Grumbling: A Family Tradition

David McLemore 

So, how’s your quarantine going?

Isn’t it wonderful? We can’t go anywhere. We can’t do anything. All our plans are canceled. Maybe you can work from home like me, but I find it just makes my house unbearable at times. My kids are stir-crazy and I’m ready to get back to normal.

Normal. Remember those good old days? Like when we went to restaurants and sporting events and concerts. We had all we needed. But now? Look at us now. We’re basically prisoners! And for what? A virus? Come on!

Whose fault is this anyway? Surely, “they” could’ve stopped this. It didn’t have to be this bad. But they’re a bunch of failures. We always knew it, didn’t we? Can’t get anything right on a normal day, and when crisis knocks on the door, well, there goes our lives.

A LONG LINE OF GRUMBLERS

If walls could talk, would they, like a child, repeat the echoes of your grumbling? Mine would. I’m an expert grumbler. It’s too cold in winter and too hot in summer. The food was good but the service was slow. The night was long but sleep was short. Nothing is ever just right. Has it ever been? Reading the Bible, it appears my disposition isn’t mine alone. We come from a long line of grumblers.

Perhaps nowhere in the Bible is this clearer than in the story of Israel’s wanderings during the Exodus from Egypt. While isolated in the desert, God’s people quarreled with Moses because there was no water to drink—admittedly a big problem in the middle of the desert (Ex. 17:1–2). Moses responded by asking, “‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses” (Ex. 17:3).

This was hardly their first go at grumbling. By chapter 17, they’ve been at it for a solid two months as they entered the Desert of Sin (Ex. 15:24; 16:2, 7–9, 12). Yes, God led them out of slavery in Egypt but their nomadic desert life didn’t satisfy their appetites. Oh, remember the meat pots and fullness of bread in Egypt! Better to die there with full bellies and no freedoms than in deliverance with empty stomachs! Does God know what he’s doing?

The middle chapters of Exodus (15–17) are a master class in the art of grumbling. Paul said, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:4). But rather than submitting to the tutelage, I find my proverbial stomach too empty. I place myself among the frustrated Israelites, joining their ranks instead of learning their lessons. Who can blame me? It’s a family tradition.

DO ALL THINGS WITHOUT GRUMBLING

As the pages turn from the Old to New Testament, the family line and its tendencies don’t appear to improve very much. We don’t have the contextual details as we do with our desert-dwelling ancestors, but we find the Apostle Paul confronting what must have been a similar situation in the Philippian church. “Do all things without grumbling,” he says (Phil. 2:14).

Were they hungry and thirsty too? Did they find God less than who he promised to be?

I hear Paul’s words and I want to obey. I really do. The problem is, it’s hard. Some people seem never to have had a bad day. I wonder if I’ve ever had a good one. And these days of quarantine aren’t helping.

Every hour brings worse news than before. Sure, I have my moments of peace and contentment. But in all things? What do you mean by all, Paul?

Maybe it’ll help to define the word grumbling.

NO COMPLAINT OR DISPUTE

Grumbling must be distinct from complaint. Complaint feels too formal. I never go that far. I’m not filling out a form or sending an email. I’m not bringing this before the elders or anything. I’m just voicing my displeasure—informally and off the cuff, you know? No big deal, really. It’ll pass.

A complaint might get me somewhere, but I’m not looking for a handout. I’m not the kind of person who wants to speak to the manager. I just hope the waiter overhears me wondering where he is. I hope he sees my face as I take that first bite of less-than-expected taste. I just hope the two-star Facebook review I posted is filled with agreeing comments. Maybe things will start to change then, but probably not.

The real difference, in my opinion, lies here: a complaint gets you something you feel cheated out of, but that’s not my angle. I’d much rather let everyone know it’s their general failure in life that’s caused my displeasure. You know, like God leading a people into the desert with a meek leader like Moses and a severe lack of basic provisions like food and water. How can someone like that be trusted in trying times?

So maybe the lesson is this: to complain is to ask God why he’s not giving water in the desert and plead for him to provide; to grumble is to say there’s not water because God doesn’t care. The first seeks to obtain something. The other seeks only to destroy.

In Philippians 2:14, Paul commands the people not to grumble but also not to dispute. Grumbling rarely disputes anyone’s decisions. It doesn’t rise that high. It lays low in the water, like the roar of a wave that comes crashing all around. It might get you wet, which can be annoying, and it has enough salt and sand to rub you the wrong way, but the grumble isn’t there to argue. Arguing requires facts and reasoning. Grumbles don’t. The grumble grows out of emotions. The catalyst is the way one feels, which influences the way one thinks. The grumble doesn’t want to take anyone to court; it just wants everything fixed—now.

ACCUSATION

The problem, however, is that the grumble does inevitably take someone to court. The Israelites’ grumbling soon rose to Moses and then to God. How did God hear grumblings? The murmur was louder than they thought.

God got involved, which seemed to be an overreaction, really. Grumblings wither and fade. Once it’s off the chest it’s like mist in the morning, right? But Moses took it to God. He asked, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me” (Ex. 17:5). God’s answer was weighty. “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb” (Ex. 17:5–6a). God received their grumbling as an accusation against himself. He stood trial.

I think I’m beginning to see the lesson. Though it doesn’t look like it initially, grumbling is accusation. The Israelites weren’t merely venting their frustrations. They were accusing God of not being a provider. In fact, they were saying he was worse than Pharaoh. He must not have thought it through. A million people in the middle of the desert. “Yeah, God. Great idea.”

Their grumbling was a viral event, not quarantined to a small few. It was airborne and highly contagious. If I jumped in the DeLorean and headed back to that ancient and sandy land, I wouldn’t hear the story of God’s great rescue but the story of God’s great scandal: desert life without water. If I knew nothing of their history, I might be prone to think Egypt was a land of Eden and Pharaoh a king of kings.

The people had a point. What good is emancipation if you die a few weeks later with a parched tongue and cracked lips? They looked at their life and could see only the grim circumstances staring back at them. They forgot the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna from heaven. They forgot their Rescuer, Deliverer, and Redeemer. The roar of their grumbling drowned out the song of their Savior. God had done mighty things before, but they disbelieved he could do them again. Rather than the path God was taking them, all they saw were walls. And those walls echoed to and fro throughout the land.

WATER FROM THE ROCK

God heard their grumbling, and he stood on the rock before them. Then he told Moses, “You shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink” (Ex. 17:6).

In 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul looks back at this event and makes the shocking statement that Christ was the Rock. The water the people drank didn’t come from nowhere. It came from the judgment of God in Christ. Moses didn’t strike an inanimate object. He struck the Lord himself. Grumbling always strikes, and, ultimately, it always strikes the Lord.

But the gospel tells us that God takes that strike himself. Instead of standing on the rock and blasting the Israelites away, he stands on the rock and bears the punishment. This was just the beginning of God’s long-suffering. What started as a grumble in the desert rose to a cry in Pilate’s court: “Crucify him!” (Luke 21:23).

Alone on the cross, instead of grumbling, Jesus took our grumblings upon himself as the representative Grumbler. He died under them, struck by the judgment staff of God. When the soldiers came to Jesus to ensure his death, they “pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). That water was, as Paul says, the same spiritual drink the Israelites drank in the desert (1 Cor. 10:4). It came from a rock back then but came in Christ once for all on the cross. A drink of living water for all of us grumblers.

That’s the real family tradition—God’s grace for grumblers.

So how’s your quarantine going? Mine’s better than ever before, thanks for asking. I have all I need.

David McLemore is an elder at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He also works for a large healthcare corporation where he manages an application development department. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons. Read more of David’s writing on his blog, Things of the Sort.

Posted at: https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/grumbling

10 Keys to Solving Marriage Conflict in Quarantine

STEVE HOPPE

It’s been said that only two things in life are certain—death and taxes. If you’re living with your spouse in isolation during this COVID-19 crisis, I’d add one more: marriage conflict.

Times are stressful. Uncertainty abounds. The uncharted waters of the coronavirus pandemic are requiring collaborative co-navigation with your spouse, but you’re driving each other nuts as you steer the family boat. You’re quibbling and quarreling. You’re correcting and criticizing. You’re disagreeing, debating, and potentially devouring each other with your words. You need help.

Allow me to provide 10 principles that will help you tackle marriage conflict in a way that draws you closer—not further apart—during this tumultuous season.

1. Take off your tool belt.

When your spouse’s sins and shortcomings inevitably surface, you will be tempted to enter fix-it mode in an effort to conform your spouse into God’s image (at best) or your image (at worst).

But fixing your spouse isn’t your job. Only God can truly fix us. Only he can remove our dead hearts of stone, replace them with living hearts of flesh, and mold us into people of Christlike thoughts, words, and actions (Ezek. 36:26–27). God, not you, is your spouse’s heart engineer.

2. Play catch.

When conflict arises, many couples instinctively play “conversation ping-pong.” They rapidly and aggressively swat words back and forth at each other without pausing to consider them.

Instead, play a different game. Put your paddle down and play catch. When your spouse speaks, catch the conversation ball (listen). Hold the ball for a little while (think). Toss it back gently (speak). Listen. Think. Speak. In that order. It will take practice. It will take patience. And it will produce peaceful conversations.

Listen. Think. Speak. It’ll take practice. It’ll take patience. And it’ll produce peaceful conversations.

3. Put on high heels (or Air Jordans).

Work hard to empathize with your spouse. Walk in their shoes. See the world through their eyes. Outwardly express their emotions back in a way that says, “I get you.” Why is empathy such a blessing to your spouse? It sends the message that your spouse’s emotions are real, valid, and important. It tells your spouse they’re not a problem to be solved but a person to be known and loved.

Most importantly, it emulates the empathetic love of Christ—the one who chose to leave heaven, enter our world, walk in our shoes, feel our pain, and ultimately die on our behalf.

4. Ask why.

If you’re responding to your spouse in an unholy manner, ask yourself why. What in your heart is at the root of your ungodly behavior? Are you worshiping some idol? Are you believing some lie about God, your spouse, yourself, or the world around you?

Dig to the root of your response—the heart-level cause of your irreverent words or actions. After all, if the roots don’t change, the fruit won’t change (Luke 6:43–45).

5. Avoid exaggeration.

Exaggeration has no place in godly marriage conflict for at least two reasons. First, it’s a form of lying—a breach of the ninth commandment (Ex. 20:16). It takes something that’s true, stretches it, and turns it into something untrue. Second, exaggeration can easily come across as a character assassination—an assault on who your spouse is, not what your spouse did.

Barring exceptional circumstances, eliminate the following words from your vocabulary when critiquing your spouse: always, never, all, none, everything, nothing, everybody, nobody, constantly, completely, entirely, and thoroughly. There are others, but you get the gist.

6. Celebrate criticism.

According to Proverbs, the number-one way to become wise is to hear, internalize, and apply constructive feedback (Prov. 1:7; 8:33; 12:1; 13:1, 10; 15:5, 31; 19:20; 29:15). If this is the case, then you have a remarkable opportunity to grow in wisdom during this pandemic.

You’re receiving a healthy dose of criticism from your spouse. But there’s a problem: criticism is painful. How do you move past the pain and rejoice when you’re criticized? You must fall in love with the prize. The more you love wisdom—and specifically Jesus Christ, “the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24)—the more you will be willing to endure painful criticism to get it.

Criticism is painful. How do you move past the pain and rejoice when criticized? You must fall in love with the prize.

7. Refuse to revile.

As stress increases and tension escalates, chances are your spouse will falsely accuse you of wrongdoing, verbally inflate your sins, or assume unholy motives when your motives are (relatively) pure.

What do you do when you face injustice like this? Emulate Christ. When the sinless, selfless Savior was unjustly reviled, he didn’t revile in return (1 Pet. 2:23). When the one who never should have suffered was taken to the cross, he didn’t fight back with threats, but focused on his Father who would one day justify him. Jesus willfully bore injustice because he knew that God would eventually vindicate him.

8. Take an adult timeout.

When the relational temperature in the room is scalding, sometimes it’s best to step away and take a timeout. This will help you in at least two ways. First, it will allow you to reach a state of emotional equilibrium—a place where adrenaline is no longer rushing through your veins and tempting you to say things that you will regret.

Second, it will provide spiritual clarity. As you spend time with God (the key to a successful time-out), your heart will change, the Spirit will convict you of sin, and your thoughts will start to align with God’s. You’ll be a new person when you re-enter the conversation.

9. Call in the reserves.

I know that this is a time when we’re supposed to isolate. But we’re never supposed to isolate relationally as Christians. During this pandemic, you will need the body of Christ to support and guide you through marriage challenges.

When times are especially tough, I suggest that the two of you reach out to your pastor, a trusted elder, a spiritually mature married couple in your church, or, if necessary, a Christ-centered marriage counselor. Don’t be too proud or afraid to call for help. Your marriage may need it now more than ever before.

10. Hydrate frequently.

I saved the most important for last: stay hydrated. Drink Christ’s living water with your spouse regularly during this crisis. Read and discuss the Bible together. Pray daily. Spend Christ-focused time with other Christians (virtually, of course). Worship on your couch together on Sundays.

Find ways to serve the less-fortunate from a distance. Talk about Jesus with those who don’t share your beliefs. Give generously. The more living water you consume, the healthier your heart’s roots will be, and the holier your communication will be when conflict arises.

In the end, the key to successfully making it through the COVID crisis alongside your spouse boils down to the simplest, but most difficult command that Jesus gave us: love. Lay down your life for your spouse out of love. Even when you’re in conflict. Especially when you’re in conflict.

Editors’ note: 

This article is based on Steve Hoppe’s new book, Marriage Conflict: Talking as Teammates (P&R), a 31-day devotional to help apply God’s Word to everyday life.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/10-keys-marriage-conflict-quarantine/

Why We Don’t Lose Heart

Devotional by John Piper

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 the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses). He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids). He doesn’t recover from beatings the way he used to (and there were no antibiotics). His strength, walking from town to town, doesn’t hold up the way it used to. He sees the wrinkles in his face and neck. His memory is not as good. And he admits that this is a threat to his faith and joy and courage.

But he does not lose heart. Why?

He doesn’t lose heart because his inner man is being renewed. How?

The renewing of his heart comes from something very strange: it comes from looking at what he can’t see.

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 the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is Paul’s way of not losing heart: looking at what he cannot see. What, then, did he see when he looked?

A few verses later in 2 Corinthians 5:7, he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” This doesn’t mean that he leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.

We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel. We strengthen our hearts — we renew our courage — by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We see this as it shines in our heart through the gospel.

We became Christians when this happened — whether we understood this or not. And with Paul we need to go on seeing with the eyes of the heart, so that we not lose heart.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-we-dont-lose-heart

Models for Combating Discouragement

Devotional by John Piper

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

Literally the verb is simply fail, not “may fail.” This God-besotted psalmist, Asaph, says, “My flesh and my heart fail!” I am despondent! I am discouraged! But then immediately he fires a broadside against his despondency: “But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The psalmist does not yield to discouragement. He battles unbelief with counterattack.

In essence, he says, “In myself I feel very weak and helpless and unable to cope. My body is shot, and my heart is almost dead. But whatever the reason for this despondency, I will not yield. I will trust God and not myself. He is my strength and my portion.”

The Bible is replete with instances of saints struggling with sunken spirits. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” This is a clear admission that the soul of the saint sometimes needs to be revived. And if it needs to be revived, in a sense it was “dead.” That’s the way it felt.

David says the same thing in Psalm 23:2–3, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” The soul of the “man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) needs to be restored. It was dying of thirst and ready to fall exhausted, but God led the soul to water and gave it life again.

God has put these testimonies in the Bible so that we might use them to fight the unbelief of despondency. And we fight with the blast of faith in God’s promises: “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” We preach that to ourselves. And we thrust it into Satan’s face. And we believe it.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/models-for-combating-discouragement

His Delight Is Not in Your Strength

Article by Marshall Segal

We discover where we really find our strength not when we feel strong, but when we feel weak.

Exhaustion and frustration have a way of blowing away the fog, revealing what’s really happening inside of us: Have we been leaning on God for all that we need, or have we made his help, his strength, his guidance a kind of last resort? Many of us are more self-reliant than we would admit, and self-reliance is far more dangerous than it sounds.

The widespread delusion, especially among more secular people, is that I can do anything, if I am willing to work hard. I am stronger than I think, strong enough to do anything I want to do in the world. The reality, however, is that the vast majority of us are weaker than we realize — and yet love to think ourselves strong. And that false sense of strength not only intensifies our arrogance and our ineffectiveness, but it also offends our God.

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
     nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
     in those who hope in his steadfast love. (Psalm 147:10–11)

Our delight is often in the strength of our legs — our work ethic, our perseverance, our cleverness, our strategies. And that temptation touches every part of life — at work, in ministry, at home — because every part of life in a fallen world requires strength. But God is not pleased by all that we can do — unless we do all that we do in his strength, and not our own.

Rejoice in All He Can Do

One way to combat a sinful sense of self-sufficiency is to meditate on all that only God can do — all that he can do, that we cannot. Psalm 147 models how to expose and unravel the lies of pride with the strength and authority of God.

The psalm says that God alone places each cloud in the sky (Psalm 147:8). He chooses when, where, and how much rain will fall, and he tends every millimeter of every blade of grass.

God alone crafts every snowflake that falls, fashions every inch of frost, and decides just how cold it will be (Psalm 147:16–17). Every aspect of our winters is scripted and conducted by him, including precisely when they end (Psalm 147:18).

God alone feeds the elephants, the sharks, the squirrels, and even the ants (Psalm 147:9). When newborn birds whimper in hunger, he hears each faint cry.

God alone can count every star in the universe (Psalm 147:4) — and not only count them, but decide their number and give them each a name.

God alone heals the wounds of the brokenhearted (Psalm 147:3). Very few are ever tempted to think we ourselves could bring rain, make snow, or count the stars, but we might be tempted to think we could heal a broken heart. We might imagine we could compensate for someone’s loss, or talk someone out of despair, or save someone’s marriage. But Psalm 147 says that God is the healing one.

God alone makes peace (Psalm 147:14). We cannot achieve real peace — in families or friendships, in a church or a nation — unless God quiets the conflict and awakens harmony. If we think we can achieve peace without God, we have not understood peace, or God.

“Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5). Our power is small and often failing, but his power is abundant and never exhausted. Our understanding is extremely limited and often flawed, but his understanding is universal and inscrutable. Why would we ever rely on ourselves?

Embrace How Little You Can Do

Yet we do rely on ourselves. We slip into habits of living, and working, and serving that don’t require him, and sometimes that barely even acknowledge him. Jeremiah’s warning is as sobering in our day as it was in his: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord’” (Jeremiah 17:5). The man who deep down trusts in himself cannot help but slowly walk away from God.

We fight sinful self-sufficiency by glorying in all that God can do, and we fight by learning to embrace just how little we can do apart from him. Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Many of us can recite the phrase, and still quietly suspect that he’s really exaggerating. We know we can do something on our own. And if we won’t admit it, our prayer lives betray us.

The humble are strong precisely because they know how weak they truly are — and how strong God will be for them. They sing, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). They exhort one another, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). They serve “by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).

The humble have experienced what Isaiah promised: “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. . . . They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29–31). By embracing their weakness, they found vast reservoirs of strength, strength enough to run and even fly.

Weakness Welcomes Strength

The apostle Paul knew how weak he was and where to find true strength. When he pleaded with God to remove the thorn that plagued him, God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Why would God, in infinite, fatherly love for Paul, not spare him the pain and inconvenience of this weakness? Because our weakness welcomes the gracious strength and intervention of God.

Weakness welcomes grace. When we feel strong, we are not prone to rely on the grace and strength of God. We often begin to experience, and even enjoy, the delusion that we are strong. We forget God, and our need for him. But when we feel our weakness, we more fully experience reality — and we remember our tremendous, continual need for him. The intensity of our thorns unearths the depths of his grace and mercy. Without them, we would only play in the wading pools of grace, instead of exploring the endless storehouses God fills and keeps for us.

As Paul says earlier in the same letter, “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). If you look strong in your own strength, very few will wonder how you are so strong. But if people watch you walk through intense or persistent weakness and adversity, with strength and faith and even joy, then God will look unmistakably strong in you. So, to the extent that you are weak, to that extent will you magnify the awesome height of his power and love.

We Have Done Nothing

We often learn to rely on our own strength because we want the recognition and respect of others. We want to be known as strong, not utterly weak; as independent, not deeply dependent; as self-sufficient, not uncomfortably needy. We want to be the achievers and creators, the healers and the heroes. But as J.I. Packer says,

If we think of ourselves or others as achievers, creators, reformers, innovators, movers and shakers, healers, educators, benefactors of society in any way at all, we are at the deepest level kidding ourselves. We have nothing and have never had anything that we have not received, nor have we done anything good apart from God who did it through us. (Praying, 147)

The happiest, strongest, most meaningfully productive people have embraced, and even rejoiced, in that reality: We have done nothing good apart from God who did it through us. “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (Psalm 84:5). They have been liberated from self-sufficiency, and now run, work, create, and serve in the happy fields of their utter dependence on God.

Marshall Segal (@marshallsegal) is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating. He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Faye, have a son and live in Minneapolis.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/his-delight-is-not-in-your-strength

Christ the Divine Son

Joseph Hamrick

John 1:1-4- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

The Divine Son of God, the Word of God

Jesus is the divine Son of God, without beginning and end, fully equal in the Trinity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

As William Hendricksen states in his Colossian Commentary, “If the Son is the very image of the invisible God, and if the invisible God is from everlasting to everlasting, it follows that the Son, too, must be eternally God’s image.”

When Paul states that Christ is the image of God in Colossians 1. Christ Himself agrees when he states, “if you have seen Me you have seen the Father.” Christ can say that and be completely accurate considering He is the express image of God. In His incarnation, He was the invisible God made visible.

See the distinction: we are made in God’s image, but Christ is God’s image. And as God’s image, therefore, He must be fully equal in divinity with the Father.

The Divine Son of God, Creator, and Sustainer of All Things

Everything exists because of Christ, and everything exists for Him.

Christ’s preeminence is not only present in the Gospel accounts, but also throughout the Pastoral letters, including Colossians 1:15-20, Hebrews 1:1-3, and a plethora of others as well. The New Testament authors, carried along by the Spirit, took painstakingly clear measures to show in no uncertain terms, Christ is fully divine, and being divine is eternal.

Since Christ created all things, He is considered the “firstborn” of all creation. This is different than how we view that word. To be a firstborn naturally means one was born first. But here in Colossians 1:15, Paul means for us to understand Christ not as firstborn in the sense that Christ the Divine Son of God was ever created, rather, that considering that God created all things through Christ, He has the status of the firstborn: all things are His.

And not only does everything owe its existence to Christ, but also its continual sustainment. Christ keeps all things by the power of His word (Hebrews 1:3). Take a moment to dwell on that knowledge. It can be too easy to gloss over these sections of Scripture, to read of the radiance of Christ so often that it becomes a mundane, ordinary affair. That is why meditation and prayer are so essential to the Christian walk. Read these beautiful passages of Christ’s divine power and meditate on what it means that Christ sustains you.

Breathe in. Christ sustains you. Breathe out. Christ sustains you still. He does this by the divine word of His power.

The Divine Son of God, the Light of Life

Humans have the innate ability to create. We see and use our creations every day: books, movies, electronics, buildings, etc.; but all these are secondary creations, and they all lack one essential thing: life.

No matter what we create, we cannot imbue our creations with life, we cannot create a soul.

But Scripture says that in Christ Himself is life itself. When we look upon Christ, we are looking at someone who controls the very essence of life. Thankfully, and most graciously, Christ did not keep that life to Himself. For  Christians, He gave us the twofold meaning of life.

First, in our creation, He gave us the breath of life. Our lives began from the moment of conception, knitted in the womb by Christ (Psalm 139:13), and secondly in our newborn lives, Christ gave us spiritual life, raising us from the dead, having created us in Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Christ is the giver of life, and the giver of life is none other than the divine Son of God.

Prayer

Christ, may we recognize who You are as the divine Son of God, without beginning and without end. May we realize our utter dependence on the Lord to give us life from the dead and to sustain our very breath and being. May we say along with Peter, “Where else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Amen.

Posted at: https://servantsofgrace.org/christ-the-divine-son/

In Your Suffering, How Do You View God?

Bob Kellemen

A Crystal Clear Image of God 

Paul uses the Greek word for “comfort” ten times in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7—do you think this may be the theme of these verses?

He begins developing his theme by presenting a crystal clear image of God.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” (1:3-4a).

All comfort is ultimately sourced in God. The flip side of that is to say that worldly comfort—comfort not sourced in God—is ultimately empty, vain, hollow comfort.

Seeing God as Your Compassionate Father 

The Greek word for “compassion” means to feel another person’s agony. People in Paul’s day used the word to signify sympathetic lament.

God laments our pain; God aches when we ache; He weeps when we weep. He is the Father of compassion.

Is this our image of God when life is bad?

In your suffering, do you see God as your Father who sympathetically laments with you?

Seeing God as Your Comforting Father 

The word for “comfort” pictures God fortifying us—he gives us his strength to endure.

Paul and others used the word “comfort” to picture:

• A lawyer advocating for a client

• A mother wrapping her arms of protection around her child

• A solider standing back to back with a comrade in danger

God is the God of all comfort.

In the midst of our suffering, is that our image of God? 

In your suffering, do you see God as your Advocate, as your Protector, as your Ally?

Join the Conversation 

What is your image of God in your suffering?

During times of suffering, how could you find sustaining strength by seeing God as your compassionate and comforting Father?

Posted at: https://rpmministries.org/2019/11/in-your-suffering-how-do-you-view-god/

Set Your Minds on Things Above

Colin Smith

Set your minds on things above. (Colossians 3:2)

All of us are on our way, either to something that is infinitely better, or to something that is infinitely worse. People sometimes talk about “living your best life now.” That’s only possible if you are going to hell. If hell is your future, your best life is now.

But if you are going to heaven, your best life is to still to come. For a person outside Christ, this life is as good as it gets. But for a person in Christ, your pain in this world is the only pain you will ever experience. Your struggles in this world are the only struggles you will ever endure.

This is as tough as it gets for you, because your future is absolutely glorious! Without Christ this world is as near as you will get to heaven. With Christ this world is as near as you will get to hell. It is better to suffer any illness, endure any sorrow, carry any burden and be in Christ, than it is to enjoy any lifestyle you can imagine without Him.

Today, I have the joy of lifting your eyes up to your future joy in heaven, so that you will find strength, courage, and comfort to endure the difficulties of life that confront you today.

In heaven, you will serve God as you always wished you could

They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. (Revelation 7:15)

Every Christian serves Christ, but none of us serves the Lord as we would like to serve Him. All who love Christ worship Him, but none of us worships as we would like to worship. Don’t you find yourself at times asking, “Why is my heart so sluggish? Why is my response to the grace of God so restrained, so calculating?”

Every Christian wants to serve Christ, but we find ourselves in conflict, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). We throw ourselves into serving Christ and into living for Christ, and then we get tired or we become discouraged. We get bogged down in our unsolved problems and our unanswered questions, but it will not always be so. In heaven you will serve God as you always wished you could. “Day and night” they serve Him. No tiredness there!

Here, we go through seasons of feeling distant from God, and we want to have a new and fresh experience of God. But in heaven you will be before His throne. You will be with Him, and you will enjoy Him forever!

In heaven, Christ will lead you into ever increasing joy

The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. (Revelation 7:16)

You may think, “Heaven’s going to be a wonderful place where I’m going to discover all kinds of marvelous things.” Yes it will, but John is telling us, “It’s better than that.” What’s missing?

Christ is the great Shepherd of His people. He feeds them and that is why they are never hungry (7:16). And He leads them—Christ does this for us on earth, and He will do this for us in heaven too, “the Lamb will… guide them to springs of living water!” The great joy of heaven is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will lead you into ever increasing delight.

Perhaps you have a favorite place to vacation. You keep going back, and over the years, you’ve gotten to know it better and better. After many years, you know most of what there is to know. You have eaten at every restaurant. You have shopped at every store. But you will never get to that place in heaven. Heaven will be an infinite world of new discoveries, and Jesus Christ will unfold them to you.

Thomas Boston says, “The divine perfections will be an unbounded field, in which the glorified shall walk eternally, seeing more and more of God; since they can never come to the end of the infinite. They may bring their vessels to this ocean every moment, and fill them with new waters.”[1]

This joy will go on increasing forever! Think about looking through a photo album. The joys you experience in life remain in your memory so that you continue to derive happiness from them—things that happened ten years ago or twenty years ago.

Jonathan Edwards asks, “Do you think it will be any less in heaven?” The joys of heaven will accumulate: “Their knowledge will increase to eternity; and if their knowledge, their holiness; for as they increase in the knowledge of God, they will see more of his excellency (beauty), and the more they see of his excellency (beauty) the more they will love him, and the more they love God, the more delight and happiness they will have in him.”[2] Friends, we are talking about exponentially increasing joy! What will that be like after a million, million ages?

In heaven, all your wounds will finally be healed

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17)

Every tear! Literally, the tears will be wiped “out of their eyes.” This is telling us God removes, not only the tears, but also the source that produces the tears—even our tear ducts! The baggage you carried—there’s nothing to carry now. It’s gone. The temptations you battled—there are no battles now. The pain you suffered—there’s no suffering now.

John sees the glory of heaven, the presence of Jesus, the glory of the new creation, but then like a drumbeat you have this repeated statement of what will not be there: No death; no mourning. No sins to confess; no temptations to overcome. No sickness to suffer; no pain to endure. No crosses to carry; no fears to face.

All your questions will be answered. All your doubts will be resolved. All your longings fulfilled. All your needs met. Your joy will be complete. And God will wipe away every tear from your eyes. If you have been washed in the blood of Christ, it will not be long before you are there too.

Longing to depart, ready to stay

Look at what lies ahead of you, and it will help you to face whatever you are facing today. Donald Macleod reminds us that heaven is our Father’s house: “What a grief it must be to God that so few of His children want to go home! Here we are, in enemy territory, amid the sufferings of the present time, beset by sin and seeing our Father’s name dishonored all around us and yet we want to stay!”

Macleod recalls Paul’s longing to depart and be with Christ, which the apostle says is “better by far.” But at the same time, Paul says that he has to be ready to stay and continue serving the church. “This surely is the healthy Christian attitude: Willing to stay, for the sake of the work still to be done, but longing to get home.”[3]

Serving Christ will be your great delight in heaven, so find joy by serving Him now. Following Christ will lead you to springs of living water in heaven, so find life by following Christ now. Christ will wipe every tear from your eye in heaven, so find comfort by drawing near to Him now.

—

[1] Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, p. 302, Sovereign Grace, 2000

[2] Jonathan Edwards, Works, Vol. 2, p. 618, Banner of Truth, 1974

[3] Donald Macleod, “Monthly Record of the Free Church of Scotland,” p. 125, 1990

This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s message “Heaven,” from the series The Inside Story of Your Future Life, Feb. 26, 2012.

A Frowning Providence

Brandon Myers

It is rare to read a short booklet that instantly blesses you and lifts you to depend afresh on the Lord. A few months back I came upon one of those rare treasures in Behind a Frowning Providence. This is an excellent booklet written by former Princeton and Westminster systematic theologian John J. Murray (who actually went to be with the Lord earlier this month).

This is one of the shortest, yet deepest; most accessible, yet convicting booklets I’ve ever read. Below are 10 quotes to give you a taste. May your soul expand, suffering Christian, as you feast on this eternally-minded, biblically-rich booklet. Banner of Truth has an excellent edition of the book.

1. Providence is that marvelous working of God by which all the events and happenings in His universe accomplish the purpose He has in mind.

2. In it [providence] God sent His Son into this world for the purpose of redeeming a people. He set His love on hell-deserving sinners and chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world.

3. When adversity comes into our lives we tend to react in one of two ways. We may say that it is from a source other than God and He has no power to stop it; or we may say it is an evidence of God’s anger against us. Either way we are guilty of casting aspersions on the character of our Father and consequently of perverting our attitude to Him.

4. People are looking for a problem-free Christianity. The health, wealth and success gospel is having a field day. Purveyors of such a gospel look the part. Unfortunately, the hollowness of such views becomes apparent when suffering, sorrow or disappointment comes. Then it becomes clear that we need a faith that is grounded in God’s Word.

5. The test of a person’s Christianity is what happens in the storm, when the house is battered in the winds of affliction.

6. What latent corruption there is within! We are like a petro-chemical plant. It takes only a spark to set us alight… Think of the break-out of sin in the lives of so many of the saints. Abraham with his deceit; Job with his rash words; Moses with his anger· Asaph with his murmuring; Paul with his pride. Job could say, ‘I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes’ (Job 42:6). Asaph had to say, ‘I was foolish and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee’ (Psalm 73:22). Such discoveries make us think less of ourselves and therefore lead us to think more of the Lord Jesus Christ. They bring new depths of repentance and a recovery of a true sense of our own sinfulness.

7. There are areas of the Word of God that we cannot comprehend until we have experienced suffering. For thirty years of my Christian life I neither understood nor was particularly drawn to the book of Job. Along with a particular time of suffering came the help to understanding it. Martin Luther had a similar testimony: ‘Affliction is the Christian’s theologian’; ‘I never knew the meaning of God’s Word until I came into affliction’; ‘My temptations have been my masters in divinity’; ‘No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures’.

8. People are usually more anxious to get rid of the problem than they are to find the purpose of God in it. ‘Afflictions’, says Matthew Henry ‘are continued no longer than till they have done their work’. It is also our responsibility to pray that our afflictions will be sanctified to us.

9. God has forged an inseparable link between sufferings and glory. That was the road that Christ took. He was made complete as our Saviour ‘through sufferings’. He endured. He was without sin. How much more is suffering part of the road that leads sinners to perfection and glory! What abundant cause we have to be reconciled to our sufferings!

10. We must not be deceived by the current view that invites us to get rid of our troubles and sicknesses and then rejoice. The New Testament calls on us to rejoice in the midst of sufferings. Indeed we ought to be alarmed if we have no experience of suffering, for we suffer with Him that we may be glorified together. There is no glory without suffering.

Do your heart, soul, and mind a favor and read the whole booklet by Murray free here. It will only take about 30 minutes, but I am confident it will be helpful throughout all your life and even for all eternity.

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2020/04/ten-soul-expanding-quotes-john-murray-behind-frowning-providence/

How Jesus Addresses Our Anxiety (Part 3 of 3)

by Paul Tautges

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

Matthew 6:31-32

In today’s passage, Jesus brings up a relationship that unbelievers (Gentiles) do not have. They worry about the basic necessities—food, drink, clothing. But we have spiritual blessings that far outweigh material ones as well as a confidence that cannot belong to the non-Christian. Through our repentant faith in Christ, the heavenly Father has become our heavenly Father. He takes care of the animal and plant kingdoms, and he loves his children infinitely more (see Matt. 6:25–30). Therefore, we should not be anxious (see v. 31). We have no need to worry about our basic provisions (see v. 32). What supports this confidence in our heavenly Father’s personal care is the gospel. The redemptive work that Jesus completed to deliver us from the penalty of sin also rescues us from the orphanage of the Evil One and places us into the family of God.

We were not always his children. Before we were born again, we were “children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:3). We were God’s enemies (see Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:21). But when God opened our hearts to the gospel and we believed in Jesus, we were set free from the penalty and power of sin. God “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). His amazing grace initiated our adoption as children of God (see Gal. 4:4–5).

Spiritual adoption is the gracious act of God by which he places the believer in Jesus into his family and gives him the full rights and privileges of mature sonship. In light of this adoption, the apostle Paul explains why we should not be controlled by fear: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Rom. 8:15). Unlike unbelievers, you have a heavenly Father whom you can turn to—one who knows and cares.

This secure relationship should produce in you a peaceful, trusting disposition—one that is different from those who do not have God as their Father. This is the basis of Jesus’s directive “Do not be anxious.” Children of God can rest in the promise that our Father has made to meet our every need, but “Gentiles [unbelievers] seek after all these things.” Our relationship with God should lead us to have heavenly priorities and a distinct outlook that is unbound by anxiety. Because you are God’s, you don’t have to worry. As pastor Philip De Courcy says, “Anxious care, or illegitimate concern, is out of place in the company of Christians and certainly in the presence of God.” When our hearts settle into the reality that the God of the universe is our very own, personal heavenly Father, there is no longer a need for us to be anxious. He knows our every need and will provide for us.

Do you know God as your heavenly Father—and, if so, what difference is that making in your life? Does it help you to no longer worry?

For Further Reflection and Application

• Reflect: Why and how is anxiety not God’s will for you as a Christian?

• Act: Read Romans 8:15–17. Journal about the blessings of adoption in Christ.

• Act: Write a personal prayer to your heavenly Father. Thank him for adopting you and for promising to meet your needs.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/04/23/how-jesus-addresses-our-anxiety-part-3-of-3/