But He Lingered

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Pete

It’s a pretty incredible story. One of God’s condescension. One of Abraham’s intercession. And one of Lot’s almost unimaginable hesitation. Or is it all that unimaginable?

Genesis 18, Abraham’s just hanging out when the LORD, accompanied by two angels, appears to him. After a prepared meal and some pre-natal planning, the LORD lets Abraham in on His present mission: “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me” (Gen. 18:20-21). Spoiler alert . . . it’s as bad as the “outcry” indicates.

Abraham knew S & G’s reputation, for that’s where his nephew, Lot, had chosen to live with his herds, his possessions, and his people. And knowing S & G’s reputation — that the Lord would find little to redeem in that place — Abraham begins to intercede for “the righteous within the city” (Gen. 18:22-33). If there’s fifty righteous, asks Abraham, Lord, will you still destroy the city? How about forty-five? How about forty? And so he goes, and so the LORD graciously consents, until finally the LORD answers, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” Another spoiler alert . . . there ain’t even ten.

But there was Lot. Peter, led by the Spirit, refers to him as “righteous Lot” (2Peter 2:7). And so, before the LORD destroys S & G, the angels are first to usher Lot and his family out of the city to a place of safety.

Lot is warned by the angels of the destruction to come, and Lot has no reason to think it won’t happen — it’s gonna happen. So, he gathers his family (Gen 19:12-14).

But then, I read this and it causes me to pause.

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

Genesis 19:15-16 ESV)

But he lingered . . . That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

The sin is great. The judgment is coming. The angel rescue team is present. But he lingered.

Lot hesitated. He delayed. He tarried. He was reluctant to leave. How come?

Was it because of the large herds and the many possessions he would have to leave behind — his life’s work? Was it because the utter wickedness of S & G had a way of making his selective, compromising wickedness (Gen. 19:4-8) seem not as bad in comparison — at least in S & G he had a relative righteousness? Whatever the reason, though faced with imminent destruction, Lot lingered.

Lingered from fleeing from sin. Hesitated about choosing the way of the LORD over “the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25). Reluctant to abandon the allures of darkness for the sake of life to the full. Hmm . . .

Instead of judging Lot and asking, “How could he?” — instead of simply finding a moral in this story, I find a mirror.

What causes me to linger? What causes me to hesitate? Where does the reluctance come from — pride, possessions, power — that makes me think twice about fleeing sin?

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

(Romans 7:22-24 ESV)

It is the LORD who will deliver.

The angels seized Lot. They took him by the hand and brought him out . . . the LORD being merciful to him.

Lot’s righteousness ultimately was the righteousness that comes by faith. His rescue the rescue that comes through the gospel. Not earned, not through performance and, as Lot attests, certainly not through perfection.

Though I may repeatedly linger, He steadfastly loves. Though I tarry, He still takes me by the hand.

O, the abundant and abounding grace of God. Who can fathom it? Not this guy.

To God be the glory!

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A God of Seeing

Posted on January 5, 2026 by Pete

She was the “other woman.” Not cherished but chattel. Outside the family, outside the promises. The “Plan B” that should never have been conceived much less should have been forced to conceive herself. The penultimate object lesson of what can happen when we lean unto our own understanding (Prov. 3:6) and determine that by our might, and by our power — not by His Spirit — we will make things happen (Zec. 4:6).

She is Hagar. An Egyptian servant until, one day, she is the enlisted surrogate to “save” God’s promise. Sarai’s solution to having a baby.

But then, this innocent, humble bystander, after losing her innocence and becoming pregnant with Abram’s child, becomes a contemptuous, arrogant, despising source of tension in the house. And Sarai’s response? A little crazy if you think about it.

“Look what you’ve done,” she says, in effect, to her husband, “the woman I gave you so that she could give me a child is now looking down on me. And I don’t like it! And it’s your fault! Do something!” To which Abram, responds, “You do something, she’s your servant.” And Sarai does something, she “dealt harshly with her.” So much so, that Hagar needed to flee.

What a mess!

But out of the mess, a message — our God is a God of seeing.

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” . . . So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.”

(Genesis 16:7-10, 13 ESV)

A God of seeing . . .

Seeing the mistakes. Seeing the consequences and collateral damage from men’s (and women’s) machinations. Seeing the mess.

And this God of seeing is the God who looks after me.

For He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6). A God who engages and intervenes. Even in the mess.

A God able to sympathize with our weakness as, through His Son, He “passed through the heavens”, entered our world, and lived among the mess. “One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). One who found Himself in His own mess and “offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death” (Heb. 5:7). One fully qualified, in all respects, to see and to look after me in my mess — whether it’s a mess from no fault of my own or a mess of my own making.

Behold our God!

Know that our God beholds us.

He is a God of seeing. He is the God who looks after me.

Because of grace. For His glory.

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In the Middle of a Big Thing

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Pete

“Amazed and astonished.”

“Amazed and perplexed.”

That’s how the Spirit moves Dr. Luke to capture in a couple of words the reaction of those who were there on the day the Spirit was poured out (Acts 2:7, 12). The reaction of “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians” — all devout men dwelling in Jerusalem on that day when the followers of Jesus gave utterance in each one’s own language (Acts 2:8-11). Whatever it was they were experiencing, they knew it was big thing.

Peter tried to explain to them just how big.

This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
       that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
       and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
              and your young men shall see visions,
              and your old men shall dream dreams;
       even on my male servants and female servants
              in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.'”

(Acts 2:16-18 ESV)

Whatever they were experiencing that day, however they tried to process what was happening, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, connects it to an ancient prophet who spoke of the last days. This thing, says Peter, is the ushering in of that thing. So, it’s a big thing.

And, as I’m sitting here this morning thinking about heading into a new year, I’m struck that I’m in the middle of that big thing. I’m living proof of the Spirit poured out in the last days.

Not because I prophesy, see visions, or dream dreams — though I have had a divine thought or two, been impressed on occasion with an unexplainable impression, and seen in my mind’s eye what can only be imagined — but because I’ve known the Spirit bearing witness with my spirit of my adoption as a child of God (Rom. 8:15-16). Because I’ve seen things and understood things in the Scriptures breathed out by God that can only be seen and understood as the Spirit of God illuminates them (1Cor. 2:10-16). Because I’ve known a power beyond my power — along with a peace that passes understanding — to endure what, for me, would have been naturally beyond endurance.

All this, and more, evidence of the truth that those who are Christ’s have been baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1Cor. 12:12-13) and drink of that Spirit. Evidence of the promise that we have been sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee of what is yet to come (Eph. 1:13-14).

So, entering ’26 I’m reminded this morning that I’m part of something big.

Just how big? Pretty big!

I’m part of the “now but not yet” kingdom — the Kingdom of Heaven ushered in by Christ’s first coming yet to be fully manifested and known at Christ’s second coming. Whatever ’26 might bring, it’s bringing about the kingdom.

So, let’s set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col. 3:2).

‘Cause we’re in the middle of a big thing.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Jehovah Gennao

Posted on December 30, 2025 by Pete

Okay . . . Is it license or is it just uneducated freedom? Am I crossing some linguistic line?

I don’t know the original languages of the Scriptures. All I have is my handy-dandy online bible and the brief definitions and explanations provided by its Hebrew and Greek lexicons. So, while I might talk about the original languages, I’m really just passing on what these helps say about the words that grab my attention. I’m no expert — I don’t even show up on the radar of biblical languages expertise. But that doesn’t stop me from being intrigued by the nuances that can be found in the original.

Nor does it stop me from doing things with the original languages that I’m pretty sure you can’t do. Like combining Old Testament and New Testament words, mashing together Hebrew and Greek. Like I said, is it license or is it just uneducated freedom? I’m thinking it’s a bit of both. But here goes.

This morning, I encounter a last flare of Christmas awe as I read in Matthew’s gospel and process again the account of Jesus’ birth. And the mash up term I end up with after some noodling? Jehovah Gennao.

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

(Matthew 1:20-21 ESV)

That which is conceived in her . . . That’s what I’m chewing on (did I mention with awe?) this morning.

If the technology had been available 2,000 years ago, would our nativity scenes today center around an ultrasound image rather than a baby in a manger? We hover in wonder over the imagined scene of the God who created all things becoming flesh and humbly, helplessly laying in a crib of straw as a baby. But before the Son of God was a baby, He was that which is conceived in her.

I read those words and they unexpectedly hit me — Jesus is that which is conceived in her. And so, I reach for my blue colored pencil and shade them as an insight into God the Son. And the wonder of another implication of Immanuel, God with Us, crashes over me like a wave.

And then this is where my uneducated freedom kicks in. As if, Immanuel, isn’t enough of a term for me, I start looking up words to come up with another way of describing the wonder of the “And the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). A phrase modeled after the more well-known, and more accurate, “Jehovah designations” such as: Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord Will Provide), Jehovah-Rapha (The Lord That Heals), Jehovah-Nissi (The Lord My Banner), Jehovah-Shalom (The Lord Is Peace), Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd), Jehovah-Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness), and Jehovah-Shammah (The Lord Is There).

Jehovah, “I AM”. Is it at all appropriate to think in terms of the “I AM” as that which is conceived — I’m thinking it must be. The Greek word for “conceived” is gennao, which means “to be born” or “to be begotten”, so couldn’t I say (I guess I am) that Jesus, in a sense, might be thought of as Jehovah Gennao (The Lord to be Born)?

Jehovah Gennao. . . what an almost unimaginable lowly place for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to occupy. What humility was entered into by the Second Person of the Triune God in order to “save His people from their sins.” To coin a well-known seasonal phrase, “What love came down at Christmas!”

Maybe it’s crossing some linguistic line, but there’s something about meditating on Jehovah Gennao (The Lord Conceived) that red lines my awe-o-meter.

Jaw-dropping! Breathtaking! Fall on your knees!

What amazing grace! To God be all glory!

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The LORD Knows

Posted on December 29, 2025 by Pete

Back to the beginning of my reading plan. A new bible open on my desk. Colored pencils at hand. Let’s a get a jump start on 2026.

Something so grounding in these initial readings. Powerful reminders that God created (Genesis 1:1), God came (Matthew 1:1), God’s coming again (Acts 1:11), and God knows (Psalm 1:6). It’s that last reminder that’s captured my mediations this morning.

The songwriter begins Psalm 1 with a promise: “Blessed is the man . . .” The one who, by God’s grace, refuses the counsel, the way, and the seat of the wicked, sinners, and scoffers. The one who, according to Peterson’s paraphrase, “thrills to GOD s Word” and “chews on Scripture day and night” (The Message). And the blessing? A life likened to a flourishing tree “planted by streams of water.”

Hmm . . . a tree, . . . flowing water, . . . sounds familiar. Like something I read in Genesis 2 this morning. A tree that bears fruit in season, endures forever, and perpetually prospers.

So, take the sovereign, creating God of Genesis 1, make Him the guarantor of the promise of Psalm 1, and hey, you’ve got something to look forward to in the new year.

But then, there’s reality. The experiences — the ups and downs — of last year which have a way of tempering the expectations for this year. A reminder that the certainty of the prize doesn’t preclude setbacks and suffering as we run the race. And while we don’t know what the setbacks and sufferings might be in ’26, we can enter a new year confident in this, the LORD knows.

. . . for the LORD knows the way of the righteous . . .

(Psalm 1:6a ESV)

The LORD knows . . . Chew on that.

Kind of 101-level propositional truth for the believer. But if it’s true — and it is — it is profound truth. It is peace giving truth. And it is propelling truth . . . 2026 here I come.

For I am “the righteous”. Not because of my works or worth, but because I am “in Christ” and His righteousness is credited to my account.

And I have a “way”. A way put in place by the sovereign, creating God of Genesis 1. A way, just as with everything God creates (Gen. 1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:25, 1:31), which works together with all things for good (Rom. 8:28). And because the LORD has charted the way (MSG), the LORD knows the way of the righteous.

The LORD knows . .

I don’t know what ’26 holds. But the LORD knows. I don’t know what blessings and what trials await. But the LORD knows. All I really know is that the LORD knows.

He knows not with just some distant, removed, disengaged awareness, but knows intimately and experientially because Jesus was “made like His brothers in every respect” (Heb. 2:17) — a “way walker” Himself — so that He would be able to sympathize with our weakness (Heb. 4:15) and ready, willing, and able to dispense all-sufficient grace “so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Cor. 12:9).

The LORD knows . . .

Not a bad thing to be reminded of heading into a new year. Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.

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Hand on Mouth (2017 Remix)

Posted on December 22, 2025 by Pete

Sticks and stones may break my bones . . . and when the Almighty’s doing the name-calling, that’s gotta hurt too!

Not that God harmfully throws down insults from heaven. But the One who searches the soul and spirits of men will reveal the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). Not to condemn, but as an invitation to repent.

So, when Job hears God call Him out, there’s only thing to do . . . hand on mouth.

And the LORD said to Job:
“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
       He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

Then Job answered the LORD and said:
“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer You?
       I lay my hand on my mouth.
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
       twice, but I will proceed no further.”

(Job 40:1-5 ESV)

The Creator has been schooling Job on the inner workings of creation. Using the brush of what can be seen and known by men, God has been painting a picture of power and purpose that transcends their world of gravitational pull. And the Almighty pauses to allow Job a chance to chime in.

After all, Job’s been wanting a one-on-One with the Almighty, and now’s his chance to point out to Him a thing or two. But in turning the floor over to Job, God calls him out, “Speak up, faultfinder.”

Faultfinder. Ouch! Seems harsh. But what’s stated explicitly in the ESV is hinted at in the NIV and NKVJ: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?” I guess if you’re ready to correct the Almighty, it’s because you’ve weighed God in the balances and found Him wanting. You’ve found fault with God. You’re a faultfinder.

There’s a line, it seems. A line between honestly asking questions and arrogantly demanding an audience. Between humbly confessing confusion and insolently calling out the Creator. Job crossed that line. And God loved Him too much to let him stay there. “What do you want to discuss now, faultfinder?”

And Job’s response is the right response. His answer, the only answer.

“I lay my hand over my mouth.”

Nothing to counter. Just contrition. No rebuttal. Only repentance. No argument. Just awe.

Job’s words have dried up. The lesson has been learned. God is God, and nothing less. Man is man, and nothing more.

Sometimes the right response is no response at all. There’s a point where God speaks and ours is simply to listen and acknowledge truth. To confess He is right and admit we have been in the wrong.

Not so God can prove Himself righteous–God has nothing to prove to anyone–but so that we might be restored to Him rightly.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

(James 4:10 ESV)

Hand on mouth. Sometimes, when you don’t know what to do, it’s the right thing to do. When there’s nothing left to say, it’s best to say nothing.

Be still, and know that I am God.

(Psalm 46:10 ESV)

It’s His kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4).

Such is His grace. To God be all the glory.

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“Woman, Behold Your Son” (2018 Rerun)

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Pete

It’s an annual experience. As best I can recall, the two words, “standing nearby”, have almost always jumped off the page when I’ve worked my way through this day’s reading plan. From the cross, Jesus saw His mother standing nearby.

The words pop because, as is our family tradition, at this time of year multiple nativity scenes are through the house all showing, in some fashion, Mary nearby. Sometimes holding the Son of God in her arms, sometimes kneeling beside a lowly manger looking upon a babe in the straw in wonder at what she was part of.

True at the beginning of her son’s life, true at the end. As she was standing nearby as her son, the Son of God, was crucified.

Here’s some thoughts captured a few years ago.

It’s an annually occurring juxtaposition. Every December I wrap up my reading plan chewing on the death of Jesus at a time of year when so much around me draws my attention to His birth.

Solomon said that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” and that one of those things is “a time to be born, and a time to die” (Eccl. 3:1-2). True for every man and woman. True too for the One who divested Himself of His heavenly glory and power and determined to fully enter into the human experience. There was a time for Jesus to be born. And, by the Father’s will, a time for Jesus to die.

Though it was the same Jesus, and though the two events were only 33 years apart, in so many ways so many things had changed so dramatically. The anticipation of that silent night giving way to the condemnation of an angry crowd early one morning. The loud song of an angelic host before lowly shepherds, giving glory to God and declaring the birth of a Savior in the city of David, silenced by shouts of “Crucify Him, crucify Him” by stiff-necked chief priests and officers before the most powerful man in Jerusalem.

The Son of God lying in a manager receiving gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh from worshiping wise men, a faint memory as the Lamb of God hung on a cross and was offered but sour wine by indifferent soldiers who just wanted to get the job over with.

But one thing hadn’t changed. One thing is strikingly similar between the idyllic scene around the manger and the chaotic circus around the cross. The mother of Jesus was nearby.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and divided them into four parts, . . . This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 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 19:23-26 ESV)

Oh, the contrast between the image evoked by the multiple nativity scenes set up in my home and the picture formed in my mind’s eye as I read in John this morning. The first of a peace filled virgin. Cradling her son as she meditates on angel declared prophecies and shepherd delivered messages. Treasuring up all these things, “pondering them in her heart” (Lk. 2:19). The other of a distraught mother, looking with horror on her derided, naked, and beaten son. Trying to make sense of everything He had told them as she watched Him die.

“Woman, behold, Your Son!”

See Him as the Light of the world come to deliver men from darkness. But know that, though He came to His own, His own received Him not (John 1:11). Marvel that the King of kings should come into the world in such lowly manner and then try and make sense of the darkness that compelled His people to declare they would have no king but Caesar (John 19:15).

Wonder at the Savior born that night, lying in a manger, the hope of the world. Try and comprehend Him suffering as He hung on a cross, the Lamb of God, slain as the final sin offering, the once for all Atonement for the world.

“Woman, behold, Your Son!”

She was there that holy night. She was there that horrific morning.

And Jesus saw her. And He knew her.

Born by her, He would die for her.

The grace of God incarnate. The glory of God manifest.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

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He Delights in Steadfast Love

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Pete

This year, reading through Micah has been particularly brutal. For some reason (a Holy Spirit reason?), I’ve been more impacted during this year’s readings by the relentlessness and heaviness of God leaving His “holy temple” and “coming out of His place” to “tread upon the high places of the earth” (Micah 1:3). And tread He has — for the better part of seven chapters. And the mountains have “melted” and the valleys have “split open” as God in righteousness judges “the transgression of Jacob ” and “the sins of the house of Israel” (Micah 1:4-5).

So, perhaps it shouldn’t surprise me that Micah wraps his prophetic word with a probing question: “Who is a God like you?”

But I’m struck by the God-breathed answer to the prophet’s rhetorical question. For it is a 180-degree turn from the predominant theme of the book.

Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity
       and passing over transgression
       for the remnant of His inheritance?
He does not retain His anger forever,
       because He delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
       He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
       into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
       and steadfast love to Abraham,
as You have sworn to our fathers
       from the days of old.

(Micah 7:18-20 ESV)

He delights in steadfast love . . . That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

I wrap-up Micah and I can’t help but think, “Oh, the wrath Jesus suffered on my behalf.” And not just for those sins I committed before that moment I first believed, but for the iniquity and transgression of yesterday. For, though yesterday’s sins may not have been as “big” as the sins of my distant past, before a holy God, they are just as offensive. And though I often don’t keep as “short an account” as I should when it comes to confessing my daily sins, yet His wrath is stayed, and His kindness prevails as He patiently leads me to repentance so that He might again pardon iniquity and pass over transgression. All because my God delights in steadfast love.

Behold, our God! A God who delights in steadfast love!

Who is a God like You?

Pardoning iniquity, passing over transgression. Having compassion and pouring out grace. Treading iniquities underfoot and casting sins into the depths of the sea. Showing faithfulness because of promises sworn in days of old. Not retaining His just and holy anger forever. And how come? He delights in steadfast love.

Our God must be provoked to wrath because mercy is His “specialty”, it’s what He “loves most” (MSG). He must be incited to indignation, for His default is to delight in unfailing, unwavering, unconditional love.

Behold, our God! Again!

The God who delights to love with a steadfast love. For our God is love (1Jn. 4:16).

Thus, daily we are recipients of ever new and abundant grace.

And only for His eternal and all-deserving glory.

Amen?

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The Temple Opened (2014 Rerun)

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Pete

One of those mornings where, rather than write in my journal, I read from it. And these thoughts from 12 years ago stir my soul.

What “infinite grace” . . . that I might enter a heavenly place . . . to look on His face!

Glory for me? To be sure.

That the glory might be to Him? Always!

So often I focus on Jesus’ revelation to John as something to be figured out rather than something to be experienced. I can be so intent on the “the trees” that I miss “the forest” . . . so consumed with the facts and what they mean and not spend time in wonder at John’s experience and how it must have felt. Point in case this morning as I sit back and think about the temple opened.

Then God s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

(Revelation 11:19 ESV)

First, a door standing in heaven was opened and John is invited to come up (Rev. 4:1). Now, the temple of God is opened, and John is invited to come in. John is permitted greater and greater access to the inner sanctum of heaven . . . and so, John draws nearer and nearer as the vision continues to play out on man’s last days on earth.

And it becomes clear to me that as God’s holiness is increasingly revealed, the justification for, and the intensity of His wrath are more understood. Open the doors to the temple, expose the Most Holy Place to the dealings of earth and you might expect nothing less than lightning and thunder, earthquake and heavy hail, to fall upon a world bent on rebellion and transgression.

But what was it for John to see God’s temple in heaven opened? What was it to look into heaven’s Holy of Holies and behold the ark of God’s covenant? Jaw-dropping I’m thinking. Isaiah had a taste of it . . .

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

       “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
       the whole earth is full of His glory!”

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

(Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV)

Jaw-dropping . . . face-planting . . . awe-invoking. What wonder!

Isaiah trembled because of how aware he was of his uncleanness. John, however, approaches washed in the blood of the Lamb . . . robed in the righteousness of Christ . . . adopted and counted as family with the Son . . . aware of how much he has been forgiven and of what privilege He possesses in the One he has known as Savior.

Today, I can read of the temples of times past and marvel at their function as a place of worship . . . and wonder at what it was like for the glory of God to dwell within their walls. Or, I can be reminded that today God’s people are being built into a living temple . . . a habitation for the glory of God through the Spirit of God.

But what will it be when heaven’s door is opened and I am invited to come up? To, at first, stand at the outer edge of those who, from every tribe and language and people and nation, are gathered around Him who sits on the throne and worship the Lamb in the midst? And then, to see the temple opened . . . and to be invited to draw near . . . that, face to face, I might behold the majesty, the might, and the glory of God. What will that be like? I can only imagine.

When, by the gift of His infinite grace,
I am accorded in heaven a place,
Just to be there and to look on His face,
Will through the ages be glory for me.

Oh, that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.

Oh, That Will Be Glory by Charles H. Gabriel

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The Right Filter (2022 Remix)

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Pete

Elihu presents the encore argument.

Job’s other friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite are done talking. Though they came to Job to “show him sympathy and comfort him” (Job 2:11), in trying to make sense of why Job is suffering they have instead speculated on what nature of sin he must have committed that would merit such devastation in his life. But Job doesn’t budge in declaring his righteousness and demanding a day before the throne of the Great Judge in order to plead his case. And so, the friends are frustrated into silence, “they ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes” (32:1).

Cue Elihu. Not sure where he came from, but he’s been listening for awhile. And he’s been getting angry. Angry at Job “because he justified himself rather than God” (32:2). Angry at Job’s three friends because “they had failed to refute him, and yet had condemned him” (32:3 CSB). And so the youngest among the these five men, burning with anger, thinks to provide the answer to the question that no one else has been able to provide.

In essence, Elihu rebukes Job’s friends for condemning Job for sin which Job hasn’t committed. He also rebukes Job for his self-justifying arrogance that because he had no sin God needed to explain Himself. And, most importantly, he reminds his elders about the need for the right filter — that we are to see life’s circumstance in light of who God is rather than see God in light of our circumstance. That hit home today in my reading in Job 34.

“Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding:
       far be it from God that He should do wickedness,
       and from the Almighty that He should do wrong. . .

Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
       and the Almighty will not pervert justice.”

(Job 34:10, 12 ESV)

Whatever the situation, whatever the circumstance . . . however you try and factor God into it, God cannot act wickedly, He cannot do wrong, He will not pervert justice. Full stop. That becomes at least part of the filter for processing problems, for discerning dilemmas, for figuring out a fallen world.

Job faltered in this filter and demanded God explain himself and defend His sense of justice.

For Job’s friends, even though Job was in fact blameless, upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil, they had to come up with a sin narrative in order to convince themselves that God wasn’t “doing wickedness” by allowing a “righteous man” to go through the ringer.

Both Job and his friends tried to force an answer to the enigmatic question, “Why do the righteous suffer?”

They did this because they had put God in a box, a box that said that a good God must bring about good things in the life of good people. Neither Job nor his friends were prepared to entertain that suffering under the hand of a sovereign and good God must still be a good God thing for a good God’s purposes — even if those purposes were not at all clear.

Subject God to the filter of our understanding, or subject ourselves to the filter of His revelation concerning Himself? See life’s circumstance and judge God, or see God and trust Him with life’s circumstance in light of who He is?

Seems to me that’s what I’m picking up from what’s being laid down this morning — the need for the right filter.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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