I will never forget a time when life became unpredictable. I found myself having to look after the children because my wife was seriously unwell - my response was that I felt imprisoned by my circumstances. How would I cope? How would I do my 'day' job and look after the kids? How would I find the peace my aching soul longed for?
I didn't feel equipped or ready for that moment those years ago. But my experience, so far on this pilgrimage of life, is that it's in the more difficult times that we find what we need most, what really matters. I remember hearing a story of a refugee in the Rwandan genocide who escaped with only the shirt on his back, allegedly leaving a dead wife and children behind him. When asked how he could cope, he apparently replied, "It wasn't until Jesus was all I had that I realised Jesus was all I needed." Corrie ten Boom ,the Dutch heroine who helped many Jews escape the Nazi holocaust during World War 2 by hiding them in her home, said something similar - she wrote, "You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have."
The question is, "is Jesus sufficient for everything in life?" Is he enough? Can we trust him?
The answer, of course, is 'yes' even when we think it's a 'no'.
It's 'yes' because he will give us what we need - peace with God, the joy of the Holy Spirit, a new kind of life which stretches into eternity and with it a new identity and purpose as a beloved, forgiven, accepted child of God. That's where you find life in all its fullness. Once tasted there's nothing like that. So, it's 'yes'.
But we may think 'no' to the question of if Jesus is enough because we are only too aware of our day-to-day needs for food, health, shelter, friends, key relationships, help in times of need etc. Sure. But these (and many other things) are are gifts from God that are to to be enjoyed and to bring us back to him. They are not an end in themselves. In fact, we are told that he "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1 Timothy 6:17) - this is the generosity of our Creator God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The problem is that we sometimes make these things (food, health, shelter, etc.) into 'the main thing'. We put them above God. And sometimes God chooses to remove these from us - and very often this is the place where we discover him afresh. These moments look like the place of death - like something is taken away or something in us has died - but they can actually be the place of life. In Hosea 2:14 God says of his people, "I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope." So in Hosea's day, God takes everything off his people and brings them into the wilderness. Why? So that he can restore them - so that there is no longer anything between them and him. Notice, God wants to speak 'tenderly' to his people. We need his voice and his presence above all things and yes how easy it is for other things to get in the way.
The Valley of Achor looks back to the sin of Achan (see Joshua 7:24-26) which recalls Israel's punishment for rebellion. Then it was a place of foreboding. Now it is a "door of hope" - and, the wilderness (and times of testing for us) can be the place of hope because it's there we find God's presence, healing and new life.
It may feel - in this time of the Corona Virus crisis - that we are in a 'wilderness place'. We may be worried or anxious. Like I did, when my wife was unwell, you may be asking how will you cope. Well there is a way - not just to survive but even to thrive today.
What I discovered those years ago was the Daily Office of Morning and Night Prayer, which gave me a pattern for coming before God and receiving from him. I discovered the power of silence, solitude and rest. I discovered sabbath. All of these things became what I refer to as 'rhythms of grace' - they gave me a framework in the unpredictable circumstances of childcare. The odd nap preceded my time to a later morning prayer - I was seriously 'dry' in my faith even though I was working for the church, so leaning of the language of the liturgical prayers and Psalms along with the Bible readings for the day began to evoke new energy and life into me. But I didn't spend hours doing this - I made sure I spent some time reading the paper or enjoying a coffee while the children napped. Then at night when they were in bed I opened up Night Prayer and read it through which takes about 10 minutes and then I'd write a few lines in my notebook about what I sensed God saying from what I'd read and as I reviewed my day (this was a variation of the Ignatian practice of the "Examen of Consciousness"). This quiet time of day contained a few minutes alone in silence - and it was silence because I had lost the sense of how to pray! As Pete Greig says, 'prayer is mostly about showing up!'
This was life-changing. I discovered God as present - not just in those times of quiet or reading or rest. But in my times with the children or doing chores. I was somehow able to do more than I I thought possible and was able to fit in work as well. Still not sure how that happened! But, then again, God can do "immeasurably more than all we [can] ask [for] or imagine" as St Paul says in Ephesians 3:20.
So, how are your 'rhythms'? Are you up or are you down?
Our current situation has forced many of us into isolation - which can feel a bit like a wilderness. But even if you're feeling OK - why not use this time to look at using one of the prayer times (known as Offices) perhaps starting with "Prayer during the Day" or "Night Prayer" (also called Compline)? Just set yourself a time each day for a few weeks and say these (or simply read them) allowing moments for stillness and silence. I think if you do, you will hear and discover more of God.
And it's here that you will know, with Corrie ten Boom and every other Christian [past, present and future], that Jesus is in fact all you need and he is all that you've been looking for.
So here's a link to get started https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer