God can handle rejection.

I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
Isaiah 37:28

God is not surprised, diminished, depressed or incapacitated by anyone's rejection of Him. God can handle it quite well. He has a sovereign plan in place to deal with everyone justly, including those who fight against Him with active rejection.

When Sennacherib came up against Jerusalem with the brutal power of the Assyrian army as his threat, he came mocking God. He ridiculed king Hezekiah but worst of all, he dared Israel's God to save them, as no pagan god had ever turned back the Assyrian superpower. The pride and swagger in Sennacherib's boasts seemed all too true to the citizens of Jerusalem. A brutal army outside the city gates prepared to bring Jerusalem to ruin. But the king of Assyria had never encountered the true God of heaven and earth. In response to a passionate prayer from Judah's king, God would humiliate the boastful Assyrian dictator.

God was intimately familiar with the situation. It did not catch Him off guard. Sennacherib's every move was God's intimate knowledge. He was well aware not only of the mocking voice of the Assyrian king, but also of his greatest weakness. In one night the entire army died in its sleep. And the Assyrian king, spared with only his life, quietly returned home impotent, only to die by assassination by the hands of his own sons later that year. God knew the raging of this king. He knew how to stop it. And He justly saw an end that would assert the glory of the God of Israel.

So over every person, institution, or movement that rages against God, the Lord is absolutely sovereign. Even the rejection of God by those who falsely trust human autonomy is orchestrated by God's hand for the ends of His glory and praise. When I see it in my day, I will be reminded of the humiliation of an ancient Assyrian loudmouth.

change & decay

Man wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Job 13:28

Let's just say that this week has been a season reminding me of this truth. Sometimes the decay of life accelerates for some reason. You watch cherished parts of life change and crumble. It isn't evil... it is just part of the way the world is ever since sin changed things from God's perfect design for us. God is above it, somehow, in ways my eyes don't always see in the splintering decay.

The words of this old hymn are an insightful comfort to my soul:

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.


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shown

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
Psalm 19:1-2

I have always really loved to study astronomy. I can sit outside under a night sky and marvel at the work of God. It amazes me to pull out my telescope and view the moon up close or to see Saturn's rings live with my own eyes. We live in a vast universe filled with the wonders of God's creative mind.

I believe that I have "scriptural" encounters with God. By that I mean that reading the Bible provides for me the opportunity (I believe the only opportunity that I should actively seek and promote) to "hear" the voice of God. But I also know that I can see God in creation. Some of my most life-stirring thoughts and confirmation about God have come just from such times. I vividly remember the summer of 1980, laying on my back in a mountain meadow and watching meteors streak across the Milky Way. I was in awe of God then. I know I celebrated God's creative power when I held my first wild brook trout in my hand. I've seen God's handiwork in the shimmer of the northern lights. I know God's power in the pounding cold of a mountain waterfall. I have been immersed in the depths of His love in the rolling ocean surf. I have been amazed at His diverse creativity snorkeling with colorful reef fish surrounding me. I have marveled at His greatness in the beauty of a desert canyon. I understood first in a way that I still cannot fully put into words what it is for God to be my Father when I held each of my newborn children close to my own beating heart. Creation confirms what His Word reveals.

Lord,
I see You work in this world. I am astounded at the universe You simply muttered into meaning! I hold Your greatest thoughts in my hands when I open Your Word and listen to You there. Thank You for being such as accessible, meaningful, powerful Lord!
Amen


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people forget

And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side

Judges 8:34

I read these episodes in the Book of Judges and am incredulous. How could Israel so quickly forget what God had done for them? It seems crazy, as if mass amnesia affected them all. Exactly how does a nation forget its recent history?

This text has a clue. The reason Israel could so easily forget is that their hearts were idolatrous. They turned time and again to the worship of false gods. The text says they went after Baal with whorish hearts (Judges 8:33). A wild energy was devoted to the pursuit of false gods. They lusted after them like sex. And that misplaced affection led the nation to reinterpret their recent history, telling it without God present in it.

Spiritual decline begins not so much in absent-minded forgetfulness, but in deliberate fixing of the heart on an idol. And as that idol starts to direct the heart, God is further and further from the thoughts. Soon He is no longer even a memory as the new idol holds us in fascination and demands our worship as it controls us.

So this warning about the process of spiritual decline is personally instructive. It keeps us clear and aware of the dangers. We will worship something if we do not worship the Lord. That is the big repeated theme of the book of Judges.

at home with God

From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.

Genesis 26:23-25

When Isaac conversed with God the impact of that meeting was so strong that he just moved into the place where it occurred. He simply wanted to live where he knew God was working in his life. He pitched his tent at the spot where God had encouraged him. He made it a habit to simply dwell with God. He lived there. It was beautiful.

After God encouraged Isaac with a renewed covenant commitment, Isaac seriously entered into the responsibilities of that relationship. He began to pray. He built an altar and offered sacrifices. He seriously committed to his relationship with God in a new and costly way. It was a powerful thing and God rewarded his willingness to stay there. A home was established in Beersheba. An altar was built for worship. A well was dug. His family settled in to life with God at Beersheba.

That picture is an encouragement to me right now. I did not sleep well last night. I haven't slept great for weeks. Worries of my own, the cares and burdens of the church, and the hurts of others that I dearly love kept me up. So I eventually gave in to the inevitability of short sleep. I sat up in the wee hours of the morning in a dark room in my favorite comfy chair and just prayed. It was both confusing at times and strangely clarifying. And after that I read my assigned passage and came upon this encouraging story from Isaac's life. God spoke loudly in His Word. I did not need a mystical voice. I did not have to do any weird twilight zone exercises or mental Jedi mind tricks to hear Him. He ALWAYS  speaks in His Word. The Bible is His voice. Just read it! And I did and am blessed. I am glad that I can live in my own home, Beersheba-like, and find God's peace.

we gain more than we give up

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life."

Matthew 19:29

The promise of Jesus to His followers is of eternal satisfaction, not just temporary reward. Jesus gives His disciples this assurance: it is well worth any personal sacrifice to follow Him. And that promise extends to those who follow Him today.

There are sacrifices both material and relational that we must make to truly commit to following our Master.  Jesus mentions the physical cost of houses and lands. No material asset should keep our hearts from Him. In the immediate context, Jesus has just seen the wealthy young ruler walk away from Him because he could not turn from his possessions (Matthew 19:16-22). Peter remarks that Jesus' disciples have left it all on the gamble of Jesus' kingdom. And that was true. Love any earthly possession and you cannot truly love Jesus. You are blessed by Him when you possess only Him.

Relationships also change. We cannot love any person more than the Lord, for it would make that person an idol. And Jesus warns that even the closest of family relationships is "left" to follow Him. Jesus must have my heart in order for me to be His disciple. It is more than just "learning". Those who only define a disciple as a "learner" miss this. Discipleship is a commitment to the core of what I want or what I love. And it is rewarded by Jesus intensely if I truly commit to being His disciple.

Christianity is a culture of love.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:9-10

Love makes the culture of the church a pleasant place. It leads to unity, service, and honor holding the church together beautifully as the Body of Christ. We should be known by our love. Jesus said it was to be the way in which His disciples could be found in the world (John 13:35).

What these two verses say about that love helps us know what it looks like. It is genuine and from the heart. It is not fake or manufactured. We know this through the commitment we have to disdain what is evil and cultivate holiness with each other. You can't get any more "real" than when we keep each other accountable for godly lives... in love.

We are to love with a strong family loyalty. Brotherly affection is family love. You don't turn family down. You don't turn your back on them. You care BECAUSE they are family. You live together, share together, love together, struggle together, care for each other up or down together, and rejoice together in a family together. You share all the experiences of life as a family. Christian love is a family experience.

We must love with intense honor and respect. Each of us should seek to "out love" the others around us. We honor each other with our care, not out of duty, but out of the respect for God's kingdom that we see in His church. We honor King Jesus when we love each other as He loves us, respecting Him as we respect one another with His love.