Last week, for the first time ever I went to Wimbledon. We didn’t have tickets for the top courts, but we got a grounds pass enabling us to queue to go into the other courts as and when seats became available. Before and after we managed to get a seat on court, we sat and watched the action from the more popular courts on a large screen. We posted photos on facebook. There we were sitting on the green grass of Henman Hill. Only to be told it was no longer Henman Hill but had been renamed Murray Mount. Imagine my surprise this morning when I heard on the news that it’s no longer Murray Mount but Norrie Knoll!
How quickly things change. Sports stars rise and fall, pop stars shine and fade, politicians ascend and descend. People are only human, even the strongest have weaknesses, the youngest grow old, illness and injury can strike at any point.
Not so God. Amongst whatever chaos and turmoil and tragedy we find ourselves, God is still the same ‘I am’ that He was in Moses’ time. Call me ‘I am who I am and I will be who I will be’ (Exodus 3:14) He told Moses, when Moses asked what he should call Him. Unchanging. Always the same. So anything He did in the past including the miracles – He could do now. He cannot fail, He can’t break promises. Any promises He made to His people in the past, He will keep in the present and future. He can’t decay or dim or weaken. He will be there always, because we are mortal, we have trouble comprehending something with no end. He is even and consistent – anytime, any place, anywhere, with anyone. No moods swings or bad hair days. We cant affect Him – nothing we can do or not do changes His Being and Essence.
Most amazing of all – His consistent Love for us is the Love that took Jesus to the cross. His unfailing Love for us is what nailed His only pure and innocent Son to the tree. Why? So that the relationship with God that we broke and keep breaking through our disobedience, could be renewed. Since He is a Holy God and can’t allow anything sinful in His Heaven, He found a way that we can be made sinless through the death of His perfect Son. He found a way that we could be changed for the better on a green hill.