Staff Service - 31 Aug 1954

As you read the Old Testament you can’t help feeling that people who lived in ancient times were conscious, in a way that we are not, of the insecurity of life on earth. Floods and earthquakes, famine and pestilence seem to be always just round the corner. It was the same in the early days of the Church. Again, and again the sense of danger is reflected in the prayers of the time. ‘Good Lord, deliver us’, is the theme. As they became aware of the dangers around them and the precarious position in which they lived, they became conscious of their utter dependence on God.

Twenty-five years ago, we had no electricity in Jaffna. Those of us who had got used to kerosene lamps are truly thankful to God for the comforts that electricity has brought to us. Even when we tend to forget the past the periodical breakdowns in the engine remind us of the sharp contrast between conditions of life then and now, and we are thankful to God for his gifts to us. But the children of today react differently when we are deprived of lights for a day or two. They are angry that they have been deprived of something without which life is impossible. The writer of the Book of Lamentations was one who lived nearer to nature than we are and he was conscious of what he owed to God for his very existence on earth and for the good things he enjoyed daily.

I think we will admit that our modern way of life and the comforts and amenities which scientific knowledge has given us, have blinded us to our utter dependence on God. In the olden days men were thankful to God because they had little. Because God has given us plenty to enjoy we have a tendency to forget the giver of all good gifts. People in ancient times felt that life was insecure, partly because of their failure to understand nature. The sense of insecurity helped them to realize their utter dependence on God. No doubt today we have a better understanding of the laws of nature and we are free of some of the fears of our forefathers. But all our understanding and mastery of nature have not helped to make the world safer for us; in fact, it is more insecure than ever before. With the control of nuclear power man has within his grasp a new and horrible power – the power to lay civilization in ruins more speedily and totally than we could ever have dreamt of before.

Those who have their faith in God, his power and goodness and his creative activity need never be overwhelmed by this feeling of insecurity that is in the world today. What we need is the recovery of this utter dependence on God which we find in every book of the Bible and in the lives of all great Christians. We have to learn to rely finally on nothing but God and his mercy. This is what we have to learn for ourselves and teach those who come under our charge. We need to cultivate that sense of utter dependence on God. It is not a thing that comes easily to us.

It has to be cultivated.

Is it not true that many have got into the habit of thinking that reliance on God is a kind of last resort? Both as a community and as individuals we pray to God only when we are in real difficulty and can think of no way out. It is good that we should pray when we are in difficulty, but we must remember that emergency religion has its limitations. You are not likely to have a strong and sure sense of God’s mercy in a crisis if you have left him out of account in the normal run of life. We need to be in training in our religion as in any other human activity. The training might well consist of a daily remembrance, as we get up in the morning, that our life, our health, our affairs, our friends, our concerns and our worries are in the hands of God. It is therefore important that we should discipline ourselves to set apart a few minutes every morning to be spent in a quiet time of prayer.

Another way of remembering our dependence on God is the habit of regular worship as we come together as a family of men, women and children and commit ourselves to God in prayer and adoration. It is our way of saying, ‘O God there is so much to distract and confuse us during the week. We want to pause for a while and remember that we belong to Thee, and that from day to day it is of Thy mercy that we are not consumed.’ Apart from the value Sunday worship can have to our own spiritual refreshment and outlook, every Christian should look upon it as his duty to participate in the corporate worship of the Church on Sundays. The least a Christian is expected to do is to witness for his faith by regular attendance in the church. I say ‘the least’ because much more than mere attendance is expected of every Chrisian. When a Christian has ceased to think of Sunday worship as an obligation he has cut off his last link with religion.

The daily ‘Quiet Time’ and Sunday worship can certainly help us to have a strong and sure sense of God’s mercy to us. Surely the people of Chundikuli cannot take any credit for the bankruptcy of the Theatre Co., because with the exception of a small minority, nearly all gave every possible support to the picture house. A money making scheme, born in unrighteousness, which cared not for the children brought up in our schools or for worshippers in this church, is bound to come to naught some day. But it is marvellous that the downfall came in such a short time and enabled us to see it. It is nothing but the intervention of God and a sure sign of his mercies to us. It is God who was victorious and not me. We can recall to our minds a number of other instances in our own individual lives and in the life of the school which go to strengthen our faith in God on whom alone we depend for our own lives and to build up our scholars.