God Knows

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Pete

I think I do a lot better with the “thus says the Lord” prophets than I do with the “and I saw a vision” prophets. Those who declare what God has told them to declare leave us “only” with the task of how their words will be fulfilled. But those who tell us what they see, as God pulls back the veil on the supernatural, stretch our imagination as they try to describe what is often indescribable. I’m thinking that’s why my head hurts this morning as I try and pick up what Zechariah’s laying down in the opening chapters of his prophecy.

Maybe that’s why, in the midst of all I don’t quite get, I gravitate to that which seems to be clear. That while I don’t understand all the imagery used to describe the dynamics of how the spiritual realm works, I’m quick to pick up on the explanations given the prophet for what it means. Case in point, if nothing else from the first five chapters of Zechariah, I’m taking away the reminder that God knows.

First, in Zechariah 1, the prophet sees a vision of a man riding on a red horse standing among myrtle trees in a glen. And behind him, more horses with men on them. What’s that about? I’m thankful Zechariah’s thinking the same thing.

Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.” So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

(Zechariah 1:9-10 ESV)

Hmmm. God sends earth patrols. Who knew? One of the ways an omniscient God goes about being all-knowing is to send His servants “to check things out on the earth” (MSG). To go throughout the earth (NIV). To traverse it “to and fro” (NKJV). To walk up and down in the land (YLT). Some distant, out of touch God? Apparently not. Disengaged? Wouldn’t seem so. Disinterested in what’s happening on the third planet from the sun? Don’t think so. He sends heavenly beings on heavenly horses to patrol it.

Then I read in Zechariah 4. And there, as part of a revelation of what is to come, Zechariah is shown “a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it” (4:2). And the angel emcee walking Zechariah through all this un-worldly imagery asks the prophet, “Do you know what these are?” To which Z. replies, “Nope!”

Me neither.

Then, while explaining the vision to him, the angel clearly identifies what the lampstand with it’s seven lamps represents:

“These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth.”

(Zechariah 4:10b ESV)

The eyes of the LORD range throughout the whole earth. God sees. God is aware. “The Lord of the whole earth” (4:14b) knows what’s going on even while enthroned in heaven.

Be still my soul. And chew on that.

Lot I don’t get. But with this the Spirit encourages me. Behind the scenes God is intimately aware and actively engaged. His patrols, even now I imagine, are walking up and down the land. From His heavenly realm, God has eyes on our earthly reality. He sees with eyes that miss nothing. So, while I might not get the under-the-hood workings of all the spiritual dynamics, I can be confident that our God is accomplishing His eternal purposes.

For God knows.

This too according to His abundant grace. This too for His everlasting glory.

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Not a Dumb Bird

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Pete

I’m two chapters into God’s Twenty Questions session with Job (actually, I have no idea how many questions God has peppered Job with over these 70+ verses — but it’s a lot). But I think there’s only a couple of implied answers to all these rhetorical questions. Every “Who?” question gets answered with, “God.” Every “Have you? Can you? Do you know?” question comes with a simple “Nope!”

As I hover over my reading in chapter 39 this morning, I think about God’s decision to highlight observations about creation rather than address Job’s lamentation over his situation.

The question Job wants answered is, “Why?” God, talk to me about the losses. Talk to me about my kids who are gone. Explain to me why my body has erupted in rebellion against me. Help me connect the dots between a life which, by Your own admission, was lived blamelessly, uprightly, under-girded by the fear of God, and purposed to shun evil — help me connect the dots between that kind of life and this current kind of reality. Where’s the justice in that?

God doesn’t address any of that. Instead He gives Job a crash course on creation.

And, what catches my attention this morning is what I believe to be the first time God actually does speak about Himself in this discourse. In Job 38:7 He refers to the “sons of God”, and in 38:41 He speaks of the raven’s young crying to God, but in my reading today is the first time God identifies Himself as the Maker of one His many creation-based illustrations. And I’m asking myself, “Self, why?” Why does God specifically call Himself out as the designer of a dumb bird?

“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love [or, of a stork]? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.”

(Job 39:13-18 ESV)

An ostrich. Weird. A bird, yet can’t get off the ground. Her wings essentially useless for flight. Her eggs not nested in some safe place but buried in the dirt. No apparent maternal instinct with her young. But, when it’s time to giddy-up and go? She’s gone, leaving horse and rider in her dust. Like I said, weird.

But so far, this is the only time God overtly identifies His fingers in His workmanship. And it’s with a dumb bird. All to highlight that her absence of fear, her lack of wisdom, and her void of understanding is by His design. So, why highlight this?

I’m thinking it has something to do with wisdom (that’s the word that popped). After all, isn’t Job part of the Scripture’s wisdom literature? Isn’t it designed to impart some understanding?

So, I’m wondering if God isn’t also saying to Job, “Consider the ostrich because she’s so unlike you.” Though you can’t run like the wind, you can consider and care for others. I wired you that way, in My own image.

Though she has no fear, or wisdom, or understanding, you can know the fear of the Lord. You have been created with the capacity to grow in wisdom. To you has been given the ability to weigh the facts, discern the situations, and share in understanding.

To you has been given the blessing to know your Creator, even when you don’t know the answers to life circumstance.

God has made her a dumb bird. But you? You, He has designed to know deep truths.

God has deprived her of wisdom. But God has made you for wisdom.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

(Proverbs 9:10 ESV)

Job thought his greatest need in his situation was to know the “Why.” God says, I don’t think so. It’s to know the “Who” and to the gain the “What.”

‘Cause you’re not a dumb bird. You are a child of God.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Mighty God

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Pete

Our Sunday morning sermon series this month is about a Child. (Surprise! Not surprised.) A Child born to us, a Son who was given.

And while our New Testament accounts record that He was to be named Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Mt. 1:21), fitting of His first advent, the prophet Isaiah sees Him more in the context of His second advent, that visitation to earth when “the government shall be upon His shoulders.” When He reigns on the throne of David to establish His kingdom on earth “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” Then, says the prophet, “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince and Peace” (Isa. 9:6-7).

We’re considering one of those four names each week through December. Yesterday, we camped on “Mighty God.”

El Gibbor. Mighty God. Strong Man. Powerful Champion. Valiant Warrior. Awesome!

In my reading in Revelation this morning I briefly encountered this Child who shall be called Mighty God.

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful.”

(Revelation 17:14 ESV)

Lord of lords King of kings. Mighty Conqueror. Mighty God. (Did I mention awesome?)

But it’s my encounter with El Gibbor in my Zephaniah reading that takes awesome and presents it in a reality that is amazing.

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, a Mighty One who will save; . . .”

(Zephaniah 3:16-17a ESV)

What will our Warrior God do when the war is over? What will our Powerful Champion occupy Himself with when He has put down every enemy? What will Mighty God do when He has saved, and saved to the uttermost, showing Himself in the unveiled majesty of His omnipotence in the midst of His redeemed people?

” . . . He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”

(Zephaniah 3:17b ESV)

Read that again. Chew on it a bit.

What will it be like to behold our God rejoicing? What does it look like when the Mighty God engages in mirth, joy, and pleasure?

What will it be to hear the all powerful One singing powerfully? Singing loudly? Singing enthusiastically? And that, as He sings over us?

I can only imagine.

But whatever it will be like, it will quiet us. Not for fear of even thinking we could enter into a duet with the God who created singing, but because it will be such an expression of His love that it will silence us.

When we behold our Mighty God rejoicing over us with mighty joy we will be still. Muted in awe as we behold His almighty might. Quieted in amazement as we hear Him, in our midst, convey the depths of His steadfast love.

And such awe, such amazement, can even now be ours by faith as we consider afresh that unto us a Child has been born. That unto us a Son has been given. And His name we proclaim to be Mighty God. The Mighty One who rejoices over us, sings over us, and quiets us with His love.

What grace! To Him be all glory!

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Keep Your Shirt On

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Pete

I meet with a buddy on Thursday nights. We met last night. We were both tired. Feeling it physically, feeling it emotionally, and if we’re honest, kinda feeling it spiritually. Weary is the word that kept coming up in the conversation.

Something about when the going gets perpetually tough that makes it tough to get persistently going.

And honestly, while it doesn’t quite feel right to compare the hardships of 2020 to the seven bowls of God’s wrath of that coming day of God’s judgment, something the coming Christ says in Revelation 16 hits me as having application in these wearying days which require endurance.

Six bowls of God’s wrath have been delivered. Unimaginable “natural disaster” has struck the earth. Painful sores, dying seas, no drinking water, sun flares scorching the skin of anyone who ventures outside. And then, when everyone is about done with the sun thing, the lights go out — like go out over the whole earth — and people are plunged into darkness. And they “gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores” (Rev. 16:10-11).

Amidst all this, there’s still a remnant of God’s people waiting for Christ’s return. Still a flock of the faithful. And, breaking into John’s vision of the bowls of wrath, Jesus interjects and whispers to His own, Keep your shirt on!

“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”

(Revelation 16:15 ESV)

In a season of suffering to end all seasons of suffering, Jesus says to His own, Stay awake. Stay dressed.

In your weariness don’t remove your garment of righteousness. Hold fast to who you are in Me. Take what’s been credited to your account, My righteousness, and continue to live into it — this is not the time to concede the battle nor the time to stop running the race. You’ll be blessed, you’ll know the happiness of having stood holy in Me when, on that day, you stand holy before Me. Keep your shirt on!

In this unending season don’t let fall to the ground your garment of readiness. I’ve told you that in the world you will have tribulation (though you couldn’t have imagined this kind of tribulation), but I also told you to take heart, for I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33). So take heart. I am victor over this current season of sorrow, as well. And my victory will be known to all when I return. But when I return, it will be like a thief. So be ready. Be engaged. Be about the kingdom’s business. Keep your shirt on!

Maybe not entirely the right passage to apply to this day, but I’m thinking the right exhortation to heed. The right promise to believe.

Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on . . .

Not a time for snoozin’. Not a time to tap out . . . physically, emotionally, or spiritually. But a time to continue to prepare for the blessing. It’s gonna be worth it all.

So keep your shirt on, weary saint.

By His grace. Knowing that one day we’ll behold His glory.

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Keep Listening

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Pete

A week ago I started in on Elihu’s discourse before Job. Then, as I read Job 33, I was feeling like this kid in the crowd had something worth listening to. A week later, having read Job 37 this morning, I’m still thinking that’s the case.

Unlike Job’s other miserable comforters (Job 16:2), Elihu doesn’t accuse Job of secret sins, hidden behind what must have been a life lived behind a righteous façade (Job 1:1), as the only explanation warranting the suffering that God had permitted in his life. Instead, he warns Job against allowing his suffering to lead to sin.

“Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.”

(Job 35:21 ESV)

As I commented last week, like the perfect opening act before the LORD God comes upon the stage, Elihu encourages Job to not forget who this God is that Job accuses of injustice and demands a hearing before (Job 13:3, 22; 23:3-7).

“Behold, God is exalted in His power; who is a teacher like Him? Who has prescribed for Him His way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’? Remember to extol His work . . . ”

(Job 36:22-24a ESV)

And that’s exactly what God is going to do when He calls Job on the carpet, tells him to “dress for action like a man”, and says, in effect, Go ahead, you teach Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:1-4). God is going to show Job how to remember to extol His mighty works.

But in chapter 37, Elihu primes the pump:

“Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God. . . . the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge . . . “

(Job 37:14, 16b ESV)

And it’s in this priming of the pump that an exhortation to Job resonates with Pete. That a charge to one who is damaged, down, and disoriented rings deep within one who is worn, weary, and tired of wondering, “What’s going on?”

“Keep listening to the thunder of His voice . . . ”

(Job 37:2a ESV)

Listen, listen. The same Hebrew word, shama, repeated twice. Once as an imperative, a command; once as an infinitive, a verb-acting noun. Listen, and keep listening. Listen carefully (LEB). Listen closely (NASB). Hear attentively (NKJV). Hearken diligently (YLT). Keep listening (ESV). Listen, listen.

Job was done. Elihu says, Man, keep listening! Keep straining to hear the thunder of His voice, especially when the cacophony of your circumstance tries to drown it out.

“God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend.”

(Job 37:5 EV)

We can get so caught up with the inner voice of our complaints that we fail to be still and listen for the thundering voice which reminds us of the great things He has done, things we cannot comprehend. But when we keep listening, when we actually hear the thunder of His voice — even when it comes as but a gentle whisper at times — it puts our circumstance in the context of the incomprehensible. And that, is a good thing.

Elihu’s words way back then, a much needed exhortation for this guy now. How I need to keep listening. To the testimony of creation, “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1). To the truths of Scripture, with a heart readied as good soil — “those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (Lk. 8:15).

Maybe that’s why I was ready to hear the thunder of His voice as I moved on to my next reading this morning . . .

When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

(John 19:30 ESV)

It is finished!

He does great things that we cannot comprehend.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37).

Keep listening to the thunder of His voice.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Behold the Son

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Pete

It was not a silent night, but a chaotic morning. The shouts that echoed in her head were not those of angels declaring, “Glory to God on high”, instead they were the voices of an angry mob shouting, “Crucify Him!” This One she had been told would be God’s set apart Savior, now appeared as little more than a sin-incited sacrifice. But still she drew as near as she could. Not to that innocent Babe she had wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger thirty-three years ago, but now to a beaten Man, stripped of His garments, who had been nailed to a cross.

. . . but standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, he said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

(John 19:25-26 ESV)

Woman, behold, your son!

There had been a lot of beholdin’ going on that day. The first time Pilate brought the flogged, thorn-crowned, purple-robe-arrayed Jesus before the crowd to declare Him innocent, he said to them, “Behold the man!” (Jn. 19:5). Though his soldiers had mocked Him as a king, to this Roman authority He was but a man. A beaten, powerless, derided man.

Then, though it was becoming clear to Pilate that Jesus was not a just any man, but because he could not persuade the Jews otherwise, he again presented Jesus to them. But this time he said, “Behold your King!” To which they responded, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him! . . . We have no king but Caesar!” (19:14-15)

And but a short time later, Jesus, the crucified Christ, would see His mother standing by the cross and say to her, “Woman, behold, your son!”

The same son born to her while she was yet a virgin. The same son she was told to name Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). The son prophesied long ago to be called Immanuel, which means God with us (Mt. 1:23). The son worshiped by angels and testified to by shepherds — all of which “Mary treasured up . . . pondering them in her heart” (Lk. 2:8-20). The same son we are drawn to through our nativity remembrances.

But as I read this morning of this woman who had once drawn near the manger now standing by the cross, I wonder, “What of the treasures she once pondered in heart? What of the hope she once had?”

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

(Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

Woman, behold, the Son!

Our gracious Savior! Our glorious King!

O come let us adore Him!

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All His Story

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Pete

I guess I could start my yearly reading plan in December rather than January. That is if I wanted to be reading the story of Jesus birth in the month when we focus on celebrating His birth.

But this morning, though I am reading in the Minor Prophets, the end of John’s gospel, and the end of all things, Revelation, I’m picking up a lot of why Jesus came down.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me One who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

(Micah 5:2 ESV)

Bethlehem, more than just a quaint place with zero occupancy and a cozy manger ready for an idyllic nativity. Instead, a key piece to the prophetic puzzle foretelling the coming of One who is to be Ruler. And, while He will come forth in time and space to rule a people, His coming has been determined from of old and is ultimately for God — that the Creator might be known and the creation be reconciled to Him for His glory. O come let us adore Him!

And the One who comes to rule will also make Himself known as a Shepherd.

And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they shall dwell secure, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth. And He shall be their peace.

(Micah 5:4-5 ESV)

We get so distracted by the shepherds in the field at this time of year that we often forget to behold the Shepherd lying in the manger. One who would gather a flock, would die for His flock, and would forever protect His flock, thus securing for His flock eternal peace. In a coming day to stand before them, as even then He shepherds them, in all His eternal might and majesty. O come let us adore Him!

But this is only good news if it’s true.

Then Pilate said to Him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world —  to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”

(John 18:37 ESV)

Even as I read of Jesus’ final hours this morning, I’m reminded of His birth. The King of a kingdom not of this world (Jn. 18:36a), coming into this world to bear witness to reality. In the manger not only a Shepherd, but the Truth. The Word of God from before the beginning who, in the beginning, has always been with God, and has always been God. The One who made all things, made Himself in the likeness of His creation. The embodiment of life and light, come to bring life and light to those who would hear and receive Him (Jn 1:1-5). Come to bear witness to the truth. Thus, those who truly celebrate His coming bearing witness as well that they are of the truth. And that, only by God’s redeeming grace. O come let us adore Him!

Even as I read in the last pages of my bible, and the apocalyptic descriptions of the end of time before the onset of eternity, the Child is clearly seen — His coming, His ascension, and His coming again.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her Child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male Child, One who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her Child was caught up to God and to His throne . . .

(Revelation 12:4b-5 SV)

Oh, to be cautious of gazing upon the babe in the manger too intently for, just as is true of the cross, just as is true of the tomb, the manger is empty. This One born to rule all nations is no longer the beautiful Child of Bethlehem. He is the risen, ascended King in waiting. Reigning even now in heaven. Preparing even now a place for us that we might be where He is. Waiting even now as every last sheep to be given Him is brought into His fold. Anticipating even now that time of His return and His glorious appearing.

And we wait too. O come let us adore Him!

Hmmm . . . sure, starting my reading plan in December would align pretty well with the His birth story, but finishing my reading plan in December provides the blessed reminder that it’s all so much more than just a birth story. It is all His story.

And we enter in only because of God’s grace. And so we worship, always for God’s glory.

O come let us adore Him!

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Authority and Peace

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Pete

Authority. That’s the word that caught my attention this morning — I’m guessing, prompted by the Spirit who is the One who illuminates God’s word. And, in kind of a circuitous route, found that authority and peace can be closely related.

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

(Revelation 11:1-3 ESV)

I will grant authority.

Though the two witnesses are the main focus of the passage, for some reason I will grant authority caught my eye and captured my attention. And I ask myself, “Self, who’s speaking here? Who’s granting these two witnesses their authority?” — because it’s not always clear, in this wild ride of a vision John is having, who John is listening to or who he hears speaking. But then, another Scripture speaking of authority comes to mind:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

(Matthew 28:18 ESV)

And I’m thinking, is this Jesus talking to John? Would make sense that the One who has been given “all authority in heaven and earth” should give power from heaven to these two witnesses to do wonders on earth. They would have “the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall.” The power “over the waters to turn them into blood.” And even the power to “strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire” (Rev. 11:6). Yup, I’m thinking this is Jesus, the One who has all authority giving authority to His two witnesses.

But then I think, when did He come on this scene? And so I trace back and I think it’s at the beginning of Revelation 10:

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire.

(Revelation 10:1 ESV)

Pretty sure this is one talking to John in Revelation 11. Buy I missed the Lamb being at the head of this parade because He was referred to as a “another mighty angel.” Could the Creator of mighty angels be seen here as “another in kind” of these awesome beings? So, I consider the credentials of this mighty angel of a different kind:

  • coming down from heaven — Jesus had already set the precedent that in order to fulfill His work He would “come down from heaven” to do the will of the Father who had sent Him (Jn. 6:38).
  • surrounded by a cloud — Clouds and Jesus kind of go hand in hand. On the Mount of Transfiguration clouds overshadowed those who looked upon the Christ revealed in His majesty, as a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him” (Matt. 17:5). When Jesus ascended, He ascended into clouds (Acts 1:9). And Jesus Himself said that in that day when men shall behold the Son of Man coming with power and and glory, it will be “in a cloud” (Lk. 21:27).
  • a rainbow over his head — A rainbow, the symbol of peace given after the flood, appropriate for the One who would be the Prince of Peace. A bow pointed toward heaven indicating to Noah, and those with ears to hear, that the arrows of a future judgment for the sins of the earth would be directed toward heaven. Suitable for the One who will forever be known as the Lamb of God.
  • face shining like the sun and his feet on fire — just how John describes the One who walks “in the midst of the lampstands” (Rev. 1:15a, 16b).
  • and, the one who has all authority and thus can give authority (Matt. 28:18).

Thinking it’s Jesus. Maybe not, couldn’t be too dogmatic, but thinking so.

And if so, then He is the one who has “His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the land” (Rev. 10:2). The One who has been given all authority is present. Nothing happening on this earth — past, present, or future — where this Mighty Messenger of God, God Himself, is not calling the shots.

Thus, it is well . . . . it is well, with my soul.

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

(Matthew 28:20b ESV)

Because He has all authority, I can have a peace that passes understanding.

By His grace. For His glory.

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That I May Be

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Pete

Jesus prayed for me.

I’m chewing on the last seven verses of John 17. And there Jesus prayed for me, as well as for all who would believe in Him through the word of the gospel. The word first proclaimed by those who were with Him that night in the upper room before He was betrayed.

Not gonna lie, like being prayed for. I NEED to be prayed for.

But so often I want prayer in order to help me do what I gotta do or, to help me endure what I gotta endure or, to walk in the manner I know I should walk. Rarely do I seek prayer to help me just be who Jesus wants me to be. But that’s what Jesus prays here, that I may be.

First, Jesus prayed that I may be one. One with others.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You . . .

(John 17:20-21a ESV)

This season has been a lonely season in many ways. Not seeing those you want to see, not hanging with those you want to hang with. Yet, there is the communion of the saints that really knows nothing of being locked down. There is a bond with all believers which transcends the things of earth. I am not an individual trying to make it on my own, I’m part of a body where each does its part (1Cor. 12:18-20). I’m part of a family (Eph. 2:19) with other blood-bought brothers and sisters. I’m a living stone, placed alongside other living stones, to be built into a spiritual house (1Pet. 2:5), a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22).

And that’s the second thing Jesus prays for. He prays that I may be in. In union with the Triune God.

“. . . that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.

(John 17:21b-23 ESV)

My unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ comes not because I agree with them on all things, but because, just as they are, I am in the Father by the Son through the Spirit. To abide in God the Son is to abide with the God the Father. For God the Son to be in us is for God the Father to be in us through the Son. And this divine, supernatural dynamic all possible through the indwelling of God the Spirit. Jesus prayed that I may be in Them. Unreal!

And finally, the Savior prays that I may be with. With Him where He is.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

(John 17:24 ESV)

How often have we felt as Paul felt, that we’d “rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2Cor. 5:8 KJV)? Well, it’s not only our desire, it’s Jesus’ desire to. I don’t often think of the omni-everything God, who holds all things together, having any desires Himself. Not in need of anything to bring Him pleasure. But while He does not need me to be with Him, He wants me to be with Him. He desires to be face-to-face as much as I do. Not that He might look upon me, but that I might know the fullness of the blessing of beholding Him and His glory.

Just prayed that I may be. Me too.

Oh, that I may be one . . . one with all who have been made one in Christ.

That I may be in . . . in the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

That I may be with . . . with the One who died for me, who is now preparing a place for me, and who desires Me to be where He is.

Like I said, I like being prayed for.

More of God’s grace. All for God’s glory.

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The How of Suffering

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Pete

Not to oversimplify, and not to be overly influenced by the ways of our current culture, but it seems to me that Job and his friends had become quite polarized in there back and forth, round-and-round-we-go debate. Though they at least agreed on a certain core set of facts — Job had taken it in the teeth, no one disputed that he was suffering — where they landed on opposite ends of a continuum came from trying to deal with the why of Job’s suffering.

I’m righteous, says Job, therefore my suffering indicates there’s a problem with God’s justice, I want to talk to Him . . . now! No, say his friends (miserable friends), God is just, therefore your suffering must be because you are evil . . . and though by all appearances you come across as one who is blameless, upright, fears God, and shuns evil (Job 1:1), we know you can’t be and therefore will speculate on the sins of your secret life.

Opposite ends of the continuum. I am justified, cries Job. You are being judged, comes the rebuke from his friends. Polarized. At a theological impasse. Talking’s done.

Enter Elihu. The kid in the crowd. Up until chapter 32, an eavesdropping bystander. Respectful on the outside, but raging on the inside (that he “burned with anger” is mentioned three times in his introduction). Choked because Job “justified himself rather than God.” Done because Job’s three friends “found no answer” to Job’s complaint though “they had declared Job to be in the wrong” (Job 32:1-5).

And I’m thinking that Elihu may just have something to say worth listening to. Thinking this because I know that when God steps in, He will call Job on the carpet for His arrogance (Job 38:1-3), and He will rebuke Job’s friends for their ignorance (Job 42:7), but the LORD says nothing to Elihu. Thinking that’s significant. While Elihu may not speak perfect wisdom, it seems he’s a credible “opening act” before God comes on the stage.

So, as I hover over Job 33, and take note of the redemption language used by Elihu, it seems that Elihu diffuses the polarization of trying to answer why God has allowed (or, as the friends would suggest, “inflicted”) such suffering, by focusing more on the wisdom of how God might use such suffering.

Elihu talks of a man “rebuked with pain.” Emaciated to the point where “his flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.” So crushed by his condition that “his soul draws near the pit.” Elihu describes Job.

But it’s in that condition, skin and bone and on the precipice of death — when a man or woman is at the end of their own physical resources — that Elihu says they are ready for a word from God, are wanting of some mediation with God, are knowing that they need a ransom before God. And then, says Elihu,

” . . . man prays to God, and He accepts him; He sees his face with a shout of joy, and He restores to man his [or His] righteousness. He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’ Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.”

(Job 32:26-30 ESV)

The question for Elihu isn’t why Job was suffering. It was how could God use such suffering.

Using suffering so that the sufferer might turn to God and pray. So God could look upon the face of a contrite woman, a humbled man, and restore to them righteousness (and I’m thinking crediting to their account His own righteousness). So that God could show mercy and grace, not repaying the sinner for his sin, but instead redeeming the sinner’s soul for His glory. Letting him or her look into the darkness of the pit so that they might be renewed with the Light of life.

Behold, God does all these things!

Reminding this guy in the chair this morning that all hardship can be profitable if it results in turning to God. May never know the answers to the why of suffering, but can always engage in the redemptive, divine dynamic of the how of suffering.

And this too, by God’s grace. And this too, always for God’s glory.

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