Two Things....

Two Things… Two things my friends, that I believe we all ought to remind ourselves of daily. These two things are not mutually exclusive, but must be recalled in due course, and in the light of one another.

These two things are the fact that God is far Above us, but we are not Beneath Him… Sound paradoxical? I will explain in due course.

God dwells in a place of His own, outside of time, He created everything, and is over everything supreme and sovereign. He controls all and knows all, and there is not one thing that happens that He does not know of. 

He is beyond us in every way, the universe, with all of its vastness, sits easily in the palm of His hand, and every galaxy, planet, and star is kept in place by Him.

Psalm 113:4-6 “The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?”

If God must look far down to see the heavens, which to us are unreachable heights, then how far above us must He be? Many times in Scripture He is described as high and lifted up. Indeed one of His attributes, His Holiness means that He is completely set apart from us, outside of what we can comprehend. 

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Which one of us can think like God? Which one of us can plan every event in history or describe every natural process of this world? None of us can. But God, who crafted it all could, should He wish to. 

Isaiah 40:21-23 “Do you not know? Do you not hear?  Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.”

Are you beginning to understand? God is High and Lifted up, not like us, indeed so unlike us that in His presence Isaiah thought he would come apart at the seams. In the light of God’s glory we would melt away into nothing, for before His glory we are as nothing. 

Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!””

Isaiah saw the barest fraction of God’s glory, and it was enough to force the realization of not only his humanity, but his mortality. Isaiah’s very soul was moved at the sight of God’s throne, and woe to us if we are too hard of heart to understand why. 

God is glorious! 

We cannot fully fathom Him though we were to try for millennia. We cannot reach Him, though we explore the furthest reaches of space. With Him is true wisdom, and it is the only place She can be found.

Job 28:20-28 ““From where, then, does wisdom come?  And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.

Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ 

“God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth  and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.

And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’””

Can any of us say that? 

No, I daresay, none of us who are in right control of our minds can. 

To sum all of this up, when we remember these things, in order to gain a proper perspective of where we stand in the face of God’s majesty, we must simply ask the question God posed to Job in Job 38:4-7

““Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it?

On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Where were you? Ah yes, not even created yet. And who created you? 

God did, and He doesn’t need you, He didn’t need to create us, He wanted to.

 

Psalm 50:12-15 ““If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls  or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.””

God doesn’t need us, we need Him. We were created for His glory, not for ours.

 

Isaiah 43:6-7 “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,

everyone who is called by my name,  whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Do not think for a single moment that this life, your life is yours to live as you please. 

You were given it; it was formed by God to bring glory to His name, not yours.

Now… If you feel sufficiently humbled, we can move on, if not, read the top section again and again until you do, and if you still don’t understand, then something is wrong with your heart, something only God can fix, a heart of stone only God can break, and I pray for you. 

However, if you do understand, if you do feel humbled by how high God is above us, we may move on. God is certainly high Above us, but I tell you this for your comfort dear Christian, we are not Beneath Him. 

I will explain. 

Psalm 103:13-17 “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,”

He remembers, He knows us, He made us, we are His children. That is what I mean, that we are not beneath Him. 

You see, He is high and lifted up, the Creator of everything including you and I, but He created us to dwell in fellowship with Him, but in our sin we cannot, for He is Holy and Perfect.

All of that is paid for in Christ—Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

We are now reconciled to the place we should be, the only place we must be, that is, near God, the one who made us and remembers us, who protects us and loves us. Like a Shepherd with His sheep.

 

Psalm 23:1-4 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;  your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

See that? The same humble dependence we must have is that of a sheep on its Shepherd. We were created to be dependent on God, and to find our joy in trusting in Him, but to get to that place, we first must recall that He is glorious and mighty.

We have to remember that He is God.

Only then, can we understand what it is to trust in Him. 

Psalm 34:8-10 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

In order to take hold of these benefits, we must first seek the Lord, and to do that, we must first remember that He is Holy, and Set Apart, High and Lifted up, and never to be taken lightly or for granted. He doesn’t need you to be complete, He is complete in Himself, but you need Him to be.

Psalm 139:1-6 “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

This must be our response.

Understanding that God is Holy and in light of that understanding that we are needy and therefore from that place of neediness finding that everything we need has been abundantly and lovingly provided for in the Lord Christ Jesus. 

Humble yourselves and worship my friends, it is what you were made for, and in so doing, you will find all that you need, basking in the light of God’s glory, and His love and care. 

Remember, we may not understand how, but God’ glory and His love are not mutually exclusive, He is both too High for us to understand, and so Personal that He is near us every day, and knows every step we take in this life. 

Psalm 139:13-16 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

I hope that these Two Things remind you of how Awesome our God is, and how weak and needy we all are before Him. He knows we are dust, and He provides for us all that we need. 

Bowing in humility, and Basking in His Glory,

--The Scribe

The (Un)Blemished Bride

What do we think of when we think of a bride? I pray that the first thing that comes to mind is pure white, the dress that symbolizes purity and innocence, as well as the willingness of a woman to be joined to the man she loves for the rest of her life.

We think of the happiness that we pray for the beautiful bride, and the hope of a life together with her soon-to-be husband that is full of joy. But have you considered what it would be like, if the bride began to walk down the aisle, everyone stands and looks, eager to see the bride dressed in pure white, only to see in disgust that the dress is stained and dirty, the veil is torn and faded, and the bride herself looks as though this marriage will bring her nothing but misery…

Not a pleasant image is it? Consider then, my friends, the Old Testament prophet Hosea. In order to set up the story, I will give a few verses before coming to the point I wish to make in writing today.
Hosea 1:2 “When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’”

Why would God do this? Why would He command Hosea to marry someone, to pledge his life to someone, who God knows is going to be unfaithful to Hosea?

Before you become indignant or confused, recall God’s dealings with Job It is much the same. In the Scriptures, whenever God does or says something we don’t understand, it is often because God wants us to reveal something about Himself, and in Job, He wanted us to see that regardless of what may happen to us, He is faithful and we have no reason to question His judgements.

The situation is similar in Hosea, for God wants us, His people, to see something about Himself. And as with Job, He reveals it to us in His Word.

Hosea is commanded to marry a wife that God knew would be unfaithful, and told Hosea this fact. True to God’s words, Gomer, Hosea’s wife, commits adultery and runs away from Hosea. And this is what God tells Hosea to do:

Hosea 3:1-3 “And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.””

Any one of us, upon knowing that the person you are to be joined to for life, was going to be unfaithful, would abandon her on the spot. However, this is not what Hosea is to do, in spite of the heart-break he must feel, God commands him to find Gomer, not only that, to love her in spite of all she had done.

And let us recall that our eyes and minds are stained and jaded by sin and the filth of this world and its ways. To us adultery is all around, but we must not forget that it is a sin, a very serious one, and in the days of Hosea it was a crime punishable by immediate death…

This was a serious offense. And yet, God wants Hosea to redeem his wife from her trouble, and indeed to live with her again. How would you like to live next to the person who betrayed your trust so brazenly, and who spurned your love so completely, by giving it away to others who did not deserve it? Could you even look at their face?

So why do I say all of this? Why do I tell you of the life of Hosea, and ask these questions?
Well recall that God here is not being mean, He is not being unjust, and He is not doing this without purpose. He wants to show His people something through the life of Hosea. Let me finish that verse from earlier:
Hosea 3:4-5 “For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.”

God is sending a message to His People Israel, who have rebelled against God and gone after idols and false gods. Even through all God has done for them, they still forsake Him… Sound familiar?

Jeremiah 2:1-3 “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth,  your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.””

I think sometimes we think of God as some kind of machine, not the All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Ever-Being Creator of the Universe, and indeed, even if we think of Him as the Creator and Ruler, do we think of Him as a husband, The Lover of our souls?

This is how He thinks of us. His people Israel were special, holy, set-apart for God’s purpose and pleasure, to love Him and Him alone above all else, and to follow His Word which He personally gave to them.

There is a long history of God’s faithfulness to His people in the Old Testament, and yet the constantly turn aside, become like the other nations, and forsake God for worthless things.

Jeremiah 1:4-8 “Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through,  where no man dwells? And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me;  the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.”

God, both here, and in Hosea is expressing His love for His people, and because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are now counted as part of God’s people, set apart for His purpose, meant to be holy as He is holy.

But the truth of the matter is, we still sin, we still run aside to other things, in spite of all of God’s faithfulness, and His love and grace being proven again and again, we still think that something else will satisfy us more, or love us better. And the truth of the matter is, nothing can satisfy us other than God, and nothing on this earth was meant to.

We were created for Him, and by Christ’s blood are reconciled to Him, for His glory, and our joy, though we may not realize it.

God wants us to come back to Him, to forsake our sin and return to Him.

Isaiah  55:6-7 ““Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way,  and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

God counts us as His Beloved Bride. He chose us before this world began to be His alone, to love Him alone, and no matter the stains of our sin He still calls to us, calling us by name, to come back to Him, and find forgiveness, repentance and satisfaction for our souls.

Don’t believe me? Trust Scripture: Isaiah 54:5-8 “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,  the God of the whole earth he is called.
For the Lord has called you  like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God .For a brief moment I deserted you,  but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.”

And again, here in Ephesians 5:25-27: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Hosea’s story is meant to convey the way God loves us, that is, He loves us as His Bride, His Wife that He set apart for His pleasure and our unmeasurable joy and happiness. And He will complete this purpose, even in spite of our sins, for we were washed in Christ’s blood that we might be reconciled to the Lover of our souls, and that we might die to sin and be His forever (Romans 6).

And if we will forsake our sins and run to our Husband, to God, who called us out of darkness and into His glorious Light (1 Peter 2:9), this is what is promised to us:

Revelation 19:6-8 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready, it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

Robed in purest white, we will be given to Christ, our Redeemer, the Lamb of God who bought us with His precious blood and rose again to defeat death, so even Death will not end our union to Him, for He loves us with an everlasting love, and nothing will even snatch us out of His hands (Romans 8:38-39).

Rejoice in His divine love for you Christian! And submit yourself in humility to His Word, for He only desires that you become His Bride, pure and blameless, and He has made the Way through His Son, Jesus Christ!

Forsake all of your idols, and whore not after any lovers, for the Husband who chose you out of all, has come to redeem His Bride, and He loves you more than anything else in all of creation. Forsake all of your sins and run into His waiting arms, for with Him is all joy and pleasure, and all blessing (Psalm 36:11).

Drink deeply of His love for you.

Part of Chris’s (Un)Blemished Bride, the Church that He rescued,

--The Scribe

God's Truth in a Lying World

This world is stained with sin, and sin breeds all kind of evil, not the least of which are the legions of falsities, and the myriads of lies. Lying is one of the sins spoken of in the Ten Commandments, and falsehood and lies are the basis by which Satan tempted Eve to disobey God’s Words to her and Adam and allowing through their rebellion, sin to enter God’s perfect Creation.

Deception is the basis by which we pervert the image of God in us, as He is Holy and there is no shadow of turning within Him, (James 1:17) no deception, no false or broken promises, and no trace at all of lying.

We live in a world full of lies and deceit, thus we must have ready and waiting all of the truth we can gain, and since I believe that the only real truth, the only true truth as it were, is the Holy Scriptures. God’s Word to us, for our instruction, correction and comfort. (2 Timothy 3:16)

In effect, there are three major types of lies that we must deal with in this dark, and deceptive world, the lies we tell ourselves, the lies that are told to us by others, and the lies that our enemy, the father of lies, tells us.

So what do I mean when I say we live in a world of lies? Well the Scriptures give us a very clear indication of my meaning.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says very clearly: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

So very plainly we see this fact, that in an increasing manner men grow less and less fond of the truth, and instead surround themselves with whatever suits their whims, and often this means deceiving themselves or simply denying the truth that clearly lay before them. (Romans 1:18-19)

Men don’t want the truth anymore, they want whatever lie suits their sinful desires at the time. Now, you may say I am being harsh, but let’s face facts, if the only real truth in this world is in fact God’s Word, then the fact remains that any other supposed truth is in fact a lie, and we know for a fact that not everyone believes in God’s Word, or even in God Himself. Thus we see quite clearly that men will go after anything they believe will benefit them, or give them the most freedom apart from God’s decree.

The real reason men reject the truth is because they reject the Author of Truth Himself, God. This can be seen in John 14:6 where Jesus explains where truth can be found, namely, in Himself.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’”

So if Christ Himself alone is THE Truth, and since He alone is also God, then when men reject truth, they are in fact rejecting a part of who God is, namely, His divine fidelity.

John 17:17, where Jesus is praying for the sake of those around Him, prays that His Father would bring them to Himself through Christ, and this is what He says: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

So now we know that God is truth, and by extension, Jesus Christ (being God in human form) is truth, and now we see that God’s Word is truth. So then, we come full circle to prove this single point: namely, that anyone who does not believe in God, is believing a lie. So the first type of lie we must face in this world full of lies, are the lies we tell ourselves, the ones our sinful hearts choose to believe over believing in the One True God.

The next type of lies we must deal with is the type that is outside of ourselves, that is, false teachings.
Galatians 1:6-9 says this, in Paul’s dealing with the false teachings of those trying to lead members of the Galatian church astray.

 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

Strong language isn't it? Even if an angel preached another gospel? Well! It would seem to me that this is a serious thing, to pervert God’s Word! False teaching is all around us, and to tie back in what I have already discussed, believing in anything besides God s in fact believing a lie. So then, if anyone teaches anything contrary to God’s Word, or His Gospel, then that person is spreading lies.
This is a serious offense, and the sad truth of the matter is that many of these people don’t know what they are doing, but those who handle the Words of God, will find themselves under greater judgement when their time before the Great White Throne comes.

James 3:1-5 “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”

 Here James is speaking to believers, to the church, so if even members of God’s household (by the grace of Christ) will be held doubly accountable for handling the Word of God with equity, how much more judgement will be reaped by those who teach falsely, as Paul said: “Let him be accursed!”

2 Peter 2:12-13 “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,”

Peter is speak directly of false prophets… Let those words sink in, they will be destroyed, along with all other creatures of darkness.

Jesus clearly states that we must give an account for every word we speak. Matthew 12:36-37 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

So then, what about the last type of lie we must endure? What does the Bible say about the father of lies, the devil?

Jesus, in John 8:44 says this to the Pharisees, who had been leading the people of Israel astray: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

So those who speak out in falsehood speak from the language of the devil himself… A heavy thought, and not one to take lightly.

Here is where we will get into fight back against these lies with the truth. We already have seen that the truth of this world will be found only in God, and in His Word, indeed since He is the embodiment of truth, He alone can lead us to it.

The first place we must go to find truth is God’s Word. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

The Word of God is the sharpest sword in existence, for I know of no other blade which can pierce straight through to the spirit. No lie can stand before this blade of God’s Word. It will cut down any falsehood, for it is given power by God’s Holy Spirit.

If the lies of this world are a fog which makes it hard to see the truth, then we must look into God’s Word to find clarity, and indeed, repentance and faith. For if we are to cut through the lies, we must not only look into the Word, but be careful to do all that is in it. For God’s truth is meant to be followed in faith, not placed on a shelf, it is our sword and armor against the lies of this world (Ephesians 6:10-17).

This fact is stated clearly by James as he ugres the believers to act upon their faith. James 1:22-25 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

So in order to fight the lies of sin, this world, and the devil, we must run to God in His Word and then act in faith upon all that He has commanded. And if we do this (by His strength alone of course, we have nothing apart from Him) we are given this sure promise:

1 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

As the waves of the lies of this world beat on the sides of our boat, we are surely as the rising sun bound and anchored to The Rock, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hear in closing the words of the hymnist: “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand!”


Stand firm in the truth,

--The Scribe

God's Goodness in This Present Darkness Part 2

In my last entry you may recall, I showed from Scripture that our question of whether or not God is good when bad things happen, I hope I revealed to you from Scripture that we have been asking the wrong initial question. Before we can believe that God is good, we must first believe that He is God...

But I won't revisit my entire last entry, you can read it for yourself if you so desire! For now, let us focus on the task at hand, that is, explaining the other half of our question. Now that we know God is God (read my last entry), we can move on to the question with which we began:

How can God be good when this world around us is full of bad things?

Well as is the way things must be done if we are to have any clarity through the fog of a sinful world, let us look at the Word of God. I know that the world around us is full of evil, terrible things that make me shudder to think of them, but has it always been this way?

The short answer is no, Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

When God first created this world it was good, and He Himself declared it to be so, and as I explained in my last discourse (part one of this discussion) it is not up to us to say anything as good, or bad, but up to God, who created it all, including you and me.

So if God declared His creation good, what happened? Well I mention this quite a bit, and I assume that many of you know the story of the Fall of man in Genesis 3. Quick recap: God gives man every plant in the garden to eat of but forbids them to eat from one, Satan takes this opportunity and makes the Eve doubt God’s goodness in denying them that one tree (though they had more than enough already) Satan tempts Eve, who gives in to doubt and commits the first sin, rebelling against God’s just decree. Thus sin entered the world, and every evil we see in the world today came with sin, including Old Death.

So sin is now here, and it is the reason that we ask: “How can God be good when there is so much evil in the world?”

It is man and the devil that are to blame for our current plight, and God, through it all has been working to restore us to Himself, where we find true joy, satisfaction and peace, but more on that later.

So for now we have this fact: God created this world good, but sin entered the world because of man’s disobedience (Romans 5:12). But does this answer the question? Not yet, Scripture has more to say about our God and whether or not He is Good.

Psalm 107:1 says this: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,  for his steadfast love endures forever!”

No need for interpretations there, the text is very clear about whether or not God is a good God, and we would do well to be convinced by such a simple promise as this glorious one. However, the fog and shadow of sin and the devil’s work in hindering us from growing close to our God is powerful, and so much more truth will I bring to the table, to convince even the most skeptical of souls. I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through me…

Psalm 145:9 takes it further, expanding God’s goodness from the individual, you, to all of His creation: “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.”

It would seem to me that the Psalmists were well convinced of the goodness of God, even in the midst of horrible trials. And yet, there is a caveat that we must see, one that is very important.

Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

No good thing… From those who walk uprightly. God’s goodness is expansive, but His favor is for those who walk according to His Word, and again, we cannot rightly question this, for we know already that He is God, and no one can question Him or say to Him “what have you done?”.

Make no mistake, any goodness we receive from God is mercy, for we do not deserve it at all, recall that in our sin we are enemies of God, and only the blood of Christ can reconcile us.

And yet, for those who do love God and serve Him there is significant promise of His goodness: here in Psalm 31:19 “Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!”

God stores up goodness to pour out again on all those who fear Him, and the Proverbs will tell us plainly that a huge part of fearing God is hating evil (Proverbs 8:13) So the evil man must not expect much more that God’s mercy that He has for the world He created. Matthew 5:45-48 “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

So God is merciful on those who are against Him (for the time being, there will be a Day of judgement: Isaiah 2:12) and He is abundantly good to those who fear Him.

James 1:16-18 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

James give this warning to assure us that nothing good can come to us apart from God, even things that at the time seem evil.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

God does not do evil, but He will work through it, and if you take issue with that statement or do not fully understand that, I implore you to find one who is wiser in the Word of God than me, and have it explained more fully.

So can God be good in a world so evil? Well, yes. Scripture is clear, God created good, it is He that defines it, indeed He IS it! The only reason there is still any good at all in this world so full of devils and sinfulness is because God remains in sovereign control over everything, even the horrible, terrible things that happen to make us question whether or not He is good.

Do not presume though, for Paul gives this warning in Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (the word ‘kindness’ in the ESV is translated ‘goodness’ in other versions)

God’s goodness is meant to lead people to repentance and faith through His Son Jesus Christ, it is not an excuse for us to go on our way, sinning as we please. God is good in this dark world, if we will only taste and see.

Psalm 34:4-10 “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” (Italics added)

Taste and see! Let there be no doubt! The Lord is Good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

 

In the words of Martin Luther in his hymn “A Mighty Fortress is our God” he writes this:

 “And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.”

Nothing can overcome His will to do good to those who love Him and follow His Word.

And if you are still not convinced, I have saved my best evidence for last.

How do we know God is good in a world that seems so bad?

Easy answer: He sent His Son, the Only One to be the propitiation (substitute sacrifice) for our sins, taking all of the blame for our sins upon Himself (speaking of Jesus Christ of course) and gave us His perfect righteousness in return. (John3:16, Romans 5:6-11; 17-19, Isaiah 53:1-12)

So is God good? Well He didn’t leave us to suffer this sinful world alone. He gave us Christ Jesus to restore us to a right relationship with Him, which we could by no means achieve ourselves as we were dead in our transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1-5) He made us alive with Christ.

There is no greater goodness that to save us from His wrath against our sins and adopt us as sons and daughters through the blood of Jesus Christ.

So is God good in a world gone bad? Well let’s ask first: “Is God God?” Yes, He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth and no one can stay His hand or say to Him “what have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)

And yes, in spite of everything, God is good, He is the only good, and apart from Him, we can have nothing that is good. (James 1:17)

So how should we respond to God’s goodness?

Well first with repentance from our sins. (Romans 2:4)

Second with humility (Psalm 119:68)

Third with faith and trust (Psalm 34)

And finally with worship (Psalm 107:1)

Psalm 107:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,  for his steadfast love endures forever!”