Day sixty three

Today I should have been taking my first service, but my time off is extended until my birthday. So, as yesterday was particularly painful, with chest pains added in the evening, I thought I should look at the Methodist Covenant Service. I had restricted myself to 2 this year: today and next Sunday. Gone are the days when I have to repeat this 7 or 8 weeks in a row, even doing it 2 or 3 times in the day.

In the Worship Book that replaced the Service Book around 25+ years ago there were some changes made. I want to look at one of them.

We are now encouraged to say;

in all that I do

and in all that I may endure

That replaces:

put me to doing,

put me to suffering

I can understand why the Methodist Church doesn't want us to ask God to make us suffer, but they have also taken God out of the equation. It is what I do, not what God gives us to do; it is all that I may endure, not what God puts us to.

This would be like Job saying, "Que sera, sera", or singing it with Doris Day. I had a little old dear in one of my churches who used to say, "Such is life" when things went bad.

But where is God in this?

There are 2 histories in the Old Testament. The first is Samuel + Kings; the second is in Chronicles. There is an incident recorded in both versions, when David decides to count his men, because he was starting to trust in his army instead of his God.

In 2 Samuel 24: 1 we read, "Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’"

In 1 Chronicles 21: 1 we read, "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel."

It's down to the theology of the writer whether God incited David or if it was Satan. The results are the same, but who is behind it?

Going back to Job we see that Satan causes all the problems, but God sets the limits, so ultimately God is behind everything. He can limit Satan and He can stop Satan.

In our more sophisticated day when we are not sure what to do with Satan, we have replaced him with fate, or maybe "the universe".

Given my current circumstances I would feel more comfortable with asking God to put me to suffering, knowing that He is working in all things for my good (Romans 8: 28)..

Maybe God can use my sufferings to help someone else; maybe He can use my daily ramblings to help someone else. But I would rather trust him than some vague "all that I may endure".

There is more hope in God than in fate, or the universe.

And just a reminder: "Ouch!"