Seventh-day Adventist® Church

I got the kids up early this morning, and drove part of the route my wife was cycling on the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Night Bike Ride. From about 5am we rolled along in the car, mingling with, well at times maybe more like we were engulfed by, the cyclists. If you want to face something very irritating, try driving behind a couple of hundred cyclists at dawn, all with their red rear lights flashing! 

Maybe you have seen them. Red flashing lights, LED ones, that are especially bright if you view them straight on. It's a bit like a freaky hallucination . It makes you quite giddy.

As a surprise we stopped along the route to encourage my wife. I admire everyone who did this course, as it was so hilly. There were plenty of weary faces at the finish line. 

It was there that I noticed my wife's number, 0874. Looked more like the start of a help desk phone number. I imagined cyclists riding behind her contemplating ringing a help line to get support to "keep going, don't stop, you can do it."

This evening I was reading my family a Bible story about Manasseh, a bad king. His father had been a good king, but Manasseh reintroduced idol worship, and practised "sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD..." ((2 Chronicles 33:6 NIV)). He even sacrificed his own sons!

Then he found himself in trouble, exiled from his own land by an invading nation. He was put in shackles; imprisoned. Then he called to God for help.

This is the best bit of the story. God did not hold Manasseh's past against him. Instead, God gave the king another chance. Manasseh was reinstated as king of Israel, and proceeded to tear down the old pagan shrines and restored things as God had requested. Manasseh then lived a prosperous God-respecting reign.

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2 Chronicles 33:12
New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

12 In his distress he sought the favour of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 
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Amazing that after all these anti-God things, it is recorded that God was Manasseh's God. 

Manasseh was not in the habit of calling the God "08" helpline number; he did not pray to God. But when he realised God was waiting and available to him, when he called, God answered; "the LORD was moved" ((verse 13)).

I am so glad that there is nothing that I can do to stop God loving me, and that God wants to abide with us. ((The song, "Abide with me" was sung at the FA Cup Final in 1927 between Arsenal and Cardiff City, and the first and last verses are still sung at the cup final. There, my Olympic Torch in Wales reference for today, all be it loose!))

If it has not been your habit to seek the presence of God, nothing you have done will prevent God from loving you, and God is always ready to accept your seeking Him now and in the future. So why not ask God into your life right now. It's time you started enjoying the presence of God. 

-Pr Nathan Stickland
Jesus is your destination.