For years I have passed a ruined Oast house on my way to a local village. I noticed this week that it is suddenly a hive of purposeful activity. There is scaffolding adjoining it, the signs of new windows, roofing and paintwork. Someone with the imagination, and the seemingly bottomless resources needed, is turning that huge structure into an amazing and unique home.

I feel we are a little like that building. The Holy spirit has seen that we have the potential to be a purpose-built home for Him to dwell in. But boy! Do we need a lot of work first!

There is a beautiful verse that declares: ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.’ (Psalm 127:1)

Unless that Oast conversion is the work of a skilled and trained architect, it will never stand the test of time. The restoration of such a building requires painstaking effort and planning. In the same way, as God changes us, He is not doing so at random. Each ‘brick’ He cleans, each ’tile’ He replaces, is purposeful and thought-through.

I’ve had some builders and plumbers over recently to do some work on our house. They have some stock phrases that I’m learning to translate:
‘Make good’ = disguise cock-up
‘You won’t know we’re here love’ = we won’t turn up
‘I’ll get back to you’ = I won’t get back to you

God doesn’t ‘make good’ in our lives, He IS good. He won’t paper over cracks and hope they won’t show. He goes to the root of the problem, sorting it out, healing it from the inside. This kind of treatment takes longer, but LASTS longer. There is no short cut to being made new!

God most certainly IS here, present in your life and mine right now, and He will make His presence felt, if we allow Him to. He knows how we feel and what we need.

He WILL get back to you. When we call, He answers. In fact, as my Mum reminded me yesterday, often BEFORE we have the strength, presence of mind or need to call, He answers. (see Isaiah 65:24.)

God is the builder. A bit like Bob, He says to the other members of the Trinity, ‘Can we fix it?’
And they reply together over you:
”Yes! We can!’

Is your God able? Yes
Is your God strong? Yes
Is your God good? Yes
Is your God present? Yes
Is your God all-knowing? Yes

Trust Him to build you up and do you good today. He always turns up for work.