some middle ground, in the context of the current pandemic, President Trump is largely regarded either with pride as God’s man for the job, leading affirmatively with integrity and wisdom; or he is viewed with horror as the Devil incarnate, an arrogant, outspoken buffoon. So, which is it? Is he God’s man for the job or the Devil incarnate? He surely cannot be both and yet both sides of the debate are whole-heartedly invested in their opinions? I raise this example not to offer a solution to the complexities of American politics and definitely not to proffer my opinion, but to demonstrate that who we believe someone to be in our heart will definitively colour our heart’s interpretation of their words and their perceived action or inaction.

Who do we believe God to be in our hearts? Particularly in light of all that is presently unfolding. What we deem he is or isn’t doing will be strong indicator of who, in our hearts, we actually believe him to be.

For some he is either non-existent or indifferent, or if he exists then he must be callous, having seemingly abandoned us to our fate. Otherwise he would have both the power and desire to alleviate our dire circumstances? For others Covid-19 is an expression of his anger vented upon mankind’s increasing moral decline. One article sent to me attributed the following words to him, “I have released a curse, a global scourge of sickness for which men have no remedy; and no nation will escape unscathed…. I have released the scourge of sickness in the hope that in their despair, men will turn to Me for deliverance and salvation.” Is he a Father who would release a rabid Rottweiler in a children’s playground to get their attention, by some twisted means adjusting their behaviour? Or is he the kind of Father that would sacrifice himself to the jaws of the Rottweiler, paying the ultimate price to defend his beloved children? Of course, any loving father disciplines his children, but his perfect Fathering is always expressed with wisdom, beauty and compassion.[1] So who is our Heavenly Father and what is he really like?

Speaking of Jesus, John the Apostle says;

“No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.”[2]

He’s saying that whatever we think we know about the fullness of God’s nature that we really haven’t got a clue, we’ve not had so much as a glimpse. That if we want to know who our Father truly is then all we need to do is gaze deeply upon Jesus – the one who exists at the very heart of the Father, the one who has made him plain as day.

Sound Biblical interpretation understands that the New Testament is the key that unlocks the Old Testament. We interpret the Old in the light of the New, not the other way round. New ‘prophetic’ words that are attributed to God but sound like Old Testament prophecy are usually exactly that – Old, past, yesterday. The Old Testament is God breathed,[3] but it is also only type and shadow, it is an incomplete picture, like peering intently through the fog, trying to ascertain what it is you are looking at, yet only ever seeing a vague, hazy image.

The writer of Hebrews testifies to this reality. The letter’s primary thrust is Jesus as superior in every dimension; he’s superior to angels, to Moses, he’s a superior High Priest, superior to Melchizedek, he presides over a superior covenant, and is a superior sacrifice, once for all. But at the outset Jesus is established as the superior revelatory Word straight from the heart of Father;

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…”[4]

Another translation says that Jesus is “the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance”[5] – effulgence being defined as an absolutely blinding white light. Everything we saw before was just hazy shadow, but Jesus is the blinding bright light who unveils the true nature of God. He has not only revealed to us who Father is but even now is continually revealing the Father.[6] Jesus is the benchmark through whom we view and interpret all Scripture, he perfectly unveils the fullness of God’s true nature, he’s the anchor point and reference, for he is truth.[7]

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he was constantly berated and his authority dismissed on account of him being a friend of ‘sinners and tax collectors.’ The fallen and broken felt utterly treasured and comfortable in his presence. He forgave prostitutes, touched lepers, ate with tax collectors like family, welcomed the despised with words of gentleness and kindness, embraced and was even crucified with the condemned. Today he enters bedrooms and walks hospital wards with the doctors and nurses; gently comforting, healing and reassuring – the relentless tenderness of Jesus.[8]

During Jesus’ life on earth, his only loud words were reserved for the self-righteous, for the religious, for the judgmental, for those who thought they could already see but were actually blind. Sometimes it takes a sledgehammer to smash the delusions of the proud, and even this is an expression of love. In all of this Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,[4] unveiling and revealing Father’s true nature in the moment.

We can be quick to interpret natural disasters, conflict or disease as God speaking loudly to the morally challenged, yet we are the morally challenged, we are those struggling for breath;

Politicians, Morticians, Philistines, Homophobes,
Skinheads, Dead heads, Tax evaders, Street kids,
Alcoholics, Workaholics, Wise Guys, Dim-Wits,
Blue Collars, While Collars, War Mongers, Peaceniks,

Breathe Deep, breathe deep the breath of God.

Suicidals, Rock Idols, Shut Ins, Drop Outs,
Friendless, Homeless, Penniless, Depressed,
Presidents, Residents, Foreigners and Aliens,
Dissidents, Feminists, Xenophobes and Chauvinists,

Breathe Deep, breathe deep the breath of God.

Evolutionists, Creationists, Perverts, Slum Lords,
Dead Beats, Athletes, Protestants and Catholics,
Housewives, Neophytes, Pro-choice, Pro-life,
Misogynists, Monogamists, Philanthropists, Blacks and Whites,

Breathe Deep, breathe deep the breath of God.

Police, Obese, Lawyers, Government,
Sex Offenders, Tax Collectors, War Vets, Rejects,
Atheists, Scientists, Racists, Sadists,
Biographers, Photographers, Artists, Pornographers,

Breathe Deep, breathe deep the breath of God.

Gays, Lesbians, Demagogues and Thespians,
The Disabled, Preachers, Doctors and Teachers,
Meat Eaters, Wife Beaters, Judges and Jurys,
Long Hairs, No Hairs, Everybody, Everywhere,

Breathe Deep, breathe deep the breath of God.
Breathe Deep, breathe deep the breath of God.[9]

When the prophet Elijah’s world was in utter meltdown he understood that God wanted to speak to him and assumed it would be loud. There was a mighty wind that tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks, but God was not in the wind. There was an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake. Then there was a great fire but God wasn’t in the fire. After all of the drama, in the silence, Elijah heard a still, small voice.[10] Having lost his breath, in the silence Elijah experienced the breath of God.

As a child, the prophet Samuel didn’t yet know God,[11] but in the stillness of the night he heard someone calling his name.[12] In these times of divine interruption, in the silence, as though to a child, can you hear Father gently whispering your name…?

[1] Hebrews 12:7-11
[2] Message Translation
[3] 2 Timothy 3:16
[4] Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV
[5] American Standard Version
[6] John 17:26
[7] John 14:6
[8] Brennan Manning, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, 1986)
[9] © Terry Scott Taylor, 1992.
[10] 1 Kings 19:11-13
[11] 1 Samuel 3:7
[12] 1 Samuel 3:1f

“Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” Acts 16:26

One of the repeated themes bouncing around the Christian airwaves during the present crisis is that of Haggai 2:6, “Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.”[1] I am certain that without exception we are all experiencing the viral earthquake that is shaking our worlds on so many different levels. Continents, nations, cities, towns, communities, marriages, individuals, even children are all being shaken. For some of us the consequences and ramifications are deeply upsetting and far-reaching, and it presents to us a unique opportunity to stand together as a family. But not all earthquakes are our enemies, some are our friends, as was the earthquake that opened the prison doors and loosened the chains binding Paul and Silas.

Just three short weeks ago we were in the midst of the Nepal A School in Kathmandu, a city devastated by multiple earthquakes five years ago. Roaming the streets during our visit we had to work quite hard to spot any remaining signs of the destruction the earthquake inflicted. Almost all the damaged structures had either been shored up and restored, or pulled down and rebuilt. Whether they had been rebuilt to withstand future earthquakes remains to be seen.

When our buildings begin to crumble our tendency is also to shore up, restore or rebuild, and in doing so we miss God-given opportunity to step out of the limitations of our self- and enter into greater life and freedom. It is in times such as this current crisis that our hearts are laid bare. It is not just the leaning walls that collapse but the very foundations upon which we have built our lives and sense of security begin to fail and crumble.

I can recognise in my own life that so much of what I do and build is still a reflection of the orphan boy who lives deep within. If I step back for a moment and look into my own heart I can see so many areas that remain untouched by love, where I still don’t believe that I have a Father who cares deeply for me and who delights to provide for me. Like a scratched record helplessly repeating the same lyric over and over, I’m stuck in DIY mode repeatedly trying to do everything for myself. If there’s nobody there for me then I have to take care of myself, provide for myself and forge my own future and destiny. Even then, when I step back to admire the tower of self-security and provision that I have built, how quickly it starts to totter when the earth beneath my feet begins to shake.

When Nia and I are home, one of my regular habits is a walk through some of the private estates near where we live. As a former builder myself I love to watch the new houses go up and my very favourite house is the mock Tudor house pictured below, the dream house that will likely always remain in the dream realm.

The house that I build for myself can appear very fancy. Its bricks might be finances, health, fitness, relationships, marriage, family, reputation, or even my devout religious practice; but in truth what I build can easily become more prison than palace. Adam’s primary sin-action in Eden was to step away from the child-like beauty of vulnerable trust, choosing instead to forge his own independent and self-reliant pathway. Together they chose to move from the full provision of Perfect Love to eke-ing from the ground their own token existence.

In this modern era we’ve become eke-ing connoisseurs, the palatial dimensions of Perfect Love are such a distant memory that we easily trade it in for a grass hut. We’ve become experts in camouflage and denial, bestowing grand titles upon our eke-ing such as Democratic Capitalism or Materialistic Consumerism. It all looks and sounds so grand and reliable until the ground begins to shake.

Not all earthquakes are our enemies, they can instead be deep wells of opportunity. At the deepest level these rumblings not only reveal the illegitimate sanctuaries in which we have invested our trust, but the shallowness of our false names and titles with which we have clothed ourselves. In these moments we begin to come to the alarming conclusion that we actually have no idea who we really are, and our exposed falsehood fearfully begs for us to shore-up, restore and rebuild before anyone notices our terrifying nakedness. We have been pretending for so long that we too have begun to believe that the illusion is real, only to discover that we’ve been hiding among the trees taking sewing lessons.[2]

To embrace our nakedness is the beginning of embracing truth, allowing Perfect Love to embrace us. What if we were to run towards the earthquake instead of running away? What if the journey towards wholeness is primarily about stripping away that which is not so that our true eternal selves can be unveiled from within? If this is right, then a bit of shaking will only serve to accelerate the process.

The apostle Peter experienced a profound shaking of his bravado, even as he asserted his commitment and courage to face prison or death;

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, ³² but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” ³³ Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” ³⁴ Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”[3]

Not even thirty verses later we read;

Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. ⁶¹ And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” ⁶² And he went out and wept bitterly.[4]

The nature of Jesus’ gaze is not outlined for us in the text, but we can be certain that it was not dissimilar to when he gazed with compassion upon the rich young ruler; “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”[5] Perhaps our greatest fear is that our naked insufficiency will evoke his anger or disdain, when the truth is that Perfect Love longs for nothing less than to fully embrace the scared little boy that dwells within me.

Are we willing in this time to have not just our walls but our very foundations shaken? The size and depth of any foundation will ultimately define the dimension and load bearing capacity of the columns and walls it will support. The foundations of my mock Tudor mansion could easily resemble the foundation portrayed below;

Once again, my palace becomes a prison, its dimensions limited to the size and shape of my established foundation. In Ephesians Paul speaks of our True Foundation, that which has existed since before the foundation of creation, that we would be ‘rooted and grounded’ in Perfect Love, a Love whose dimensions ‘surpass knowledge’ beyond ‘breadth, length, height and depth,’ a foundation that provides for us to be ‘filled with all of the fullness of God.’

If Adam’s primary sin-action in Eden was to step away from the beauty of child-like vulnerable trust, to forge his own independent and self-reliant pathway, then to repent is as simple as a U-turn. As the ground shakes and our self-established foundations begin to crumble, we can step naked towards the embrace of Perfect Love, all in the child-like beauty of vulnerable trust. The prison doors are falling open and the chains are coming loose. It’s time for scared little boys and girls to find their True Home. As we take a few moments to look, to ponder and to reflect, we see that not all earthquakes are our enemies, instead they provide for us open doors of opportunity for great life, love and freedom… #beautyforashes

[1] Cf. Hebrews 12:26

[2] Geneses 3:7-8

[3] Luke 22:31-34 ESV

[4] Luke 22:60-62 ESV

[5] Mark 10:21 NIV