Tag: God

Balancing Grace and Truth

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for LifeLeave a comment

As an evangelical Christian in 21st century America, the constant challenge I find myself in is learning to balance grace and truth. As followers of Christ, we know that both of these are equally essential and mutually reinforcing. The Gospel of John says that Jesus came as “the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

In a practical sense, this means we must never shy away from holding on to our Christian convictions, namely those derived from the Bible. But on the other hand, we are to always be sharing this truth with openness, love, and empathy. If I was to guess, I’d say that Christians have historically known what it means to proclaim the truth about God, what He expects of us, and what He has done to rescue us. However, grace is a concept that has often befuddled people, both religious and irreligious.

I remember being taught in Sunday School that grace means “unmerited favor.” Sounds pretty good, but what does that look like? Of course, the chief example of grace from the Bible is God’s far-reaching love for those who have rejected Him, even to the point of being willing to come as a human and die for their sins. Again, this helps to fill out what we’re talking about when we use the word grace, but what does it look for us to show grace to others? After all, I cannot die for the sins of my neighbor, and they certainly cannot die for mine.

I think for starters we have to consider ways we can follow Christ’s example, such as the way He warmly embraced and unconditionally loved those who were considered spiritually and morally inferior. Jesus showed acceptance for people of every political stripe. For example, among His twelve closest companions was a former tax collector employed by the Roman Empire (Matthew) and a member of the Zealots (Simon), a group committed to dismantling Roman rule through guerilla warfare.

Jesus’ radical love for social outcasts even earned him the nickname “Friend of tax collectors and sinners,” a label the religious elite intended as an insult. At the same time, Jesus never downplayed the significance of repentance, costly discipleship, and the need to commit ourselves wholly to Him as both Savior and Lord. He called people to leave their sin behind, even while He embraced them in their sin.

A distinguishing feature of grace is not merely to show love toward those who don’t deserve it, but especially to show unconditional love and forgiveness toward those who have wronged you. Grace doesn’t hold a grudge in silence or seek to get even openly. Instead, it is the third option of accepting the one you would more naturally be inclined to disdain.

Both truth and grace are essential, but if I had to guess, Christians today are known less for their gracious attitudes than their willingness to stand for the truth. Many who have recognized this deficit have made the equally egregious error of sacrificing biblical truth on the altar of good public relations. However, I believe there is a far better way to show the world both of these necessary, Christ-like qualities.

One recent example I read about involves American pastor Tim Keller. Keller is known for his remarkable ability to communicate the relevance and beauty of Christianity within a secular culture. In 2017, Keller was given the highly esteemed Kuyper Prize at the Abraham Kuyper Center for Public Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary – that is, until it was abruptly taken away. Keller was well-deserving of the award for his leadership and ministry. In fact, he was even named among Fortune magazine’s “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2018.[1] Nevertheless, when word got out that Keller would be the recipient of the Kuyper Prize, several students and faculty objected that Keller was unfit to receive the award, citing his conservative views on marriage, sex, and women’s ordination.

The incredible thing is that while the award was taken away, the Kuyper Center asked Keller if he would still be willing to speak at the conference where the Kuyper Prize would be given to someone else. Instead of harboring resentment, Keller gladly accepted the offer.

Whatever your opinion of Keller’s convictions, no one could deny that Keller exhibited remarkable humility in doing this. Because of Keller’s trademark graciousness, many spoke out in his defense. In an op-ed piece, Katherine Alsdorf, the co-founder of New York’s Center for Faith and Work, even had this to say about Keller:

“We partnered in the establishment of the Center for Faith and Work, which may have done as much as any church in decades to honor Abraham Kuyper’s vision of humble, respectful engagement in a world of many faith perspectives. His teaching combines a deep confidence that the gospel can change everything from our hearts, making us more humble and generous, to the institutions and society around us. While he would never have sought a “Kuyper award,” I can’t imagine anyone more worthy of it. Like some of the women who have objected and instigated the withdrawal of this award by Princeton Theological Seminary, I do not share Tim’s complementarian views. However, I am deeply saddened by the tone of these objections, more so by the final effect.”[2]

What I love about this is that Keller’s response allowed him to have a far greater impact on his detractors than any act of retaliation would have. There are many times when it is easy for us to want to tear down our opponents for some scathing remark made about us. But how much more effective – and more importantly, how much more like Jesus – it is to “turn the other cheek.” To allow ourselves to be insulted, if only that will mean we can have an opportunity to put both grace and truth on display. Because in doing this, we will be putting Jesus on display.

Feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[1] Fortune Editors, “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Fortune, April 19, 2018, http://fortune.com/longform/worlds-greatest-leaders-2018/.

[2] Katherine Leary Alsdorf, “OpEd: Tim Keller Hired Women in Leadership,” Journey Through NYC Religions, March 29, 2017, www.nycreligion.info/oped-tim-keller-put-charge-train-men-women-leadership/.

Through the Lens of Eternity

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional2 Comments
Photo by Justin Kern

By Jason Smith

Perseverance is a powerful thing. It can make or break an individual. And it can make or break your trust in God. As someone has quipped, “By perseverance the snail made it to the ark.” And perseverance is something we all desperately need right now.

In the movie Chariots of Fire, the champion sprinter Harold Abrahams suffers his first ever defeat. The Olympic athlete is utterly devastated by the loss, and he begins pouting on the bleachers. When his girlfriend comes alongside to encourage him, Abrahams says, “If I can’t win, I won’t run!” His girlfriend wisely responds, “If you don’t run, you can’t win.” Abrahams went on to win the gold medal in the 100-meter dash of the 1924 Olympics. Hers was the voice of perseverance, urging him to go on, despite difficult setbacks.

When facing a trial, we have to gain perspective if we are going to persevere well in life.

The Eternal Perspective

When we are able to see our current pain or trial in light of eternity, it really does change everything. The things that will last begin to stand out, and you begin to give everything the attention it deserves. You’ll major on the majors, and let a lot of the minor issues go. They won’t seem as big in light of eternity.

The Apostle Paul knew what it meant to suffer. And yet, his confident hope in the face of trials is astonishing.

He writes, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

If you were to lift a 200-pound anvil on to one side of a massive scale, it’s going to feel enormous. No question. You’re going to experience incredible strain on your muscles, and your back might give out under the weight. But if you were to drive an 80,000-pound 18-wheeler on to the other side of the scale, that same anvil will appear as light as a feather as it’s lifted up in the air.

In the same way, our present suffering may feel enormous right now, but on the scale of eternity, the infinite joy and relief that awaits the child of God in Heaven and on the New Earth will make what we have endured seem as light as a feather and as brief as the blink of an eye.

A pastor friend of mine has said that whenever he and his wife are in the midst of adversity, they always try to ask the question: “Will this matter in eternity?” That’s a good question to ask. “Will this really matter in eternity?” Seen through the lens of eternity, everything we deal with in life is brought into right focus.

Pure Joy

James, Jesus’ half-brother, counsels fellow sufferers in this way: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2-3, NIV).

That’s a pretty radical message. “Consider it pure joy,” James says, “whenever you face trials.” Joy in trials? Joy in a pandemic? Joy in suffering? Joy when mistreated by others? What a strange perspective. That’s what you call counterintuitive Christianity. And this is so important.

A lot of times our gut reaction to any kind of challenge or pain is to grow impatient or embittered about what’s going on. We ask, “Why me?” because we can’t see a good reason that God would allow this suffering.

And a lot of times we can even grow angry with God. And the way this usually manifests itself is in getting angry or impatient at other people, particularly those closest to us. We can be angry at the situation, then angry with God, and pretty soon we are angry at the next person who is under our shadow.

But James says, “Look, the reason you’re so upset is because all your focus is on this struggle in the here and now. You’re consumed with all that’s going wrong. That’s why you’re angry.” But the short-range perspective won’t help us. We need an eternal perspective on the temporary challenge.

And look when James says, “Consider it pure joy,” he’s not living in a fantasy world. He knows that the pain in the moment is real. He knows how much grief hurts. In fact, James, who was the half-brother of Jesus, was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, which was constantly facing trials and suffering. He knew how painful life can be all too well.

But he says, “Consider it pure joy,” because he doesn’t want us to miss the forest for the trees. When we are in a major trial, our tendency is to put all our focus into what’s troubling us. But James says, we have to actively consider it pure joy first, because in the moment it sure doesn’t feel like pure joy. We need to see, with the eyes of faith, that God has good plans for us through this trial. “Take the long view,” James says, “Imagine ways God could use this for your ultimate good and His everlasting glory.”

In the Middle of It All

Remember Romans 8:28? If you don’t know it already, mark this verse down as one to commit to memory: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” That’s a powerful promise we need to bank on every day.

Do you love God? Do you have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ? If you don’t, I encourage you to entrust your eternity to Christ today. He died and rose again so that you could be granted eternal life with Him.

If you do, here’s the promise: God is working all things together for your good. Now, seriously, what could possibly be a better promise than this? The God who knows the end from the beginning is working for your good in the middle of it all. Everything you face in life, every challenge, every struggle has a purpose. We make mistakes. Trust me, I’ve made my fair share. But God never makes a mistake. He never slips up. He’s working for your eternal good in every situation you face.

So that’s why we need to first get the long-term view on every challenge we face. Because in the moment, we just want to shout, “No!” Don’t we? “No, God! Don’t let this happen.” “No, God! Make this go away.” But we need to see this challenge as a test, as an opportunity to grow.

No matter what trial you are facing right now, you will be able to persevere when you first get an eternal perspective on the temporary challenge.

Feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

New Mercies Every Morning

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional1 Comment

By Jason Smith

Sometimes people assume that the stories found in the Bible are always otherworldly, with every page being filled with outlandish miracles, ethereal heavenly visions, and glorious angelic appearances. They imagine that the Bible might cater well to “dreamers” who enjoy predictable stories but not so well to those who live in the grit and grime of reality. But what really struck me when I began to actually read through the Bible is how incredibly real to life all the narratives truly are.

I learned that it was very much a book written for humans and by humans, even though – I’m convinced – it is ultimately given from God.[1] Some open their Bibles and expect to read about God’s people always succeeding and conquering “the bad guys” in dramatic fashion – all for the glory of God, of course! To be sure, there are “success stories” in the Bible. With God’s help, Joshua soundly defeated Jericho, and David took down Goliath with a single smooth stone.

But on the whole, you don’t find God’s people riding one big wave of victory after the other. Very often, the so-called “good guys” are deeply flawed and have mixed motives. They often struggle with doubt. Sometimes they even get angry at God. And perhaps the thing that makes people in the Bible seem most real is that they suffer.

Take Jeremiah, for example. His nickname is “the weeping prophet.” It’s a pretty unfair moniker, really, considering all that the guy was up against. Pretty much every time God gave Jeremiah a speaking assignment, the prophet obeyed but then was mocked and rejected by his audience. You could sum up Jeremiah’s message to Israel like this: “1) You guys sinned, 2) God will judge you, and 3) But there is still the hope of restoration, if you repent!”

For some reason, the people didn’t really like that message – particularly points 1 and 2. Nearly the whole nation made it clear that they would rather Jeremiah just bug off. They preferred listening to all the false prophets, whose constant message was essentially: “Everything is awesome!” (see Jeremiah 23:16-22). They promised success and victory, but avoided the messy subjects of sin and accountability to God. Due to the city’s unspeakable evil, God determined that the Babylonian army would utterly crush Jerusalem.

Rather than a small band of rebels rising up at the very last moment to defeat the mighty evil empire – as we might expect in a Hollywood script – God’s people don’t win this battle. Jerusalem is decimated by the Babylonians. The book of Jeremiah ends with total defeat, rather than: “And they lived happily ever after.”

In addition to writing the biblical book that bears his name, many scholars believe that Jeremiah may have written the book of Lamentations (see 2 Chronicles 35:25). Given his historical position as an eyewitness of all that took place when Jerusalem fell, this makes sense, but we really don’t know.

In Lamentations, we get a sense for what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God” (Romans 11:22). God is always good and kind, but He also refuses to leave evil and rebellion unchecked forever.

As he watches the city of Jerusalem fall through tear-filled eyes, the author of Lamentations cries out:

“The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.” (Lamentations 2:8, NIV)

Imagine for a moment that the beloved city in which you live was being burned to the ground. How would that make you feel? It gets worse for this grieving man. In raw emotion, he accuses God of ignoring him:

“He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
    he has weighed me down with chains.
Even when I call out or cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer.” (Lamentations 3:7-8, NIV)

This is in the Bible! The author continues pouring out his heart with bitter invectives against God – even likening God to a ferocious bear that mauled him and left him for dead (vv. 10-11)!

Maybe you can relate. Perhaps there have been times when you too felt like God was shutting out your prayers. Maybe this even led to a root of bitterness growing within. It’s possible you even accused God of failing to do His job… failing to be the God you need. That’s where this man’s heart was as he wrote this.

But then, something changes… drastically. It’s as though a ray of hope suddenly breaks through the thick clouds overhead and shines upon his wounded soul.

“Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

The author has wrestled intensely with how God’s goodness and sovereignty fit with the way his world is crumbling to a heap, and now he has broken through that struggle to the truth of God’s loving character on the other side. He has gone through what many have called “the dark night of the soul” and emerged with a clearer perspective on how desperately he needs God. He remembers that “his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (vv. 22-23).

What strikes me about Lamentations is how relatable it is. There’s nothing superficial or hunky dory about it. The author is deeply distressed throughout the entire book. But I also note how the author would have never been able to see the depths of God’s great mercy were it not for his agonizing experience.

Throughout this coronavirus crisis, many have wished they could find a time warp that takes them to the end of this pandemic. Such wishful thinking reminds me of Adam Sandler’s character on the movie Click. (Yes, I really am referencing an Adam Sandler movie in this devotional). In that film, Sandler’s character, Michael, discovers a universal remote control that allows him to pause time or fast-forward through difficult circumstances. In the end, Michael ends up fast-forwarding through his entire life. The lesson to be learned is that you cannot skip or avoid challenges in life, because life is filled with them – even as it is also filled with so much beauty and goodness.

In the same way, God does not intend for us to fast-forward through the challenging times of life. Instead, we are to be fully engaged with every moment He gives us. He calls us to walk through the valleys, not merely to fly from one mountaintop to the next. If it weren’t for the valleys, we would never grow. We’d become self-satisfied and spiritually anemic. Though unpleasant in the moment, trials in life are for our ultimate good.

Having gone through the valley of suffering, the author of Lamentations can now see God’s glory with greater clarity. Although pain and grief are here for a season, God’s love never ceases. “His mercies never come to an end” (v. 22). Every morning brings a fresh supply, and this reservoir of mercy will never run dry. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). This is a powerful reminder to any who have suffered greatly and felt like God was ignoring them in their pain. When you seem all alone, God is still with you each step of the way. Even in the pain, God will bring new mercies. When all seems silent, God hasn’t forgotten about you. Know that everything your Father allows into your life is designed to ultimately draw you closer to Him.

[1] See my article “What Did Jesus Think of the Bible,” https://lampandlightdevotionals.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/what-did-jesus-think-of-the-bible/

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Our Anthem Is Hope

On By Jason SmithIn DevotionalLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:5, BSB)

Hope is something our world desperately needs right now. Widespread suffering and bleak economic projections have left people feeling lost and disoriented. Many feel caught in the perpetual cycle of hearing messages of gloom and doom.

Into this dreary darkness, God wants to shine a ray of hope. I love the chorus of a Switchfoot song that goes, “My heartbeat, my oxygen. My banner, my home. My future, my song. Your hope is the anthem of my soul.” Now, perhaps more than ever, Christians must recognize our anthem really is hope.

The beauty of Christianity is that it heralds a message of spectacularly good news especially for dark and dismal times like the present. The message of Jesus Christ carries a hope that nothing in this world can snuff out. What makes it so unstoppable is that it’s a hope that shines all the brighter as the world looks darker. It’s a message for this world precisely because it is a message that transcends this world. It stands above even a global pandemic and urges every person to listen and believe.

This hope found in Jesus does not rest on the success of political campaigns or how quickly a coronavirus vaccine is discovered – which I pray is very soon. The Bible calls this hope “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19, NIV), something strong enough to weather even the fiercest storms. In Scripture, hope is something solid and sure – not a whimsical and flimsy pipe dream. Our “hope of eternal life” will never let us down because the “God who cannot lie” promised this “before time began” (Titus 1:2, BSB). We say things like “I hope it won’t rain on Saturday” or “I hope our team makes the Super Bowl,” but such hopes often ring hollow and really belong to the category of wishful thinking. The Christian hope, on the other hand, “does not disappoint us” (Romans 5:5, BSB).

So what is the Christian hope? Many have supposed that Christianity is about God rewarding the faithful. In other words, Jesus came to save the good, moral, and godly among us. What else could they think? After all, aren’t Christians engaged in a culture war eager to impose a biblical morality on the rest of society? I’ve spoken to many who see it that way.

But… what if Christianity’s message is filled with hope and joy, not because it’s first and foremost about moral reform, but about redemption in Christ. The reason I say it’s not about Jesus saving “the good, moral, and godly” is because the Bible itself says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Read it again. Jesus died for the “ungodly” – the immoral, the vile, the perverted.

Does that offend you? Well, it could be that you’ve missed the fact that, according to genuine Christianity, no one is saved except “by grace” (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is a biblical term that means “God’s infinite love to the infinitely undeserving.” The reality is that every last one of us has inherited the brokenness of our first father, Adam. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

As a human race, we essentially told God to shove off, thinking we could become gods apart from Him. Because of our sinful nature, we all come into this world separated from God and justly condemned. We have all gone wrong, which is why our greatest need is to be reconciled to God and somehow put in the right. But “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). God’s moral standard cannot change. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). God loves us dearly, but if He failed to punish our sin, this would lead to the moral order of the universe crumbling to a heap. Justice would be out the window forever. So what is God to do?

There is only one way God could save us while remaining perfectly just. He Himself would have to come and bear the punishment for our sin in our place. This is where the hope of the gospel glows with the brightness of heaven itself. You can probably think of someone you’d be willing to die for. But can you imagine dying for your enemy – for someone who has offended you, insulted you, and devalued you incessantly? Because that’s what Jesus did.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:7-9). To be justified is to be “declared righteous” by God because when Jesus hung on the cross, He took your sin and gave you His righteousness.

The truly astonishing thing is that while we were plotting to become gods in our rebellion against God, God became a man in order to rescue us. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (v. 10).

This is the greatest message of hope our world could ever know. The moment you trust in Jesus Christ and His death for you, you are reconciled to God. From that moment on, “the wrath of God” (v. 9) no longer hangs over your head because you are covered in the grace of God. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 1)

The Bible says that when you know this peace with God, it changes everything. Your whole world turns upside down… or, rather, right side up. Paradoxically, you can now have tremendous joy in the midst of trials.

“…and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (vv. 2b-5).

More than that, ours is a “living hope” because Jesus Christ is alive today. This is why Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Lord every Easter. His defeat of death signals to the whole world that the suffering of this world has an expiration date.

Do you see why this is the message of hope the world most needs? Whereas other hopes are dashed on the rocks of adversity, here is a hope that actually is strengthened by suffering. It’s a hope that God is offering you right now, because “Christ died for the ungodly” (v. 6). No matter how badly life looks, the Christian can always have this confidence: Our anthem is hope.

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

God Will See Us Through

On By Jason SmithIn DevotionalLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

These are tumultuous times. Many are facing job loss or financial difficulties. Weddings and other pivotal gatherings and events have been canceled. Countless are confused, angry, and anxious about the future.

The number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus across the globe just passed 395,000 as I write this, with 17,252 deaths worldwide. The constant refrain in the news seems to be: “The world is a mess!” The ground beneath our feet seems to be cracking and crumbling. So, what can be done about this growing uncertainty?

Now, more than ever, we as a people need to turn to God’s written revelation. The Bible was given to us for all times, and especially for times like this. We need to know that God has not left us alone during this crisis.

When we face unprecedented challenges, we must see God reaching out to us in love. In fact, God gave us a psalm to address unsettled hearts in times of crisis.

Psalm 34 begins with the author David committing in his heart to praise the God over all in every circumstance: “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (v. 1). God’s honor is not an afterthought for David. It isn’t an “if time allows” item on the agenda. He understands that the right response to crises is to worship the Lord who made us. But why?

Worshiping God: The Real Solution to Times of Crisis

Because we were designed for worship of our Creator, our hearts are most settled and at peace when we are reverently adoring Him for the God He is. When we can worship God in a crisis, we can know that we truly do love Him, not merely the blessings He bestows on us.

Job is known as the righteous sufferer of the Old Testament. Probably only a handful of people have faced more trials than him. He lost nearly all his livestock and possessions to thieves and a wildfire (1:14-17). His children died when a whirlwind caused the house they were in to collapse on them (1:18-19). Then, painful, puss-filled boils covered his entire skin (7:5; 30:17). His wife told him to blaspheme God and find a hole to die in (Job 2:9). And, lastly, his closest friends seemed to think he must have sinned horribly (8:2-7). Oh, and on top of everything else, did I mention he also had a severe case of halitosis – bad breath (19:17)? All this, despite the fact that Job “was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1).

So, what was Job’s response to this horrendous anguish he faced? He shaved his head, fell to his knees, and worshiped God. Yes, you read that correctly. Job cried out, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (v. 21). This likely seems strange to many readers. Shame, misery, and grief lead him into a worship session? What’s going on here?

Job understood something we often miss. The book’s author tells us what that was at the very beginning: Job feared God (v. 1). Because Job feared God, he understood that He was the Author of life, the only One deserving worship, and the only One we should rely on during times of upheaval. When everything in our lives seems disrupted, we need to rely on the Rock who does not change. “For He is the living God and He endures forever” (Daniel 6:26).

A host of solutions have been proposed in dealing with the current crisis. Some of these are good, but many may not be. Ultimately, they are not the decisive measures that can calm our hearts. Only turning in heart-filled worship to the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort” will give us the supernatural peace we’re all craving right now (2 Corinthians 1:3). “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8).

God Hears Our Prayers and Sends His Angels

Listen to what David said: “I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” (Psalm 34:4-5). When all is said and done, the question will not be: Did we survive the pandemic? Ultimately, no one gets out of this life alive! The question, rather, will be: In the midst of the pandemic, where did we turn for security? I don’t know about you, but I want to be included among those whom David describes as “radiant” and full of God’s love and peace, not dreading each day with fists clenched tightly.

I love what David says next, because it fits with the financial uncertainty we’re facing: “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (vv. 6-7).

Our tendency in economically volatile times is to look down at our assets, accounts, and accruals. God says, “Lift your eyes up here. My angel will bring perfect peace to you who fix your eyes on Me.” Then David says something that could be baffling: “Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (vv. 9-10).

What exactly is this psalm promising us? This isn’t a blank check promise that as long as you ask God, you’ll always get what you want. No, it’s meant to be a statement of assurance to those who feel deprived of what they normally can count on. Come what may, for those who seek the Lord, they will find true contentment in Him. They will “lack no good thing” (v. 10).

God Will See You Through to the Very End

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (v. 18). This is the statement Psalm 34 seems to be building toward. It calls us to worship the Lord (v. 1). It assures that He hears our every prayer (v. 17). Then, it tells us what we most need to hear: God hasn’t forgotten about you in the midst of this crisis (v. 18). He is so close, in fact, that you can feel his presence right there with you when you quiet your heart.

Elizabeth Elliot, who experienced deep suffering and loss in her life, wrote, “When our souls lie barren in a winter which seems hopeless and endless, God has not abandoned us. His work goes on. He asks our acceptance of the painful process and our trust that He will indeed give resurrection life.”[1]

Psalm 34 ends with a warning and a promise. Many will fall to affliction and cast bitter aspersions on those who seek the Lord (v. 21), but ultimately those who take refuge in the Lord will find ultimate salvation with Him (v. 22). No matter what crises or afflictions come our way in this life, we can be sure that those who trust in the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, will also be granted a resurrected life where death is but a distant memory.

If you know your destination, you won’t be lost on the journey. He will see you through to the very end.

[1] Elizabeth Elliot, A Path Through Suffering (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1990), 43.

Making Sense of the Coronavirus

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life4 Comments

By Jason Smith

For many of us, the Coronavirus has become a source for fear and anxiety. In addition to the countless large events and meetings that have been canceled across the world and in the U.S., many churches have felt the need to cancel services and small group meetings, including my own.

Even for those who aren’t experiencing all-out panic at the current crisis, there is a growing undercurrent of uncertainty and bewilderment about how to proceed with life. Since I work at a hospital, I’ve seen firsthand the level of frustration and panic that has arisen in response to the spread of this disease. I’ve also spoken to many Christians who have said, to one degree or another, they don’t understand why God would allow such a terrible disease like the Coronavirus to spread.

The first thing I would want to say to my fellow Christians is that God really is in control of every circumstance we face in life. Even if all the public health and safety officials, human leaders and government officials seem incapable of stopping the spread of the Coronavirus, God is just as sovereign over His world today as He always has been. The Coronavirus does not pose a threat to God and His reign.

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12a).

There is a part of us that actually despises the truth of God’s sovereign reign over all. We love the thought of having control over our own lives and to admit God’s sovereignty is to cede ultimate control to someone else. People may say things like, “God didn’t have anything to do with this disease” or “God is trying His best to stop it,” as if to defend God in the matter. These statements may come from good intentions, but to deny God’s absolute sovereignty is to deny the plain teaching of Scripture.

Consider just a handful of passages that plainly affirm God’s limitless reign over all:

“The Lord kills and brings to life;
    He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    He brings low and He exalts.” (1 Samuel 2:6-7)

“Our God is in the heavens, and He does as He wishes.” (Psalm 115:3, NLT)

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.” (Psalm 103:19, NASB)

“But you, Belshazzar… have not humbled yourself… Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven… But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.” (Daniel 5:22-23, my emphasis)

It’s also important to affirm from Scripture (rather than just assume) God’s goodness and love. The psalmist tells God, “You are good, and You do what is good” (Psalm 119:68, HCSB). Similarly, we read, “For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations” (Psalm 100:5, HCSB).

So, we come back to the question: Why has God allowed the Coronavirus to spread? While I don’t pretend to have all the answers, Scripture does offer us a place to begin when considering this important question.

In the story of Scripture, we find that the human race first fell into ruin because we flouted God’s right to rule over us as His creatures. The original temptation was “to be like god” and reject His lordship over our lives (Genesis 3:5). When we cut ourselves off from the One who is the Source of life, the inevitable result is death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). In fact, suffering of all kinds — including viral diseases — is the result of the fall.

Because “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,” we also know that God must have a good purpose in allowing the Coronavirus to spread (Romans 8:28, NASB). While we tend to see things only in terms of their short-term consequences, God is able to take the long view and see the good that can come out of pain and loss. That’s why it’s so important to affirm God’s sovereign rule in the midst of crises, because that is the only thing that can give meaning and purpose to what we’re going through. Knowing that our loving God is working all things for our good offers us tremendous hope in the midst of so much uncertainty.

When some Jews told Jesus about certain Galileans that the Roman governor Pilate slaughtered, they wondered if this indicated they died because they were a bad lot that especially deserved it. Jesus replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:2-5, NIV).

Jesus is saying that when you see terrible suffering around you, don’t merely assume that suffering only happens to the worst of us. See it as another reason to be aware of your own need to get right with God. We tend to push away all thought of death and eternity in the everyday grind of life. So when a fast-spreading viral disease affects our loved ones and us, we feel especially vulnerable and aware of our own mortality. But the reality of suffering and death has always been there, even when we don’t allow it space in our consciousness.

C. S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[1] That is precisely Jesus’ point. God allows pain and suffering and diseases to get our attention, to alert us of our desperate need for Him. Suffering is a call to repentance. We should recognize times of health and peace as undeserved gifts of God’s common grace.

D. A. Carson writes, “It is a mark of our lostness that we invert these two. We think we deserve the times of blessing and prosperity, and that the times of war and disaster are not only unfair but come perilously close to calling into question God’s goodness or his power — even, perhaps, his very existence. Jesus simply did not see it that way.”[2]

What a comfort it is to know that God did not abandon us to this disease-ridden world. He actually entered into this mess and experienced the worst kind of suffering when He went to the cross on Golgotha Hill. On that hill, the real hammer of sin’s judgment came down on Him, so that we — through faith — might be spared. Through His death and resurrection, Christ provides a way for us to live forever one day in a place that is free of all suffering and disease. On that day, God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4, NIV).

In the end, we should see the Coronavirus as a summons to seek refuge in the God who made us and in the Savior who suffered in our place.

[1] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 93.

[2] D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 67.

Turn Your “Who Am I?” into “Here I Am.”

On By Jason SmithIn DevotionalLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

Fear is a poison that paralyzes us. It locks us in a prison of our own making. It holds us back from walking forward in love. Fear stifles our courage and whispers the lie that we don’t have what it takes to walk in obedience to the Lord.

We’ve all had times where we are plagued by self-doubt. We can sense God calling us into something that terrifies us, and our gut-level response is to shrink back in horror. We think, “What? Little old me? I can’t possibly do that.” Or maybe it’s more like, “Big fat sinner me? I’m not worthy of doing that.” Nevertheless, God wants us to realize His plan for our lives is bigger than we ever dared to dream.

Too often — I can see this in myself — we know God wants us to follow through on something, and the reason we haven’t yet is actually very simple: fear. Fear of failure. Fear of exposure. Fear of losing a friendship. Fear of looking foolish. Fear of falling on our face and never wanting to take a risk again.

Here’s what I think can happen sometimes. We tell ourselves we have good reasons not to walk forward in obedience. We rationalize. We experience the sudden onset of analysis paralysis, thinking, There must be some mistake. With all my faults, flaws, and foibles, I don’t see this working out. I’m not the right person for the job. As if, somehow, the almighty, all-wise, and all-sufficient God of creation might be mistaken when He calls us to do something. All the stars and galaxies in the night sky follow their orbital path with precision, seamlessly bending to their Maker’s will. But, strangely, His own children won’t budge. We might even label it humility. But in reality, it’s doubting — or, perhaps, ignoring — God’s promises.

Get this picture in your mind. An 80-year-old Middle Eastern shepherd wanders through the craggy rocks of the Sinai Wilderness. After spending decades out in this wasteland, the blazing hot sun has left His face creased with deep wrinkles. He raises a rough brown hand to shade his eyes as he peers up at the towering mountain before him. He notices a strange orange glow emitting near the top. His brow furrows, and he scratches his wiry gray beard. What is that, a fire?

The desert wind howls as he nears the mysterious orange glow. Then he sees it: a desert brush fire is just taking off… or so he thinks. On further examination, he sees the flames are engulfing only one shrub, and, strangely, that shrub is not burning up. His body tremors as his eyes lock on the eerie spectacle.

What happened next? “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush” (Exodus 3:3). At this point, the old shepherd is just showing curiosity, but that’s all God needed. Sometimes we just need to do some investigating. We need to show an openness to what God might have for us. As we do that, there’s no telling how our lives might be transformed.

To the shepherd’s astonishment, a voice bellowed from the shrubbery: “Moses, Moses!” You know God is trying to get your attention when He calls your name twice. I imagine Moses’s voice cracking: “Here I am.” His next thought was probably: Wait… I’m talking to a bush! How long have I been out in this heat?

After telling Moses to remove his sandals in His presence, the deep, thunderous yet mellifluous voice continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (v. 6). On hearing this, Moses shielded his eyes, as if the radiating spectacle might burn through his retinas. He was actually speaking to the everlasting God. The terror-stricken Moses didn’t know if he would survive this encounter.

Then God spoke in a surprisingly soothing way of assurance: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (vv. 7-8a). Did you catch what God said? “I know their sufferings.”

We desperately need to be reminded that the living God, our personal Creator, Yahweh, is intimately concerned with us. He knows your deepest fears. He knows everything about you. He put you together in your mother’s womb. He knows the struggles you face. But He doesn’t just know about these struggles; He acts as our Rearguard, our Fortress, and our Deliverer. He responds to our cries for help.

As if Moses wasn’t shocked enough, God then tells this quaking old man: “Oh, and by the way, Moses, I’m going to send you to be my right hand man. Yes, you heard me rightly. You, Moses, are going to be the man I use to deliver my people” (v. 10, my paraphrase).

Moses’s jaw hit the ground. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (v. 11). Do you ever hear yourself ask that question: “Who am I? Who am I, Lord, that You would want to use little old me?” Moses had lived eight long decades by this point. At one time, he was a prince of Egypt, but his glory days were over. Now, Moses was little more than a washed up sheepherder who spent long hours under the desert sun.

Moses rattles off several excuses: “What if they don’t listen?” (4:1). “God, don’t You know I’m not all that eloquent?” (v. 10). He’s saying, “God, you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m past my prime. I’ve got so little to offer. Aren’t there thousands of stronger, fitter, and younger fellas that would better serve your purposes?”

Can you hear yourself asking the same kind of questions? God, I’m really not the natural-leader type. God, I’m not so good with my… um… words. God, I’ve got this great person in mind for you — anybody but me!

Remember Moses’s first response? “Here I am.” That’s the right response when God calls our name. God has a way of rerouting paths we thought were certain and remaking plans we thought were set in stone. We often feel off-kilter when God does this, but it’s the way He’s always worked with people like you and me.

God isn’t like the guy who grabs a megaphone and shouts at a crowd, “Okay, I need a couple volunteers! Any takers?”

No, God’s way is much more direct and forthright than that. He prefers to call us by name. We may try to plug our ears, put Him on mute, and drown Him out with white noise, but He keeps calling. God does not settle for the busy signal. Sometimes, He even has to grab us by the scruff of our neck, square us up, and, like a gentle father, say, “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

Our response should not be “Who am I?” but “Here I am.”[1] God is looking for a willing and submissive heart. He has something specific in mind for you and you alone. Do you know what it is yet? Are you still making excuses or turning up the white noise?

When you sense fear rising up, remember the promise that God gave Moses: “I will be with you” (3:12). That’s the only promise we really need. If you’re afraid of what is coming next, get your eyes up. Look at His sufficiency, not your list of excuses. So the next time God calls you to do something outside your comfort zone, turn your “Who am I?” into a “Here I am.” You won’t regret it.

[1] There are, of course, times when “Who am I?” can just be a humble response to God’s grace, as in 2 Samuel 7:18, when David is overwhelmed with God’s favor. My point is that we shouldn’t look to ourselves for our confidence, but to God.

Photo: Mount Sinai in Egypt

God Cannot Be Mocked

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for LifeLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

I remember like it was yesterday the drive back from the coast with two of my long-time buddies, Andy and Daniel. We were seniors in high school, and we had just completed our annual trip to Lincoln City, Oregon. As we rounded the bend of the highway, the Toyota Camry I was driving suddenly lurched and sputtered. Very quickly, I realized the gas pedal was no longer responding and we rolled to an undignified stop on the highway’s shoulder.

Gulp! I told the guys I didn’t know what went wrong, but very quickly the truth began to dawn on me. The fact is, I had been putting off an oil change for several weeks now. And, as it turns out, car engines really do need oil to run well. In fact, as any mechanic will tell you, it’s a simple matter of physics: without lubrication, the metal parts of your engine are bound to overheat. And when they overheat, they begin to warp and wear down.

Because of my automotive negligence, not only did I have a hearty portion of embarrassment to swallow, but I also needed to come up with the cash for a new car.

Simply put, some things are bound to self-destruct if you don’t operate them according to their intended use. If you doubt this, just try using your smartphone as a wheel chock. This is not just true of the physical realm but the spiritual realm, too. God designed your soul for a relationship with Him. Just as cars cannot run without gasoline, human beings are dependent on the life that comes from God.

When we try to do life apart from God, we are bound to self-destruct. And yet, according to the Bible, many people don’t live as if this were true.

In Galatians 6:7-8, the Apostle Paul warns, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Paul says, “Don’t be fooled about this,” because, honestly, a lot of us are. In fact, on our own, we all tend to fall for this lie. What lie? That God can be mocked without repercussions. Every single one of us has, at one time or another, believed that we can actually outsmart God. Don’t believe me?

Every time we knowingly disobey God, we are essentially saying to God, “I would make a better god than you.” The essence of sin is making a bid for the throne of the universe. To disregard God’s law is to choose self-sovereignty rather than live under His perfect rule.

Here’s the problem: Going down this road of self-rule never ends well. There is an unalterable law of reality that you will reap what you sow. And God created us to live under His rule, not our own. Paul says, “Don’t be deceived about this one, guys.” You can be wrong about the weather, who will win American Idol, or most of the questions on Jeopardy! But don’t be wrong about this.

One of the most popular falsehoods of our time is this idea that I can do whatever I want without ever being held accountable for my actions. But Scripture everywhere denies this.

“God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” (Romans 2:6-8, NIV).

God is immeasurably merciful and patient, but this remains God’s universe. Not ours.

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31, NIV).

Notice: God will judge the world, but He will do so with perfect “justice.” No one will be able to say on that day, “But I didn’t know” or “This isn’t fair.” We will all know God to be the perfectly just Judge that He is.

Let this truth be emblazoned across your heart: God cannot be mocked. If you think you can fool God, you’re only fooling yourself.

The mighty Goliath tried to test this truth when he taunted the armies of the living God (1 Samuel 17). How did that work out for him? He’s forever remembered for being slain by a young shepherd boy without any real military training. Herod encouraged people to worship him as a god. How did he fare? “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:23). Yikes! I don’t care who you are, that’s got to be one of the worst ways to go! Throughout Scripture, this same truth is repeated: You and I will reap what we sow.

What does it mean to “sow to please your flesh” (v. 8)?

John Stott writes: “Every time we allow our mind to harbor a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fantasy, or wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we read pornographic literature, every time we take a risk which strains our self-control, we are sowing, sowing, sowing to the flesh. Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow.”[1]

We may think all our sowing to the flesh won’t have consequences. We may rationalize and downplay the seriousness of the secret sins we harbor. Eventually, however, what we have sown will come to full bloom. If you take the elephant across the old wooden footbridge too many times, eventually it will collapse.

Thankfully, the Bible doesn’t just leave us with this hard truth. If it did, karma, not the gospel, would be the final rule of the universe. We would forever see God in heaven, frowning down on us with arms crossed, saying, “Well, you had it coming.”

But the gospel of Jesus Christ points us the way to find a new life and a new beginning. We don’t need to stay locked up by the shame of our past. The point of this warning about mocking God is to lead us to the foot of the cross at Calvary, where God’s love poured out for rebels like you and me. When Christ shed His blood on the cross, He was in fact reaping what we have sown. This was only possible because of grace. He died in our place and suffered the consequences we justly deserved.

Hear this promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8). To confess means to get honest before God, humbly prepared to live in a new direction.

Because of Christ’s cross, God does not rule as some kind of karmic dictator. Instead, He reigns in grace, inviting everyone who has arrogantly tried to take His throne to kneel humbly before His throne (Hebrews 4:16).

[1] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1968), 170.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

The Mystery of Mars and Venus

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life1 Comment

By Jason Smith

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

Perhaps you’ve heard the oft-quoted line that “men are from Mars, and women are from Venus.” This statement highlights the noteworthy differences between men and women.

For many couples, these differences truly surface after the wedding bells ring. The story is told of a boy who asked his father, “Dad, what’s the difference between love and marriage?” The father replied, “Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener!”

Many a young couple could relate to this sentiment. In the days anticipating their wedding, the bride and groom both imagined the blissful life they are about to begin together. Of course, no one told them that their idealistic pictures are likely very different from one another. Perhaps, no one told them how much of marriage involves sacrifice. Perhaps, no one told them how many surprises there would be.

She didn’t know how much he liked working long hours on his car. He didn’t know how much she liked discussing paint colors. One woman was overheard at a garden-club meeting saying, “I never knew what compost was until I met my husband.”

I wonder how her husband interpreted that remark.

Whitney and I are in our seventh year of marriage, and although we know each other so well, I expect we will continue learning new things about one another for the rest of our lives. I think most married couples would agree. Just when you think you’ve solved the puzzle that is your spouse, you discover there’s a lot more pieces you didn’t even know about.

And yet, despite the incredible differences between men and women, marriage really is a beautiful thing.

How do I know? Because it was God’s idea. If You’re the infinite, all-wise, sovereign Creator of the universe, one thing a puny-brained human can’t legitimately accuse You of is a bad idea. Now, one thing we could legitimately say to Him is “God, this is a mystery.” In fact, the apostle Paul used that precise word. Speaking of marriage, he said, “This mystery is profound” (Ephesians 5:32).

So, as we navigate the wonderfully mysterious world of marriage, what wisdom can we glean from Scripture? Here, it is worth looking at the very first marriage. After all, God used Adam and Eve’s nuptials as something of a blueprint for how marriage is supposed to work.

Right after creating the man out of the dust of the earth and breathing life into His nostrils, God made a vast and paradisiacal garden in which he could dwell. Then we read this:

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).

God tells him to take his fill of all he wants from the garden. He can sink his teeth into any of the delicious, tantalizing fruits he finds — except, of course, for that one that’ll kill him. Best to leave that one alone.

But aside from this curious prohibition, notice what the text says about man’s job. He has a calling to “work” and “take care of” the lush garden. In other words, God placed Adam there to cultivate the garden. A lot could be said about how this relates to humanity’s purpose in ruling over creation as God’s image-bearing vice-regents — spoken about in the chapter before this (see Genesis 1:26-28). But for now, it’s important to see that God planned for the man to work before sin ever entered the world.

Now, notice what God says next: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). In a perfectly good world created by a perfectly good God, this “not good” is a bit jarring. The man has God. He has all the furry animals. He has a beautiful and sumptuous garden full of delicious fruits. Nevertheless, something is “not good.” Adam is one solitary dude. He needs a companion. He needs another human with whom he can relate and do life.

So what did God do? He created woman to be “a helper fit for him.” Don’t be put off by the language of “helper.” It’s actually a term of great honor. In fact, the Bible even calls God “helper” many times (see Psalm 54:4; 118:7). The big takeaway is this: Adam needs help. He cannot do the garden work God called him to all on his own.

Far too many men today are passive about the responsibilities God has given them. They don’t see themselves as having a purpose. They just kind of drift along without any real and clear direction. That’s a tragic thing. God calls us to take initiative in working hard for the good of others. He calls us to be diligent and passionate about improving the world around us.

At the same time, God did not intend for man to go it alone. Although the concept of rugged individualism appeals to many men, it really doesn’t fit with how God wired us. Genesis 2:18 forever stands as a witness to the fact that human beings were made for relationship with one another. And chief among those human relationships is marriage. In marriage, intimacy between two souls reaches its zenith.

But note something else. God said, “I will make a helper fit for him.” That is, God fashioned the woman with the man in mind. In the words of Goldilocks, the man and woman are “just right” for each other. God specially designed the man and the woman for each other. What makes marriage so powerful is that it taps into God’s genius for how two of his image bearers bond together for life.

In the words of Jesus, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19:6). To a world that has embraced no-fault divorce, the Son of God says, “Don’t try to split what God has spliced.” Marriage is not like an old watch that you can discard when it stops working for us. It is more like a precious jewel that you would never even dangle over the edge of a dock. Granted, everyone comes to this text with their unique set of challenges and circumstances. Nevertheless, it remains true that marriage is by nature a binding covenant before God. He never said marriage wouldn’t take some work. He never said it would always be a cakewalk. He did say it was designed for permanence.

Tim Keller wisely said, “Wedding vows are not a declaration of present love but a mutually binding promise of future love.”[1]

When it was clear that none of Adam’s furry friends quite fit the bill, God performed the first surgery to craft the first female.

“So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:21-22)

Why did God form the woman from one of the man’s ribs? Consider this for a moment. God could have fashioned the woman any way He saw fit. He didn’t take a portion of the man’s brain (think of the endless jokes there would have been!). He didn’t take a portion of his feet (think of the trouble this could have led to). She came from his rib — from his side. Doesn’t God’s choice to use the man’s rib indicate that the woman was intended to be neither his superior nor his inferior, but instead, his equal? Men and women are distinct, but equal in their intrinsic dignity. Both are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

But they are also made of the same “stuff,” the same flesh. God took from Adam’s body so that Eve’s DNA was inevitably connected to his. They are biologically related. As it turns out, men and women are not from Mars and Venus respectively. But more than merely creating a genetic link between the two, God did it this way so that they could see from the very beginning that He created them for a one-flesh union that they alone can share.

Upon first laying eyes on the feminine beauty before him, Adam impulsively broke into song.

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23)

Okay, so maybe the lyrics aren’t your idea of romantic. Nevertheless, it set a pattern, and love songs like Pat Benatar’s “We Belong” and Bruno Mars’ “Marry You” have been a hit ever since.

Then God Himself summarizes, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (vv. 24-25). The “therefore” seems to be saying, “The man and woman can unite as one flesh, because woman is made from man’s flesh.” In other words, the man and woman really were made for each other. Nothing and no one should ever come between the husband and his wife, and the union they share.

This one-flesh union of marriage goes beyond sexual intimacy. It is a whole-life covenant that unites the man and woman as a permanent and unique couple who live together, eat together, sleep together, and go through all of life together. To men and women alike, marriage is a mystery. However, in Ephesians 5, Paul goes on to say it is a mystery pointing to the union of Christ and His church. If we needed one more reason to treat marriage as a weighty thing, here it is. It is a powerful, flesh-and-blood picture of the gospel. Thus, we ought to treasure marriage for the incredible gift that it is.

[1] Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (New York: Dutton, 2011). If there is one book on marriage that I can encourage you to read, this is it. Pick up a copy today: https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Marriage-Facing-Complexities-Commitment/dp/1594631875/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Tim+Keller+meaning+of+marriage&qid=1580921249&sr=8-1

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Does God Get Jealous?

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for LifeLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

“Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24)

Oprah Winfrey tells the story of a time when she first began to question the teaching of Scripture. She was sitting in a church, hearing the preacher talk about God’s attributes, such as His omnipotence and omnipresence. She continues,

“Then he said, ‘The Lord thy God is a jealous God.’ I was caught up in the rapture of that moment until he said ‘jealous,’ and something struck me. I was like 27 or 28 and I’m thinking, ‘God is all. God is omnipresent. And God is also jealous?’ God is jealous of me? And something about that didn’t feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love, and that God is in all things… And that is where the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me.”

The passage the preacher quoted is indeed in the Bible (Deuteronomy 5:9). In fact, there are many references to God’s jealousy in Scripture. “You shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). God even grows angry when we spurn Him and go after worthless pursuits. “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24).

On the one hand, I want to sympathize with Oprah. Our God? Jealous? Never! That’s because in our current cultural climate, “jealousy” usually carries a negative connotation. In many cases, it describes someone who has an unwarranted suspicion of anything and anyone that could threaten a cherished relationship. At the same time, we need to consider that this is the supreme God we are talking about. However we construe this word “jealousy” as it relates to God, we need to remember that He is the all-sufficient God who doesn’t need anything from us. After all, He is the Maker of everything. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:12).

Our tendency is to say, “My God is not like that… He’s like this…” The problem is that whenever we do that before carefully consulting Scripture, we are actually creating a god in our own image. Rather than listening to what God says of Himself, we place our own opinions above the authority of the Bible. Instead, we need to humbly come to God’s Word, expecting there to be many cases where our own thoughts and opinions will be challenged. Rather than assert that something can’t be true simply because it doesn’t sit right with us, we need to consider why God is described as “jealous.”

In order to understand what is meant by passages like these that speak of God’s jealousy, we have to first see that there are in fact both good and bad kinds of jealousy. For example, there is a petty jealousy a self-centered young man may feel when a slightly older man offers to carry a heavy suitcase for his girlfriend. The older man’s offer may be a simple, courteous response to seeing the young woman struggling with the heavy load. In this case, the young man is not thinking of his girlfriend’s needs. He is threatened by the courteous gentleman because he cares more about his status as the girl’s boyfriend than the girl herself.

This young man is persistently suspicious and insecure. He doesn’t want any other man to even show common courtesy to his girlfriend. His jealousy is like the unhealthy possessiveness of a terrier that growls and snaps at anyone coming near his bone, despite the fact that no one actually wants to steal the bone. Rather than protecting her, his unhealthy jealousy actually smothers the young girl. From the outsider’s perspective, it’s plain to see that the young man is consumed with self-love, rather than genuine love for the girl.

Now, what is an example of a good kind of jealousy? Think of a husband and wife at an office party. The husband notices that a good-looking young man, who is constantly bragging about his sexual exploits, has approached his wife. The young man is clearly hitting on his wife and even tenderly takes hold of her hand. Now, ask yourself, in this situation, is it wrong for the husband to feel a kind of jealousy? After all, he is passionately devoted to his wife, wanting nothing to come between them. His wife might even be quite pleased to see her husband tell off such a womanizer for trying to threaten their marriage.

If you’re still struggling with whether jealousy can ever be a good thing, imagine now that this same husband sees the young man make advances on his wife, then shrugs and passively walks away. What would you conclude? Clearly, such a husband doesn’t really love his wife!

When you think of God being jealous, think of a devoted husband who is passionately in love with his wife. God wants nothing to come between you and Him. As our Creator, He alone has the right to be the Lord of our lives. God is jealous for our affection, not because He is needy or insecure, but because He is passionate about our flourishing, which comes from being in a right relationship with Him.

False gods — such as fame, power, lust, or money — are persistently trying to steal our hearts away. Not only do these counterfeit gods threaten our relationship with the one true God, they only hurt us in the long run. In such cases, God indeed grows angry, but the heat of His anger displays the vibrancy of His love for us. Whenever we give something else our ultimate devotion, we are falling prey to idolatry. God made us for Himself, so nothing else will truly satisfy our longings like He will. “Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3). As the all-glorious, all-satisfying God, He and He alone has every right to command our allegiance to Him.

I would want Oprah to understand that, yes, God is a “jealous God” (Exodus 20:5), but He’s jealous for us in all the right ways. We ought to thank God that He is the kind of God who is incredibly passionate about His relationship with us.