“The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3

“Sometimes it is easy to think that God will never right the wrongs of this world, and that the wicked will get away with their wickedness, and that God is either too weak or too immoral to do anything about the horrors of our age. But it is not so. There is judgment coming, and it is only possible to escape from it by taking refuge in God. Take refuge then in him, hide yourself in him, trust in Christ, and receive the good news.” (Godcenteredlife.org commentary)

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone….” so goes the song by Johnny Nash. Nothing can make a day really gloomy like a rainy day. Clouds and misty rain can make even the cheeriest person a little sad. But the reality of life is we will not always have sunny days. Life is about accepting whatever comes our way – rain or sun, clouds or sunshine.

Bad days, trials, tribulations and losses teach us how to see our lives and our relationship with G-d more clearly. As the saying goes, without trouble, there would be little faith. When all is good, when life is happy and without a care in the world, it is not that long before we delude ourselves to believe that we can handle this world on our own. What reason or reasons do we find a need for G-d if nothing ever goes wrong in our lives? But how ridiculous this sounds from the beginning, because none of us will ever live a life where nothing ever goes wrong. Just being alive means we will have bad days and good days and mediocre days.

Whether it is pouring down rain or the clouds are just gathering, or the clouds are finally lifting, isn’t it comforting to think that the presence of clouds means that G-d is present — and that makes us thank G-d for cloudy days.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, help me see you in the good and the bad, in the cold and in the heat, in the sun and in the clouds of each day. Amen.

Pastor Dave

“When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day. The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.” Acts 21:7-14

“Paul and his team of Silas, Timothy, and Luke were joined by other believers from the Gentile provinces as they traveled to Jerusalem with a special gift for the poor (Acts 20:4, 24:17). This entourage of believers stayed with Philip, one of the original seven who had successfully helped alleviate a food crisis among Greek-speaking widows in Jerusalem during the early days of the church (Acts 6:1-7). With a backdrop of helping those in need, Luke once again emphasized the importance of women. Philip’s daughters prophesied before Paul and his entourage. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost had emphasized that both men and women would prophesy in the last days with the coming of the Spirit (Acts 2:14-18; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:4-5). Luke emphasized the importance of women in many ways in his story of Jesus and the early church in Luke and Acts. Their role in God’s plan of salvation history was crucial to Luke’s account. Women must also be an essential part of the church today, both publicly and privately, if we are to impact the world as the early church did.”  (heartlight.org commentary Acts 21)

As Christians, we will find that once in a while we are bound and required to make difficult decisions. By the nature of being followers of Jesus, there will be times where we have to make the unpopular decision, follow the unwanted call, and sometimes move into the middle of the fray rather than run away, because we are “bound” in this calling to be disciples for Christ. And by disciples for Jesus this does not mean just the men of the congregation – even though Jesus twelve disciples were all men. Women have always played an important role in the life of the church, just as women played an important role in the ministry of Jesus.

As the commentary suggests above, women must, must, must play an essential part within the life of the church. There is too much to do and women have too many gifts to offer to our Lord to leave it up to just men. And when I speak of “essential” I am not just suggesting the cooking, cleaning and general upkeep of the building. Women are pastors, lay leaders, council presidents, and lectors. Woman chair committees, they read lessons, and they serve as lectors, lay assistants, and acolytes.   

As much as the medieval church reduced women to “observers” and not “servers’, the church of the 21^st century is reliant on all brothers and sisters to share their gifts. Each of us needs to see how Christ may be calling us to “serve the Lord”.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, we pray that we will value women in your church today as Jesus and the early church did. Thank you for blessing us with talented, godly, and servant-hearted women to bless your people and grow your Kingdom. Amen.

Pastor Dave