Last week I went to work and soon realised that I had forgotten my mobile phone. As I’ve said previously my granddaughter regards a mobile phone as a lifesaver – if you have your phone you don’t need anything else. Fortunately, it was only for half a day, but I did feel quite lost without it. Not being able to contact my husband, family or a colleague at any time, felt strange and not what I like.

It made me think about God, and how he is never out of reach or uncontactable.

We sometimes sing a children’s song with the following lyrics.

Prayer is like a telephone for us to talk to Jesus,

Prayer is like a telephone for us to talk to God,

Pick it up and use it every day.

We can shout out loud, we can whisper softly.

We can make no noise at all, but he’ll always hear our call.

Prayer is like a telephone for us to talk to Jesus,

Pick it up and use it every day.

So often people only pray when they are facing a crisis. What a pity, when God is always there and wanting to talk to us.

As I was standing in the queue at a supermarket last week, a younger woman behind me answered her mobile phone. It was a short conversation, as she said she was at the till, in the shop, getting her groceries. “I’ll ring you back in a few minutes” she said and switched off her phone.

The wonderful thing is, God is never too busy to answer our call, whether it’s day or night. It’s never inconvenient to talk to him.

This last week we have been remembering, and giving thanks, for all those who served during WW11 on D Day and the landings on the Normandy beaches. The stories we have heard as the men share their experiences are all very heart rending and moving. Anyone who wasn’t there can’t fully imagine what it was like. The men themselves did not know where they were going or what they were doing. It was their duty; they just obeyed orders and went. They set off and were told not to stop, and they didn’t. One man said, “We were told to keep going and not look back, so we just kept going and prayed!” Perhaps for these servicemen it was the first time they’d ever prayed.

It is hard to know why some were saved and others killed. I often say there is no answer to questions like this. However, these men who set off, some only boys who gave a false age so that they would be accepted, believed they were serving their King and Country. They were committed to the task in hand and to do what they could and, even though they were frightened, and were not sure of what they were going to face, they went ahead, determined and focused on the mission set before them.

Here I’m reminded of Jesus. In Luke Ch. 9 v 51-56, we read how he set his face towards Jerusalem, yet he did know what lay ahead. For Jesus going to Jerusalem meant one thing for certain, and that was his death. When he set his face to go to the city, he set his face to die. Like the men going to Normandy, Jesus came to serve and was willing to sacrifice his life for the whole of humanity. He died at Calvary, so that we could live.

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15 v 13).

It wasn’t an accident, or an afterthought. God planned it all out of his infinite love to sinners like us and appointed a time. Jesus saw that the time had come for him to fulfil his mission: to die in Jerusalem for our sake. “No one takes my life from me”, Jesus said, “but I lay it down of my own accord” John 10 v 18.

There was a time when Jesus prayed in anguish and cried out to God to find another way instead of the cross, but he also prayed for God’s will to be done.

God was always there for Jesus, and he is always here for us.

Can you imagine it; we pray to God, and he replies, “Sorry I’m too busy now to talk to you. Please ring me back later”!

How horrendous!

God bless you as you communicate with your Creator

Eileen

10 June 2024