I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
Amos 9:14 NLT
Taken from everything familiar and placed in an alien culture, today there are more than 30 million refugees and a further 41 million displaced people in our world. More than half of the refugees are under 18 years old. Every one of these people is an image-bearer of God. Each with a home and a history now behind them and out of reach or immediate recovery. Having visited refugee camps, these are not any place I’d want my family, friends or foes to be forced to live.
We can expect personal discomfort when we are disturbed and forced to abandon those things that are familiar to us, yet not within God’s purpose for us. Certainly, when I first became a Christian it was like entering an alien territory. I had no understanding of the liturgy in the Anglican church I joined. I’d never owned or read a Bible or said a formal prayer. Here a new world opened before me. Here I might flourish and rebuild credentials lost in my transfer from the kingdom of darkness. Then reality dawned. I had to return and live a different life in what had been my old stamping ground. I was returned from exile to establish a new life in my original homeland. The camaraderie forged through exile was lost as I struggled to create a new garden in a hostile landscape. My connections, lifestyle choices and perceptions had all been challenged. How was I to create a Godspace within a familiar yet strange landscape?
This is the way of God. Returning us from an exile into our original landscape and inviting us to rebuild a life that reflects the character and call of God.
QUESTION
Returning to your old world, bringing God’s love to your old haunts, how easy or hard is that for you?
PRAYER
Help me be a light-bearer into dark places today.
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