For those slaving away in the workplace daydreaming about the school holidays that once were or even coveting what is perceived to be the lot of Bible College students: frolicking in flowery fields, fondling moon-beams, lavished with leisure and spending entire days imagining what we might do tomorrow… Well, it’s not entirely untrue… One of the requirements that College gives us so that we don’t become too elated with pure bliss, in true puritanical, reformed tradition, we are required to read 500 odd pages of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. So in recent weeks this has been a dark cloud over my head.But this morning I was reading Calvin (that’s right, Saturday morning - and don’t worry I was doing it last night too!) and was quite moved by something I read. I have to confess to have enjoyed a lot of what Calvin has to say and particularly his passion for God’s truth. In fact, some of his passages are solid gold. At one point he recounts the hope of Old Testament saints and in particular those often identified as his covenant people: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God’s covenant people. A basic knowledge of Genesis would tell you that these men lived catastrophic lives and yet their hope was in God throughout.My holidays have been OK but quite tough at times (in ways and for reasons I won’t expand on here). But this morning Calvin referred to a Psalm that quite nicely sums up this Christian faith and reminded me where to keep my hope.
Psa. 30:4 Â Â Sing to the LORD, you His faithful ones,
and praise His holy name.Â
5 For His anger lasts only a moment,
but His favor, a lifetime.
Weeping may spend the night,
but there is joy in the morning.
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