There is so much happening in Britain which is both depressing and quite frightening for Christians at present. How can we keep our spirits up?
The great anchor for the Christian’s joy is the sovereignty of God which does not diminish when times are bad. To encourage our own congregation recently we have been looking at the Old Testament prophecy of Habakkuk. They were dark days for the prophet. Because of their sins, his nation was facing invasion by the brutal Babylonians at the behest of God. Habakkuk had to work through some agonising questions about what God was doing. But one of the standout features of his book is his great prayer: ‘LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy’ (3.2).
Notice that he prays for God to renew his mighty acts ‘in our day, in our time’. What day is that? What time is he referring to? Clearly, it is the period of the invasion and resulting captivity.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …