In this piece, Christian Concern's Head of Operations, David Lindsay, discusses how we can look to the Lord at this uncertain time.
For Brexit voters, the results of Britain’s referendum on membership of the EU will invoke feelings of joy, liberation and hope. For Remain voters, the same results will invoke feelings of loss, pain, fear and even of shame that the UK is leaving the EU. For all of us, whichever way we voted, or did not vote, these are difficult times, because expectations for Leave are high, far too high to be able to be met, while many Remain voters are very angry. But having been given a choice, the electorate have narrowly chosen to confound the country’s establishment. Difficult days lie ahead – in terms of the financial and economic markets, political changes, the negotiations with the EU, to say nothing of "events, dear chap, events", that make governing so hard.
One of the better known Old Testament scriptures is 2 Chronicles 7, especially 13-14, when Solomon dedicates the temple, and God appears to him a second time. The scripture is:
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments,18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’
19 "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples."
In this scripture God sets out four conditions in verse fourteen, before He commits Himself to three acts. First, He calls His people, who are called by His name – in other words, Christians, those who prefer to define themselves as believers in Jesus, rather than by their denomination. Second, He then wants His people to humble themselves. In the Bible, we read of individuals and peoples who have humbled themselves, of those whom God had to humble to achieve His purposes in them, and of those who were not – and the consequences that entailed. It behoves us all to ask how humble we are – to ask God, husband, wife, parent, child, close friend, work colleague. There is much pride in all of us, and at the root of almost all sin is pride. And the more proud we become, the less use we are to God. Most of us would probably admit it is much preferable to choose to humble ourselves, and ask for help from ‘someone who is less clever/gifted/mature as a believer/the opposite theological/political/other perspective, a church leader in a different denomination or whatever …..’ than for God to humble us. But how much have we in the church, whether individually or corporately as the church, really humbled ourselves? That is deliberately left as a rhetorical question, but each one of us needs to ask it of ourselves.
Third, God calls us to seek His face. We need to follow His agenda and His purposes, not our own. So often we decide what to do, and pursue a good idea, and then proceed, assuming – presuming? - that God will bless it. Sometimes, in God’s grace and providence, it comes to pass. Often, it does not. However, we need, all of us, to ask ourselves how much we individually and corporately, including as the body of Jesus, have followed His agenda and His purposes with the fullness of His blessing, rather than our own?
And fourth, we are called to turn from our wicked ways, that is to repent. Ezekiel 26 describes what happens to people when they become believers. It is after they have been convicted of sin, and committed their lives to Jesus that they start to repent. But we need to ask ourselves, particularly in the West, how seriously we take sin – as compared with God. Do we resist it as we should? Or are we just a little bit more casual about it than we should be? I believe that if we were to ask God, we would be embarrassed at the answer. God wants His Church back. Unholy though we are and much of the Church is, are we in the Church in the West more like the bride of Christ than last year, than in 2000, and than a generation ago? The answer is surely no, with the prevailing humanism, paganism, doubt, rejection of God’s Word and compromise that characterises so much of the Church, even though the return of Jesus is ever closer.
While the Church cannot repent of the sins of the nation, we can confess them, and stand in the gap between a holy God and an unholy nation. But we need to ask ourselves as believers if we have taken this burden with the seriousness I think God would have us take it. The list of sins committed by us in the country are so many that no-one could list them – whether pride, lust, both of the flesh and of the eye, greed, anger, hate, indifference, hard-heartedness, to say nothing of idolatry, abortion, slavery and many more. But have we in the church confessed them? Some intercessory ministries have, but too many Christians do not see it as "their job" to do so. This needs to change……
If we do those four things, God will first hear from heaven. Then He will forgive our sin, and third, He will heal our land. The result of the referendum, as well as the manner of its conduct, have left the country bruised, in some cases broken, and divided. Both the main political parties were split, with most of the Parliamentary leaders supporting Remain, but a majority of members voting Leave. Scotland voted strongly Remain, with medium-term implications for the Union. Having lost, David Cameron has announced his resignation, and will no longer be by Prime Minister in October. Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls for a vote of no confidence. It is highly possible that both parties will have new leaders by the end of the year. Much healing is needed in Parliament, to the body politic, in Parliament and to ensure that the leadership and members as well as the voters of the different political parties hear one another. The elites, whether political, business or governmental, need to learn to serve the people, not themselves.
Equally, it is a truism that the UK has voted to Leave the EU. That does not mean that we are turning our backs on Europe, even though the referendum result was to come out of the EU. We need to continue to work on developing positive relations with countries across Europe. And in the light of the UK result, the European elites need to listen to the many concerns that their voters have, both about the EU and about the shortcomings in their own countries.
We need to pray with a passion, with a determination and commitment in order to become a nation under Jesus. Many Christians prayed earnestly before the recent Parliamentary and Mayoral elections and more recently before the referendum, some for Leave, some for Remain and some for God’s will to be done – but we need to continue to pray and act, that God would restore the honour of His Name and His Word in the Church and in the country as a whole, and thereby bring many into His kingdom. I believe that there will be times of great testing and great difficulty ahead, but also of great opportunity – but to take full advantage we need, however we may have voted, to keep our eyes fully focussed on Jesus, and follow Him, and only Him. And be "the Church" wherever we are, whether on a Sunday in our fellowships or at our workplace throughout the week.
Related LInks:
Post-referendum prayers
After the referendum: The Lord still reigns by Tim Dieppe