Thoughts for the Day

Thank you for considering joining me on this series of thoughts through Lent.  In planning it and putting it together I’ve spent more time than I normally would looking at the Bible.  I guess that’s reason enough for me to produce this series, but I confess it’s both humbling to think that others are reading it and encouraging to hear that they (you?) occasionally find it helpful.

But to get back to the Bible, I’ve been struck again at the outrageous statements and claims the Bible makes, lots and lots of them.  Some we may gladly accept, even rejoice in, some we baulk at and some we let wash over us without so much as a pause unless something jolts them into focus.  It could be they wash over us because they are so similar to other passages and we are dulled by the repetition.  It could be that we simply fail to identify with the context.

I was listening to one such passage late last week.  From Psalm 27, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? … Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.’  A week previously it would probably have washed over me.  But last week, the events in Ukraine brought it sharply into focus.  ‘Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear.’ Really?  ‘Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.’ Wow!  Outrageous, but outrageously faith-filled.

So, if the short passages of scripture I touch on during these ‘Thoughts’ give you pause for thought yourself, a little time to reflect on how comforting or challenging or simply outrageous they may be, then, whether my writing itself be pithily insightful or mere rambling, it will have been worth it.