Opinion
God is still in control
Rev Ron Skivington encourages us to remember God’s promises as we progress through this very unusual year.
By anybody's reckoning, this has been a year that has been quite different! When 2020 rolled in no one could have foreseen the lockdown conditions and restrictions that have been in force since March, not just here in the U.K. but across the vast majority of the world's nations. Who would have believed that we could go so long without physically seeing one's family or friends and still not be able to give them a kiss or cuddle?
As per human nature, most of us have been very good at following and keeping to the guidelines as best we can, while others appear to view this all as a personal slight and want to flout things as much as they can. Some have even got physical with those who ask them to be a bit more considerate.
However, it has also been a time of local communities pulling together in support and care of one another, although the opposite sometimes applied in the earlier days when panic seemed to grip some folk, caused by fear creating selfishness.
The worlds of business, sport, the arts, and all manner of social activities stopped, but in the fields around us life continued. All kinds of cereal crops, potatoes, rape seed, corn on the cob, berries and other fruits have grown, some already harvested, and fields will soon be under preparation for the next crop.
Lots of people have got green-fingered, not just with flowers but trying their hand perhaps for the first time ever at growing their own vegetables, and are pleased and surprised at the success they have had - and they now enjoy eating the things they have grown and nurtured.
One of the best-known Bible stories is that of Noah [Genesis 6-9] and the flood, which was a time of even greater disaster for humanity. After the waters receded and the earth dried up, God said [8:22] "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night will not cease.” Then God said to Noah and his family [9:1] "Be fruitful and multiply". The fact that this is part of God’s blessing to Noah implies that God was smiling as He restated what He had originally said to Adam. [Genesis 1:28]
"Be fruitful and multiply" is saying “Take note of the reasons for the flood and its reasons (ie a world ignoring God and going its own way), and go forward in hope.” Some would say, or ask, “Is covid-19 a worldwide judgement by God on a world that still ignores Him and goes its own way?”
Or, perhaps it's right to regard it as a wakeup call that encourages us to hear again Gods message: "Be fruitful and multiply and go forward with hope, for I am the same God who promised that seedtime and harvest shall not cease.”
So, let us thank Him for the harvest He has brought again this year. Yes, we have hit recession; Yes, times will be hard for many; Yes, times will continue to be different for us all; Yes, we probably have more questions than answers; Yes, there is so much that is beyond our control.
But it is good to know then that God is still in control, not just of the harvest, but of this whole world.
This article first appeared in Stalham’s Community Scene magazine, and is used with permission.
The image is courtesy of pixabay.com
Rev Ron Skivington is Senior Pastor of Stalham Baptist Church.
The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich and Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.