The Eye of the Storm

We all know times when some troubles are past and we have a time of calm. We cannot yet say we are completely out of trouble. It may be just a breathing space. But it is very welcome even so.

These times are like the eye of the storm. This is a remarkable feature of tropical cyclones. It is a circular area 20-40 miles across where all is calm. Around the eye there may be ferocious winds. I certainly remember a time some years ago when the barometer reading dropped alarmingly low but we were not seeing the strong winds you would usually expect. They were in different parts of the country. We were in the eye of the storm. Of course, if the storm then blows towards you, you will soon be back in the thick of it.

Sometimes a Christian finds him- or herself in a time when some distressing trouble has passed. We never dare to feel that we are immune from more troubles. "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7 ESV). But we are grateful for God-given rest from worries and battles.

In 1 Samuel 7 the prophet Samuel was leader of God's people. At a place called Mizpah the people's army defeated the Philistines. They were subdued for a generation. Not for all time, though! They would be back. Samuel handed over power to Israel's first king, Saul. Saul came to a sticky end when the Philistines defeated him and his army and killed him. They were always a thorn in the flesh of the people of God. It is not for nothing that the Holy Land today is known as "Palestine" by the Arab population. "Palestine" is connected with "Philistines".

But there was one incident which should teach us to thank God for the eye of the storm. When Samuel had defeated the Philistines, he set up a stone. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us." We need to be mindful of the many times when God has helped us "thus far". It would not be right to expect no more trouble on this earth, but every "eye of the storm" is a sign of the rest and deliverance that God promises to those who trust Him. The death and rising again of Jesus Christ bring believers into this rest (Hebrews 4:3).

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Robert Robinson, 1735-90

Crosses and toads

At a school assembly I was trying to explain about the cross at Calvary. Today we see many beautiful crosses, works of art, on public display. Yet they had their origin in an early form of capital punishment which reduced its victims to a degraded and disgusting state.

To help the children understand how people would react to this, I asked for suggestions of disgusting things you might find on a pavement. One girl replied, "Bugs!" I didn't understand her Northern accent at first, and looked round desperately for someone to translate. "Creepy-crawlies," somebody explained helpfully, "like worms or frogs or toads".

This took me aback because I don't see frogs and toads as being disgusting. They are fascinating creatures. As a child I loved to take frogspawn home and see tadpoles and then frogs emerge. In fact, only the other day, I had picked up a toad and taken it to the other side of a perilous major road which it was about to cross!

What was disgusting to some local children brought out the best in me.

Over the centuries many people have looked at the state the Son of God was reduced to on the cross and turned away disgusted. Yet others have looked at that scene and found blessing and healing for their souls.

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:1-6 NIV)