I read this Bible verse sometime last week. I will leave
you to read it in context, but the lines captured my imagination. What are God’s
hidden treasures? Where are these secret
places where His riches are stored? I confess not to know.
I brought the word in church this morning. I have, not
just a bee, but a whole hive of bees in my bonnet about being the body of
Christ. We read the Bible not as a story about God’s people and the love He
shows towards them, but as a story about God’s person – me. The Bible is written not to me but to us. OK
salvation is an individual surrender of a person to God but then God plants us
into a church, a local expression of the body of Christ. Being a Christian and
not being a part of a church is an impossibility. People might choose not to go
to church, but that’s never God’s choice for them.
“Two are better
than one because they have a good return for their work. If they fall down one can help the other
up. But pity those who fall and have no
one to help them up. Also if two lie
down together they will keep warm. But
how can one keep warm alone. Though one
may be overpowered two can defend themselves.
A chord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4v9-12}
I ran through the main points of what I was going to say
with my husband. Had I missed anything?
Had I said too much, too little? Did I labour a point too long? Did my
illustrations add to the message or were they a distraction? He told me a story that featured in an
episode of “The West Wing” – he is currently working his way through a boxed
set.
A man was walking along a road and fell into a hole. It was a deep hole, smooth sides, with no way
out. He called out for help. A doctor
happened to be passing by. The man in
the hole shouted loudly, “Help me, please!” The doctor scribbled on a piece of
paper and tossed the paper into the hole.
It was a prescription – tranquilisers or painkillers, nothing of any use
to the man in the hole. A priest came by
and the man in the hole shouted, “Help me, please!” The priest scribbled on a piece
of paper and tossed the paper into the hole. It was a prayer, eloquently written,
but nothing of any use to the man in the whole. A friend, Joe, passed by. The
man in the hole shouted loudly, “Hey, Joe! Help me, please!” Joe, without another
thought jumped into the hole with him. Nice as it was to see Joe, the man was
not happy. “Why did you do that? Now we are both stuck in the hole!” Joe tapped
the side of his nose. “Ahh,” he said, “I have been in this hole before…and I
know how to get out of it.”
Someone who had never been in the same hole I found myself
in is of no use to me. We spend too much time looking for an easy life and
avoiding the struggle. We want comfort. We want spring without the showers, or
summer without the sunburn.
We have no comfort to offer others because we have
skirted around the difficult times they are struggling with. I think that is the
hidden treasure and the riches in secret places – the things we learn about God,
about ourselves, about other people, about the enemy and about all the
resources we have access to. That’s the
treasure. The dark places, the difficult places, the painful places – these are
the hidden places and secret places – the very places we avoid.
I’m not saying we take great pains to make our lives
miserable just so we can access this treasure, but I think we need to stop
avoiding the hard times, walk through them rather than around them, with God,
whether we feel him close or not, and collect the treasure as we go.
In This Together?
I have no use for you today
You have no words of truth to say
My depth of pain you do not know
You have no scars or wounds to show
You tip toe round the pain in life
And glean no treasure from the strife
How sad, you cannot comfort me
Or wipe away the tears you see
My God allows both light and shade
I say to you “Be not afraid”
Through fire and storm He carries you
His faithful care will see you through
He tells you, “Go!” with broken heart
A healing touch to then impart
To lift the man who’s fallen down
And smooth away his troubled frown
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