Regular or Consistent?

 I met someone new last week. A single mum who had drifted away from her faith for several years, been badly hurt by experiences in churches but in the last few months has been revelling in a glorious reconnection with God, a renewing of relationship of love, challenge and growth.

She told me how much she values regularity, how she doesn't like to do anything she'd consider out of character but how living with Jesus brings the unexpected. 

God doesn't do things in a "regular" manner but he is consistent.

Some people talk as if the God revealed in the Old Testament is very different from the God revealed by Jesus in the New Testament. That isn't the case. God, from Genesis to Revelation to 2021, is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. His messages of love to rebellious humanity, his sorrow at our wilful decisions to do life our way not his, his appeals to turn to him (for why do we choose the way of death when abundant life is freely offered?) are the same throughout. Have a look in the Bible, it's very striking. The experience of millions of believers in the centuries since also bears witness that God does not change. I can read poems written by Christians hundreds of years ago and know that they follow the same Jesus I do.

"I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6 NLT)

Regularity, routine, rules/customs, prescribed behaviours or sacrifices can all provide a sense of security. We know where we are, what we have to do, what to expect. 

Life isn't like that. 

If anyone had been in any doubt, the events since the explosion of covid19 into the world should have proved that what a society considers normal can be turned upside down with frightening speed. It's only God that doesn't change.

That doesn't mean he's predictable: how can our finite minds predict the infinite workings of his? He will always act according to his character - holy, loving, just, good, merciful, trustworthy, all-knowing - but will often act in ways we could never imagine. Most believers can recall times when a seemingly unsolvable problem has been solved in a way so simply elegant and amazing or so involved and amazing that without knowing God's hand was behind it it would have seemed incredible. Allowing God to be in the driving seat of your life opens the way to the most amazing experiences in the most unexpected places with people you'd never have expected to meet: he's always consistent; never regular.