June 2014

\"All... is mine ... I have chosen you\"

[Psalm 50.12 & John 15.16]

The reason why I have linked these two Words from the Lord together is made clear by referring to Deuteronomy 10 verse 14-15. \"Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all th at is in it, yet the Lord ... chose you ... out of all the peoples ... today.\" It is certain that the Jews are a chosen people, being as it were the cra dle of the Messiah, and therefore God\'s instrument of salvation.

Two other factors need to be stressed. First, it is also clear from Scripture that this choice (selection or election) on the part of God is not so much a privilege as a source of perpetual astonishment - that the maj estic and all-powerful God of all creation should, in his loving-wisdom, have made this choice. Second, that this divine choosing is not limited to one nat ion or ethnic group, but is extended to all or any people of faith. We, people of faith, have been selected as part of the Divine plan for the re-newal and salvation of the whole created order.

Now, that is an awesome thought! It sends the mind oscillating between ideas of littleness and greatness; the greatness of the sovereignty of God over absolutely everything, and the smallness of our place as a speck in creation. Having pondered o n that, the next thing that comes to mind is the completely upside-down way in which God works. Humanity thinks that the strong and powerful, the clever po liticians and the skilful scientists and powerful military nations are the ones who will save the world. But God\'s way is to use the power-less and fait h-full to do the job. If the world is to change for the better, then the only way is from the bottom up, not from the top down. That applies at the local l evel as well as on the national or international level. For it is only by conforming to the will of God that any real improvement can be made. And you or I can do that just as well as anyone else, simply by allowing the spirit and life of God\'s Word to flow into and through us, wherever we are and whenever we pray.