The Lord is my shepherd, I lack for nothing

Part 3: God draws near to us to redeem the situation. Report card: “Has made good progress and should aim high”

Our faith in God allows us to be honest: “Lord, I have sinned again. I have failed to live up to my values and principles – let alone yours”. So, there is no need for self-righteous delusions; we are able to admit when we have gone wrong. Yet our deep assurance that God loves us protects us from despair because we are confident that God will forgive us and help to direct us in his ways of love and goodness. This is a much healthier outlook than that exhibited by many people today, where – because they have no sense of God’s presence – they are unable to admit to any fault. They claim that however they happen to be must have been ordained by fate from all eternity and so they react with instant outrage to any suggestion that they could be different and could be better. Yet this opportunity – that I could be different and better to how I am – is the essence of the call to a religious life. This gives people of faith the chance to leave behind aspects of their life that they don’t approve of – especially in the light of God’s nature – and to embrace a fuller life, without ever feeling that they aren’t valued. God’s love imparts a supremely precious value to our lives and becomes an impregnable bulwark against feelings of worthlessness or despair. We are able to embark on a journey of constant growth without ever despising the person we currently are. Even though, in our moments of deep repentance, we may indeed by dismayed or even disgusted by our own actions, this is not enough to breach the trust we have in God’s forgiving kindness or the effectiveness of his healing and renewing grace.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack for nothing

Part 2: We reach out for what is out of reach. Report card: “Has got the basics, but needs to focus”

The bedrock foundation of the religious outlook is that, while we are far from perfect, we can still rest in the assurance of God’s love. This is an enormously powerful place to stand.

The religious desire to be perfect is very genuine. And let’s just clarify what we’re talking about when we speak of “perfection”. It is not a self-righteousness, or a sense of superiority. It’s not an insistence that we have scored 10/10 in every test, let alone boasting that we have done better than others in the tests of life. The desire for perfection arises from our adoration for God. Even our feeble appreciation of him and our transient encounters with him reveal a wondrous love and goodness that fills our souls to overflowing. Basking in the clarity of light that he imparts we are suddenly ashamed of everything that is unworthy of him and want only to honour him in everything that we think and say and do. That we have the ability to apprehend God is the glory of our human nature. This desire to honour him remains long after the experience of his presence has subsided, and then, of course, we discover that without the impulse of our direct encounter with him, we are unable to live up to our deepest desire to honour him. Yet still that desire remains, and it is this that we are talking about when we say that God calls us to be perfect.

So, here we are, with our desire to live in perfect love and goodness, and with our evolved instincts for self-preservation which entail a ruthless amorality. No wonder we have a divided mind – as Augustine agonised about so acutely. I think it does help us to understand that this is the position we find ourselves in – though this does not absolve us from the task of choosing perfect love and goodness rather than ruthless amorality. Let’s explore a bit more this place where God enables us to stand.

(A reflection in 3 parts)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack for nothing

Part 1: We are strange creatures. Report card: “Could do better”

Dear Lord, forgive me.

But more even than forgiveness: heal me.

And beyond this, nurture me to grow.

Human nature is our greatest glory and our biggest problem. We have evolved beyond mere instinct, but not enough to fully master it. And so we are that unique species, capable of both good and evil. We have matured enough to be able to judge against our own actions, but not enough to always act with justice.

We should give ourselves some credit. In nature, creatures exercise their power to do whatever they want and are capable of doing. We have developed powers of reflection and moral judgement to decide that some of the things we do are not right. Yet we are painfully aware that the distance moved away from the raw exercise of power to get what we want is not very great. Much of our supposed moral action is cleverly disguised self-interest, and what we do achieve is often only given because of our great plenty. When things get tough, we are easily frightened and then our self-interest reasserts itself. Again, this is not surprising: all our instincts are evolved for self-preservation. Yet we do strive to do better than that. And, certainly, our desire to do better is genuine. But we do find it extremely difficult.

Humanity’s greatest tool in doing better is the religious impulse. It’s not impossible to use secular ideologies to support altruism and to empower full-blown commitment to justice and compassion. However, such philosophies of life tend to be effective for only a small proportion of particularly strong-minded people, whereas religion has mass appeal – because it offers ordinary people a very attractive way of life.

Finding inner peace and security

Part 4: We are restless until we find our rest in God

So, faith in God is the way for us all to share in inner peace and security. But can we justify believing in God?

The answer is: “Yes”, but we need to think about the matter a bit more carefully. The “God” that many people today have abandoned, dismissed, or never even bothered to think about, is, behind several layers of genuine piety, simply a fairy God-mother figure. People want her to wave her magic wand and make everything alright. When they discover that this doesn’t happen, they decide that it is a mistake to believe in God. However, once you realise that God is the name for the human experience of making contact with ultimate experiences of love, peace and joy; when you understand that there is an experience of transcendence which brings a deep sense of unity with all creation and of being one with the absolute and infinite; when you experience for yourself that faith in God opens up a life of meaning and purpose and which becomes a channel of supremely precious spiritual gifts: then you see the reality of God, and that the best thing you can possibly do with your life is to live in tune with this reality. And it is a reality – we call it, “God” just for shorthand, to avoid describing it by the long preceding sentence. Ultimately, we do not fully know what this God is, but the experience of the reality of God is real. And everyone who enters deeply into this experience discovers this to be so – they enter into the reality and they find this to be supremely life-giving.

So, we are able to return to the issue in focus today. We have explored the hollowness at the heart of modern society, and at the heart of so many people’s lives. We have put forward the view that belief in God is the way to find inner peace and security. And we have put forward an answer to people’s doubts as to whether or not it is justifiable to believe in this God. So, we are now able to affirm once again that faith in God is the way to find inner peace and security. I wish you well in your journey of discovery as you seek faith, or, if you are already one of that happy band who has faith, I wish you well with your journey of faith with God. You are a child of God, loved by him with an everlasting, unwavering love, and your way to relate to others is to understand that so are they.

Finding inner peace and security

Part 3: In God we trust – but can we trust him?

Yet, our age is Godless because many feel that they looked behind the façade of religion and found that to be hollow. They are bereft of inner peace and security precisely because they lost hold of God. Except that, for many, it was not that they abandoned the true and living God, but they came to a decision that the image of God which they had taken to be him was a false image. In their mind’s eye, instead of their hand being held securely in God’s hand to stop them from falling, they sensed that when they let go of God’s hand, it was him who fell into a dark chasm, a phantom willingly shed, evaporating into thin air, and no great loss.

Time has passed of course, and for some their rejection of God is a lazy, shallow rejection of an image of God that bears no resemblance to what religious people actually believe – a mere rejection of a caricature – which I reject too. For some, God is such an outlier in their lives that they barely ever come across a mention of him, let alone consider the possibility of his reality. And for some, it has been the sad letting go of a beautiful dream from childhood or early adulthood, that dispersed in the light of cold, clear thought.

So, it’s unacceptable to replace a void in the human heart by believing in a lie. If secular society has a terrible hollowness behind its brittle façade, we don’t want to simply replace that with the façade of a God that many find impossible to believe in. Yet the signs are all around us of a deep loss of meaning and purpose, expressed both in individual despair and desperate seeking after panaceas, and in the absence of the grounds for consensus in society. These can be provided in the simple belief that I am loved by God – and so is everyone else. This is the grounds for unity, justice and compassion in society: as I revel in the gifts of God’s loving kindness, his gracious forgiveness, his passionate concern for those who suffer, and desire all these gifts for myself, so I must also accept that every other person is also a child of God.

Finding inner peace and security

Part 2: All alternatives to God crumble into dust when pressed too hard

Current society suggests: not a lot. We see an intense focus on identity, as though you can glean the purpose for your life from certain categories of person that you belong to. But this side-steps the crucial question: “Who are you as a person?”. As a unique individual, with your personality, circumstances, skills, gifts, goals and weaknesses, what are you going to do with your life to achieve fulfilment, and feel that you have lived life well – before you leave it? For many people, this question is just too frightening to face up to. They are aware of an inner emptiness, but to look into this pit without hope of an answer is a recipe for despair, and so endless distractions are required, or bright, shiny alternatives are sought out whose superficial dazzle blinds us to the dark interior of an empty heart. This void is such a yawning chasm for many people that they see no hope of crossing from potential and possibilities – which often feels like fears and doubts and emptiness – to peace and joy. Perhaps that is why the spirit of our age is instant outrage. People are so aware of the wonderful potential of life, and aware of how far short they are falling from it, that anger swills around inside, causing them to lash out at anyone who challenges their way of thinking, causing them to confront the hollowness behind the façade they are constructing.

Finding inner peace and security

(A reflection in 4 parts)

Finding inner peace and security

Part 1: Without God, there is no peace.

Once upon a time, but not so very long ago, people lived their lives enfolded in the arms of God. That is certainly how they felt, and how they understood their lives. In the turmoil and tragedy of life, where much of the time we are powerless in the face of the forces that can sweep away our happiness and submerge us in loss and pain, or simply sweep all trace of us from the face of the earth, faith in God was the safe harbour in which we can shelter our troubled minds and find strength for our weary bodies to carry on. In God, we find that ultimate preciousness in which to rest, and from which to draw endless hope, strength, courage and peace.

But in a Godless age, what is there? We see in society around us a desperate floundering to find a foundation stone on which to stand, something that will impart an inner peace, and a sense of worth and meaning. Unsurprisingly, all alternatives to God prove inadequate.

In a wealthy society, we are able (if we are fortunate) to generate sufficient distractions to fill our leisure time with enjoyment. And, of course, there is always the burden, and often struggle, to pay your way in life, find a partner, and raise your children, and in that drama, the fullness of life shines through. Nevertheless, today we see the effects of the spiritual vacuum in a society that has turned its back on God. Once, there was an ultimate answer to all the desperate fears that afflict us: “You are a child of God and loved by him for all eternity”. It’s an answer that everyone can take to heart, no matter what their situation in life, or their personality, or their range of abilities. Anyone who dwells on this answer will find a balm for every wound, an empowering vision for every life, comfort and joy for every soul. Without this answer, what is there?

Exploring promises as a tool of growth

Part 8: You anoint my soul, take your place in my heart, and surround me with blessings

Now there is just the rest of the world to attend to! But, of course, we have already been doing this. We do not live in a hermetically sealed bubble, and we have recognised that the hurts of the world invade our personal space; they can even over-power or corrupt us and take up their dominion over us, so that not even the inmost space of our own souls is one in which we are in charge. That was the point of creating an arena in which we have retaken the initiative by making and keeping a promise – and then expanding the area of God’s sovereignty – which becomes also the area of our own spiritual integrity and peace. So, the task of walking closely with God entails facing up to all the challenges that the world throws at us. The difference is simply that within the arena of our own souls we do have the opportunity to live by our own will, whereas we have to accept the limits of our ability to influence others – because, of course, they are also masters of their own soul – unless they have themselves been mastered by forces which dominate them.

We should also acknowledge and rejoice that it is not just the pain and corruption of the world that has the ability to pass through the boundaries of our souls, but also the love, support and friendship of those blessed ones who make our lives delightful by their company, who bind up our wounds, who lift up our hearts, and who heal us and lead us to wholeness by their kindness, patience and faithfulness. In all our brokenness, compromise, disappointment and failed intentions, they have stood by us and so enabled us to carry on. So, in all our talk of creating an arena in which God is honoured, we are not saying he is not already honoured, or that his love is not known, or that the love of these others who make our lives worth living is not truly precious and already making us whole. What we are trying to do is to say: All these things being true, and rejoicing in God’s grace, known directly from him and through others, I would like to increase the sway that God has in my life by clearing out the clutter, the mess, the inadequate or the incomplete from one area of my soul. Thus, I will make a space into which God can pour more of his grace so that I can grow in this grace. And the way I will do this is by making a promise and doing all that I can to keep it.