Sunday 8th September 2024
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory
and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)
Here We Go Again!
Do you ever have that ‘Here we go again’ feeling, as you brace yourself for what lies ahead? Perhaps you feel it at this time of year, especially as schools restart and church activities also after a long summer break? Or maybe you feel it on a Monday morning, with a week at work ahead of you? Or you may even feel it on an almost daily basis, as you face the routines of each day which seem to be much the same as the day before.
I will be honest and say that Helen and I were having a conversation the other day very much along these lines. We were saying, “Well, here we go again,” as everything restarts at this time of year (or at least that is how it feels).
And then we realised what a good thing it is that God doesn’t have that feeling! He does not seem to tire of doing the same thing day after day, month after month and year after year. In fact, he seems to delight in maintaining the world pretty much as it is from one day to the next.
And we rely on God “sustaining all things by his powerful word”: can you imagine what would happen if there was no sunrise or sunset tomorrow, or if water no longer boiled at 100C and froze at 0C, or if gravity pulled us away from the earth rather than on to it, or if the roads and pavements ceased to be solid? It would be chaos, to put it mildly, and life as we know it would be unliveable.
Perhaps, then, we should be more content that things do remain much the same, and grateful to our heavenly Father for keeping them that way? It is part of his fatherly care for us. It is also evidence of just how powerful he is, as it only takes a word for him to do it. I can’t imagine how much power it takes to sustain all things!
And we shouldn’t fail to notice that the writer to the Hebrews explicitly says that it is “the Son,” and not only the Father, who is “sustaining all things by his powerful word” – which is evidence of just how superior the Son is, even to the angels. If we needed any confirmation of the majesty of the Son of God, surely this is it.
Lord, teach me to notice carefully and to be genuinely grateful for the way you sustain all things by your word and for our good, day after day and year upon year. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)