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by Joseph Walliker
I’m not sure about others, but in this time two Old Testament passages have been on my mind recently. The title of this blog post refers to both 1 Samuel 3:1-14 and Isaiah 6:8. The theme for me in both of these passages is the theme of being sent to serve. For Isaiah and Samuel, it was being sent to be prophets. But how does this correspond to us nowadays in the time of Covid? For me, just as in Isaiah and Samuel’s time, God is still calling people to serve Him, and to serve others, through which God may be glorified.
Recently in Focus, the student bible study, we were talking about the nature of the Holy Spirit, and one thing that particularly struck me was that the Spirit that lives in us as Christians today is the same Spirit that rested on the prophets and rulers of the Old Testament. How amazing is that! It particularly struck me that through the Spirit, God is shaping us and equipping us to be His children, His ambassadors here on earth.
This in particular has been on my mind as from the time we first went into lockdown last March, I have had responsibilities serving as the co-president of Bath Spa University Christian Union, which involves running CU meetings and impact groups, our small group bible studies, and sharing the Gospel with students who don’t yet know Jesus.
This has been challenging, and encouraging, and above all else an incredible opportunity that God has presented me to serve Him, and serve the Christians and all the students at my university. I have been so blessed to be able to serve alongside such a great committee, and above all, a great group of friends. This is why I have been reminded recently of the passages I mentioned at the start.
Something that has been on my mind recently is that it doesn’t matter what situation we are in in our lives, we all have an incredible opportunity to live out our faith in our lives, and we are being equipped by the Spirit to do this. In particular as we start looking towards events week, our main evangelistic mission week of the CU year, we have a great opportunity to point our friends and neighbours at university to Christ, and to give good reason for the hope that we have.
Those who know me know that I love a good song, and so I just want to share this song with you all. It is called “Yet Not I but through Christ in me”, and it is by CityAlight. The reason this song has particularly resonated with me this year is that one of the overlying themes in the song is that in our weakness and in our strength, Christ is there with us. This has been especially comforting when I’ve been busy with CU planning for events week!
I know this will resonate with us all, because in the times of the pandemic, we can feel weak and that we cannot do this on our own. What a comfort it is that in all circumstances of our lives, Christ draws near to us through the Spirit.
You can listen to this song here.