Summary

Normality Word on the Week 26th April 2025.
There is something very comforting when things in which we have little or no control happen as anticipated. The rhythms of nature adhere to their own schedule and deliver their ‘goods’ on time!
The snowdrops which Betty loved (she was called the snow drop queen by her gardening friends) give way to the daffodils that lit up the sides of the farm road. These in turn are drowned in a sea of green growth through which clusters of bluebells rear their bell shaped heads.
The garden birds, arrayed in their breeding plumage, queue at the bird feeders providing a colourful display. This year we have a small flock of long tailed tits whose daily appearance around lunchtime was a delightful spectacle.
The anticipated return of swallows has come about and their melodic ‘tswit’ brings a song to the heart! Their aerodynamic contortions belie the fact that they have just completed their flight from their wintering Sub-Sarahi grounds.
And all this is only a tiny snapshot of the creation which God said was very good (Genesis 1 verse 31). In the next chapter we read that God rested as the work of creation was finished. The remainder of the Old Testament is given over to redeeming disobedient mankind.
The normality of the Garden of Eden was replaced by the new normal of disobedience and death (Genesis 2 17) when those created in God’s image sinned against their creator. This distorted image was held in check by means of God given laws. There was provision of a blood sacrifice of an animal to God to be made by the one who had transgressed.
This uneasy tension between what had been created good and a rebellious race is revealed by the new normality of fighting. In King David’s time it was the norm to go to war in the spring (2 Samuel 11 verse 1)! But there was hope; the promised Messiah was called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9 verse 6).
When Jesus cried out from the cross ‘It is finished’ the work of redemption was completed. The way is now open for repentant sinners to enter into the joy of His salvation. The Apostle Peter writes of our redemption by the precious blood of Christ shed on the cross (1 Peter 1 verses 18 to 23).
Creation finished; Redemption finished. God has made a way for you by faith to enter. Don’t look to the world – look to Jesus who has overcome the world (John 16 verse 33) and commit your life to Him.