Unsure of Your Future? Rest on God’s Immutability

Davis Wetherell

God’s immutability is a wonderful attribute. What is immutability? In a 2014 Banner of Truth article, Geoff Thomas explains,

God is perpetually the same. He never changes. His being, and nature, and perfections can’t be altered. Nothing can be added to the infinite God and nothing can be taken from him. What God is today he always was. What God is today he shall always be.

In sum, God is always God. And He is the only being that is this way. You and I are always changing, growing, moving, and developing, but God is what He is. Herman Bavinck wisely wrote, “God alone is absolute being, the ‘I will be who I will be,’ but all creatures… are subject to the law of becoming” (82).

Implied in this “law of becoming” is unknowing and uncertainty. What will our lives hold?

As we approach the new year, perhaps we face this question more directly. If this is a daunting question for you like it is for me, then join me in meditating on these three Bible verses on the immutability of God.

1.) Psalm 106:25–27

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you [God] will remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
   but you are the same, and your years have no end.

I find a lot of comfort in this verse because it reminds me that nothing is as permanent as God. Although the world I live in may be hectic, painful, and confusing, it will pass away. God alone will remain.

It’s not enough to know that the earth will pass away, for if everything were to just end then life would be pointless. The struggle would be fruitless. But God remains the same in the end as He was in the beginning.

The application here, partially, is that faith in and worship of Jesus Christ brings stability to our lives. He is the only thing that will never change. So if you are looking for stability this season, look to Jesus!

2.) Isaiah 46:9–10

I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My counsel shall stand,
   and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

This is one of my favorite verses for several reasons. One reason is that God promises His counsel shall stand, and that He will accomplish His purpose. God is good not only because He does not change but also because He never fails. That’s part of God’s immutability; He always accomplishes His purpose.

Another reason is that God highlights something He can do that no one else can do: God declared the end of time from the beginning of time.

When we experience failures or uncertainties in our life, we can be comforted by Christ, because we are in Christ, and He never fails and He is always certain.

Prediction and Declaration

I’m a baseball fan, and I enjoy guessing who will win the championship. In fact, I like guessing who will win each division, who will win each playoff series, and who will win the World Series. I shared my picks with my wife back in February, and guess how I did? Terrible! I predicted the Chicago Cubs would beat the New York Yankees—but Chicago didn’t even make the playoffs!

Had I been right, I could have said, “I declared the end of the season from the beginning of the season.” That would have been a nice guess, and it would have certainly increased my credibility as a baseball thinker.

God, however, isn’t predicting something eight months away, He is declaring the end of all things from the beginning of all things. And my baseball prediction was just a guess—it had no bearing on reality. What God is doing is not prediction, it’s declaration. He isn’t saying, “Look at how perceptive I am into the way the world works.” He is saying, “I will do this.”

God does not predict the end from the beginning; God is “the beginning and the end” (Revelation 21:6; 22:13).

3.) James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

It is good to remember that everything good comes from God. The source of good gifts never changes. So, when you are stuck in a period of uncertainty and unknowing, if you receive a good gift—a new friend, an encouragement—you know it’s from God and He is with you.

The other thing to mention is that giving good gifts is a part of God’s nature, and therefore a part of His immutability. He does not waver in His nature, and His nature is that of a “Father” who “give[s] good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11).

When you are facing an unknown future, ask God for His help! It is His promise to His children that He will give good gifts. You can have peace knowing that God will do this and that what He will do will be a good thing.

Other Verses to Read?

This article just had enough space to talk about three verses from the Bible on God’s unchanging nature. But there are plenty more! What verses do you often revisit when you need to be reminded of God’s immutability?

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, full of rich biblical meditation on who God is and what He has done for you.

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/12/unsure-future-rest-god-immutability/

Five Attributes of God’s Holiness

David Tank

The holiness of God distinguishes God as God, and reveals how we are not. It communicates His transcendent sovereignty and flawless purity, His overwhelming right to rule, and His stainless character.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. (Psalm 145:3)

Human beings cannot begin to measure God’s holiness, and yet, God has revealed His glory and holiness to us in His Word (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:6).

Because of Jesus, Christians can know God through His attributes, and God’s holiness is the crown of His attributes. In this article, we’re going to unpack five attributes of God’s holiness.

1. God’s Holiness is Providential

First, God is holy in His omniscience, or providential knowledge.

Because God is light, nothing is hidden from Him (1 John 1:5). The Lord rules on high as the perfect judge, and no one can measure the depths of His understanding. All things, past, present, and future are fully known by our God.

Human understanding is limited and like walking in a poorly lit parking lot at night. But God rules over all things and sees all things in perfect light. God’s omniscience is like the light of a sports stadium which illuminates everything as if it were day.

All of creation is full of the glory of God, because of His omniscience; thus, “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

Our holy God sees all, knows all, and orchestrates all things in complete and perfect clarity.

2. God’s Holiness is Present

Second, God is holy in His overwhelming presence.

When Solomon built and dedicated the temple, he desired that it would be a place of God’s dwelling just as the Tabernacle had been for Israel in the wilderness. Solomon fully recognized that unlike idols, the God of Israel cannot be contained.

He prayed, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built?” (1 Kings 8:27).

God’s immensity stretches beyond human ability to measure. God is present here at the Unlocking the Bible offices in Illinois as well as in Bangladesh. More than that, He is at the center of the universe, and His presence extends beyond the limits of the cosmos. His holy presence is weighty and potent.

3. God’s Holiness is Powerful

Thirdly, the holiness of God also applies to His power. He is powerful beyond comparison!

God is the Creator and Sustainer of everyone and everything, He is omnipotent (all powerful) (Colossians 1:16), and His power extends over all things, both visible and invisible. Galaxies, stars, and planets did not come into being by accident. Conception of human life is nothing less than a miracle. All of creation sings of the mighty power of God!

Presidents, prime ministers, queens, and supreme leaders all may claim some form of authority, but none of these can stand next to the true sovereign, the King of kings and Lord over all lords. No matter the uncertainty of our times, the Lord remains exalted upon His throne.

4. God’s Holiness is Infinite

Fourth, the holiness of God is infinite.

More than being immortal, God’s eternal nature also means that He does not change. God’s holiness sets Him apart from all else. Because He exists in perfect purity and is eternally consistent with Himself.

People grow, mature, and age, but God remains the same. He is morally pure, without the slightest hint of evil, and the Lord is faithful and true (Revelation 19:11). He will not commit evil for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). For this reason, God’s wisdom, justice, and beauty are perfect.

Out of this fact comes a final point:

5. God’s Holiness is Incomparable

When my wife and I were first thinking about marriage, we went ring shopping. We found an amazing jeweler. He was great because he didn’t just try to just sell us a shiny rock and metal band. Instead, he took the time to show us what makes a great diamond. I learned a lot, and then gave him a lot of my money.

Gemologists measure the quality of diamonds by cut, color, clarity and carat weight. And, they grade gems by their various degrees of imperfections, with the perfect stone representing flawlessness.

Any honest jeweler will admit that there are no truly ‘flawless’ diamonds out there. However, Christians can say of our Holy God, that He is “Flawless! Flawless! Flawless!”

Everything about His incomprehensible nature and character is supreme. And because of God’s infinite nature and character, He is worthy of eternal praise!

The Promise

God’s holiness is His crown, and it makes God himself, the treasure of all treasures. Angels in heaven sing praise to God for all that He is and all He has done, and God desires men and women to join with the heavenly choir.

An excellent way to do this is by reading the Psalms, for they invite us to “worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9).

Whenever people in the Bible saw the LORD in His awesome holiness, they trembled with fear (Isaiah 6:5; Revelation 1:17). Those moments made people realize how absolutely unholy they truly were because of sin. However, Christians have confidence to approach God’s holy throne through faith in Christ.

When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, people saw the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus reveals the holy God to sinners. When you open the Bible, you can behold the holy God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:6).

Best of all, when you put faith in Jesus Christ, the God crowned in awesome holiness, promises to crown you with His steadfast love and mercy (Psalm 103:4). Thus we can say:

“Bless the LORD oh my soul…worship His holy name.” (Psalm 103:1)

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/12/5-attributes-gods-holiness/

One of the Best Illustrations I've Ever Heard

Andrew Wilson

Is the second person of the Trinity omnipresent and incarnate at the same time? Is the Son of God both asleep in a manger, or a boat, or even dead, while he is also filling all things and sustaining the universe? The so-called extra Calvinisticum gives a confident yes—and the Reformed view of the Lord’s Supper depends on it, among other things—but it feels counterintuitive and obscure to us nevertheless. So here’s a wonderfully helpful illustration from Gavin Ortlund’s excellent new book, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals. It’s one of the best illustrations I’ve heard in years, and it pretty much sums up what theological teaching ought to be.

Suppose, just as Christ comes into his own creation at the incarnation, Tolkien had written himself into Middle-earth as a character of the story alongside Frodo and Merry and Pippin and the rest. Had Tolkien done so, he would not for that reason cease to exist in Oxford (in fact, his whole existence in Middle-earth depends on his continued writing). Nor has the unity of Tolkien’s person been impaired, for one person can simultaneously be in Middle-earth and Oxford, because they are not two different “places” within one realm but two different realms altogether. In other words, it is one thing to be in Oxford and Cambridge at the same time, but another thing to be in the Shire and Oxford at the same time; and the relation of “heaven” and “earth,” and with it the relation of Christ’s divine and human natures, is more like the relationship between the Shire and Oxford. This is the value of the metaphor of story—the distinction between “author” and “story” is robust enough to retain two natures while fluid enough to retain one person. Middle-earth and Oxford may be two while Tolkien remains one ...

It is not merely that Tolkien is not confined to the body of his incarnate character in Middle-earth; that is true, but that is just about the least significant thing one can say about him. Supposing the incarnated Tolkien is sitting in Frodo’s home in the Shire for a meal; this does not in the least hinder the Tolkien in Oxford from going to sleep, or traveling to India, or putting the book down for twenty years. His incarnate existence in Middle-earth does not diminish him in the least or even distract him. He is not merely extra but completely and fully extra. In other words, it is not that he reduces himself to an incarnate life but leaves a tiny bit left over that is not exhausted by his incarnation; rather, that which is extra continues on without the slightest downgrade or even interruption during the incarnation.

This is what theological teaching should be. It is creative faithfulness: finding new ways to say old things. It is beautiful orthodoxy. If you’re wired this way, the whole book is worth reading.

Posted at: https://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/one_of_the_best_illustrations_ive_heard_in_years

The Admirable Patience of God

Paul Tautges

Since my conversion to Christ in 1984, I have enjoyed and benefited from reading books about the attributes of God. I’ve also been drawn to the writings of the Puritans. So, a couple months ago, I purchased a little book by George Swinnock.

In a short chapter entitled Patience, Swinnock begins,

God is incomparable in His patience. Patience is that attribute of God whereby He bears with sinners, deferring their punishment or awaiting their conversion. He is “slow to anger” (Ps. 103:8). He is long-suffering (2 Peter 3:9). He endures vessels of wrath with “much long-suffering” (Rom. 9:22). He waits, “that he may be gracious unto you” (Isa. 30:18).

Swinnock then gives three reasons God’s patience is even more admirable. First, God hates sin. Second, God sees sinners. Third, sinners provoke God’s patience. He then concludes,

If God were as impatient as we are, there would be no hope for us. But God is so incomparable in His patience that He is called ‘the God of patience’ (Rom. 15:5). He has all manner of patience in Him.

If you enjoy studying the attributes of God, consider adding Swinnock’s little volume to your devotional reading list.

Posted at: http://counselingoneanother.com/2019/10/29/the-admirable-patience-of-god/

Is the God of the Bible a Genocidal Maniac?

Michael Kruger

Armenia. Cambodia. Rawanda. Bosnia. Darfur. All well-known modern examples of genocide where entire people groups were wiped out (or almost wiped out).  These are awful tragedies, worthy of our sorrow and grief.

And yet, ask the critics, is the God of the Bible really any different? When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, was it not God that commanded them to wipe out all the indigenous people (Deut 20:17)? Is God not guilty of genocide? It makes me think of the famous bumper-sticker quote, “The only difference between God and Adolf Hitler is that God is more proficient at genocide.”

Admittedly, this is a difficult, complex issue. We feel obligated, understandably, to find a way to get God “off the hook” for the deaths of so many people. Many possibilities come to mind for how that might be done. Maybe we’ve misread the passage. Maybe it’s just symbolic. Maybe the Israelites misunderstood God’s command. And so on.

But, in the end, I don’t think we need to get God off the hook. I don’t think he wants off the hook.  As painful as this issue is, it highlights what we, and our culture, need to hear more than ever: God is holy, people are sinful, the world is broken, and his judgment is just.

If we are going to rightly understand the destruction of the Canaanites, several principles must be remembered:

First, every human being on the planet deserves God’s judgment not just the Canaanites. Right now, all humans everywhere—from the kind old lady that lives next door to the hardened criminal on death row—are all deeply sinful. And they were born this way. Since birth, all human beings stand guilty, not only for their own sins but for the sin of Adam which has been passed down to them (Rom 5:12). And the penalty for our sin is clear, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).

So, what does this mean?  This means that, at any moment, God could take the life of any human as judgment for their sins. And he would be totally justified in doing so. God owes salvation to no one. And this quickly changes our perspective on the Canaanite conquest. Rather than being surprised that God would finally judge people for their sins (even in great numbers), perhaps we should be shocked that he waits so long to do it. Every one of us is alive and breathing solely by God’s incredible patience and grace.

Second, the timing of God’s judgment doesn’t always match human expectations. Sometimes we think God should judge the most sinful people first and work down the list. But, of course, God doesn’t always work the way we expect. In fact, Jesus made this exact point when he was asked why the tower of Siloam fell and killed a bunch of people. Jesus replied, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5).

Ouch. In other words, people don’t have to be the worst of sinners to receive God’s judgment. God is not obligated to judge all people simultaneously.

While the Canaanites were not the only sinful people in the world, and not necessarily even the worst, their sins were quite egregious. God drove them out of the land primarily because their practices were “detestable” in his sight—gross idolatry, use of sorcerers and mediums, sexual perversions, and even sacrificing their own children to the gods (Deut 18:9-14). Despite these practices, God had been incredibly patient with the inhabitants of Canaan for generation after generation, dating back even to the time of Abraham (Gen 15:13-16). But, God’s patience had run out.

Third, God uses a variety of instruments to accomplish his judgment. Sure, God could just miraculously take all the lives of the Canaanites in a single instance. But, he has a history of using various means to bring judgment. Throughout Scripture, such means have included natural disasters, disease and pestilence, drought, economic collapse, and yes, even human armies. At numerous points throughout biblical history God “raises up” a human army to accomplish his purposes. And in the Canaanite conquest, God used the nation of Israel as his instrument of judgment.

It is here that we come to a key difference between the Canaanite conquest and modern day genocide. Yes, both involve great loss of life. And both involve human armies. But the former is done as an instrument of God’s righteous judgment whereas the latter is humans murdering others for their own purposes. On the surface, there may be similarities. But, they are decidedly not the same act.

An example might help. Imagine a scenario where one human injects another human with a deadly toxin which causes that person to die. Is that murder? Well, it depends. If this was done by a gang member who wanted to knock off a rival gang member, then the answer would be yes. But, if this was done by an official at a federal prison who was authorized by the state to administer lethal injection, then the answer would be no.

On the surface, the two acts might look the same. But, everything comes down to whether the taking of life is properly authorized. The issue is not whether a life is taken, but how and why it is taken.

Let me try to draw all of this together. If every human deserves judgment (and we do), and if God is justified in taking a life whenever he decides to execute that judgment (and he is), and if God uses various instruments for that judgment (including human armies), then there is nothing immoral about the Canaanite conquest. Indeed, to object to the conquest would require us to object to all of God’s acts of judgment. Do we also object to Noah’s flood, or to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or to the plagues on Egypt?

In the end, the conquest of Canaan remains a difficult and complex issue. And yet, if the conquest is viewed within the context of the Christian worldview, rather than from outside of it, then the objections quickly fade away. God’s judgment is just, even if we don’t fully understand it.  And if we take that away, then we are left with something other than the God of Christianity.

Posted at: https://www.michaeljkruger.com/is-the-god-of-the-bible-a-genocidal-maniac/

A Life-Changing Sentence in Deuteronomy

When was the last time you started a Bible reading plan with the book of Deuteronomy?

Maybe you should. There’s a life-changing sentence in the first chapter of this historical book that we need more than ever today.

To briefly set the scene, God commanded his people to leave Horeb and enter the Promised Land. The Israelites were understandably afraid of the battle that lay ahead, but instead of bringing their fear before the Lord, they chose to murmur in their tents.

The result of their self-counsel? Their conclusion is shocking: “Because the Lord hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.” (Deuteronomy 1:27, ESV)

This Old Testament narrative couldn’t make it any clearer: we are always preaching to ourselves.

There’s something else to be said: theology is not just something we study in the academic classrooms of seminary; theology is the lens through which we examine and respond to everyday life. Our understanding of God will inescapably shape our perspective on our circumstances.

But maybe their conclusion shouldn’t be so shocking. I’m deeply persuaded that we, just like the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 1, are always asking five deeply theological questions. The way we answer them will push us toward hope or panic.

1. Is God Good?

You can rest assured that the goodness of God will confuse you. What looks good from God’s perfect eternity-to-destiny perspective doesn’t always seem good to us at street level.

2. Will God Do What He Promised?

Few questions in life are more important than this one. Since we are small and weak, since we never really know what is going to happen next, and since God calls us to do difficult, sacrificial things, we need to know that his promises are reliable.

3. Is God In Control?

In some ways, all the other questions rest on this one. God’s promises are only as trustworthy as to the extent of his control. What good is his goodness if he lacks the authority to exercise it?

4. Does God Have The Needed Power?

You will be motivated to do what you don’t have the natural ability to do when you know that God’s awesome power is with you. Confidence in God’s power produces courage in the face of weakness and enables you to admit your limits while living with courage and hope.

5. Does God Care About Me?

Perhaps this is the question we’re most conscious of, but the Bible never debates God’s care; it assumes and declares it. God’s care is foundational. It lets me know that all that he is, he is for me.

What are you preaching to yourself? What are you saying to you about the goodness, promises, control, power, and care of God?

As you ask these questions, remember that he is so rich in grace that he will never turn a deaf ear to your cries.

God bless,

Paul David Tripp

Reflection Questions

1. Read the first full chapter of Deuteronomy. What additional application can you find in the text? How does it relate to your life right here, right now?

2. Which of the five questions have you asked most recently? What prompted you to ask this question?

3. How did you answer that question? Where did your answer find its inspiration or evidence?

4. Are you murmuring in your tent? What unbiblical thoughts or beliefs are you preaching to yourself? How can you combat these with gospel truths?

5. Who do you know who is discouraged or afraid? How can you help them avoid a Deuteronomy 1:27 response? Be specific.

Posted at: https://www.paultripp.com/wednesdays-word

Gospel Centered Life Questions - Part 2

by Bob Kellemen

In the first part of this two-part blog post, Gospel-Centered Life Questions, I began by quoting Michael Horton, in his fine work, The Gospel-Driven Life, where he notes that:

“… we typically introduce the Bible as the ‘answer to life’s questions.’ This is where the Bible becomes relevant to people ‘where they are’ in their experience. Accordingly, it is often said that we must apply the Scriptures to daily living. But this is to invoke the Bible too late, as if we already knew what ‘life’ or ‘daily living’ meant. The problem is not merely that we lack the right answers, but that we don’t even have the right questions until God introduces us to His interpretation of reality.”

I then started comparing the world’s 8 ultimate life questions to the Word’s 8 ultimate life questions. And we began to see that the world doesn’t even get the questions right!

Today we look at ultimate life questions 5-8—contrasting the world’s shallow questions with the Word’s profound questions—and answers.

Ultimate Life Question # 5 

The World’s Question: “How do people change?”

The Word’s Question: “How does Christ change people?” “How does Christ bring us peace with God?”

The world’s question focuses on human self-effort—which is the very definition of secular thinking. It’s all about me and my self-sufficient efforts to be a “better me” in my power for my good.

The Word’s question focuses on Christ-sufficiency—it’s all about Him, His power, for His glory—and becoming more like Christ, not simply a “better me.” Yes, there is a role that we play—but that role is a grace-empowered role. Already changed by Christ, we now put off the vestiges of the old us and put on the new person we already are in Christ—through the Spirit’s empowerment. And Christ not only changes our inner person; Christ changes our relationship with the Father from enemy to family, from alienation to peace.

Ultimate Life Question # 6 

The World’s Question: “Where can we find help?”

The Word’s Question: “Where can we find a place to believe, belong, and to become—like Christ?”

The world says, “It takes a village.”

The Word says, “It takes a church.” Sanctification is a community journey with our brothers and sisters in Christ. As Ephesians 3:14-21 reminds us, it is together with all the saints that we grasp grace and grow in grace to glorify our gracious God.

Ultimate Life Question # 7 

The World’s Question: “Where are we headed?”

The Word’s Question: “How does our future destiny impact our lives today?”

We all want to know, “What’s the point?” “What’s our purpose?” The world asks these questions in a vacuum.

The Word asks the destiny question knowing the answer and relevantly tying our future to our present. As Christians, our future destiny is eternity with God on a new heaven and a new earth where we have intimacy with God, purity in our hearts, and victory in our lives. Since this is true, the Bible urges us to live today in light of eternity. As saints who struggle against suffering and sin—our future makes all the difference in our lives now.

Ultimate Life Question # 8 

The World’s Question: “Why are we here?”

The Word’s Question: “What’s our calling/purpose?” “How do we become like Christ”?

The world’s take on the question of ultimate meaning begins with a shallow question and responds with an even more superficial answer: “To be a better me.”

The Word sees our purpose as a calling in relationship to God and others. And the Word focuses our answer on Christlikeness. We are here to glorify the Father the way the Son glorified the Father. We are here to increasingly reflect Jesus. Each of us will do so in unique, idiosyncratic ways because we are each fearfully and wonderfully made to reflect Christ in a billion different ways.

The Right Questions and the Right Answers 

I summarized Part 1 with this tweet-size summary, which also summarizes both of these blog posts:

To offer wise & loving biblical counsel, we must ask & answer gospel-centered biblical questions.

The world not only gets the answers wrong, the world’s questions are impoverished.

The Word not only gets the answers right, the Word’s questions are rich, robust, and relevant.

Join the Conversation 

How are you biblically answering life’s second four ultimate questions?

1. “How does Christ change people?” “How does Christ bring us peace with God?”

2. “Where can we find a place to believe, belong, and to become—like Christ?”

3. “How does our future destiny impact our lives today?”

4. “What’s our calling/purpose?” “How do we become like Christ”?

Tweet It 

To offer wise & loving biblical counsel, we must ask & answer gospel-centered biblical questions.

Posted at: https://www.rpmministries.org/2016/02/4-more-gospel-centered-life-questions/

Gospel Centered Life Questions

by Bob Kellemen

As a reader of my Changing Lives blog, you know that I often discuss what I call 8 ultimate life questions. Perhaps you have wondered:

“Why don’t you call them 8 ultimate life answers”?  

Michael Horton, in his fine work, The Gospel-Driven Life, notes that:

“… we typically introduce the Bible as the ‘answer to life’s questions.’ This is where the Bible becomes relevant to people ‘where they are’ in their experience. Accordingly, it is often said that we must apply the Scriptures to daily living. But this is to invoke the Bible too late, as if we already knew what ‘life’ or ‘daily living’ meant. The problem is not merely that we lack the right answers, but that we don’t even have the right questions until God introduces us to His interpretation of reality.”

Exactly!

So…let’s compare the world’s 8 ultimate life questions to the Bible’s 8 ultimate life questions—and see that the world doesn’t even get the questions right!

Ultimate Life Question # 1 

The World’s Question: “What is truth?”

The Word’s Question: “Where do we find wisdom for life in a broken world?”

Do you see how rich and robust the Word’s question is? And how real, raw, and relevant the Word’s question is? The world asks about truth in the abstract—philosophical truth. The Word asks about and provides the ultimate source of wisdom for living—how broken people live wisely in a broken world.

Ultimate Life Question # 2 

The World’s Question: “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

The Word’s Question: “Who Is God?” “What comes into our mind when we think about God?” “Whose view of God will we believe—Satan’s or Christ’s?”

When Shirley and I recently visited the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, we read displays that constantly pondered why there was something instead of nothing. They not only failed to provide an answer, they were asking a shallow, even foolish, question.

See again the richness of the Word’s question: “Whose view of God will we believe—Satan’s or Christ’s?” We all have a view of God. We are all worshipping beings. And we all follow someone’s portrait of God—either an evil portrait painted by Satan or the beautiful portrait painted by Christ—in His blood.

Ultimate Life Question # 3 

The World’s Question: “Who am I?”

The Word’s Question:” “Whose are we?” “In what story do we find ourselves?”

Wow! Just add those two letters—s and e—and what a world of difference we find between the world’s question and the Word’s question.

“Who am I” is such a tiny, puny, self-centered question. It is a question that pictures the world revolving around me. “Who am I?” is a question that can only be answered by self-sufficiency and self-reference—I am who I see and make myself to be.

“Whose are we?” is such a gigantic, even infinite, question. It is a question that pictures the universe revolving around God. “Whose am I?” is a question that can only be answered in-reference-to our Creator—coram Deo. The story of our lives is not an auto-biography. The story of our lives is a God-biography—we are each epic poems (Ephesians 2:10) written by God as pages in chapters in God’s book of eternal life.

Paul answers this ultimate life question in Romans 1:7: “Beloved by the Father and called to be saints.” We are loved sons/daughters and cleansed saints—that’s who we are because of Whose we are!

Ultimate Life Question # 4 

The World’s Question: “Why do we do the things we do?”

The Word’s Question: “What went wrong?” “What’s the root source of our problem?”

The world answers its wrong question with a wrong answer. “I do the things I do because of others—it’s my spouse’s fault, my boss’ fault, my parent’s fault.” Or, “I do the things I do because of my feelings—they are out of control, beyond my control.” Or, “I do the things I do because of my body—I need better medication because my physical brain is the ultimate source of my soulful problems.”

The Word gets to the heart of our heart problem. Yes, our life situation is an influence. Yes, our emotions are tricky and complex. Yes, our bodies are frail and fallen jars of clay. However, the root source of our problem is spiritual—it is a worship disorder. It is a loss-of-awe disorder. We are all spiritual adulterers and heart idolaters—that’s the root source of our problem. Recognition of that root source compels us to cry out in God-sufficiency for an Answer—a Person—who has paid the price for adultery and idolatry.

The Rest of the Story 

Stay tuned for my next post when we probe ultimate life questions 5-8 and compare and contrast the Word’s shallow questions with the Word’s rich questions.

Join the Conversation 

Is it a new thought for you that the world not only has foolish answers, the world also has shallow questions? If so, what impact might this realization have on your life and ministry?

How are you biblically answering life’s first four ultimate questions?

1. “Where do we find wisdom for life in a broken world?”

2. Who Is God?” “What comes into our mind when we think about God?” “Whose view of God will we believe—Satan’s or Christ’s?”

3. “Whose are we?” “In what story do we find ourselves?”

4. “What went wrong?” “What’s the root source of our problem?”

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To offer wise & loving biblical counsel, we must ask & answer gospel-centered biblical questions.

Posted at: https://www.rpmministries.org/2016/02/gospel-centered-life-questions/

When the Miracle You Prayed For Doesn’t Come

by Lianna Davis

If you have prayed for a miracle of healing or good provision from God’s hand that did not come, not only are you anguished about your circumstance but—compounding that pain—perhaps you are now also grieving that your God did not answer your prayer.

Expressing sorrow over both realities before the Lord for what He has not sovereignly deemed fit to give you can form the substance humble laments while suffering.

While you lament, remember that God can undoubtedly accommodate our complexities. You may be confounded and sorrowing in one area of your heart. But the heart can experience more than one emotion—especially when more than one truth is at play.

Multiple Truths at Play, Multiple Emotions

Your suffering is real. So, let the grieving areas of your heart grieve, the sorrowing sorrow. And while they are, while you grieve that your miracle has not come, look for another resonating truth. I would even guess that an area of biblical truth will so strike you that you will experience joy and hope in the knowledge of God in the middle of your suffering that you otherwise would not be able to comprehend in the same way.

Allow me to illustrate.

The intricacies of the Godhead I do not fathom. But since the stillbirth of my daughter, I marvel differently now that God gave His Son to death and planned this death before the foundation of the world. Also, the miracle of the new birth, I cannot fully grasp. But I am more amazed at God birthing us to eternal life when I was incapable of birthing a daughter alive on earth.

Though what you dearly sought has not come, what biblical truth resonates with you?

Not According to How We Pray

By the power of the Spirit, we can never overestimate what biblical truth can do within us. The apostle Paul wrote in doxological form:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20)

Perhaps these kinds of words are difficult to read right now—God doing abundantly for us. Yes, God is able to perform miracles. He was able to make my daughter’s heart beat again in my womb. He did not. Clearly, I am writing and you are reading because He does not necessarily answer prayers according to how we pray. And He is no less able.

He knows why He does not do; you and I might not understand now, in this present life, His wisdom. But could it be that He is doing beyond what we ask? Could it be that what He is working on our behalf is more than what we think? We do not grasp future glory; we cannot fathom what earthly sufferings are achieving for us (2 Corinthians 4:17). We don’t comprehend, but we can trust.

Two Realities to Hold

And there is a main component of Ephesians 3:20 we can understand more immediately, a near reality. God is accomplishing more than we know to ask or think according to “the power at work within us.” Power is also referenced only a few verses earlier—in Ephesians 3:16 where Paul prays about the power of the Holy Spirit in our inner beings.

Throughout Ephesians 3:14-20, God is being asked to help believers comprehend more of Him, that our hearts might be strengthened…

• …with power through God’s Spirit in our inner beings.

• …in order for Christ to dwell in them through faith.

• …with rootedness in His love.

• …with all the saints in the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love.

• …to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

• …to be filled to our maximum of the limitless fullness of God.

• …to trust God’s power at work within us.

• …and, to rejoice in all glory being His for all He is and has done throughout all generations.

Our hearts are strengthened as we become personally convinced that truth is true by the power of the Holy Spirit. Who on this earth can tell what that power at work in us and through us will achieve?

We lament; at the very same time: more than we ask, more than we think.

Hold both when the miracle you prayed for doesn’t come.  

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/09/when-miracle-prayed-doesnt-come/

How Do I Know That God is For Me?

FROM Sinclair Ferguson 

God has promised to work everything together for the good of His people. If God is for us, it follows that, ultimately, nothing can stand against us. That is logical. Otherwise, God would not be God. If something could rise up against God and overcome Him, that other thing would be God. God would then prove to be a false god—no God at all. But on the contrary Paul is saying that in the last analysis, nothing can be against us if God is for us.

But this raises the million-dollar question: “Is God for me?” Perhaps even more pointed is the personal question:

“How do I know that God is for me?”

Well, do you know that? How do you know?

Satan is very insistent about this—indeed, he has been insistent on this question from the beginning. He asked it in the Garden of Eden. In fact, his first recorded words are an assault on God’s gracious character (will we never learn how much he hates God and His people?): “Did God put you in this lavish garden and forbid you to eat from any of its trees? What kind of God does that? You don’t think He is really for you, do you, if He does that kind of thing?” (see Gen. 3:1).

You will find this innuendo repeated in various forms and guises throughout your Christian life. You need to have biblical answers to these questions:

• How do you know God is really for you?

• Where should you look for the proof that God is for you? Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life has been unbroken happiness? Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life been one of ecstatic joy?

There is only one irrefutable answer to these questions. It cannot be found in our circumstances. It lies only in the provision that God has made for us in Jesus Christ.

This is the whole point of Paul’s question in verse 32. We can be sure that God is for us because this God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to the cross for us all.

If this is true, Paul affirms, we can be confident He will give us everything we will ever need.

This is the only sure way we can know that God is for us.

Frequently in the closing pages of the Gospel records we are told that the Lord Jesus Christ was “delivered up” (e.g., Matt. 26:15; 27:2, 18, 26). He was handed over by one person or group to another until eventually He was handed over by Pilate to be crucified as a criminal.

But Paul understood that behind every human “handing over” was the purpose of the heavenly Father. He “handed over” (it is the same verb) His own Son to bear the condemnation due to sinners.

Here is the heart of the plan of God and the wonder of the gospel. The best of all men dies as though He were the worst of all criminals. This is not merely a matter of human wickedness destroying a good man. It is the heart of the purpose of God, as Isaiah had long before prophesied (Isa. 53:4–6, 10).

Behind the handing over of the Lord Jesus—by Judas Iscariot, by Herod, by the priests, by Pontius Pilate—stood the purposes of His heavenly Father handing Him over to the cross in order to die in the place of sinners. He bore God’s judgment and wrath against our sin.

What inexpressible love this is.

This excerpt is adapted from By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by Sinclair Ferguson.

Posted at: https://www.ligonier.org/blog/how-do-i-know-god-me/