Thank God for the Fleas

James 1:2-4

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, wheneve you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I stayed up way past my bedtime last weekend reading parts of Corrie Ten Boom's famous book, The Hiding Place. It describes her life and experiences in Nazi occupied Holland and then in a concentration camp. She and her family were instrumental in running an underground network to hide Jews from the authorities who sought to arrest them. I'm sure you realize what happened to the Jews if they were arrested.

If you have never read her book, I highly recommend it. It is written in an easy to read format, and although the content is far from an easy read, I believe that you will be rewarded in many ways for your effort.

Following are some excerpts from the book that I haven't been able to get out of my head.

We pick up the story as Corrie and her sister Betsie have been assigned their permanent beds at the Ravensbruck labor camp.

We followed our guide single file--the aisle was not wide enough for two--fighting back the claustrophobia of these platforms rising everywhere above us. The tremendous room was nearly empty of people; they must have been out on various work crews. At last she pointed to a second tier in the center of a large block. To reach it we had to stand on the bottom level, haul ourselves up, and then crawl across three other straw-covered platforms to reach the one that we would share with--how many? The deck above us was too close to let us sit up. We lay back, struggling against the nausea that swept over us from the reeking straw. We could hear the women who had arrived with us finding their places.

Suddenly, I sat up, striking my head on the cross-slats above. Something had pinched my leg.

"Fleas!" I cried. "Betsie, the place is swarming with them!"

We scrambled across the intervening platforms, heads low to avoid another bump, dropped down to the aisle, and edged our way to a patch of light.

"Here! And here another one!" I wailed. "Betsie, how can we live in such a place?"

"Show us. Show us how." It was said so matter of factly it took me a second to realize she was praying. More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie.

"Corrie!" She said excitedly. "He's given us the answer! Before we asked, as He always does! In the Bible this morning. Where was it? Read that part again!"

In glanced down the long dim aisle to make sure no guard was in sight, then drew the Bible from its pouch. "It was in First Thessalonians," I said. We were on our third complete reading of the New Testament since leaving Scheveningen. In the feeble light I turned the pages. "Here it is: 'Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all...'" It seemed written expressly to Ravensbruck."

"Go on," said Betsie. "That wasn't all."

"Oh yes:"...to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus--'"

"That's it, Corrie! That's His answer. 'Give thanks in all circumstances!' That what we can do. We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!"

I stared at her, then around me at the dark, foul-aired room.

"Such as?" I said.

"Such as being assigned here together."

I bit my lip. "Oh yes, Lord Jesus!"

"Such as what you're holding in your hands."

I looked down at the Bible. "Yes! Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here! Thank You for all the women, here in this room who will meet You in these pages."

"Yes," said Betsie. "Thank You for the crowding here. Since we're packed so close, that many more will hear!" She looked at me expectantly. "Corrie!" she prodded.

"Oh, all right. Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds."

"Thank You," Betsie went on serenely, "for the fleas and for--"

The fleas! This was too much. "Betsie, there's no way even God can make me grateful for a flea."

"'Give thanks in all circumstances,'" she quoted. "It doesn't say, 'in pleasant circumstances.' Fleas are part of this place where God has put us."

And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

**************************

Picking back up our story, Betsie has been placed on the light duty of a knitting brigade after an illness that required hospitalization (or what passed for hospitalization at the forced labor camp.)

Best of all, as a result of her hospitalization, she was given a permanent assignment to the "knitting brigade," the women we had seen the very first day seated about the tables in the center room. This work was reserved for the weakest prisoners, and now overflowed into the dormitories as well.

Those working in the sleeping rooms received far less supervision than those at the tables, and Betsie found herself with most of the day in which to minister to those around her. She was a lightning knitter who completed her quota of socks long before noon. She kept our Bible with her and spent hours each day reading aloud from it, moving from platform to platform.

One evening I got back to the barracks late from a wood-gathering foray outside the walls. A light snow lay on the ground and it was hard to find the sticks and twigs with which a small stove was kept going in each room. Betsie was waiting for me, as always, so that we could wait through the food line together. Her eyes were twinkling.

"You're looking extraordinarily pleased with yourself," I told her.

"You know we've never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room," she said. "Well--I've found out."

That afternoon, she said, there'd been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they asked the supervisor to come and settle it.

"But she wouldn't. She wouldn't step through the door and neither would the guards. And you know why?"

Betsie could not keep the triumph from her voice: "Because of the fleas! That's what she said, 'That place is crawling with fleas!'"

My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie's bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.

I have nothing so difficult as fleas to thank God for. But I'm going to start thanking Him for a few other things that I can see no use for.

Why?

Matthew 27:46

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (emphasis mine)



Jesus, being fully God and fully man, was unlike you and me.

He lived without sin and was always in a relationship of perfect love and perfect submission to the will of God the Father.

While Jesus prayed in the garden, in intense distress, before the events that led up to His crucifixion, He implored God to let the cup pass from Him if there was any other way.

Jesus was clearly aware of what was going to happen. He also knew why he had to endure the shame and humiliation of the cross. He was in agreement with the plan and submitted and participated willingly in God's redemptive work. He never doubted God's love, faithfulness or sovereignty.

And yet, in His humanity, in the moment of His agony, what did Jesus cry out?

My God, My God, WHY....

Because Jesus, our Great High Priest, was not only fully God, but fully human.

And we, in our human frailty, even when we trust that God is loving, faithful and sovereign, often do the same.

My God, my God, WHY...

Astoundingly,we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. (Heb 4:15) Jesus actually knew the answer to the 'why.' Yet He cried out in agony anyway. We often don't know the 'why' and may never in this life.

But because of the mercy and compassion of our Great God, we are privileged to say in the same breath:

"My God, my God, have mercy on me, a sinner....my God, my God, WHY?"

Vampires and Other Imaginary Beings

Vampires, Bigfoot, Leprechauns and Fairies.

What do the four things listed above have in common with ex-Christians?

They don't exist.

Oh, there are plenty of people out there who think they do. And I'm sure you can even find large numbers of people who passionately claim to know from personal experience that one of the five fictitious creatures named above is as real as dirt and rocks. But they would be flat out, no mistake about it, excruciatingly WRONG. (By the way, this is yet another reason that personal experience as proof of a matter should be treated with skepticism, but that is a post for another day.)

I don't care what they say.

I'd even be willing to budge on the first four. Perhaps I could be convinced that small, elvish creatures with red beards and green pointy hats live in the wilds of Ireland somewhere. Well, maybe not. But I would probably just roll my eyes (discreetly) at anyone who claimed to believe in a leprechaun. (As fun as the whole idea is, and that whole pot of gold at the end of a rainbow thing, it's kind of a shame that isn't true either.)

But believing that such a thing as an ex-Christian exists is dangerous. It can cause some real problems for the true sheep. Things like doubt and disbelief.

Let me just be blunt and perfectly clear about this issue. I realize that I run the risk of alienating some of you, my dear readers, by taking such a bold stand. Because I do realize that there are many Christians who are disagree with me on this matter. Even if you are one of them, I hope you will still come by for a visit every now and again. But at the risk of permanently irritating you, allow me to present my case from Scripture.

The most compelling case for the "perseverance of the saints" (that is the fancy term which means basically, once really saved, always saved, you can't lose salvation,) is found in John 10:27.

John 10:27-29

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."

If you believe what these verses proclaim, then in order to remove a sheep from the Father's hand, one would have to be greater than the Father. The very power and sovereignty of God, in His ability to keep the true sheep from straying, are at stake. I don't see any way around that.

Notice that I said the true sheep. Because you can't deny that there are people who once professed to be Christians, who now disavow the whole thing entirely. Some of them were even the really passionate, committed type of "Christian." (Maybe even most of them, which is a rather strange phenomenon, that probably bears exploring at a later date.) I personally know of two who at one point, seemed to all of the outside world to be the real deal. But who now profess to be atheist.

Are they ex-Christians? No. They were never Christians to begin with. Jesus did not call them by name, they never belonged to Him. They might dispute me on that point, based on their personal experience. And while I mourn for them, and feel somewhat confused that they are so blind, I don't believe that they ever belonged to Christ at all.

We know from Matthew 7:21-23, that not everyone who says to Jesus, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven. To some of them He will say, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." So obviously there are people out there who have some trappings of Christianity, but who are really the wolves in sheep's clothing referred to in Matthew 7:15.

Another passage of Scripture that speaks to the perseverance of the saints is Romans 8:29-30:

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

Obviously, even Christians, the real kind, go through periods of what is so elegantly termed "backsliding." You know what that is don't you? It is when a believer goes through a time of sin and rebellion. It happens. You are deceived if you think it doesn't.

In fact, the beauty of the gospel, of God's faithfulness to the sheep, is that He makes promises to us, even knowing ahead of time that we will fail, we will sin, and yes, we will even backslide. The thing that distinguishes the wolf in sheep's clothing from the backsliding believer is the final outcome. A true believer will ultimately come to repentance, will seek forgiveness and be restored to faithful service to God. That wolf ain't going to do any such thing. (The repentance might be a long time coming, too, which is why we should be pretty cautious about pronouncing judgment one way or the other.)

But if there is never repentance and restoration, there was never a Christian.

And you can be as sure of that as you are of the fact that nobody is going to suck out all of your blood and turn you into an immortal bloodsucker yourself.

Philippians 1:6

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Isaiah 54:10

"For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall my covenant of peace be removed,
Says the LORD, who has mercy on you."

Hurt Feelings

One of the toughest lessons to learn in this life is that your personal feelings are often irrelevant. I really mean that. Of course, there are some situations and relationships in which your hurt feelings are the most relevant aspect involved. But those situations are very close to home and heart, and for most of us, a great deal of our lives are lived beyond our most intimate circles.

And even there, we sometimes get it wrong when we let our personal feelings be the judge. I could totally flip out on my husband and have an emotional fit--and be not only wrong for exhibiting the fit, but wrongly motivated for having it to begin with.

It takes hard work to look past our personal feelings and evaluate a situation from an impartial point of view. I'm talking across the spectrum here, in everything from our relationships with family, with friends, with acquaintances and even that jerk driving too slowly in the car in front of me. When I've made the struggle to look past my FEELINGS, I have often seen that I am completely in the wrong. That, of course, is hardly any fun at all, which is why I think most of us avoid looking too closely, most of the time. (Am I being harsh? Maybe you do this all of the time?)

Anyway, here is where all of my rambling comes into play with God. I can't even count the number of things in the Bible that hurt my feelings. I'm not trying to be flip about this either. I should more accurately say that there are many things in Scripture that deeply offend my sense of justice and my own personal opinions.

Let's start with sin. The Bible tells me that all are sinners. That ALL is comprehensive. It includes that sweet little lady that I sometimes see walking around in my neighborhood, the funny guy who makes everyone laugh at every gathering, the person who reads the news to me on television, the crossing guard who stands in the middle of the road and seems to take her authority to the extreme by flailing and stamping her feet at every car driving past. Every one of them, no matter how kind, charming, famous or quirky, is a sinner who deserves God's condemnation.

That offends me sometimes, even though I know and accept that it is true. I didn't mention myself in the above list, because I have no illusions that I am free from sin. I have gotten to know myself too well over the years and I am not at all deceived about my lack of inherent goodness. But when it comes to other people, it is harder to swallow.

On a smaller scale, suffering and tragedy offend me. I know too many people who have suffered through gut-wrenching circumstances to gloss over this reality of life. You probably do too, when you stop and think about it. Or you could just turn on the news and listen for a few minutes. Your own personal bubble of life might be pretty charming and peaceful, but that is not the case for the majority of people in the world. Painful things, horrible things, really happen.

And that offends me. Where is God? How could He let this happen? Why is He allowing this? How can this be good? If God is so loving, why did he let that child die? If God is just, how can life be so unfair?

But, as usual, my feelings (while normal) are wrong. God is just, He is loving, and He is in control. I don't understand how all of those seemingly inconsistent things fit together, but I accept by faith that they do. And I accept that God sees things differently than I do. And He is the one who is right, and I am the one who is wrong.

Isa 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Fortunately, God is bigger than my puny emotional reactions. He has compassion on my confusion and weakness and invites me to struggle through those feelings by interacting with His revealed Word, Scripture. You see, I can't go around struggling with shadows and imaginations. I have to deal with God in truth. And the place to discover who God really is and what God really said is in the Bible ALONE. My feelings and I the things that I think are right don't count. Because, usually, they are flat out wrong.

If you have never studied something in the Bible that has offended you somehow, I can't imagine that you are actually paying attention to what you are reading. The Bible is not some kind of happy-happy-joy-joy fluff story about a swell guy named Jesus who just really liked and loved people an awfully awful lot.

It is the story of a Holy Creator God and the creation that rebelled and hated Him. It is a story of gut-wrenching, sacrificial love on the part of the Creator, and rejection and scorn on the part of the created. And the amazing Redemption of that creation back into fellowship with the Holy One, at the total cost to, and initiative from, God.

It's a hard read, but an amazing one. Because you and me and all of humanity don't get to play the hero's role in this true story. We get to play the villain. And a crazy reversal of justice takes place, as the villain becomes the cherished, adopted son of the hero, despite it all. If it wasn't such a good deal on my behalf-and yours-I would be tempted to be offended. But, as usual, I would be flat out wrong.

P.S. - I really shouldn't go for so long without posting. I tend ramble when I finally get around to writing something. Hope all of the above actually seems cohesive.

Cats and Sparrows

I've had a change of heart about...cats. I've always been a dog person, and I expect that I will continue to love dogs. But in the past week, a couple of cats have started to grow on me.

I come from a long line of dog people. My grandmother was never without a small dog, which she regarded as half child. Her son, my father, dislikes cats in the extreme. My mother defied him once and brought home a beautiful kitten, fluffy grey with bright green eyes. We named her Jade. But she turned out to be a mean, hissing sort of cat and promptly unleashed a flea infestation in our entire house that took months to control. Needless to say, Jade was never a big hit with any of us. Eventually, we gave her to another, more cat-friendly home. She met with a strange demise one evening when she climbed a tree during a lightening storm. Apparently the tree she sought refuge in was struck by a bolt of lightening. Jade's new owner found her body in the backyard the next morning, stiff and electrocuted.

So anyway, fast forward to sometime last week and I had a sudden need to add a cat or two to our family. I'll spare you the strange reason that we needed a cat, but we did need one, and quickly. As usual, there was an ad in the newspaper for "kittens, free to good home." So I called the kitten's owner and made arrangements to pick out a pair of them.

My husband brought them home later that night. Two puffs of fur with big eyes, big ears and six toes apiece. Yep, you read that right. Both of the kittens have got six toes on their front paws. Sort of like the famous six-toed cats that live in Ernest Hemingway's estate in the Florida Keys. (And sort of like Ann Boleyn, a woman whose life has always intrigued me. She had six fingers.)


Despite, or maybe in addition to, their unusual paws, they are a pretty little pair of kittens. One is a dramatically marked calico, and the other is white with patches of grey stripes. Particularly when I look at the calico, I am reminded that God put together the exact combination of DNA that painted her in such a beautiful pattern. He intricately ordered the creation and formation of that little, insignificant cat. How much more He must be aware of the way He has created and formed each one of us, His precious children. You do know that God has even got a tally of the hairs on your head don't you? And that not even a common sparrow falls to the ground apart from God's sovereignty? Well, both are true. And what a comfort it brings me to know that God is perfectly aware of every perfectly tiny detail.

Matthew 10:31

"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Not even hissing, flea-infested Jade hit the ground apart from God's will. Even so, I'll be sure to keep these new cats indoors if it looks like lightening might strike.

On Bows and Rainbows

I don't have time for a "real" post right now. I've been out of town all weekend and I'm trying to play catch-up before the start of what I expect to be a super busy week. (I'm teaching Ruth Session Two on Wednesday, so please pray for me if you think of it. And I'll try to post the audio by the end of the week.)

But I wanted to share something really interesting that I heard twice this weekend, that I think you will enjoy as well.

Several weeks ago I happened to be riding through town after a wet and rainy afternoon. It was about an hour before dusk and the sky was still filled with gray, misty clouds. Suddenly, my husband pointed out an amazing sight: two full arcs of a double rainbow brilliantly displayed in the sky. I had never seen a double rainbow before, and it was breathtaking. Not only were there two visible arcs, but you could see the full arch from one end of the horizon to the other for each individual rainbow. We pulled the car over and unloaded our family in the middle of an empty parking lot just to stare at this wonder in the sky.

If you remember your Sunday School lessons, you will remember that the rainbow is endowed with special meaning by God. In Genesis 9:13-16, we read the following:

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind of the earth."

To understand the significance of this particular covenant agreement that God made between Himself and all life on earth, you need to remember what God just finished doing. We love to tell the story of Noah and his ark to our children. But how often do we point out to them that the real point of Noah and the ark was to save them from the massive wiping out of life that God purposed and performed? God literally destroyed every person and creature on earth, expect for the inhabitants of that relatively little floating capsule we call the ark.

God did not put the rainbow in the sky as a warm fuzzy feel good to make us smile and reflect kindly on Him when we happen to see one. No, He wanted to assure mankind and all of creation that He was never going to bring such a war upon them again. At least, not in the form of a flood.

While I was at a conference this weekend, the speaker made an offhand point about the shape of the rainbow. It is very similar to the spape of a bow, as in a bow and arrow. The bow and arrow are mostly employed as a sport by archers today, with perhaps some hard-core bow hunters thrown in the mix. But in the days of ancient warfare, the bow and arrow were deadly and effective weapons.

And some have speculated that when God put that bow shaped arch in the sky, He was signifying that He had hung up His weapon of war, never to use that particular one against His creation ever again. I've also heard it speculated that not only was the weapon hung upon the wall, but its curve was pointed up, toward heaven itself, instead of down to the face of the earth.

Because, you see, God did still need to declare war. A war against sin. And we all know who ended up taking the brunt of that war upon Himself. It was God, in the human flesh of Jesus Christ. God put all of His holy wrath upon Himself in order to redeem His fallen children. And that is why the "bow" of the rainbow pointed up to the sky. It was a reminder, a promise and a foreshadowing all at the same time.

Cool, huh?

The Sword of the Spirit

After Jesus was baptized, Scripture tells us, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (Matthew 4:1)

There are a few things in just that one sentence that are pretty interesting. Did you notice that Jesus temptation was not outside of God's plan, but seems to actually be part of it? After all, it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus out there into the wilderness. He wasn't tempted to journey out there by Satan. God planned that it would happen exactly as it did happen.

We know from James 1:13, which says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He Himself tempt anyone", that obviously God was not the one who tempted Jesus. And in fact, God never tempts anyone. But is seems pretty clear that God allows us to be tempted, just as here He allowed Jesus to be tempted. I find that comforting. God is sovereign even over my temptations. They don't catch him by surprise.

But what happens next, in the account of Jesus temptation in the wilderness, is equally fascinating.

First of all, let me just say, that sometimes the Bible understates things to the point of humor. I don't mean to be irreverent about God's Word, but when I read Matthew 4:2, I just had to grin.

"And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry."

You think? I'd say something more like, "He was starving to death" or "He was famished." But, still, we get the point; Jesus was feeling real, physical, (probably) overwhelming, hunger.

I'm trying really hard to stay on my message here, and I haven't even gotten to it yet. But this section of Scripture is just full of interesting things, and I can't help but point some of them out. Like, for instance, did you notice that Jesus fast lasted for 40 days? Does that number sound familiar for some reason? How about the length of time that it rained in the days of Noah? Or, how about the number of years that Israel wandered in the wilderness before entering the promised land?

But here is the what I really wanted to point out. Satan tempts Jesus three times and with three different sins. But each and every time, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, refutes Satan by quoting Scripture. He uses the same defense against temptation that is available to every single one of His children: Scripture.

When Satan tempts Jesus to exhibit a lack of faith in God's physical provision for Him, by turning stones into bread, Jesus says:

"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4) This is a quote of Deuteronomy 8:3.

When Satan tempts Jesus to pridefully prove that He has the power of God to call angels at His whim, by telling Him to throw himself off of the temple wall, Jesus says:

"It is written, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:16.

And finally, when Satan tempts Jesus with an offer of kingship, a way to rule the earth without suffering on the cross, if only Jesus will bow down and worship Satan, Jesus replies:

"Away with you Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD you God, and Him only you shall serve.'" This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20.

Now, if that is not sufficient motivation for all of us to get to know and understand Scripture, let me point out one more thing. And this last bit kind of gives me chill bumps when I think about the potential damage it can cause.

In this encounter between Satan and Jesus, Jesus is not the only one who quotes Scripture. Satan does the same thing. Only when Satan quotes Scripture, He does it out of context and twists its intended meaning.

When Satan tempts Jesus the second time, by suggesting that He throw Himself off of the temple wall and call on angels to rescue Him, He adds this little barb:

Matthew 4:5-6

"If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over You,'

and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Satan is quoting Psalm 91 to Jesus. The problem is, Satan is quoting it in exactly the opposite way it was intended. Psalm 91 is a declaration of trust in the care and provision of the LORD. It contains that famous verse, "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, In Him I will trust." (Psalm 91:2)

When Satan tempts Jesus to throw Himself off of the temple wall, He is tempting Jesus to test God, instead of have faith in God. Testing God is a result of little faith, not a result of great faith.

I don't know about you, but I find it startling and disturbing that Satan quotes Scripture. And if Satan can know and quote Scripture, twisting the truth right out of it, then we can be sure that Satan's servants can as well.

Let me counter that statement by saying that Jesus is already declared victorious. The battle has been won, and Satan has been defeated. He is still our enemy, and he can still cause us harm, and we need to be wary of him, and his servants.

But we have God on our side. And we shouldn't forget that. And, we shouldn't forget that God has provided us with an extremely powerful weapon against evil: the sword of the Spirit: God's Word.

But the sharpest, most lethal sword in the world isn't going to do you any good sitting up on a shelf collecting dust. The more time you spend with your sword, the more precise you will become in defeating the enemy.

Ephesians 6:17

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"

The Potter and the Clay

This is the third of a three part series. I recommend that you read Apocalypto and The Babes of Nineveh before reading this post.


Thank you brave readers, to those of you who left a response to my last post. I'm pretty impressed with how easily you hit the nail on the head. The answer to the question that I posed in The Babes of Nineveh does indeed boil down to God's sovereignty.


Of course, to say that God is sovereign covers a lot of things with one overriding general statement. But there is a specific aspect of God's revealed, sovereign character that I think we have to grasp; in order to understand the dilemma that naturally occurs when we compare the outcome of God's dealings with the Ninevite babies and the Amalekite babies.


It is this: Yahweh is a choosing God.


Now, even if you are a Christian who rejects the idea of predestination, etc, hear me out here. I'm not trying to win a theological argument. I'm just pointing out what is obvious from the Bible. God's choosing nature is so woven into the fabric of Scripture that it is hard to think of Him as a God who doesn't choose. From the very beginning, we see that God chose Abram, later to be renamed as Abraham, as the father of His people. God chose Isaac over Ishmael. God chose Jacob over Esau. God chose the nation of Israel, not the other way around.

In all of the history of God's dealings with humanity, it is God who chooses whom He will reveal Himself to, or speak through, or use as a tool to accomplish His plan. It is God who chooses. There are plenty of verses that immediately spring to mind, like Isaiah 43:10,

"You are my witnesses,' says the LORD,
and my servant whom I have chosen,'"


So when you try to decipher how it is that God could bring wrath on the babies in Amalek, and spare the babies in Nineveh, you simply accept this fact: God chose to bring down wrath on one and show mercy to the other.


"But, duh!" you are thinking, "we already knew that! What we want to know, what we need to know, the question that keeps us up at night is: WHY????"


It is tempting to demand an answer to that question. Fortunately, God, through the apostle Paul, addresses this specific issue. Let's take a look at Romans 9. I'm going to go ahead and copy a pretty long section of Scripture, because all of it is so on topic. Usually I just give you a verse or two, but I feel like I would be cheating you if I did that here.

(The first verse where we pick up reading is referring to Rebecca, when she was pregnant with the twins Jacob and Esau.)

Rom 9:11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),

Rom 9:12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER."

Rom 9:13 As it is written, "JACOB I HAVE LOVED, BUT ESAU I HAVE HATED."

Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

Rom 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION."

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I HAVE RAISED YOU UP, THAT I MAY SHOW MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED IN ALL THE EARTH."

Rom 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

Rom 9:19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"

Rom 9:20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"

Rom 9:21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?


What I want you to focus on is found in verses 20 and 21. The gist of which is this--who do you think you are to question God? Doesn't God have the power to do whatever He wants to with His own creation?


It may be that we have a hard time letting God be God and letting us be...well, the creature. We want to demand that God satisfy OUR sense of justice and OUR sense of mercy. But according to the Bible, even our sense of what is fair is wrong.


Ezekiel 18:29


"Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?"


This exact same sentiment is repeated in the book of Ezekiel 4 times! God is the one who is fair. It is we who have the wrong idea of fair and unfair. Even when it comes to those babies. Whatever God chose to do with them was perfectly fair, in God's perfectly fair judgment, and His perfectly fair sovereignty. If it seems unfair to us, then we are the ones with the problem, not God.


Exodus 34: 6-7


"And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."

I'm having some weird spacing issues with Blogger today. My apologies if this post looks odd.

The Babes of Nineveh

If you haven't read yesterday's post, Apocalypto, you might want read it before you read this post.

Of all the events in the Old Testament, I think the hardest to comprehend is when God either kills a child (as in David and Bathsheba's child through adultery) or orders that children be killed, as He did during the conquest of Canaan, and in the early years of the Jewish monarchy.

I brought the topic up yesterday, but I have some more thoughts, and a different Biblical example, to share. It has to do with Jonah, and the task he was given to preach repentance to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. Most of you are probably familiar with the part of Jonah's story that involves the belly of the great fish. But today, I want to talk about what happened after that unhappy-for-Jonah encounter.

The whole reason that Jonah ended up as almost-fish-food is because he didn't want to do what God expressly ordered him to do: Go and tell the city of Nineveh that God intended to destroy them for their great evil. You can hardly blame poor Jonah. The Ninevites, who were Assyrians, were legendary for their gross cruelty. They did things like skin prisoners alive, put out eyes, pull out tongues, disembowel children, and cut open pregnant women. (Excuse me while I gag in horror.) Oh, another favorite tactic was impaling people on sharp sticks through their, ehem, back parts, and letting them die slowly. All in all, a very gentle and pleasant ancient culture.

Despite Jonah's attempts to flee, he eventually does comply. He goes to the city, walks through it and cries out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4)

So do the Ninevites get ticked, lay hands on him and commit one of their famous atrocities? No, instead, and totally unexpectedly to Jonah, they actually repent. Even the king puts on sackcloth, sits in ashes and decrees a fast, in order that God might repent of destroying them.

And God does relent. He decides not to destroy Nineveh after all. Jonah, however, does not relent. He is furious. So furious, in fact, that he tells God to go ahead and kill him!

But I'm getting sidetracked here. The real point of this post is to be found in the very last verse of the book of Jonah.

(God responds to Jonah's anger)

Jonah 4:11

"And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?'

Now that is interesting. Totally apart from their repentance, because, after all, how can an infant or very young child repent, particularly when they have not actively committed the atrocities their forefathers are famous for; God gives the great number of babies and children living in Nineveh as part of the reason He will have mercy instead of bring down destruction.

So what is the difference between those babes in Nineveh and those babes in Amalek? Thought provoking isn't it?

Both were born to wicked and cruel parents. Both were born to the enemies of Israel. Both came from cultures that worshiped pagan gods. Why spare one set of babes, and bring down wrath on another?

I have a neat little answer in my head, and it doesn't have anything to do with the repentance of the Ninevite parents by the way. But, really, I'm more curious to hear what your answers might be. Tell me what you think. I promise I won't bite. Or skin you alive.

Always Be Prepared

I've been thinking a lot since yesterday. I suppose that the visit I had from the Jehovah's Witnesses may have been as much for my benefit as anything else. I promise I'm not going to let this blog shift its focus onto apologetics. (Apologetics, by the way, is the reasoned arguments that you provide to defend your faith, that is not the formal definition, but I think it works just fine. In other words, it is the reasoning that explains why you believe what you believe.)

But, ladies, I came to realize something yesterday. Far too many of us are woefully ignorant of Scripture. And I feel the need to gently fuss about it.

My misguided visitors were rather surprised when I not only opened the door and spoke to them, but when I also proved to know a thing or two about the Bible. If their reaction is to be trusted, this is a rare occurrence. Shame on us!

I know all the arguments against engaging the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons who come knocking: they have memorized their doctrine and the Bible verses that appear to support them, their logic is intentionally tricky and they might manage to confuse you, you won't change their mind anyway, so why bother.

But I'm afraid there are two bigger reasons we don't open the door. One, we don't really care about the lost souls on our front porch who are earnestly heading straight toward eternal damnation. That is simply terrible! Second, we don't know how to make a reasoned defense of our faith, and so we are afraid to even try. This is just as bad!

In 1 Peter 3:15, we are told, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;." (emphasis mine) I know that some people see this verse as encouragement to freely give your personal testimony. But even the Buddhist can give an honest and genuine testimony. That doesn't make his faith true, it just means that he really, sincerely believes it. We, who posses the truth, must be able to provide more than just our personal experience. We must be able to assert the authority of Scripture.

Now, don't think I'm going to fuss at you today without giving you a little help in the right direction. I can't pretend that I've memorized every single section of Scripture that points to, or explicitly claims, or obviously shows, the divinity of Christ. I did read many of them today, but in a pinch, I doubt I would be able to recall them immediately.

But I did see something that I thought I could remember, and you can too. Any one of you who read this blog can remember two numbers: 20:28.

That's right, before I even tell you what the verses are or what book they are in, I want you to make yourself a giant mental sticky note: 20:28. Say it out loud, write it down, or whatever helps you to remember. 20:28.

OK, now, remember this: the last and the first. That's easy isn't it? We are going to find our key verses in the last of the Gospels, which is John, and the first book that comes after them, which is Acts. John and Acts, got it?

Here we go:

John 20:28

"And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

In this verse, Thomas explicitly calls Jesus not only Lord, as he was accustomed to calling him prior to this point, but he also explicitly calls Jesus "God." The Greek word used here for God is "theos." And in your Bible this word is translated with a capital "G" not a small "g." That means God as in the one true God: Jehovah. Now, it is true that elsewhere in the Bible, this exact same word is translated with a little "g." But even if that were the proper translation, it doesn't matter. Because in the very next verse, John 20:29, Jesus commends Thomas for believing that He is God. Jesus cannot possibly be sinless as a man, AND accept worship as God. He must be either God, or a sinner.

You may get some convoluted argument about mistranslations, misunderstandings, etc. But stick to your guns. Either Jesus has just committed a sin by accepting worship as God, or Jesus is sinless AND IS GOD. The text is plain and speaks for itself.

Then we have Acts 20:28:

"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (emphasis mine)

This one is simple. Here we have it explicitly stated that God purchased the flock (that would be the church) with HIS OWN BLOOD. This must mean that the blood which Jesus shed was the blood of God. Jesus, must therefore, be God.

Let me tell you, I've looked at so many Bible verses today pertaining to the divinity of Christ that my head started to spin at one point. I am realistic enough to realize that not all of you are going to do the same thing. But really, if you can remember these two addresses (verses) you are well on your way to being able to defend the divinity of Christ.

So, please, next time, open your door, too. Don't view the person on the other side as a threat. Allow the Holy Spirit to use you. Show love, be polite, be gentle and respectful. But be prepared to show the truth. Even if it goes badly, and you feel like you botched the whole thing, it is good practice. You can do better next time. More importantly though, it is not up to you to be perfect or to know every detailed argument. The Holy Spirit is the one who works in people's hearts to lift the veil and reveal the truth. It's an amazing privilege to be used by Him in the process. So even if you bumble and stutter and feel ignorant, fear not. If God has a purpose, it will be fulfilled, regardless of your abilities or lack thereof.

And don't forget: 20:28, the last and the first. How hard is that?

P.S. To my regular readers: I am well aware that this post may attract some strange comments. It's OK if that happens. They are welcome to read my post, but I really wrote it for all of you who normally drop by for a visit.

Immanuel

In the second chapter of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He is so troubled by this dream that he is unable to sleep. He calls all of the magicians and sorcerers of his court to come before him and explain this dream to him.

Only it would seem the King had reason to believe that his “wise men” were full of baloney. He tells them that not only must they explain the meaning of his dream, but they must also tell him what happened in the dream. And if they can’t deliver, then they are all going to be cut to pieces and their houses will be turned into heaps of ash. Sounds like a nice boss, huh?

You can imagine that the sorcerers and magicians were pretty upset by the request, because they certainly had no ability to tell him the contents of his dream. And so they responded to him in part by saying, “It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Daniel 2:11, italics mine)

Those sorcerers were dead wrong.

God does indeed dwell with us, and at a specific point in history, He even came to earth and dwelt with us in the flesh. Check out these two verses:

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Mat 1:23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which is translated, "God with us."

Don’t miss the last few words in the verse from Matthew. Immanuel is literally translated, “God with us.”

This is probably one of those ideas that you have heard so many times it has become sort of rote. You say it or express it or read it, perhaps without thinking through what it actually means. God is with us. God is with me, as in right now while I am typing this post. And He will be with me all night long while I sleep in my bed. Tomorrow as well, as I, hopefully, play tennis and get some cleaning and laundry done. Even in those mundane moments, God is WITH me.

And there is more. On the day I almost bled to death, God was with me. On the day I had a hissy fit and kicked my kitchen cabinets, God was with me. As a child, when I flew away from a country and a life that I loved, never expecting to return to either one again, God was right there with me. Even as I was being knit together in the womb of my mother; God was there alongside my unformed frame. In all of the years that followed, even in the years that I didn’t want much to do with God, He was with me. What a thought.

There was a time when all of this “withness” would make me uncomfortable to think about. Because if God has been with me through it all; He has also seen it all. And some of it wasn’t very pretty. OK, most of it wasn’t pretty. Fine! All of it!

But I don’t even worry about that anymore. Honestly, I have made peace with the past. I know that my sins are forgiven. Not just kind of forgiven, but removed from me as far as the east is from the west. That’s a long way. And I have let the concept of grace sink deep down into my bones. But, I digress.

As I go about my day tomorrow, I am going to make a concerted effort to focus on the fact that God is with me every moment. I’m not expecting tomorrow to be any kind of extraordinary day, but you never know. As long as God is with me, I suppose anything could happen.

Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

Matthew 28:20 “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

(emphasis mine)

Happy Birthday to ME!

Y'all, this post is totally self indulgent. But it's my birthday today, and I just wanted to brag about it a little bit. And I wanted to brag about my husband, who gave me a very nice gift, which I wasn't expecting at all.

In honor of my birthday, I think we should all spend some time reflecting on these verses:

Psalm 71:6

"By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother's womb.
My praise shall be continually of You."

Psalm 22:9-10

"But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts.
I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb
You have been My God."

(OK, did you notice all of the capital letters there? This whole Psalm is a peek forward to the birth and suffering of Christ.)

And finally:

Psalm 139:13-16

"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet were none of them."

Unchangeable

There is a really big word that means God does not change. Immutable. That is the fancy word. But if you don't get into theology and its sometimes extremely complicated terminology, then you can just understand the definition of the word: God has never, and will never change. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

That means that the same God who walked with Adam in the Garden, told Noah to build the Ark, revealed Himself to Abraham and appeared to Moses in the burning bush is the exact same God that you and I pray to today. Talk about an incomprehensible idea. I have a hard enough time wrapping my mind around the fact that God was never created, He has always existed outside of of time and history (2 Pet 3:8.) Then, He never changes either?

I know that it is tempting to think that God somehow "changed" between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but He didn't.

Here are a few verses to consider.

Psalm 90:2

"Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting You are God."

From that we see that God existed apart from, and before, the earth was created. He has existed and will exist, from everlasting to everlasting.

In Hebrews 6:17, God's counsel is described as immutable. There is our big word again. The exact phrase is "the immutability of His counsel." All that means in easy language, is that God's purposes are unchangeable. The author of Hebrews is using the phrase to describe why God swore by Himself when He made His covenant with Abraham.

God wanted us to know that His covenant with Abraham was so infallible that He gave it a double security. Not only did God say it, and we know that God only speaks truth (John 17:17). But He also swore by Himself. Humans swear by a higher power when they make an oath. For God, there is no higher power, so instead He swore by His unchangeable and eternal nature.

So if God exists in eternity, and His purposes are never changed, then why would it follow that He or any part of Him would ever change? It just doesn't.

What did change was God's revelation to mankind. When Jesus came and sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins, a new covenant was ushered in. Just as God divided the sacrificial animals and walked through their blood when He entered into covenant with Abraham (Gen 15:9-17), Jesus blood marked the onset of a new covenant for God's people.

Here is where it gets complicated, and way beyond the scope of this post to fully explore. The old covenant, the covenant of works, did not become void. What that means is that perfect righteousness, perfect adherence to the law, did not become unnecessary. All of those things are still required in order for us to receive the privilege of not only being reconciled to God, but being able to call on Him as our loving Abba Father.

Instead of becoming void, the old covenant of works became completed. Jesus fulfilled the old covenant by perfectly adhering to all of its (impossible for us) requirements. And then, oh! then! he credited His perfect work to us by covering us with His holy and righteous blood. It will never get better than that.

And so now, even though God has never changed, and He is the exact same God whose holiness demanded that he call up the Babylonian armies to utterly destroy His beloved Jerusalem, we are able to curl up on His lap as cherished children without any fear. We are able to take the most minute concern to Him in prayer, and He will hear us without fail. Because when He looks at us, we are perfect and holy. We are just as righteous in His sight as Jesus is.

No, God has never changed. And neither has His overwhelming love for us.

Jeremiah 31:3

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."

Be Still and Know

Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!"

If you are anything like me, you have heard this verse many times. And you have probably heard it used to convey the idea that when we are still and quiet, we can "hear from God." Or maybe it was used to encourage you to go to a quiet, still place to pray.

Would you be shocked if I told you that the verse has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with getting still, peaceful and quiet so you could hear from God?

The first time I read Psalm 46 in its entirety, I suspected that somehow verse 10 tended to be misapplied. You see, Psalm 46 is about God's strength and His glory and His power. It is a picture of His ability to totally vanquish His enemies. It also illustrates His sovereignty over the outcome of situations that are frightening to us.

We should see this from the way the Psalm starts out in verse 1:

"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in time of trouble."

The focus is on God and His strength, His ability to provide refuge for us in times of trouble. In verses 2 and 3, great turmoil is described, with images of mountains falling into the sea, the earth being moved and the oceans roaring and troubled. And even in all of that, we are not to fear.

In verse 6, entire nations are raging, and kingdoms are rising and falling, and against all of this, God simply utters His voice. That small act of uttering the voice is so powerful that the earth melts in response. Whoa. All of the fury and power of the kingdoms of earth cannot even begin to withstand the power of God when He only opens His mouth and utters.

In verse 7 we are reminded that this same God, whose utterance of voice can melt the earth, is with us. He is our refuge. So what on earth should we be afraid of? If such a holy, consuming fire is on our side, what can possibly bring us harm?

Verses 8 and 9 again display God's mighty power. He makes desolations in the earth. He causes wars to cease. He is the one who thwarts all the weapons that man can create-bows and spears and chariots. They are all completely useless against God!

So why, then, does it make any sense at all, that suddenly in verse 10, we should associate the words "Be still and know that I am God," with quietness and meditation? That would be taking the verse totally out of the context of the rest of the Psalm.

Even the rest of the verse, "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth," is all about God's awesome power and glory. Not at all about us. And certainly not at all about us praying and "hearing from God."

I thought we should understand it to mean something more along the lines of: I am all-powerful! I am all-glorious! I will make myself known and exalted! Therefore, you small person without power and without glory, you be still and see ME in all of my power and all of my glory. THEN, remember that I am for you and against your enemies, and have NO fear. I can defeat them with only the power of my voice.

That's what I thought anyway. But then I read some commentary. And almost every single commentary I read said that we should understand the words, be still, as addressed to God's enemies, not God's people. Huh. That makes even my initial interpretation way off the mark.

It makes the sense of the verse more like this: All of you enemies of Me and My people, just be still, stop resisting. The outcome is certain. I will be victorious, I will be the one exalted. You will be defeated, and My children will be safe.

Who knew? I guess that is the trouble we can get ourselves into when we hear verses over and over again out of their context and start assigning meaning to them based on what they seem to be saying. It makes a strong case for opening up our Bibles and reading passages in the context in which they were meant to be understood. I've always known that, but even I was surprised at how off base the common understanding of this verse was.

Or maybe it was just me? Did all of you already know this?

By the way, this Psalm is the inspiration for the hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." It's one of my favorites.

Purchase Power

I have pretty much been crying on and off all day now. I'm going to get a headache in a little while that will probably ruin the rest of the afternoon. I'm not too excited about the headache, but the crying, well, its been the good kind, the kind that wells up inside you and refuses to be ignored. The crying that happens when you realize something so wonderful that it overwhelms you; and the only thing you can think to do in response is cry like an idiot.

It all started this morning when I read Isaiah 49.

Isaiah 49: 5-6

"'And now the LORD says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,
And My God shall be my strength),
Indeed He says,
'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

Notice all of the capital letters in those verses. The Servant, the I, the Me, the one speaking here is Jesus.

I saw something in verse 6 that I'd never thought about before. The purchase price that Jesus Christ paid on the cross was too valuable to only redeem the nation of Israel. This would have been a revolutionary idea in Isaiah's day. The Jews understood that they were God's special and chosen people, set apart, marked off from the rest of humanity. They were right to think that way. God had declared it to them numerous times, and had given them specific laws to live by as a way of demonstrating their separateness to the rest of the world. But here, we see the LORD telling Jesus (part of Himself) that only redeeming Israel is too little to get in return for what He would do. So the Gentiles must be brought to the light as well.

Now, we know that God does not change His plan halfway through the game. Everything that has ever happened and will ever happen has been planned from the beginning. So it's not like God changed His mind and decided to throw the Gentiles in the deal at the last minute. It was part of His plan to include us all along. But I've just never seen it in this light before.

Which serves to illustrate an important point that seems to get overlooked a lot. This idea does an interesting thing. You see, this equation was never about our value, it was about God's value. It turns our perspective from ourselves back to God, which is where it should be anyway. So much of what we are exposed to encourages us to appreciate how much God loves us personally. That is important, don't get me wrong here, it is certainly part of the whole. But the part that gets overlooked, I'm afraid, is that God is about more than just loving us, He is always after His own glory. In everything.

This may be a subtle point, but I think its valid. Christ's worth is so infinitely valuable that we cannot even comprehend it. But one way God has tried to point us toward understanding it is by showing how much needed to be bought in order for the sacrifice of His son to be made. The Jews just weren't enough to make the trade worthwhile. Christ was too valuable. More had to be acquired for such a precious price to be given.

AND, not only does this high cost help us to understand Christ's worth, it brings Him glory as well. When we understand who God is and what He is, we glorify Him. Bringing glory to God simply means that we reflect His worth back to Him. The better we understand God, the more we can glorify God.

Boy I hope I expressed that in a way that makes sense. If I sound like I'm talking in circles, just let me know. I'll try to clarify.

There is so much more I want to share with you about Isaiah 49. These two verses aren't even the ones that made me cry. I'll try to get up another post this weekend. Maybe tomorrow I'll have settled down enough to express my thoughts clearly.

Other Masters

Isaiah 26:12-14

"LORD, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works in us.
O LORD our God, masters besides You
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.
They are dead, they will not live;
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore you have punished and destroyed them.
And made all their memory to perish."



I am currently experiencing a fairly peaceful time in my life. I don't have any major crisis looming on the horizon at the moment. More important than my current peaceful circumstances, however, is the state of my heart. My heart is at peace. I have not always been able to say that. In fact, I spent many years of my life with no peace at all.

You might think the reason my heart is at peace is because my current circumstances are peaceful. But I know that's not true, because I know my heart well enough to realize that it would FIND something to be disturbed over if I gave it free reign. But you see, that is the secret. I don't let my heart go off on wild tangents anymore, wishing and seeking and desiring things that God has not given to me.

I can only accomplish that control of my heart because God has come in and established his authority over my life, thus removing my responsibility to satisfy myself. I know that whatever comes to me in this life, is God's perfect plan. And I also know that he only purposes good toward me. Now, God's good purposes don't always feel very good at the time I'm experiencing them, but I know that they are all for my good and for God's glory.


Verse 12 in the above Scripture passage says, "You will establish peace for us." God will do it! Thankfully, because I'm pretty sure we are inept at establishing peace for ourselves. The verse goes on to say, "You have also done all our works in us." An alternate translation offers, "You have also done all our works for us." God can and will do it, all of it, Himself. But there is another part of the equation that has to balance out first. That is the issue of authority, or masters, if you will.

You can see the confession in verse 13, "O LORD our God, other masters besides You Have had dominion over us." Umm Hmm. You all know what Isaiah is talking about. Ever had another master? How about wealth, or popularity, or physical beauty, or control, or relationships, or fear, or pride, or anger, or unforgiveness. I could go on. You get the idea.

There are countless things that we chase after and worship besides God. Or, that we cling to tightly and refuse to let go of, even though we know that we should. We can't help ourselves really, it is part of our nature apart from God's redeeming work in us. See for yourself in the next verse, "But by You only we make mention of Your name." Only by God's power do we even know enough to make mention of His name, much less cast of the oppression of other masters. How humbling is that!

And what about these other masters? When God gets to work establishing Himself as our authority and our master, what becomes of them? We can see clearly in verse 14, "They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore you have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish." That sounds like a total victory to me.

So what do you do if you find yourself unable to stay in the place of victory? What if you find yourself creeping back under the authority of another master? Well, this very issue is fresh on my mind right now. One of the biggest victories God has ever given to me is control of my thought life. There are literally dozens of lies that I have overthrown in the battle to reclaim my thoughts, and it took several years for it to happen.

But this past weekend I found myself slipping back into a pit I thought I had sealed off for good. It wasn't a fun realization. I was so tempted to indulge it. Because in the short term, those other masters aside from God can seem like great fun. But in the end you always find yourself back in a pit, far away from the joy and peace that God promises.

What did I do? Several things. First, I pinpointed the lie that was masquerading as truth. Then I followed my sinful train of thought through to the ultimate conclusion it would bring. I prayed (many times) that God would take control of my thoughts again. I repeated the truth that spoke against the lie over and over in my mind. And, as a very practical matter, I spent time listening to Christian music, instead of indulging my thought life, even singing out loud if needed. So far it is working. I can't promise the thoughts won't creep in again. But when they do, God has armed me with the weapons to fight them.

There will never come a time in my life when I have it so together that I can stop guarding against sin. In fact, I have often heard it said that Satan will step up attacks when we are becoming a threat to him. Well, whatever, I don't know if that is actually true or not. But I do know that in the book of Job, we clearly see that even Satan must ask permission from God before He does anything. (Booooo Satan!!!)


Isaiah 9: 4

"You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian."

Look, God has already done the defeating. There is no other master that can force you to stay under its control. God has broken the power of sin to hold you captive. There is only one Master, one Authority that you cannot escape, and that is Adonai, Lord and Master.

True peace apart from God is a lie. But true freedom, and peace, are found resting under the shadow of God's authority.

Captivity

Isaiah 5:13

"Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
Because they have no knowledge;
Their honorable men are famished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst."

I have really enjoyed writing this blog. It has affected me in many ways. One thing that I didn't expect was the way other people would open up to me as a result of reading about my experiences. You can't imagine how eye-opening that has been for me. Girls, we all have so many things that we struggle with in private. Not a single one of us is exempt. Just when I start to think that I am the only person in the world who needs so much help, along comes someone else who wants to open up. And I'll cry sometimes and pray. But more than anything, I'll be encouraged to keep plugging along. Because there is a solution, an answer to all of those struggles. The answer is truth, God's truth, exchanged for the lies that this world grinds into our heads.

It really does matter what you believe. I have heard lots of people say things along the lines of, "I don't think it matters what you believe about God (in other words-theology), just as long as you believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins." OK, I get that. Yes, the most basic truth in the Christian faith is important, vitally important. You will never hear me say otherwise. But, listen, the rest matters too. What you believe has a direct impact on how you live your life, how deeply you enjoy God, and your ability to serve Him.

Let me give you an example. I spend some time reading blogs that are written by other women. One blog in particular always makes me cry, because the woman who writes it seems to have gotten more than her fair share of pain in this life. Recently she shared a story of a friend who did not believe that she was saved because she could not forgive someone who hurt her badly.

Would you be able to pinpoint the error in that train of thought? If a friend came crying on your shoulder with that dilemma, could you offer her real comfort? Comfort based on truth?

Yes, truth matters. Understanding the truth of God's written, revealed Word matters. The more I learn about God, through reading the Bible, the more deeply I am affected by Him. You can be a Christian and never bother with learning any more than the basics. But don't you want more than that? Don't you want to actually enjoy the power and promises of God? How would you like to live your life like this:

Isaiah 58:10-11

"Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
The LORD will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

There is nothing I want more! And, there is nothing that I want more for other women. None of us gets to choose how we will serve God, or how He will use us for His glory. God is in complete control of that. But He has given me a passion for one specific thing--to show other Christian women the riches that are supposed to be their's in Christ. Some people have a passion for evangelism, others for hospitality or service. Me? I want to share the deep, abiding joy and passion that I have in Christ, specifically with women who are already Christians.


This statement is not meant to be applied to everyone I know. Forgive me for sounding arrogant if I do, but I see Christians all over the place who suffer from lack of knowledge about God. They are famished, and dried up with thirst just as described in Isaiah 5:13. They have no knowledge, or very little anyway. And do you know what you find every time there is lack of knowledge? Captivity. That is why truth matters. Truth is the only way out of captivity.

Isaiah 61:1

"...He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound..."

Did you know that reading this verse from Isaiah was Jesus first public declaration of who He was and why He came? You can find an account of it in Luke 4:18. Jesus proclaimed liberty. He opened the prison doors. Come on out.

I Will Cry To You

Psalm 61:2-4

"From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings."

Maybe I notice things more when I am sick, or maybe there really is a lot of pain and sorrow going on in the lives of those around me right now. I'm not sure which one it is, but I can hardly think of anyone I know without running straight into a wall of tragedy. It seems like everywhere I turn someone is going through a horrible time. And I don't mean minor ordeals, I'm talking about life shattering situations.

So what do we do with all of this pain and suffering? For the non-believer, I honestly don't know. There is no way to make sense of it. Pretending it isn't happening or somehow doesn't matter will only get you so far. Shutting down your heart and refusing to feel pain only works until the pain strikes directly at the center of your own life. Shaking your fist at God and complaining that life is unfair might make you feel better, but it still leaves you stuck in the same position. Like I said, I honestly don't know what the answer is for the non-believer.

But for the Christian, the answer is very clear. God is in control of the situation. That doesn't mean that there will be some kind of fairy tale ending, at least not in the eyes of the world. Christians still lose children, Christians still go bankrupt, Christians are deserted by their spouses, they lose jobs and homes and health. They get robbed and picked on and treated unfairly. They watch parents lose their mental health, becoming cruel and angry strangers. They see their children suffer with incurable diseases.

Psalm 62:8

"Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us."

The only thing that we can do is cry out to God, pour it all out before Him, and trust. Its tempting to do exactly the opposite--to wallow in our situation and stubbornly refuse to seek God for comfort. But if you are a Christian, God promises that there is a higher purpose. He doesn't just put us through misery for the sake of seeing us suffer. No, God always has something good in store for His children.

Psalm 66:10-12

"For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment."

Don't miss something crucial about this passage. It is God who has done these hard things. That may seem hard to swallow, but if it wasn't from God, then that means He was not in control of the situation. So yes, God did put the author through terrible tragedy, but did you see the purpose at the end? Rich fulfillment. My Bible footnotes offer the alternate translation of rich abundance. Either way, that is what God has in store for His children.

So while we are never promised an easy life, we do have two things to hold on to in the midst of difficulty. First, that God will be our refuge and strong tower if we will run to Him. He will shelter us under His wings. Second, that we will emerge from the fire as silver that has been refined, brilliant and shining, purer and more precious than before the refining took place.

And overriding both of those promises is an even more comforting promise. All of this pain and confusion is temporary. In retrospect it will seem like a vapor. Because in eternity we will enjoy perfect happiness, perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect health, pure perfection all around. That is our ending, or rather, our lasting beginning.

The Measure of My Days

Psalm 39:4-6

"LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is nothing before you;
Certainly every man at his best state is but a vapor.
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them."

The past four years of my life have been nothing short of revolutionary. So much has changed in me and about me that I would be hard pressed to detail all of it in any format that you would be willing to read. That is how much change there has been.

I'm planning to share my testimony next month in my MOPS group, and because of that I have spent a lot of time thinking about what, exactly, precipitated all of this change in my life. The big answer or course, is that God is responsible for all of it. But God has used circumstances and events to shape and mold me, because that is often how He chooses to operate. He could have thought change toward me, and it certainly would have happened. But instead, He chose the messy way--pulling me through things I would never have chosen for myself. If I were to look backward, I would see two long ruts along the way. Those would be the heels that I dug into the ground in resistance to God's shaping and pulling. But guess who prevailed? And thank goodness.

If I had to pinpoint just one thing that dramatically impacted my relationship with God, and thus my entire being, it would be the day I glimpsed my own death, and kept breathing. Now, I'll admit that I am being a tad dramatic, but not entirely. The day my first child was born, I could easily have died. If God had not graciously orchestrated events to unfold exactly as they did, it is not unreasonable to suppose that I would have bled to death.

I won't go into all of the details here and now, but suffice it to say that I suddenly and totally unexpectedly began to hemorrhage while my husband and I were on a road trip. A hospital was less than 15 minutes away when I started to bleed. But if I had convinced my husband to stop and eat lunch when I wanted to, we could have been much farther from help. God is certainly a God of details.

I have thought for a long time that it was the horrible months that followed that particular day that brought about great change. And there is no question that they did. But in retrospect, I think it was an awareness of the measure of my days, and the inherent frailty involved in that, that caused me to see this life as so passing, so transitory, like a shadow and a vapor. Tied up in that realization is a letting go of the things that I used to spend so much time, energy and emotion pursuing.

This letting go, did not happen easily or even very quickly. But it began on the day that I saw for the first time, with startling clarity, and unavoidable certainty, that my days are as handbreadths. I no longer want to busy myself in vain. I want to busy myself with things that matter, things that are true, and things that are eternal.

If I had died that day, I know that I would have gone to Heaven, because I was already a Christian, and had been for almost all of my life. But I had never done anything in this life, besides believing God, that would have eternal consequences.

But I didn't die. My days were not finished, they were given new meaning. I want them to matter. I want them to matter more than anything I have ever wanted before. Not because I want or seek anything for myself, but because I want to glorify God. I want to serve Him. Here is my heart's desire:

Psalm 40:7-10

"In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.

I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You Yourself know.
I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly."

I'll admit--sometimes this newfound passion frightens me. Sometimes I wonder if I am on the verge of becoming that woman that people avoid or find obnoxious. I have no desire to be that kind of woman. But listen, if that is what God has in store for me in order to bring Him glory, show me the dotted line. My pen is poised and ready.

Way Better Than Sleeping Beauty

We are planning a trip to Disney in the not too far off future. As part of our preparation for the trip, I've been letting my daughter watch some of the classic Walt Disney princess movies. I thought she would enjoy seeing the characters at the park if she had some idea of who they actually were.

I can tell that my "way has been narrowing," by my reaction to these stories that I used to love so much. If there was ever a die-hard princess romance fan, it was me from age 7 to about 14. Yes, really! As a 13 year old I was still enthralled by The Little Mermaid. But as I read The Little Mermaid to my daughter this past week, I was pretty horrified. Ariel blatantly rebels against her father, she keeps a treasured collection of forbidden human items and she seeks out and makes a deal with her father's enemy, the sea witch. At about this point in the story, I'm wondering to my myself: "Why, exactly, is this a character I want my daughter to admire?"

Don 't worry, I'm not a total party pooper. I kept my self righteous indignation to myself. After all, these stories are meant to be fun entertainment, not life lessons. And I loved them as a girl. So I suppose I should let my daughter have her own shot at romantic fantasy. BUT, I think I will gently add a commentary about Ariel's foolish choices, versus what God commands us to do. (Fortunately, I think my daughter is much less attracted to princesses than I was.)

All this to say, that the Bible has much better romantic love stories. And the ones in the Bible really happened, to real women. Some of them even involve princesses. They also involve truth, tension, mystery, suspense, obedience, rebellion, mercy, grace, sin, restoration, etc... In other words, they are way better than Sleeping Beauty!

A perfect case in point. I read through the book of Ruth this past week. What a delightful book! I think it is one of my new favorites. There is so much in those 4 short chapters. I'm not going to sum up the entire book in this one post, and I have written about Ruth and Naomi before.

Instead, let me extract a few of my favorite passages, and flesh them out.

Ruth 1:20-21

"But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

A jolt went through me when I read that verse. It captured, in one (well, technically two) sentences, the way I felt after my first child was born. I had left home one morning, expecting a regular day, heavily pregnant. And by that night, my child had been delivered and my arms were empty. She was in the NICU. I had been full, and suddenly I was empty. I felt like the Almighty had afflicted me and dealt bitterly with me.

Whether those emotions were justified or not, that is exactly how I felt for many months. Now, with the perspective of several years, I see that day as the beginning of amazing blessings that the LORD was waiting to pour out on me. But then, I just felt empty, and afflicted.

This whole passage comes into clearer focus if you realize that the name Naomi means "pleasant" and the name Mara means "bitter."

Another powerful verse:

(This happens when Ruth and Boaz first meet, when Boaz extends great kindness to her)

Ruth 2:10

"So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"

Whoa! Don't you feel like that sometimes when you approach God? I do. Why should God take notice of me? I am a foreigner. In more ways than one. I'm a Gentile, I was born under wrath by nature, I certainly have never done anything that would deserve God's grace. And yet, He has extended it to me, overwhelmingly.

I'm going to share one more verse, this time one that just made me smile. This verse is Naomi speaking to Ruth, after Ruth has gone to Boaz and asked him to become her husband and through her, provide Naomi with an heir (since both of Naomi's own sons had died.) It was the tradition of the day that if a married man died childless, his closest male relation would take the widow as a wife and any children born from their union would be considered the heir of the dead man. Got that? Yeah, I know, it's hard for us 21st century gals to relate.

Ruth 3:18

"Then she said, "Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day."

That just cracks me up. I think it must have been obvious to Naomi that Boaz was smitten with Ruth. After all, we know that Ruth was lovely, that she was hard working, and that she was well known as a "virtuous woman." Being called a virtuous woman in Ruth's day expressed the same sentiment that was meant when a man was called "a man of great wealth." In other words, it was very high praise indeed. I just love the picture of a smitten Boaz, deliberately setting out to clear the final hurdle that lay between him and claiming Ruth as a wife. If you want the details, Read chapter 4. Boaz was a pretty crafty guy.

And to top off the book of Ruth, we even have a fairy tale ending. Ruth and Boaz get married, and Ruth becomes pregnant with a son, providing Naomi with an heir. The best part of all? Ruth, who started out as a foreigner, a Moabite, gets grafted in to the family line of the King of Kings--Jesus. Wow. Disney ain't got nothin on God.