A Thought For The Week Of October 19, 2015

"And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent." (1 Samuel 15:29) I'm writing this shortly after having come back from the local polling station to cast my vote in Canada's federal election. It struck me that this was an interesting verse to be reflecting on during election day. Really, when you get right down to it (and unfortunately) what basically seems to characterize the feeling of voters - in my opinion at least - is probably distrust. We really don't believe that the politicians are going to do the things they promise us they're going to do. In other words, we don't believe that they're honest.That's a shame, really, but I do believe it's an accurate assessment of where we stand and of what people's attitudes are. And it strikes me that it's therefore very important to have someone or something to put our trust in without having to worry about whether they might let us down.And, ultimately, isn't that the real value of faith? This verse talks about the fact that, unlike people, God will not "lie or repent" or (in the words of some translations) "change his mind." God is faithful, and God will not change. This reminds me of one of the affirmations of the New Testament - that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." In a society in which people (even those who lead us) let us down on a regular basis, it's good to have someone we can place our faith in and never be let down. Politicians make us a lot of promises - but what has God promised us? God has promised to be with us, to love us, to forgive us and to give us eternal life. Those are big promises - and we can have faith that these promises will be kept.