Mourning and Disappointment

New Zealand is in mourning. This morning our rugby team, the All Blacks, got beaten by the French in the quarter final of the Rugby World Cup. And listening to the news media, you would think that the world had ended.

It has been a bad year. Beaten in the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup, and before that, beaten in the final of the Yachting Cup by the Swiss. Most people in the world do not care about these events, but the people of New Zealand have this curious obsession with winning international sporting events. For a nation of 4 million people this obsession is always bound to end in disappointment.

The world stage seems to be on our hearts, but for the wrong reason. What most people do not know is that God will use New Zealand to impact the world. In 1982 David Pawson shared this burden for our nation.

God wants New Zealand back.
He wants New Zealand back as
a nation that will be a model to the nations
of a people who are living under the government of GOD.
God intends New Zealand to be one of those nations
where he demonstrates his Kingdom.

This is goal more worthy than sporting success. This is how we will have an impact on the world stage. Until we seek God’s purpose for this nation, we will just have disappointment after disappointment.