When You Can't See The Greater Good

It's amazing the things that come to mind out of aparently nowhere. For example, something (I don't know what) has reminded me of something that happened some twelve years ago that has obviously left its mark on me;

There was a leader in my church to whom I could go for sound advice. He was open minded, clear, wise and solid as a rock. I trusted him and my family trusted him, and to this day I've not had cause to distrust him.

But, one day, he told me that he'd received instruction to turn me away. Someone who had authority had told him it was wrong for me to seek advice from him and he, being a man under authority, had to obey.

I have to assume that this 'authority' was the pastor (who has long since moved on to larger - if somewhat shallower - pastures). I'm sure that many of us have had to face situations which were unpleasant or confusing at first only to see the bigger picture later on, but in this instance, no such moment of revelation has ever come.

I've never found out the reason, I've never understood the action and nobody has ever thought it considerate to explain the thinking. It just is.

The Bible has lots of examples of why we should trust our leaders and listen to what they say, but when nothing is demonstrated to earn that respect, they have to understand that they are spending borrowed trust. Christians in places like China, Africa and the former Soviet Union see these demonstrations on a regular basis as miracles become an almost regular thing, but here in the West where faith is more about method and emotion, things aren't so clear.

I take my hat off to people like David Hathaway, an English evangelist who is seeing really powerful miracles in Russia, and I'm wondering what's needed to again see a tangible demonstration of the miraculous in Britain.