empty nothings

How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.
Job 21:34

Job's observations and his reason combined with his theology to point out a gaping inconsistency in the "comfort" that his friends attempted to provide with their accusatory dissertations on suffering: the wicked sometimes flourish. Job has seen it. He knows they all know people who continue to prosper even as they ignore God. They die wealthy, seemingly happy, and without regard to God at all. Job's point is that the endless arguing his friends are making that Job's present pain is a result of his sin (because God always judges the wicked with temporal consequences) is totally worthless in the evidence he can point to the contrary. Basically, if the wicked prosper without divine interruption, wouldn't it also make sense that the righteous sometimes do suffer and not as a result of God's discipline?

Comfort is not found in an airtight black and white theology. I know this as I care for hurting people. I know this as I also hurt in my own life circumstances. Sometimes suffering is just a season meant to draw us to deep questions. Sometimes it is a season to simply trust God against our own pain, disillusionment, and the apparent disparity of suffering "for no reason". To attempt a simple theological answer is to create "empty nothings" as Job so poetically described it.

When distress attends the soul of the righteous, a time of testing will set the soul to potentially experience trust in God like never before. The false logic of "good = blessing / bad = judgment" is challenged and melts before the wisdom of trusting God at all times in everything. The greatness of God's love is known when He still is our heart's longing despite the hurting. And in that joy we can trust... even if people disappoint us with false empty nothings.


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rescued, redeemed, restored

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
Psalm 30:11-12

God will rescue, redeem, and restore. He will hear the cries of His people and answer them. This was what David knew when he wrote this song and it is worth some reflection right now.

God will rescue. He will reach down to us in our misery and help us to find joy again. He will bring singing from our sadness. He will turn our time of mourning into a time of dancing. He will pull us up and lead us out of our pains into joy inexpressible. He will save us from sin. He will save us from our selfishness and sadness. He will set us back up when we have fallen.

God will redeem. The Lord loves to buy back what we lost to sin's wager. He sees us at our worst and imagines for us the best when He saves us. He makes us His children when we were born enslaved to sin and at opposition to Him. He loves sinners and calls us to Himself, not because we deserve it by our own merits, but because He wills it.

God will restore. He will fix what is broken. He will make our lives better than they were. He will help each believer change so that what that person once was, lost in sin and darkened by individual blindness and disobedience, is changed into a life that is committed to being like He created it. He helps us to conform to the image of His Son. From there a new life in Christ totally changes our outlook and gives us hope.

Like David, I cannot help but sing Your praise, Lord! I will not be silent about Your great work in my rescue, Your redemption of my soul, and the way that You have restored my life! I will be thankful for this salvation and the life that You have given to me forever.

one person + God = impact

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Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
1 Samuel 3:1

I think one of the saddest accounts of scripture is the early story of Samuel. The young boy who was a gift from God became a rare gift back to God. He was devoted to service at the tabernacle in Shiloh where Eli the high priest and his corrupt sons led Israel's worship. Eli's sons had turned the priesthood into a shameful money and sex scam that disgusted the Lord. And even after Eli was told it displeased God, he did nothing about it. And the Word of God had grown scarce in these conditions. Yet faithful young Samuel would be used by God in these moments to restore God's Word to prominence and reform the tabernacle worship.

God will work even in a culture that rejects Him and opposes His truth. He will still speak to those who seek Him, even in times when respect for His Word is very scarce. He will show Himself strong even in the leanest of spiritual stirrings. One woman cried out to Him in desperation for a son. He answered her prayer with a mighty gift to the entire nation. Samuel became Israel's leader, prophet, and priest.

I am not worried that Christianity will disappear from Western culture as it becomes more secularized and anti-"God" in its orientation. Neo-paganism will not stamp out the truth. I plan on proclaiming it until I die. The Word may grow scarce, but it will be as strong as ever in the impact of those who believe it, ready to spring forth again. Even one believer will be used mightily by the Lord to bring truth to the world. Samuel's story is of just that sort of thing happening in a dramatic way.

God of famine

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Now the famine was severe in the land. And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”
Genesis 43:1-2

In plenty and in loss or pain
You are God
Who uses what we lose or gain
to show Your ways
to call us beyond
where we are
to You.

Withering winds or ruinous flood
point to You, Lord
so that we may trust You are good
in mercy's care
You grant us
daily bread
from You.

You will move an empire or nation
for Your will
and You will guide each situation
and individual
to sovereignly love
and care for
Your people.

calling sinners

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:15-17

Jesus calls sinners to come to Him for salvation. He does so today, but the way that He did so while in His earthly ministry was controversial. Jesus was with sinners. He ate with them. They traveled with Him. He lived His life and preached the good news of His kingdom and spent His time with tax collectors (liars, cheaters, extortionists) and sinners. And they were attracted to Him. A measure of His ministry was the crowd of sinners surrounding Jesus who were attracted to His message and His ministry.

Jesus confronted the self-righteous who took offense at this style of service. He was very straight forward with them. Jesus told them emphatically that He was deliberately calling these "sinners" to be with Him and to hear and respond to His message. He is a Savior Who loves sinners. He loved sinners and reached out to them like a doctor must reach out to the sick. Sinners need a Savior. Just as sick people are in a doctor's office, perhaps sinners need to be in church! Jesus is their Savior too!

Given that my Lord and Master based His public ministry on the call to many sinners, I have to look at my own efforts to serve Him. Why then is my ministry surrounded by "the righteous" more than "sinners"? I am ashamed to not be more like Jesus in this regard. I confess that I am more like a scribe of the Pharisees than Jesus. I pray to Jesus now, asking that He would appeal to sinners through me, that He would love sinners in my actions and speech as I serve Him. I am asking that He would help me not to be a Pharisee, but to be a friend of sinners as He is and call them to the gospel as He does.

One Foundation

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:11

Jesus promised to build His church upon the confession that He is the Christ, the Son of God, our only salvation (Matthew 16:13-20). It is the saving work of Jesus that brings Christians together as Christ's Church. And it is His saving grace that sustains us with the gospel message that defines all of our efforts and proclamation to the world. We can only do good by the work of the cross. And the hope of the gospel changes lives. This is our foundation. From it all Christian ministry rises up in the kingdom of God.

Now in December we are in the season where we celebrate Advent and the birth of our Lord. During this time we must not only remember Jesus as a baby born in a manger to peasant parents. He came to save. The angels said He would be a Savior. And that precious truth, in the promise of an infant Lord, was seen in His powerful teaching, His perfect life, and His sacrificial death and resurrection. It is that reality that makes Christmas really meaningful, beyond the wrapping paper, decorations, ribbons, lights, and gifts to one another.

Lord,
The church's only foundation is You. As a disciple of Yours, I have only one clear direction, and that is to follow You. I will let you lead me. I will use what You have given me, as I am, where I am, for Your glory. I will let You build me and build Your church through the gospel message.
Amen

free offer

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Isaiah 55:1

God offers the greatest treasure at the most unheard-of price. He gives His peace away. He satisfies the thirsty soul with cool water flowing from His crystal river. He feeds heart hunger with a daily sustenance that He simply gives the one who will come to Him to take it. The only requirement to feed our souls or to quench our thirst? Have nothing. Be in need. Come to God penniless.

This is a tender mercy for sinners. And lest I forget it, I come to passages such as this one, where the good news just shines out of the pages to the depths of my need. I can't satisfy my own soul. What this world offers by itself still leaves my life malnourished and my soul disappointed and thirsty. But in God is found life-sustaining love, truth, grace, and wisdom. It is His perspective that sets my view back on the level. It is His love and truth that feed my desperate soul. It is this free offer that satisfies my heart.

Lord,
People need the sustaining love You so freely offer to all who come to You. I need it. I am fed by You... not just by the stuff of this earth. You sovereignly supply. I need to drink of Your waters. I need to eat from Your table. I need to daily eat and drink by Your side. I thank You that Your grace is so generous. I thank You that Your Word gives me strength. I come to You begging for more because nothing could pay for what You have to offer. It only makes sense that You give it to people as destitute as I am. I receive all that You give with gratitude and joy.
Amen