As we enter 2016
Jan 01 in General
Elisabeth Elliot died last year, my little knowledge of her led me to search for one of her books to read over the Christmas period. On the back cover she is described as an ‘outstanding’ woman and as I read I find a wealth of wisdom and spiritual depth. I would like to begin this new year with an extract of her book; the title ‘Keep a Quiet Heart’ from a chapter entitled ‘A New Thanksgiving’ which I hope will set the tone for 2016.
‘Thanksgiving is a spiritual exercise, necessary to the building of a healthy soul. It takes us out of the stuffiness of ourselves into the fresh breeze and sunlight of the will of God. A break from work and worry, a move toward re-creation. I want to see clearly what I have been given and to thank Him with an honest heart.
What are the ‘givens’? We do not know Him as a gracious giver, we do not understand His most precious gifts, or the depth of His love, the wisdom with which He has planned our lives, the price He pays to bring us to glory and fulfillment. We must not limit our thanksgiving merely to things that look good to us. As our faith in the character of God grows deeper we see that heavenly light is shed on everything – so that we are enabled to thank Him for things we would never have thought of before.
The only thing that stifles thanksgiving is greed – the greed for doing, being and having.
When Satan came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, his bait was intended to inspire the lust to do more than the Father meant for Him to do. So the enemy comes to us in these days of frantic doing. We are ceaselessly summoned to activities, social, political, educational, athletic and spiritual. Our ‘self-image’ is dependent not on the quiet and hidden, but on the list the world hands us of what is ‘important’. Only a few things are really important – sitting in the silence with the Master in order to hear His Word and obey it in the ordinary line of duty (as husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter) and humble work.
‘O Master, let me walk with Thee, in lowly paths of service free…’ Washington Gladden 1879
Temptation comes also in the form of being. The snake in the garden of Eden struck at Eve with the promise of ‘being’ something ‘upgrade her lifestyle’- inferring that this was her right and that God meant to cheat her of this. The way to get her rights was disobedience. No new temptations – Satan needs no new tricks. Peace lies in the trusting acceptance of His design, His gifts, His appointment of place, position, capacity.
Then there is the greed of having (Nu.11:4) the Israelites begin to get greedy for better things. God had given them exactly what they needed: manna. It was always enough, always fresh, always good – but the people lusted for variety. ‘There’s more to life than this stuff’. There is no end to the spending, getting, having. We are insatiable consumers, dead set on competing, upgrading and showing off. So the world ruins the peace and simplicity God would give us. Contentment disolves along with godliness, where instead of giving thanks we wait, teaching our children to lust and
wail too’.
(It ends with a Prayer) ‘Lord, we give You thanks, for all that you in Your mercy have given us to be and to do and to have. Deliver us, Lord, from all greed to be and to do and to have anything not in accord with Your Holy purposes. Teach us to rest quietly in Your promise to supply, recognizing that if we don’t have it we don’t need it. Teach us to desire Your will – nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.’
Happy New Year!