Food with a Promise

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Pete

You read through Jesus’ teaching in John 6 and you kind of get why “when many of His disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?'” (6:60). Teaching about a bread which comes from heaven. Bread from heaven which removes hunger and gives life. Bread which must be eaten if it’s life-giving properties are to be appropriated. And what is this bread Jesus spoke of?

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  ~ Jesus    (John 6:51, 53-54 ESV)

Feed on My flesh? Drink my blood? No wonder many found this “a hard saying.” No wonder many failed to understand it (NKJV). No wonder many could not accept it (NIV). No wonder Peterson has some fun with his tongue-in-cheek paraphrase of their reaction, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow” (6:60 MSG). Too tough to swallow indeed!

I get why many tapped out and from this point on stopped following Jesus (6:66). But what’s caught my attention this morning is the prize offered for those who work through such a hard saying. The motivation presented for working through what it means to eat this bread from heaven manifest in the person of the Son of Man. It’s worth pursuing because it’s food with a promise.

“Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”    ~ Jesus

I will raise him up on the last day. I will raise her up on the last day. Eat the food . . . drink the drink . . . and know the promise of eternal life.

This is the fourth time in this chapter that Jesus offers the promise of being raised up on the last day (6:39, 40, 44, 54). Whatever Christ meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood (I took a run at that last year, see the post here), as hard as noodling on that might be, there was a promise that came with this food. For those who understood their mortality the promise of eternal life, of being raised again in newness of life, was so intriguing they couldn’t follow the “many” who bailed out. For them the love of life, and the desire to know the Life-giver, compelled them to stick with the Teacher, even if they didn’t fully get what He was teaching.

I’m feeling like that dynamic still comes into play with those of us who have decided to follow Jesus. Though we may not still be wrestling with what it means to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, there’s enough other tough stuff that surfaces from time to time to create a crisis of faith. Whether it’s other hard teaching, or simply hard circumstances, it can be tempting to look for another place to feed from. But there is no other place that offers food with a promise.

No other source of life-giving, life-sustaining, life-enhancing food which results in a life forever reality. No place I’d rather be than at the table He sets.

Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed . . .    (John 6:67-69a ESV)

Believing in food with a promise by His grace. Feasting on food with a promise for His glory.

Posted in John | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Grace Thing

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Pete

This morning I got stuck on a phrase in my reading in 1Peter 2. A phrase translated very differently in the ESV than in other translations. While it seems the other translations chose to render it according to what they believe it means in context, the ESV translators just left it out there literally, I think to leave the interpretation more to the reader. So this morning, this reader’s been noodling on it. Looking back on previous posts, seems I was in the same place the morning of October 16, 2012. Brushing off those thoughts and re-working them a bit, I’m again a bit in wonder at what Peter says about something he calls “a grace thing” . . .

One of the most surprising things about 1Peter, I think, is that Peter’s answer to suffering is submission. Peter doesn’t offer escape routes . . . doesn’t coach on civil disobedience . . . doesn’t relax the standards of being a royal priesthood in order to fit in better and cause fewer waves. Instead, after painting a picture of the wonder of their salvation in the first part of His letter . . . of fixing their eyes on the prize to come so that they might be encouraged to keep running the race . . . the apostle then focuses on their calling as a “chosen race” and a “holy nation” (2:9-10). As “sojourners and exiles” (2:11) Peter calls them to live in a way that their very conduct will glorify God (2:12). And part of that conduct . . . submitting. How come? Because it’s a grace thing!

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.   (1Peter 2:18-20 ESV)

That repeated phrase, “a gracious thing”, jumped off the page at me this morning. A bit unfamiliar to this past NKJV reader where it’s translated “commendable”. So I checked out the Greek behind the word. Sure enough it’s charis . . . the word commonly translated grace.

So Peter says be subject to those who are over you in the food chain (kind of). Here it’s the work food chain . . . but he also speaks of those in government . . . and will go on to speak of those in the family setting . . . and those even in the church. He’s says submit to them, even if they’re jerks (CLTV . . . Corak’s Loosely Translated Version). Peter says if you submit even to the unjust . . . if you suffer for doing good . . . if you endure when you are beaten though you’ve done nothing deserving of it . . . then, it’s a grace thing.

And as I noodle on it there seems to be a least three facets that shine light on this grace thing.

Obviously it’s showing grace to the unjust . . . an undeserved, unmeritted subjection. And that’s kind of intriguing because how’s that possible apart from the Spirit? It’s not a natural response to double up the determination to be a good slave, especially for an unjust master, unless something, or Someone, is moving you to see all of life in the context of a bigger picture and empowers you to live life with a heavenly mindset. That’s fruit of the Spirit. Thus, a grace thing is a Spirit of God sanctification thing.

Then there’s also an aspect of which the grace thing is noticed by God, hence the rendering of “commendable” in the other translations. When the Father sees His children living in a manner which reflects something of His own compassion and patience it affords Him a joy, pleasure, and delight. As He sees the fruit of the sanctifying work of His Spirit in His people evidenced by “unnatural” reactions to suffering . . . because they know they are suffering for His sake . . . the grace thing touches His heart. So, a grace thing is also a Father pleasing thing.

And I guess a third aspect to this grace thing is the manner in which it reflects the Savior.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.     (1Peter 2:21-23 ESV)

Jesus is the ultimate example of a grace thing. For the love of a lost people, Jesus endured unjust suffering without retaliation. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7). He entrusted Himself to the just God. The just God who would also be the Justifier as He determined to pay the ransom for sinners with the blood of His perfect Son. And the Son delighted to the Father’s will. So when we see a grace thing surfacing in our lives it should also be a Christ exalting thing . . . a reminder of Him who embodied the abundance of divine grace.

A Father pleasing thing . . . a Son exalting thing . . . a Spirit sanctification thing.

I guess a grace thing is a fullness of God thing.

For His glory . . .

Posted in 1Peter | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Will of God

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Pete

Sometimes you gotta dig . . . other times it’s handed to you on a silver platter. Sometimes you don’t know what God wants you to do from a given passage . . . and then there’s those other times when it’s laid out so clearly you’d have to have your eyes closed to miss it. This morning was one of those “other times.”

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.    (1Peter 2:15 ESV)

This is the will of God . . .

How we talk about knowing what God’s will is for our lives. Should I do this or, does God want me to do that? There are a lot of steps we take which, while we believe they are directed of God, we don’t know exactly where they’re leading or if we are even on the right path. And so we seek the will of God. And we do so, theoretically, so that we might submit to the will of God. Well here, at least in part, says Peter, is the will of God . . . here is what is in accordance with Divine desire . . .

Do good.

Be a well-doer. Call it what you like . . . live righteously . . . do that which benefits another . . . be benevolent . . . execute random acts of kindness. Whatever you want to call it, just do it! From the simplest of acts, like opening a door for someone, to the more costly of acts, like giving of your treasure and/or your time, serve others. Put others ahead of yourself. Lift up those who are fallen down. Go out of your way to assist someone. There’s no limit do what “doing good” looks like. Just know that it is the will of God.

And put to silence . . .

In the context of Peter’s letter, persecution was increasing for Christians (sound familiar). There was damaging misinformation concerning the followers of Christ which led to increasing accusations against them. And Peter exhorts the brothers and sisters to muzzle such ignorance by how they live. Do good . . . and their words will have no substance . . . for this is the will of God.

That our walk should be in line with our talk should be a no-brainer. That our works add veracity to our words should be of no surprise. That doing good is the will of God . . . well, what do we do with that? How about, Do good?

Not that it makes us any more saved . . . not that it makes us any more sanctified. But that it pleases Him who has called us into marvelous light . . . and it glorifies Him who has called us to be light . . . and, perhaps, it might be used of Him, by the power of His Spirit through overflowing grace, to rescue the foolish from their ignorance.

Do good . . . this is the will of God.

By His grace . . . for His glory.

Posted in 1Peter | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What Is It About Egypt?

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Pete

It’s true . . . denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. I’m reading in Jeremiah this morning and a bit astounded at the story that plays out in Judah immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah’s elite to Babylon. Amazed that denial of God’s faithfulness is often the road back to Egypt. And the question I can’t help but ask is, What is it about Egypt?

In Jeremiah 39, the mighty Babylonian hoard have landed. King Zedekiah of Judah, rather than surrender, flees. He is apprehended and is sentenced by his ruthless captors–his family is slaughtered before his eyes and then his eyes are put out. Jerusalem is razed. It’s inhabitants are taken into exile. But the poor of Judah are left as a remnant in the land. They are given vineyards and fields. And they are given a governor, Gedaliah the son of Ahikam (40:5).

So, they are the poor of the poor. But they are still in the land . . . and they have land. What’s more, they are under the protective custody of mighty Babylon.

But any sense of stability doesn’t last long. The Ammonites decide to take advantage of the largely vacated Judah and murder Gedaliah the governor. Long story short, Gedaliah’s death is avenged but it leaves the people in the land with a huge amount of political instability and uncertainty. And so they go to Jeremiah and ask Him to seek the LORD.

Then all the commanders of the forces, . . . and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant–because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us–that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do. . . . Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”
 (Jeremiah 42:1-3, 6 ESV)

Okay. At face value this is looking good. Your world’s a bit upside down? Don’t know what to make of it? Take it to the LORD in prayer. But what catches my eye is that they want God to “show us the way we should go.” Wait a minute, who said anything about going anywhere? God had left them in the land . . . God had provided for them from the land . . . it was the land God had promised to them . . . what’s this talk of going somewhere? What is it about Egypt?

Jeremiah goes to the LORD and inquires on behalf of the people. God says in effect, Remain in the land and it will go well with you. Do not fear the king of Babylon for I am with you. I know what you’re thinking but don’t go to Egypt . . . they can’t protect you . . . it will be disastrous . . . no one who goes there will survive. Trust Me . . . obey Me . . . stay put and “I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up” (42:10).

“You are telling a lie,” is the insolent response of the remnant to Jeremiah’s word from the LORD. God didn’t say stay put. It’s trickery and treachery that we might be delivered into Chaldean hands. We’re outta’ here! Egypt or bust! And you know it was Egypt AND bust. They went back to their world of bondage and there they died. What is it about Egypt?

What’s the allure of the world out of which God’s people have been saved that causes them to look back at that world for their safety, security, and fulfillment? What is it about the domain of the prince of darkness that somehow convinces us that when the going get’s tough that trusting God is not enough and it’s time to get going back to the ways of the world? What confusion fills the mind of the child of God during hard times that makes them think that where God has led them is not where God will sustain them? That His care for them will ultimately come from the land from which He has already redeemed and rescued them? What is this crazy, crazy allure of Egypt?

How is that one moment we can be singing, “This world’s not my home,” and then the next, when life gets hard, we head back there because we think God can’t be trusted with where we’re at? What is about Egypt?

O’ that I might rest in the land He has brought me to, even if it gets a bit out of control and unstable at times. That I might trust that He who said He would never leave me or forsake REALLY WILL NOT leave me or forsake me. That I might faithfully believe the promise . . . that I might faithfully pursue the promise . . . that I might not look back to Egypt.

By His grace . . . for His glory.

Posted in Jeremiah | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sufferings and Subsequent Glories

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Pete

Imagine the OT prophet’s life. You are the proverbial fish swimming against the flow. You are the one thing that doesn’t look like the others. You are the voice that contradicts the popular majority’s voice. And you speak of things that, by in large, people don’t want to hear. And amidst all this, a lot of what you are speaking doesn’t even make sense to you. Sure, the stuff about pending judgment because of persistent rebellion you probably get. But it’s the promises that are fuzzy. Especially the predictions of a coming Messiah. A saving Messiah and a reigning Messiah . . . gotta like that! But an inflicted Messiah and a rejected Messiah? What’s that about? It’s about sufferings and subsequent glories.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.   (1Peter 1:10-11 ESV)

“This salvation” . . . “the grace that was to be yours.” How’s that for a definition of salvation? The grace that is ours?

We get it . . . because we got it . . . and we have it . . . and we grow daily in our theoretical and practical understanding of it. But for those charged with this salvation’s great reveal, they didn’t get it. Instead the prophets “asked a lot of questions” (MSG) about this grace-filled salvation they spoke of. As the Spirit of Christ moved them to “thus says the LORD” and to write of things that were yet to be realized, they didn’t understand exactly who they were writing about or when He would come on the scene. What they did understand though, was that whoever the Messiah was, He would know sufferings and subsequent glories.

And this morning I’m noodling on subsequent glories . . . with a bit of a “me focus” filter.

To be sure the subsequent glories after the cross would begin with His resurrection. Crazy that rising from the dead would be but the beginnings of subsequent glories because how do you top that? You don’t. The risen Christ is the great “Amen” to the finished work of the cross. The risen Christ is the knock out punch that crushes sin and death. The resurrection is the evidence that there is a life to be known unlike anything this side of the grave. Praise God for the resurrection.

But the subsequent glories continue. Imagine what it was like to be standing there on the day Jesus ascended into the clouds. Jaw-dropping. To your knees . . . face to the ground . . . as the angels appear and declare, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11). The angels prophesying of yet more subsequent glories . . . that day when He returns. The Jesus of the cross coming again unmistakably as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OR LORDS . . . seated on a white horse . . . accompanied by the armies of heaven . . . ready to judge the earth and establish His reign in majesty and righteousness (Rev. 19:11-16).

Resurrection . . . ascension . . . judgment . . . coming kingdom. All subsequent glories born out of the sufferings the Son undertook in order to do the Father’s will.

But one more comes to mind. Though it’s not about me, I still think I’m part of these subsequent glories.

. . . 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.   (Ephesians 5:25b – 27 ESV)

Christ gave Himself for the church . . . His sufferings. That He might present her to Himself in splendor . . . subsequent glories.

Christ died that He might secure for Himself a redeemed people and that they would be presented to Him one day as a glorious bride. To quote an old Southern Gospel classic, “when He was on the cross, we were on His mind.”

It was for “the joy that was set before Him” that He endured the cross and despised the shame (Heb. 12:2). That joy to be realized on that day when His bride has been fully made ready and is presented to Him “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing” because in Him, and by Him and through Him, she has been made holy.

O to be part of subsequent glories. All because of amazing grace . . . all for His eternal glory.

Posted in 1Peter | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Guarded Through Faith

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Pete

Peter writes to the elect exiles. Groups of believers “of the Dispersion.” Scattered throughout the provinces of Asia Minor because of persecution. Who they were and where they were was according to the foreknowledge of God . . . it was part of their sanctification in the Spirit . . . it was so that they might demonstrate obedience to Jesus . . . all sustained by the power of Christ’s cleansing blood (1Peter 1:1-2). And what’s grabbed me this morning is that while the going was getting tough it was their faith that would keep them going.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by Gods power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1Peter 1:3-5 ESV)

Ours is a living hope. Ours is an unfading inheritance in heaven. Ours is a salvation ready to be revealed. But we’re not home yet.

So, in a sense, ours too is a dispersion. A living in an increasingly foreign land. The norms, the values, the goals of this world at best inconsistent, and more and more often incompatible, with the ways of our kingdom. Thus, tough times are inevitable. Throw in the fact that we have an enemy who goes about seeing who he can devour . . . add in the daily battle the Spirit wages with the flesh . . . and perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that from time to time it gets hard . . . and sometimes really hard.

But we are being guarded. Guarded by God’s power. Guarded by God’s Holy Spirit.

The Spirit . . . “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Eph. 1:14) . . . the Helper (John 14:26) . . . the Spirit of truth (John 15:26) . . . the power that raised Christ from the dead residing in us (Romans 8:11). And what is the fuel that feeds His fire? What is the anchor from which His grip will never let go? Faith. By God’s power we are being guarded through faith.

In every difficult situation the Spirit is ready to set a guard about us. And His beachhead is our faith. That what we say we believe, we really believe . . . especially when it gets hard.

Peter says that the genuineness of our faith is tested through “various trials” (1Peter 1:6-7). He knows, and we know, that it’s the real meal deal because we keep on keepin’ on. Our faith, though even as a mustard seed, the ground upon which the Spirit manifests His power and guards our walk.

That’s why often we end up handling more than we thought we could (or should)–by faith and through God’s power. The stories are added of the times we felt like the outer man was down for the count only to have the inner man renewed, restored, and revitalized–through faith by the guarding ministry of the Spirit. And this genuineness of faith, beyond getting us through the day, is going to “result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Mine is to believe, His is to guard. Mine is to look up, His is to come down. Mine is to be faithful, His is to fuel the fire.

Guarded through faith . . . because of grace . . . for His glory.

Posted in 1Peter | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Radiant!

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Pete

Jeremiah declared there would be a day of dancing in Israel. Mourning would be turned into joy. Sorrow would be exchanged for gladness. They would feast in abundance and the people would be satisfied with God’s goodness. For the God who had scattered Israel would gather Israel. And they would be His flock. Sheep led beside still waters. Sheep finding rest in green pastures. And the God who had determined to love them with an everlasting love would guard them as their Shepherd. For the LORD would ransom Jacob, paying the price for his release. The great God of creation would step in as Jacob’s redeemer, releasing him from a grip of bondage too strong for Jacob to break himself.

Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry.   (Jeremiah 31:13 ESV)

I’ve been hovering over this promise of God to the tribes of Jacob in Jeremiah 31. Thinking that, while it was fulfilled in measure at their return from Babylonian exile, there is yet to come a day when the fullness of this promised redemption and restoration will be realized under the reign of Messiah.

And as I noodle on this I can’t help but put myself in the story. Part of a prototype of a people loved with everlasting love, ransomed from bondage, redeemed and made new, brought into a kingdom whose river is the living water of the Spirit and whose King reigns in their hearts. While not home yet, knowing daily through the pilgrim’s journey the care of the Good Shepherd. Having experienced the goodness of abiding in the Vine. Having encountered the power that frees from the enemy’s grip.

And while I may not be much of a dancer, there’s another response to salvation’s bounty that has caught my attention this morning.

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.    (Jeremiah 31:12 ESV)

They shall be radiant. The realization of the goodness of the LORD primes the pump so that a stream pours forth from the recipients of that goodness. A stream of light. They beam. They sparkle. Their inner joy overflows to their outer countenance. The women rejoice . . . the men are merry . . . their feet dance . . . their voices sing . . . and their faces shine. O’ to worship through radiance.

To be real, sometimes life feels a bit like Babylon. Sometimes acknowledging God’s goodness is more in the head than the heart. But in those times of big picture clarity . . . when in the secret place I look up and am reminded of His presence . . . and I look back and know again His provision . . . remembering the darkness and now knowing the light . . . recalling the bondage but now experiencing some victory . . . having once been far off but now boldly approaching His throne of grace . . . when I’m still and reflect again on the goodness of God, I’m thinking I should beam . . . my face should shine . . . my worship should be radiant!

Because of His grace . . . and all for His glory!

Posted in Jeremiah | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Promises, Plans, Places, and Prayer

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Pete

Hovering this morning over a well known portion of Scripture in Jeremiah 29. A portion of ancient writ that I know was not written specifically TO me . . . but that the Spirit bears witness was written FOR me. The context of Jeremiah’s prophesy so very different than any context I’ve known, or could even fully imagine, yet the truths of God’s declaration having as much application to me today as it did to God’s ancient people back then. So I’m thinking about promises, plans, places, and prayer.

“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”    (Jeremiah 29:10-14 ESV)

God had made a promise to Abraham and to his seed. A promise about a place. It was renewed with Isaac and Jacob. And, in measure, it was realized through Moses and Joshua.

God had plans for His people. As a maiden rescued from the mire they were to keep themselves for Him alone. As His flock they were to abide under His faithful care and provision. As His vineyard they were to bear fruit and show forth His glory.

But sin has a way of interfering with God’s promises and plans. The unchecked leaven of pride, arrogance, and self-determination has a way of creating a detour from the place God has made for them. It causes God’s people to turn their backs to Him, even when God’s desire is that His face shine upon them. Combine a stiff neck with a lustful heart and you’re mixing nitro with glycerine . . . it’s not about if, but about when, things are going to blow up. Can anyone say, “Babylonian exile?”

But God’s promises remain. His plans will be accomplished. The place He has prepared for peace and rest will again be inhabited. For in His grace, He moves His people to pray.

Call upon me . . . come and pray to me . . . and I will hear you. Seek me . . . with all your heart . . . and you will find me.

More promises. God’s simple plan. That we might know the resting place again.

Too often for my liking . . . though I think I should be more spiritual or more advanced in my Christian walk . . . I find myself on the outskirts of Babylon. Having let my guard down . . . having conceded the daily battle between the old man and the Spirit to the old man once again . . . having been tripped up by something I’ve been tripped up by before . . . I sense a distance from the place God intends for me. While always mine positionally, I have stepped away from my seat in the heavenlies. The abiding is not so much. The feelings of barrenness and exile roll in. The accuser piles on by telling me I should just stay there . . . that I should give up and hang out in Babylon.

But God has made a promise. And God has declared He has plans. And the place He was made for me is in His presence. And thus He beckons me to once again pray and seek His face.

And I do so, again and again, because He has made the provision.

. . . and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1John 1:7b-9 ESV)

Thank God for prayer that turns the heart back to the God of promises, plans, and places. Thank Him for the ever-flowing grace available through the cross that restores the exile . . . that we might share in His promises . . . participate in His plans . . . and know the Shalom of His place.

To Him be all glory . . .

Posted in Jeremiah | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A God at Hand

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Pete

It’s kind of a “give your head a shake” type of word from the LORD.

After having indicted the shepherds of Israel for destroying and scattering the sheep of His pasture (Jeremiah 23:1-2), the LORD speaks additional judgment, through Jeremiah, to the prophets of Israel. Despite the coming storm of God’s wrath for generations of stiff-necked disobedience and unfaithful spiritual adultery, these self-proclaimed spokesmen for the LORD prophesy words of vain hope . . . speaking “visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD” (23:16). To those who despise the word of the LORD, these fake prophets say, “It shall be well with you.” To those who are determined to set their own course according to the stubbornness of their own hearts, these make believe fortune tellers announce, “No disaster shall come upon you” (23:17). And to them, through Jeremiah, the LORD seems to say, “Give your head a shake!”

“Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name . . .”   (Jeremiah 23:23-25a ESV)

What were they thinking? Every time they declared, “Thus saith the LORD” did they not think the LORD could hear what they were thus saying? When they sat in their homes writing out their scripts, practicing their best prophet intonation, did it not once occur to them that if God was really God then He’d probably have an idea of the charade they were playing and the lies they were telling? Apparently not. So wrapped up in themselves, they had totally lost sight of the fact that our God is a God at hand.

There is no secret place from the One who fills all heaven and earth. David knew it when he penned Psalm 139. Hemmed in . . . that’s how David described it (139:5). His God a discerner of every thought and familiar with every path. There is nowhere to flee from the presence of His Spirit (139:2,3,7). David’s God was a God at hand. Such awareness, says the songwriter, is incomprehensible (139:6).

It certainly was for the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day. Incomprehensible in that they were so spiritually dead they couldn’t even put two and two together and discern the danger of speaking on behalf of a God who was truly God. Oblivious to the implications of putting words in the mouth of the Creator who gives breath to all things. Dead to any thought of the consequences of saying, “All is good, maintain the status quo” when in fact, the Righteous Judge through His faithful servant, Jeremiah, was declaring, “All is not good, repent and return.” A God at hand can be pretty scary for those who blindly think they can operate in the secret places.

But what of those who have had the darkness of their sin exposed by the light of knowing God IS at hand? Those who have had their eyes opened to the Righteous Judge only to learn that He has also determined to be the Eternal Justifier? Those whose sin stains have been taken away by the God at hand who drew ever nearer and came to earth as the Lamb of God? Those who have been brought into, and can now experience daily, an abiding fellowship with this God who is ever present? For such as those, there is cause for great praise and thanksgiving for a God at hand.

No longer relying on our best thinking, or our self-serving desires . . . no longer declaring what seems right in our own eyes . . . we declare, not as prophets but as priests, “the excellencies of Him” who has called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1Peter 2:9). Not in fear of a God who has hemmed us in, but drawing near in boldness of faith to a God who has provided free access to His throne of grace. Welcoming His presence as we pursue abiding in Him.

What praise is due a God at hand? A lot!

By His grace . . . for His glory.

Posted in Jeremiah | Tagged | Leave a comment

If the Lord Wills

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Pete

I am, by nature and by nurture, a planner. I think it’s in my DNA. As far back as I can remember I’ve been inclined in situations to first consider and calculate before committing. For example, after an incident where our family was stranded for lack of gas in the tank, I can remember, even as a small kid, frequently checking the fuel gauge in the car before embarking on a trip to make sure that it was closer to “F” than it was to “E.” My preference would have been to always ensure the needle was on “F” before putting the car in “D.” And this natural propensity developed over the years and eventually it became a marketable skill. Much of my life in the corporate world involved planning, risk mitigation, and execution. So I think I’m kind of wired to start with the end in mind and then figure out what it takes to get there.

But though it’s how I prefer to do life, I was reminded this morning that natural propensities need to subject themselves to divine realities. That reliable methods and predictability need always to be in the context of an Almighty God and His sovereignty.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”–yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”      (James 4:13-15 ESV)

If the Lord wills.

I can plan . . . I can purpose . . . I can prepare. But at the end of the day, says James, it is the Lord’s will that prevails. And in that, there is great freedom and rest.

It’s not fatalism . . . some passive resignation that things are out my hands and so “what will be will be.” In fact, it’s not about “what will be” at all . . . but all about “Who is.” And my God has made Himself known as the great “I AM!”

James doesn’t exhort me to simply resign myself but instead to recognize my God. Aware that His hand and purposes are in the affairs of all life . . . mine included.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
(Proverbs 16:9 ESV)

There’s still a place for goals and outcomes, for assessment and risk mitigation, for planning and purposeful execution, but it is all to be placed under the acknowledgement that God provides the power. That by His grace and through His Spirit according to His determination, I can say, “Today or tomorrow I will do this or that . . . if the Lord wills.”

And it is only as it aligns with God’s purposes that we realize our plans.

Many are the plans in a mans heart, but it is the LORDs purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21 ESV)

So who am I to think that God should so care about what I do? I am a trophy of His grace . . . I am a sheep of His flock . . . I am a member of His body . . . I am child adopted into His family . . . that in whatever I do, and in all that I do, I should willingly submit it to His will that it might all be done for His glory (1Cor. 10:31, Col. 3:23).

I am planner. By nature . . . by nurture . . . and in newness of life. That whatever I seek to do, it might be if the Lord wills.

Because of grace . . . for His glory.

Posted in James | Tagged , | Leave a comment