FRUSTRATION

There is one word that seems to sum up for me the times we are living in – FRUSTRATION,

We would like to have:

 Worshipped in a full church and sung our hearts out
 Visited close relations in hospital or care home
 Recommenced Renew Wellbeing or Toddlers
 Watched football and cricket matches
 Been assured of guaranteed employment and regular pay
 Been glad that children were safe at school from covid without
fear of infection
 And so much more – you can add your own list

We are not the first ones to have these sorts of feelings. Again and again in the Bible people are wrestling with the heartbreaking mystery of frustration. Both Moses and David sought to fulfil great vision only for them to hand the outworking of their vision to their successors.

Jeremiah, called to be a prophet with the dream of an Israel brought back to the Lord, only to encounter years of indifference and hostility. “Lord you have deceived me”. Yet he gives us wonderful insights including the New Covenant (Jer 33).

The apostle Paul plans to launch a great campaign in Bithynia, dreaming of ‘Asia for Christ’ but something bars his way : “the Holy Spirit prevented us” (Acts 16:6) so he comes into Europe. For him frustration was quickly turned to vision.

We build on other people’s vision. We receive fresh vision from God. We leave a legacy for those who come after us. Likewise for the growth of Christian character. “I press on towards the goal” (Philippians 3:14). God assesses a personal relationship with him not by the point we have reached but by the direction we are facing.

A quote from SAGA magazine: “I think most of you would agree that 2020 hasn’t quite panned out as any of us expected, but if ‘experience is everything’, the flip side is also true, ‘everything is experience’. Sometimes you learn the most from the most challenging times.”