In God's Hand

As I’ve thought about how we’re exiles in this time of pandemic - exiled from our church buildings (some still are, some have just reopened, some have been open and shut down again more than once) as well as schools, workplaces, restaurants, cultural activities and more - I thought of the exiles in the Bible.

Around 600 BC, the holy city of Jerusalem was ransacked and the temple, the focus of Jewish community life and where it was believed God dwelled, was destroyed. God’s people were carried off to Babylon, 2700 km away. They were kept there for close to 70 years after which time they returned to their homeland in waves.

I wanted to look at what the prophets had to say about what they were experiencing, whole generations of people who had never seen Israel and the oldest who only had memories of what had been taken from them. I started with Isaiah and was drawn to Isaiah 51 that urges the people to rely on the rock from which they were hewn, or cut, and to look to Abraham their ancestor whose faith was exemplary. They were to trust that their current wilderness wouldn’t be forever and that gardens would spring up again.

I love this image and the loving way God asks them to listen to God’s promises that never went away, God’s teaching that still rang true, and to expect deliverance and salvation. God is their comforter, the One who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, who is greater than anything they could fear or any oppressor threatening them.

Verse 16 is my favourite - “I have put my words in your mouth, and hidden you in the shadow of my hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

Wow. And yet I pause because as a writer and worship leader I often wonder - are the words I’m saying truly God’s words or my own? Are they what I think people want or need to hear and not actually what God is desiring them to hear? Because just like the exiles there are many people who are seeking and needing a word from the Lord in these tough times. The ongoing struggle and the uncertainty and yoyo-ing of how to manage this and open or close shop has drained us.

What words does God have for us in this moment? I think that’s the ultimate question. The Word is exactly the right place to start to demonstrate God’s faithfulness, rather than my own words. My hope and prayer is that I get it right at least sometimes - that my interpretation isn’t just easy or not asking too much, or sappy and self-congratulating, but challenging. and empowering and Spirit-directed - asking of people to rise up on the strength of their foundation in Christ and His example.

May we all be able to hear the words that God has given us to say, and to share them in big and small ways, in this time. May we remind ourselves and others Whose we are and how much we are loved.