Skip to main content

Images of God


Krac des Chevaliers was one of the crown jewels of the crusader Latin kingdoms of the east. It was built as an Hospitaller stronghold by the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem to hold onto the gains that had been made during the crusades. It became crucial to the defence of the Crusader kingdoms between 1142 to 1271. While other Crusader strongholds were under threat from opposing forces, Krak des Chevaliers and its garrison of 2,000 soldiers dominated the surrounding area. It was  the centre of the Crusader defences  until 1271 and was the only major inland area to remain constantly under Crusader control in during the 13th century. Without the Krac des Chevalier all other kingdoms were vulnerable.

One of the images of presented of God in the Bible of God is similar to that of Krac des Cheveliers. The Prophet Nahum declares, "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble" [Nahum 1:7]. God is a stronghold! Many of us live thankfully insulated from warfare and therefore the idea of a "stronghold" is alien to us. But in the ancient near east the idea of God as a "stronghold" spoke volumes about his character. God is one they could depend on - a shield or safe shelter in the time of trouble. An impregnable fortress that in our modern times can be compared to a nuclear bunker. He is not like those UN soldiers who failed to protect innocents during the Rwandan crisis or the Zambia peace keepers who run away in Sudan after the enemy was approaching. No, God is the ultimate refugee and fortress. 

Prophet Nahum helps us to see fully the extent of God's protection. He says God protects us in "the day of trouble". In that scripture God's people faced the trouble from Nineveh. God reassured them that they can be protected from external attacks.  Much of our trouble in life is externally generated – it is beyond control.Indeed  Jesus said that troubles from the world are inevitable - "in this world you will face many troubles". God has never promised there will be no day of trouble! But he has promised to be our stronghold when we can't control things! In that "day" which means, that very moment! If we know Jesus we have a comfort only reserved for God’s people. The comfort is that is that our troubles have now become God's trouble. We have moved from a human shelter to God built shelter. From a man-made Camp Bastion to an heavenly and impregnable fortress forged by God himself. Physically we live on earth, but our protection is now from above. So how do we respond? As the writer of Psalms 91: "God is my refugee and fortress, my God, in Him I will trust".  God is now himself our protector. 

Related Posts :

Images of God (Potter)
Images of God (Whirlwind)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Humility of Newton

Thou hast honoured me. Thou hast given me a tongue and a pen, many friends; (Thou] hast made me extensively known among thy people and I have reason to hope, useful to many by my preaching and writings... It is of thine own that I can serve thee. And if others speak well of me, I have no cause to speak or think well of myself. They see only my outward walk; to thee I appear as I am. In thy sight I am a poor, unworthy, unfaithful inconsistent creature. And I may well wonder that Thou hast not long ago taken thy word utterly out of my mouth and forbidden me to make mention of thy Name any more! JOHN NEWTON ( Source : Wise Counsel) Newton wrote these words addressed to God in his diary in 1789. In that year, Newton’s fame had grown significantly because of his publishing ‘ Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade’ and his appearance before Her Majesty’s Privy Council appointed to investigate the slave trade.  I find Newton’s words quite challenging. The words reveal a heart truly shaped by t
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

Incarnation and Modernity

[The Bible] resituate modernity's prejudices within a wider context from which they were originally wrenched, showing them to be reductive heresies of a more complex biblical reality. So whereas modernity privileges an unchanging a-historicity, in the incarnation God enters history at a particular moment to gather a people to be with him not in a Greck eternity of unchanging timelessness, but in a biblical eternity of never-ending and ever-renewed intimacy and relational richness. Whereas modernity subordinates the particular to the universal, the Bible perfectly marries the universal "image of the invisible God" together with a particular first-century Palestinian Jewish man. Whereas modernity seeks the abstract over the material and finds itself painfully akimbo between the twin idols of materialism and immaterialism, in the same gesture the incarnate Christ validates material reality and prevents his followers from ever worshipping it. Finally, whereas modernity secks
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →