Genesis 12-22

Picture the scene. You’ve taken the bus into Sevenoaks, and you’re waiting at the bus station for a bus to bring you back to Kemsing. The timetable says that the last bus of the day is due to leave in two minutes. There’s no sign. So you wait until the appointed time. And there’s still no sign. At which point, you start to wonder whether the bus timetable was a cruel joke. Perhaps the bus will never come.

Those of you who were here last week will remember that I said God is holding out to us the most amazing offer. He offers not just to be a God, but to be our God.

I also said that this amazing offer comes to us only through Jesus.

What I didn’t do was elaborate on what that means. Why is it so special to have God as our God? What difference does it make? What does it look like? What blessings come from it?

Basically: Why would anyone want to be a Christian? And what’s so good about being one if you are?

What do you do when bad things happen?

I was speaking to someone last week, and we were reflecting on some of the sad things that have happened. Surely, he said, at a time like that, the most natural thing is to give up on God. What good has God done?

And he’s right, isn’t he? If God’s promised to look after us, what use is he if he doesn’t deliver?

Bad things don’t happen all the time. But we all know the frustration of seeing good things that God has promised fail to materialise. He’s promised to answer my prayers, but he didn’t answer that one.

One problem with the Christian faith is that it’s largely about trusting in some promises that we can’t see. You can’t see God. You can’t see heaven. You can’t see sin or the forgiveness of sin. Which can make it all seem a bit “up in the clouds”. A bit unreal. Like the Christian faith isn’t in the real world.