A Reasonable People

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Pete

It’s one of those verses that gets overshadowed. Sandwiched in between the better known and often quoted “Rejoice in the Lord always”, and “Be anxious for nothing” commands, I can’t really recall hearing much about this lesser known command. But as I chew on it, I’m thinking it might just be the command we need to hear and obey today in our increasingly hostile “public square”–those areas in social life where the exchange of ideas occurs.

Social media has so expanded the public square. Many who never really had a voice in public thought or debate now have a ready made, hope to go viral, platform from which they can share, post, or tweet freely. But how helpful has it been? While we seem to be happy to be able to speak, we seem less willing to listen. In our zeal to get our position out there, we elevate our position by putting down other people. And in the church, as we fall into the world’s propensity towards becoming more tribal, truthing in love seems to be becoming less prevalent.

And that’s why I’m thinking we’d do well to hear and heed this overshadowed command in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.

(Philippians 4:5 ESV)

We are to be a reasonable people. The original word has the idea of being mild and gentle. It also, apparently, has a sense of being fair, and of being seeming and suitable. Of being appropriate and patient. Of being . . . well, reasonable.

The CSB says our “graciousness” should be known. Amen!

And here’s the kicker. Not just reasonable with those we agree with. Not just fair with those who line up on our side of the debate. Not just mild and gentle with those who would parrot what we speak. But our reasonableness, our graciousness, is to be known “to everyone.” Yup, everyone. All men. All women. Everybody. Those of like mind and those whose mind we maybe don’t like so much.

And how come? The Lord is at hand.

Suppose it could be taken in two ways. First, Jesus is at hand in the sense that He is present, He is near, and He is engaged in our ambassadorship for the kingdom. Or, I think it might also mean that His return is near, that His second coming is imminent, that we need to be living and working now in the expectation and anticipation that the days are short.

Either way, whatever the nature of the motivation, in between being commanded to rejoice in the Lord always, and being commanded to pray to the Lord about everything, I think we’d do well to heed the command to let our graciousness be known to everyone. The command to be a reasonable people.

What an opportunity in our increasingly hostile public square for the gospel to shine as we show respect for every person simply because they are a person–an image bearer of God. While prepared to give an answer for the hope within us, we’re also prepared to listen to others–not quarreling, but gently and respectfully explaining the way of righteousness in hope that the Lord would lead them into light. While ready to stand for truth, we do so with speech seasoned with grace. Letting our reasonableness be known. And that, to everyone.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Retaining by Advancing

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Pete

For Paul there was no standing still. If he wasn’t moving forward, then he knew he was going backward. If he put it in neutral he knew that was just reverse with an N on it. Coasting was to be in danger of crashing. Status quo’ing would result in soon quitting. Good enough was gonna get worse. Autopilot was just another term for atrophy. At least that’s how Paul seemed to think. And, it seems, how he thought we should think as well.

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

(Philippians 3:13b-16 ESV)

Holding true to what we’ve attained. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

Living up to what we already know (CSB). Having gotten on the right track (MSG), staying in the right lane. Having made some progress (NLT), not letting it slip away. What we’ve attained, we need to retain.

At first it might sound like a hold your position sort of posture. But in the context, isn’t Paul saying that retaining is accomplished by advancing? That we hold true by straining forward? That we keep whatever ground we’ve taken by pressing on toward the goal? That’s what Paul seems to be thinkin’. And, he says, we should be thinkin’ it too.

Let those of us who are mature think this way.

Retaining by advancing is just smart thinking for those with spiritual understanding.

Makes sense that if you know you’re going to wake up every morning in enemy territory, then whatever spoils of victory you’ve accumulated to date are in danger of being taken back unless you engage afresh in the conflict. Every morning we awake we know the desires of the flesh in us are going to wage war against the Spirit of God in us (Gal. 5:16-17). Every day we venture out into the world we know there will be a battle for the mind. And to be sure, to walk another day down the pilgrim’s pathway is to be aware that there’s an adversary prowling around like a roaring lion “seeking someone to devour” (1Pet. 5:8).

And so we need to forget about what lies behind and strain forward to what lies a head. To press on to the goal for the prize of the upward call. We need to remember that, in order to hold on to what we’ve attained, we need to keep advancing.

Oh, that we’d be protected from a good enough, or far enough, or know enough, or have done enough attitude when it comes to seeking first the kingdom. That we wouldn’t rest on where we’ve been. Because to do so, is to end up where we never thought we’d go.

Pressing on isn’t complex. Keep engaging the living word. Keep conversing with the living God. Keep abiding in the living Savior. Keep in community with other living stones (1Pet. 2:5) joined together and growing into a holy temple (Eph. 2:21). Not complex, but requires intentional effort. Straining forward effort. Pressing on effort. God enabled effort.

No such thing as a neutral gear in the Christian life. It’s either put’ er in drive or we’ll end up going in reverse.

We hold on to what we have, by His grace, only as we seek to advance, for His glory.

Amen?

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A Heart & Soul Level

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Pete

To own a bible is a gift you can give yourself. But to have your bible own you, well, that’s a supernatural blessing that comes only through the goodness and grace of God.

Overwhelmed a bit this morning as I hover over the twenty-first stanza of the songwriter’s great love letter to the Word of God (119:161-168).

He rejoices over the Word as if he has found a great treasure (v.162). He can’t stop talking about his great discovery–of the greatness that has discovered him–as seven times a day he praises God’s righteous rules (v.164). God’s word giving him peace (v.165a), providing him with stability (v.165b), and sourcing his hope for rescue (v.166), even though powerful people harass him without cause (v.161).

But here’s what I’m really chewing on this morning . . . Beyond the cognitive interaction of the written word with the thinking brain through the seeing eye or the listening ear, the Word of God impacts the songwriter at a heart and soul level.

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your words.

My soul keeps Your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.

(Psalm 119:161, 167 ESV)

Here’s my big idea: the living and active supernatural agency of the inspired Word of God will engage those who love the Word at their deepest level. It will regenerate sin-dulled senses. It will miraculously alter spiritual DNA. It will rewire instinctive propensities.

Evoking awe at the deepest levels of human awareness. Provoking obedience as an almost innate desire to stand for the Word, to guard the Word, and, by divine enabling, to follow the Word.

To be sure, the old nature, the flesh, continues to wage war against the desires of the redeemed heart and the seeking of the saved soul, but the war only exists with the flesh because of how the Word has so revitalized the heart and soul.

Like I said, we may start by determining to own and read a bible, but as we invest in it, eventually it will own and read us.

We might begin with the discipline to beat our bodies into subjection in order to sit down for a few minutes and engage the living Word, but, when the living Word engages us, that determined discipline gives way to undeniable desire. Thirst supplants tenacity.

Anticipation of fresh awe is what draws us to open the Book again. Our souls panting to drink once more of the living water of the Spirit as He interacts with our spirits to illuminate His living Word.

Desiring the Word, following the Word, at a heart and soul level. By God’s doing alone.

Less an acquired taste than a divine dynamic.

May start as a good habit, but transforms into innate desire.

Only by His grace.

Only for His glory.

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We Are the Circumcision

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Pete

The measure of a king in the Old Testament was who they worshiped. The measure of a saint in the New Testament is how they worship. That’s what I’m picking up from what’s being laid down in my readings this morning.

Working my way through 2Kings again this morning. And as I read chapters 14 and 15 I’m marking the divine bottom-line assessments of each king of Israel and Judah. And for the kings of Israel it’s the same old, same old:

And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

(2Kings 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28 ESV)

What was the sin of Jeroboam? The ruler over the northern kingdom crafted idols to be worshiped as the gods who had brought them out of Egypt. He redirected the glory due the God who had set His name in Jerusalem to two calves of gold set up in Bethel and Dan. “Then this thing became a sin” (1Ki. 12:25-30), and continued to be the plumb line that measured the evil, idolatrous heart of every subsequent king of Israel.

And while few kings in Judah attempted to eradicate idol worship in the southern kingdom, most of them “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (2Ki. 14:3; 15:3, 34) because they worshiped the God of David, the God of their deliverance, the God of promise.

Like I said, when it came down it, it seems the measure of a king in the Old Testament was who they worshiped.

And I think that set me up for what Paul would say to the Philippians.

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

(Philippians 3:3 ESV)

The gospel was introduced to a people who worshiped the right who but in the wrong how. Religion had become the measure of righteousness. The weight of good works the way of God’s favor. Physical circumcision the only thing that counted when assessing faithful service. Confidence in the flesh determining the caliber of the faith.

But, through Paul’s hand, God breathes out (2Tim. 3:16) that those who are truly of the circumcision, those who are actually marked as the people of God, are those who get three things:

  1. We worship by the Spirit of God. Our worship is not through ritual. Our adoration not by rote. But our offerings of praise, our sacrifices of service, are brought by faith into the holy of holies and that through reliance solely on the shed blood of Christ for our sin.
  2. We glory in Christ Jesus. Christ alone is our basis for boasting. Our righteousness not a result of our many works but of His one finished work on the cross. Not having a righteousness of our own but a righteousness which is credited to our account through faith–the righteousness of Christ Himself. And, our power for piety not found in our religion but in His resurrection. Our life of devotion a result of His life in us and through us.
  3. We put no confidence in the flesh. Having cut off the flesh, having died to it, we know we have not been saved from the penalty of sin because of our offsetting good works. Nor are we being saved from the power of sin through our determined efforts. Nor are we to be saved from the very presence of sin because of our meritorious lives. But we are confident in our salvation–past, present, and future–because of who Christ is and what Christ has done and what He continues to do.

And so, we are the circumcision. Worshiping the right Who in the only acceptable how.

And that, by His grace.

And that, for His glory.

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A Fresh Wineskin

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Pete

By its very nature, time takes what is new and makes it old. Subtly and slowly transforming that which was once innovative and demanding attention into something considered status quo and taken for granted. Morphing that which once invoked wonder and clothing it in a malaise of weariness. Translating what once sparked enthusiasm into something served only through endurance. It’s only natural.

But the gospel is supernatural. The salvation which makes all things new need not be subject to the atrophy that comes so often with the passage of time. The wide-eyed wonder of a new way doesn’t have to devolve into a mindless routine of trudging along in an old way.

That’s what I’m chewing on as I think about the perpetual need for fresh wineskins.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.'”   ~ Jesus

(Luke 5:37-39 ESV)

His enemies were on the attack. They were outraged that Jesus would claim to forgive sins and then heal a paralytic to prove it (5:17-26). They were mortified that He would recline at a banquet table with tax collectors and sinners (5:27-32). And were indignant that His disciples were more inclined to live like they were at a party than behave in the more traditional manner of those who fasted and prayed as if at a wake (5:33). The Pharisees had been drinking the old, aged wine of religion and could not fathom the need or desire for anything else.

But the gospel was never meant to be a new and improved law. Grace never intended to be cut up and used to patch and repurpose the old garments of religion and works (5:36).

In fact, the dynamics of the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus could never be contained within the confines of any system of regulations or traditions achievable by men in their own power. Jesus’s kingdom was a new wine kingdom. New expectations coming out of a new life enabled only through a new power. And trying to contain it within old structures was simply a recipe for failure. New wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

And the thing that occurs to me is that if the One who makes all things new never becomes old Himself, if the kingdom which has come is even now coming and is still yet to come, then the active agency of the kingdom will continue to stretch whatever practices, traditions, and familiar routines we may set around the kingdom. If the new wine is ever new, then it continues to demand fresh wineskins.

I’m getting to that stage where I’m understanding more and more the reality of the difficulty of old dogs being taught new tricks. But I can’t help but think that the gospel demands it. Not that the gospel itself changes, but by its very nature of being living and transforming it can’t be contained by traditions and practices which are inert and inflexible.

The gospel becomes stale to us when we become content with whatever wineskin we last placed it in. When we no longer pant after God’s word. When we no longer expect the Spirit to lead us into all truth through supernatural illumination. When we’re content with our religious routine and aren’t looking to be stretched by the dynamic agency of the new life residing within us.

How I need to be a fresh wineskin.

The new wine of the gospel requires it.

For the dynamics of grace thrive on it, and the glory of God is made manifest through it.

Amen?

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Well Tried

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Pete

Pretty sure that this morning what I’m picking up isn’t exactly what the songwriter was laying down. That the words that have grabbed me were intended to mean something a little different than the meaning I’m getting from them. That what I’m chewing on has a little different flavor from how it was originally seasoned. And, I’m thinking, that’s ok.

Your promise is well tried, and Your servant loves it.

(Psalm 119:140 ESV)

Continuing to read in the psalmist’s love letter to the word of God. Twenty-two sections of eight verses each extolling the glory of God’s revelation of Himself and His ways for His people. The longest song in the Psalter, the longest chapter in the Bible, a divine acrostic as each section is given to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter.

Today’s letter? Tsadhe or, in my English thinking mind, T. And verse 140’s beginning T word is tsaraph, or, as the ESV translates it, “tried.”

Tried is Your promise exceedingly, and Your servant loves it.

And, according to my handy dandy e-lexicon, the word has the idea of something that has been tried in a smelting fire and thus is without defect. That the nature of God’s word, the essence of His promises, are akin to something without impurity. That God’s word, His promise, is as pure as if it had been put through the flame. That God has given to His people a pure word is, I think, kind of the intent.

But the thought that came to me as I read this lyric from this divine love ballad was more of how I have “well tried” His covenant. Of how I have tested the veracity of His blessed assurances. Of how many miles, in a sense, I have put on His precious promises as I’ve appropriated them for myself, again and again, in my situations and need, thus making them well tried.

If the Christian life is marked by the reality of going so many steps forward then so many steps back, how many back steps have I taken in 40+ years of seeking to walk in the Way? And how many of those back steps have cast me upon the promises of God?

If I were to count every failure of the flesh that has required renewed belief in the promise that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn. 1:9); or count every time I’ve been drained empty by a life struggle, or life season, and have had to cling to the assurance that “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Php. 4:13); or count the myriads of disappointments in my ability to walk the worthy walk and have had to retreat to the solid ground “that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Php. 1:6); or count the uncountable number of times I have had to claim other promises as I’ve stumbled my way along this pilgrim path; then, to be sure, I can say along with the songwriter, with equal conviction:

Your promise is well tried, . . .  and Your servant loves it!

Not that I make pure His word, but that I have tested it–more times than perhaps I would care to admit–and found it all-sufficient and without wont.

Praise God for His precious promises.

Praise God for His living, active, and enduring Word.

Because of grace. For His glory.

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Standing, Striving, and Suffering

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Pete

Hovering over the last few verses of Philippians 1 this morning. And as I do, a quote from Benjamin Franklin that I used years and years ago as part of a team building exercise at work comes to mind:

“We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”

Apparently he made this statement at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was referring to the need for the signers, and the states they represented, to stick together against a common enemy, Great Britain.

Common adversity has a way of bringing people together. Tough times a way of tightening the ranks. A prevailing foe a way of mobilizing the family.

So, it would seem, was Paul’s thinking, as well.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. . . . For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake.

(Philippians 1:27-29 ESV)

For it has been granted to you to suffer for Christ.

Granted. What a word the Spirit chose to use. Charizomai in the Greek. From the root word charis. Recognize that? That’s the word for grace, for gifting, for giving someone that which they don’t deserve. They had been gifted the opportunity to suffer for the sake of Christ. Their persecution was a “gimme” for living out the good news. A scenario to show what it looks like to walk in a way consistent with the gospel. So that their oppressed circumstance might be a window into the dynamics of the difference the good news makes in everyday, and not so everyday, trials of life.

And so, in their common suffering, in their common persecution, they were to stand and they were to strive. And they were to do it together. In one spirit. With one mind. Side by side.

Suffering allowed for the church to shine. Opposition was an opportunity for the gospel to be seen. A common enemy was a way for making known their common faith. We must all hang together.

You’d think then that, perhaps, prosperity rather than persecution could become the enemy of unity. That when the going gets too easy standing firm is not seen as quiet so important. Striving together not really all that necessary. Being of one mind and one spirit are a “nice to have” when I’m able to live my own life, for my own purposes, with my own resources. Maybe ease is really less a “gift” then being granted suffering for His sake.

But, if we haven’t recognized it already, I’m thinking that things aren’t as easy around us as we might believe. That those who name the name of Christ are increasingly losing favor with the prevailing culture. That our Way is not just viewed as a way but, more and more, is seen at large as the wrong way. And this is just the beginning.

And so, maybe it has been granted to us for the sake of Christ to not only believe in Him but to suffer for His sake.

And so, church, we need to hang together. Standing firm in one spirit. Striving side by side with one mind. Our unity a rebuke of the idolatry of individualism. Our private devotion to our Savior, and to His truth, and to His Bride, an affront to the self-serving, destructive, and divisive public discourse of the day. Walking in a manner worthy of the gospel, that the power of salvation might be known.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Two Mule Loads of Earth

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Pete

He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

Thus reads the bio of Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria (2Ki. 5:1). A great man yet a grieved man. Had all the fame he could want yet went home each night cursed by his flesh.

As a Syrian, he was a long-standing enemy of the people of God and hence an enemy of God Himself. Being a Gentile he had no claim on the promises and covenants of God, thus no reason to expect any blessing of God. And being a leper, in his flesh he was helpless and hopeless to change his diseased condition.

But in God’s grace, this man of war was converted to a man of worship. Known for his fighting, he would become known for millennia to follow for his faith.

This mighty warrior believing the testimony of a little girl that there was a prophet who could heal him. Though at first balking at the thought of humbling himself by getting down off his chariot and washing in a river, eventually curbing his pride and submitting to the word of God by dipping himself seven times in the Jordan.

. . . and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

(2Kings 5:14b ESV)

But not only was his flesh restored, his blind eyes were made to see, his deaf ears able to hear, and his sin-hardened heart of stone started beating, seeking after the living God.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel;

(2Kings 5:15a ESV)

And so, while he was still weak in the flesh, provision was made for his healing (Rom. 5:6). While still an enemy, he was reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10). Though a stranger to the promises and covenants, by grace he had been brought near, and that by faith (Eph. 2:11-13).

And though new to the ways of promise and faith, though still informed primarily by the world he had grown up in, he knew that this newly found revelation demanded some sort of lasting response.

Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD.”

(2Kings 5:17 ESV)

Two mule loads of earth. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

Wanting some holy ground that he might wholly commit to the God who had made him whole. Not knowing much of the ways of God, but intuitively sensing that his new found faith should manifest itself in lifelong fidelity. That if there really is no other God, then the one true God was worthy to receive total allegiance. That a Savior deserved a sacrifice as an act of worship. And that, though he needed to head back into the world, as much as Naaman was able, he would not be defiled or distracted by the world–but would have a place and space to offer to God that which was due His name.

Two mule loads of earth, that’s all he asked.

How much more have we been given that we might remain faithful?

Not just two loads of dirt to make for ourselves some earthen altar upon which to continually offer peace offerings (Ex. 20:24), but given access into the holy of holies through the once for all sacrifice of the Lamb of God. More than some physical ground to stand upon, given the inspired word of God as a firm foundation for sustaining our faith. Beyond some simple sod for under our feet, the Spirit of God taking up residence within us, working in us a work beyond our comprehension, transforming and conforming us into the likeness of His Son.

What’s more, provision made that we might not go back into the world alone.  But adopted as God’s children, brought into His family, given a community equipped to protect, and to build up its members until we reach the fullness of faith.

All that we might continue to know there is no God in all the earth but our God. That we might be faithful to Him who is faithful. And worship only the One worthy of worship.

By His grace. For His glory.

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But For the Sake of Another

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Pete

He was an evil king, just not as evil as his father before him. He worshiped idols, but not the idols of the nations around him. Instead he bowed to the fake idols of his own kingdom that were fashioned of gold to be their gods when they split from the southern kingdom (1Ki. 12:25-33). So, like the kings of Israel before him, King Jehoram, the son of Ahab, clung to the sin of Jeroboam and gave his back to God.

And though normally he refused to even acknowledge heaven’s King over every king, much less wanted anything to do with Him, it’s funny how desperate situations have a way of directing the wayward heart towards the one true God.

Scenario: Ahab dies, and Moab rebels against Israel. King Jehoram calls upon Jehoshaphat king of Judah and the king of Edom to come and help him put the upstart Moabites back in their place. When the armies head out to do battle though, for some reason they take “a circuitous march of seven days” and end up running out of water.

Situation? Not good. A dehydrated army is a depleted army. Faint fighters are ineffective fighters. Thirsty warriors will likely become thrashed warriors.

And so Jehoshaphat, a follower of the God who delivered the twelve tribe’s from Egypt, suggests that Jehoram engage Elisha, the prophet of God, in order to seek God’s divine intervention in their desperate situation.

And this morning I’m chewing on Elisha’s response to the idol-serving king.

And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother. . . . As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.

(2Kings 3:13a, 14 ESV)

No reason that God should have even taken notice of the pickle Jehoram was in, much less that He should give ear to the evil king’s plea or intervene on his behalf.  But for the sake of another.

“I have regard for Jehoshaphat,” says the prophet of the LORD of hosts. And thus not only would the holy God look upon the defiled despot of Israel, but He would also satisfy his thirst, and the thirst of his armies, by filling up the dry streambeds with water, though no one would “see wind or rain” (v.16-17). An unexplainable miracle for an undeserving mutineer. And that, for the sake of another.

And that’s my story, isn’t it? Going my own way. Bowing to my own idols. Serving gods after my own making. Happy to do it my way until my way led to dry streambeds. And a thirst turned my heart to the LORD of hosts who had no reason to have anything to do with me, but for the sake of Another.

Isn’t that the foundational catalyst for grace?

The Father’s regard for the Son and His finished work on the cross the only basis upon which He would intervene in our desperate situations.

Rescued for the sake of Another. Forgiven for the sake of Another. Reconciled for the sake of Another. Counted as righteous for the sake of Another.

Where it not that I have regard for My Son, I would neither look at you nor see you.

What wondrous grace. To Him be all the glory.

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Pursuing Grace

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Pete

Nothing about King Ahab of Israel that one might consider redeeming qualities. In a long line of evil kings, the summary bio on this guy was that he was the worst. “Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him” (1Kings 17:30). And just in case you missed it the first time, the Spirit repeats Himself: “Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (17:33). Not the world record you wanna set. Not what you want written in the books when it comes time to open the books for judgment.

But as I’m reading in 1Kings 20 this morning, against the backdrop of this black, black character, shines the light of God’s patience. In the midst of the darkness that enveloped Ahab, God doesn’t stop trying to bring sight to the blind.

God has some business to do with Syria. What’s more, in His sovereign determination, God chooses Ahab as the weapon to be used in His hand. And so, on two different occasions, Syria musters its massive army against Israel. And twice they are defeated. But most noteworthy for me, twice God reveals to Ahab that He is the LORD, the Almighty Commander of the Army.

And behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel and said, “Thus says the LORD, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will give it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the LORD.“

And a man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’”

(1Kings 20:13, 28 ESV)

“I will give [them] into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” That’s the repeated phrase that’s got me thinking this morning.

God owed Ahab nothing. Nothing in Ahab merited anything but God’s holy and just wrath. Yet God said, “I’ll give your enemies into you hand.”

And certainly, God could have dealt with Syria in any number of ways. Raised any king from any land and put His hand towards using them as His sword of judgment. But He chose to use Ahab.

And here’s what really gets me. Why did God enlist Ahab? So that Ahab the idolater might know that God was the LORD.

And the words of Jesus come to mind:

“And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

(John 17:3 ESV)

Knowing who the only true God is the key that can unlock the door to eternal life. And God was handing Ahab the key.

Twice He spoke to the evil king through a personal messenger. Twice He said He would fight the king’s fight. And twice He said it was so that the Baal-worshiping king might know that God is LORD over all.

And the two words that come to mind are Pursuing Grace.

What patience. What kindness in seeking to give Ahab sight to see, ears to hear, and the resources to repent.

To be sure, Ahab’s sin-hardened heart would take the revelation and trash it, determining to continue to walk in his own ways. But I can’t get over God’s unimaginable, continuing pursuit of a wayward sinner–even if he was like, way wayward . . . more wayward than anyone had been wayward before him.

How great is the grace of God to pursue men and women who are literally hell-bent in going their own way? Pretty great!

And I’m thankful. I may have not been an Ahab, but my sin and rebellion deserved no less God’s judgment. Instead I was extended His patience and kindness. In God’s determined purpose, and by His sovereign intervention, He entered my world too. His word spoken so that I might hear. My eyes opened to see the victory He had won on my behalf against an enemy I was helpless before.

And I knew that He was the LORD. And by faith, and this not of my own doing; it is the gift of God, that knowledge gave birth to eternal life.

Only because our God is a pursuing God.

To Him be glory forever for His pursuing grace.

Amen?

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