"But God" - Genesis 31:7

By Ray Ruppert

But God - in the Midst of a Dysfunctional Family: 

Genesis 31:7 “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me” (ESV, emphasis added).

Your counselees come into your office and you ask them how things are going this week. The husband glares at his wife and blurts out, “Her father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times.” What do you do? Do you immediately paraphrase, “But God did not permit him to harm you!”

Of course not. You want to get to what is behind the obvious anger to see what happened. In Jacob’s case, twenty years of a dysfunctional family has been brought to a boiling point.

Digging deeper yields a myriad of problems in this family. There is the sibling rivalry that Jacob must deal with after marrying two sisters. Hopefully, you will never have to counsel someone in this position, much less someone having four wives! However, gathering data reveals more relevant issues:

• Leah is not loved, and even God says that Jacob hates her (Gen 29:31). That is a common theme in counseling.

• Infertility is another issue in counseling. Even though she is not loved, Leah is the first to conceive and have a child. That brings up the evil of envy within Rachel (Gen 30:1). How often is envy the root of the hurt that accompanies infertility? This issue is not out of place in today’s society. If you read the advice columns you will find this is a reoccurring theme in dysfunctional families. The pressure of producing children is brought by husbands, wives, in-laws, cousins, and even friends. Yet this is just one more of the pressures on Jacob.

• Another problem with infertility is blaming others for it. Throughout these years, God is firmly in control of who is to have a child and who isn’t. Rachel fails to see God’s hand in this and blames Jacob (Gen 30:1). In Jacob’s anger he has a theological revelation that it is God who is keeping children from Rachel.

• Extramarital affairs bloom in dysfunctional families. Though it was a cultural thing to do in their time (Rachel and Leah gave their servants to Jacob as wives), we see both husbands and wives rationalizing adultery and even condoning it for their spouse.

• In-law problems abound as well. It is extremely difficult for one or the other of a married couple to disengage from a controlling in-law. After fourteen years of serving Laban for his wives, Jacob wants to go home with his family. However, his father-in- law convinces him to stay and he will pay Jacob.

• Finances are often the string that the in-law uses to control the family. Laban doesn’t do this out of the generosity of his heart but out of greed. He recognizes that his wealth depends on God working through Jacob. So now we have interference from the in-laws as Jacob becomes an employee after working off his debt for his wives.

• Manipulation is often done though dishonesty. Laban steals the very animals that he has promised to Jacob (Gen 30:35-36). This situation could be hitting closer to home with your counselees than some of Jacob’s other problems. Working for the wife’s father can be a very tenuous situation, especially when the working environment turns hostile.

• Jealousy within the in-laws adds to the dysfunction. Laban’s sons see that their flocks aren’t producing as fast or are as healthy as they used to be. At the same time, Jacob’s wealth is increasing rapidly (Gen 30:42-31:1). They aren’t seeing this from God’s perspective so blame Jacob for their misfortune. They most likely complain to Laban.

• Dysfunction often escalates with threats of physical violence. Jacob also sees that Laban isn’t being as kind to him as before (Gen 31:2). There could also be a threat of retaliation which Jacob fears as he flees from Laban (Gen 31:31). In fact Laban even hints that he would have done something if God hadn’t stopped him (Gen 31:29).

• Spiritual awakening for one or more members of the family doesn’t always lead to resolving conflicts. In the midst of this family mess, Jacob hears from God and is plainly told to go home to his father. God tells Jacob that He will be with him (Gen 31:3). It may be at this point that Jacob started having a better understanding of how God had been leading him. But God’s command initially steers Jacob in the right direction with his family. In counseling, looking at God’s commands with a dysfunctional family would be a starting point. Jacob started with a family conference to discuss the situation (Gen 31:4). Clear, honest communication is vital to a healthy family (Eph 4:25-29). Jacob does not blame either Rachel or Leah for the problems that have beset him, even though he doesn’t include Bilhah or Zilpah (probably a cultural issue since they were still servants). But God protected Jacob. He speaks about God’s faithfulness (Gen 31:5), His sovereignty, and protection (Gen 31:7). It is necessary to use Scripture to show a dysfunctional family who is really in charge as well as the root of sins that need to be confessed, resulting in true repentance.

• Counselees need to be reminded of the different times that God has been working in their lives. Jacob relates how God has been intervening on his behalf providing dreams and guidance from the angel of the Lord (Gen 31:9-14). Looking back on all the problems your counselees have, you can assure them with confidence that they would be in even worse position if were not for God (Eph 2:1-3).

*  But God Kept Them from Being Killed or Killing (literally or symbolically) each other or

the in-laws (Gen 31:7).

*  But God Provided For Them (Gen31:9).

*  But God Was Working In This Situation For Their Good (Rom8:28-29). 

*  But God Was Developing Their Character (Rom5:3-5).

*  But God was Bringing Them to Himself (Rom5:6-11).

As Jacob has his conference with Rachel and Leah, we see an unusual degree of unity as Rachel and Leah are on the same page with Jacob. There aren’t any arguments or dissension. They both see what has happened with regard to their father and agree to do what Jacob says. This could have been a disaster if Jacob had simply told them what he was going to do, and they needed to toe the line. But God was working in them, just as He had been working in Jacob’s life.

This isn’t the end of the story; God isn’t finished with Jacob. Neither will He be finished with counselees when they have completed their first conference table. 

"But God" - Ephesians 2:4

By Wendy Wood

This will be the first blog in a series entitled “But God” written by various Canyon Hills counselors.  These two words are small, but contain the biggest, most magnificent, decisive action possible.  “But God” is the phrase that reminds us that God is sovereign and good.  ‘But God” reminds us that it is God who is powerful and decisive in bringing about his will.  In this series, each writing will feature a scripture that contains “But God” and you will encounter the power and reality of a God who is sovereign and wise.

Ephesians 2:4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us”

The book of Ephesians starts off with one of the most beautiful descriptions of the spiritual blessings believers have in Christ. The tone of chapter one is worship and awe as Paul describes what God has done for his children through Christ.  This amazing plan of God to redeem a group of people and adopt them as his children began “before the foundation of the world” (verse 4).  Paul paints the picture of our inheritance in Christ which is all to the praise and glory of God.  The union with Christ is possible only because God works all things according to the purpose of his will (verse 11).  Paul ends chapter one with a prayer of thanksgiving to the God who is sovereign over salvation from start to finish. This glorious truth of salvation, being sealed with the Holy Spirit, and the guarantee that our inheritance will be realized in heaven is the celebration of being God’s child.

But, chapter two reminds us of who we were.  The beginning of chapter two paints an ugly picture of reality.  We were dead in our sins.  We followed the course of this world.  We were happily following our selfish, fleshly desires.  1 John 2:16 says “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”  We gladly succumbed to these temptations and our sinful natures indulged in sinful thoughts and actions.  Paul confirms that we were living in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were children of wrath (verse 3).  The sad, awful truth is that we are totally depraved.  Total depravity does not mean that everyone is as absolutely sinful as they could be.  God puts his grace on all people, believers and unbelievers (Matthew 5:45), and restrains sin according to his will. God’s grace keeps us from being as sinful as we can possibly be.  However, total depravity means that every aspect of our being - our thoughts, our emotions, our desires, our words and behavior - are all impacted by the curse of sin.  Because of this, we are born sinners.  We are natural enemies of God.  We are spiritually dead.

Dead people have no capacity to bring life to themselves.  Dead people don’t think or reason.  Dead people don’t see or look for God. Dead people don’t get up and work to achieve good things.  Dead people are not capable of doing anything for themselves.  We were dead.  We were without life, without a future, and completely without hope.

“But God”

And here is where those two small words make all the difference!  

“But God” brings life to the dead.

“But God” brings hope to the hopeless.

God did not look at our deadness and see something that attracted him to us.  God didn’t look at our sins and think, “she’s not that bad, maybe I’ll do something with her”.  God didn’t see anything in us that led him to choose us.  

“But God” is the decisive statement that reveals all action and all credit belongs to God.  “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us”(verse 4).  We are given life in Christ because God is a merciful God.  God chose us to display his mercy and goodness.  At the very essence of who God is, he is a merciful being who set us apart for himself before the foundation of the world.  Our predestined salvation is about God.  It is not about us.  God is a loving God.  God chose us to display his love and to reveal more of himself through the work of Christ on the cross.  We were dead.  He made us alive with Christ!  He, by grace, raised us up!  God chose to display his “immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”.  

“But God” are two of the greatest words in the Bible.  “But God” allows us to know him, be redeemed by him, and receive every spiritual blessing in Christ through him.  “But God” reminds us that God is sovereign and good and that, in Christ, God is for us.

Praise God for “But God”!

Unity in the Midst of Trials

By Jim Koerber

Many have said that the theme of Paul’s letter to the Philippians is joy. There is a lot of merit to this claim. Paul mentions joy or rejoicing 12 times in this short letter. Warren Weirsbe, now with the Lord, wrote the popular “Be…” series and the title of his Philippians study was of course, “Be Joyful!” But as I read Philippians today I wonder if Paul (and Warren Weirsbe now?) might say, “Joy, yes, important, but don’t miss unity!”

We see unity being the source of joy for Paul when he writes,

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:1-11

The basis for our unity according to Paul is a common life experience—the Gospel and all its implications! We find a common encouragement by first being united with Christ. No longer the objects of His wrath, together we share and are united by the comfort of His love! We together are the objects of His love. This unity that brings joy is a Spirit-empowered fellowship with the Lord and one another and is characterized by affection or tenderness, and sympathy or compassion. These are not mere sentiments. No, these are to be the very disposition of our character toward one another in our words, actions and deeds.

With the Gospel as our basis for unity established, Paul turns his attention and ours to an expansion of how such unity is exhibited—likemindedness, or as the ESV translates it—“of the same mind.” Likemindedness is very important to Paul, he mentions it 10 times in Philippians. It literally means “to love the same things.” What are the things we should love? In the immediate literary context it starts with a negative: it is not a love of what’s important to me, my interests, my comforts, my exaltation. Rather it’s a likemindedness rooted in loving God with our entire being and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). We know this is true because Paul demonstrates in this passage that Christ is our example!

Jesus’ example for us begins with humility. No unity will be developed without an atmosphere of humility. Writing about humility John Calvin said that it is “the sovereign virtue—the mother and root of all virtue.” Jonathan Edwards said humility is “the most essential thing in true religion.” And of course the Scriptures are full of admonitions regarding this important characteristic that is a sign of being in Christ. Consider Isaiah the prophet, writing at a time of renaissance and wealth and pride in Israel,

Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:1-2

Fast forward to the early church in Jerusalem and James warns as he shepherds,

“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6b

Humility is the Spirit-given characteristic of the elect. Jesus tells us this early on in His ministry when He preached from a mountain to those who were following Him to hear His message, a message of perfection that only He could keep for them. If they were to embrace the Gospel it would mean they would have to bring nothing and die to themselves. Such people demonstrate that their citizenship is not found in the ancient nation of Israel, or the prosperous Roman city of Philipi (Philippians 3:20). No our citizenship is found in the Kingdom of Heaven,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

Humility is the only atmosphere in which unity will thrive. The Lord tells us through His servant Paul that humility is seen in “counting” others more highly than ourselves. In other words, when we look at each other we should give a greater weightedness to the other person’s needs than to our own. This is what Christ did when he did not “count” equality something to be grasped. That is truly jaw dropping when you think about it. We are called to think this same way together.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…”

Jesus came to the earth in flesh, was born in a humble fashion, a servant (“my servant” Isaiah 42!), and died no typical death—a death reserved for the lowliest criminal. Christ’s humility is upheld as our example but is much more than that. His humility is seen in His obedience. This obedience that led to the cross purchased the redemption of the prideful elect granting them the grace and faith to now follow in humility.

I must admit that when I strive to be sacrificial in my service my motive is still so often tainted with pride. Not so with Christ. He is perfectly holy and His motives, untainted by sin, were of one mind and united with the Trinity. His motive was for one purpose—to glorify God. Yes, for sure we are the beneficiaries of this goal—but God saved people for Himself. God loves us—there is no doubt because of Christ. But His ultimate act of love in Christ toward us ultimately blesses us in that we now too can glorify God because of Christ. This is why the Westminster divines began their catechism with, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” It’s what God created us for and what the fall kept us from.

Like mindedness for us has this same goal: God’s glory. Christ laid down His life so that His image bearers, ruined by the fall, could once again look not to their own interests, but together strive to do joyfully that for which we were created—glorify God and enjoy Him forever—together! And this also means that we love one another. John tells us that this is the assurance that we are in Christ,

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11

This blog was originally posted at Slice of Grace, view the original post here.

Posted at: https://biblicalcounseling.com/unity-in-the-midst-of-trials/

Woe is Me: The Sin of Self-Pity

By Abigail Dodds

We’ve all seen it in toddlers. The moment when the 3-year-old asks for a particular race car from his fellow toddler. The friend replies, “No, I’m playing with it,” and the rebuffed child — rather than finding another car to play with or waiting for a turn — sits down in a huff of hurt feelings and ill will.

We’ve all seen it in grade-school children. The moment when the 8-year-old suggests setting up a game of pretend “house” with baby dolls and play acting, but her friends decide to go outside and play tag instead. So, rather than join them, she mopes around indoors and later tells her mom that the other children left her out and wouldn’t play with her.

“The sin in self-pity is that we assess ourselves and our circumstances as though God is not our gracious Father.”TweetShare on Facebook

We’ve all seen it in teenagers. The moment when the 15-year-old’s homework and chores have piled up at the same time that the weather is nice and the beach is open. So, rather than buckle down and start chipping away at the workload, he bemoans his rotten homework and the unfairness of life.

We’ve all seen it in adults. The moment when a woman goes from mother to martyr — one minute she is loving and sacrificing for her family, the next minute she is hurt and bitter that all her hard work and dedication isn’t being noticed or appreciated.

This sulky and familiar tyrant is self-pity.

Sin in Self-Pity

Self-pity is when we have pity for ourselves; especially when we have a self-indulgent attitude toward our own hardships. Something bad happens to us, and we decide to lament our loss alone — since no one else apparently will.

What’s interesting about self-pity is that, while it is generally recognized as a negative trait among Christians and non-Christians, it is not a word you can find in the Bible. It isn’t found in the Epistles’ vice lists or among the seven deadly sins.

Yet the Bible has plenty to tell us about self-pity. There is a sense in which the entire story of the Bible exists to wake us up from the stupor of deadly self-pity and cause us to receive the only pity powerful enough to save us — the pity of God. Jesus manifests God’s pity for sinners: “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean’” (Mark 1:41). This pity finds its pinnacle at the cross of Christ.

At root, the sin in self-pity is that we assess ourselves and our circumstances as though God is not our gracious Father. When we take God out of the picture, when his pity for us in the death and resurrection of his beloved Son with the continued help of his Spirit isn’t enough, we turn to ourselves for love and pity. When we believe there are gaps in God’s love — and we use our circumstances as proof — we tend to take action to fill in those gaps with self-love or self-pity.

Needy Before God

Scripture shows us a better way. Consider David. Psalm after psalm after psalm details the truly piteous circumstances he often found himself in. Betrayed, hunted, holed up in a cave — David had good reason to go ahead and feel sorry for himself.

Yet he did something very different than that — he took his pitiful circumstances to God in prayer. “O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves” (Psalm 54:2–3). David wasn’t a stoic. He didn’t hide his dire need. He didn’t mince words or utter a false, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“When we taste and see the goodness of God, self-pity becomes a sorry substitute.”TweetShare on Facebook

But notice what he says about the strangers who were seeking to kill him: “They do not set God before themselves” (Psalm 54:3). That is a sin indeed. It is the sin of ignoring God — of leaving him out of our equations and our day-to-day living. It was because David had set God before himself that he avoided the sin of self-pity. In the Psalms, David shows us what it means to live coram deo — which means, before the face of God.

When pressed by enemies close at hand, when his friends turned against him, when all hope seemed lost, David lived with God’s all-powerful sovereignty and all-encompassing love bearing down on each and every circumstance.

He Did Not Pity Himself

Consider David’s distant son: our Lord and Savior Jesus. If ever a man was entitled to self-pity, it was this man who, though he was without sin, was wrongfully accused. This man had healed the diseased, made bread for the hungry, and cast out demons, yet he was despised and rejected, spit upon and scorned. Though reviled, he did not revile in return. And even as he hung on the cross, he did so coram deo — before the face of God — crying out to him, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Even when enduring the wrath of God for sinners, Jesus never took his Father out of the equation.

The problem of self-pity is a problem of sight. Self-pitying people have not set the Lord before themselves as he really is — glorious, kind, sovereign, and just. They mainly have set themselves and their circumstances in their field of vision. Rather than crying out to God in our big and small moments of distress, self-pity would have us whimper in the misery of our own hearts.

And self-pity often spreads that misery, manipulatively demanding that other finite humans focus all their attention on our circumstances irrespective of God. The people of God are meant to bear one another’s burdens and sympathetically walk with one another through trials and difficulties. But self-pity distorts this beautiful design in favor of making our fellowship based on circumstances, not on our union with Christ.

Cure for Self-Pity

The cure for self-pity begins with understanding just how pitiful self-pity really is. It’s pitiful because it’s powerless. Our own pity for ourselves may conjure up some sympathy from sympathizers, especially those prone to feeling sorry for others. But it cannot ultimately do anything beyond feeling badly. Self-pity may succeed in winning attention and help from others, but it cannot provide the salve that heals. Only God’s pity can do that.

“Self-pitying people have not set the Lord before themselves as he really is — glorious, kind, sovereign, and just.”TweetShare on Facebook

It’s only when we turn our eyes to Christ and through him behold the incomparable love of our Father that our self-pity will shrivel and die — finally shown to be the imposter it really is in the light of God’s powerful pity, his decisive grace, and his sacrificial love.

When we taste and see the goodness of God in his Son and his Spirit, self-pity becomes a sorry substitute — worse, a mockery of the God who is love. When we turn to our own pity, our own love, for satisfaction and help, we are in essence denying the God who made us and showed us the meaning of love, for, “in this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

We can trust our Father’s compassion and pity. He knows our circumstances and sadnesses better than we do. There is not one circumstance of our lives that has not passed through the sieve of his sovereign love for us. By faith we declare with David, “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8).

Abigail Dodds (@abigaildodds) is a wife, mother of five, and grad student at Bethlehem College & Seminary. She is author of (A)Typical Woman: Free, Whole, and Called in Christ (2019).

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/woe-is-me

To Grow, You Must Practice

Casey McCall

My son hit his first over-the-fence home run the other weekend. It was a big moment against a tough pitcher who was shutting his team out. His home run tied the game and ignited his team as they went on to win, not only the game, but the whole tournament.

My son is thirteen. A lot of baseball has been played before getting to that point. In fact, every spring, summer, and fall since he was five has been devoted to the game. In those eight years, he has literally taken tens of thousands of baseball swings.

A lot of things have to converge to be able to hit a baseball as far as he did when he hit his home run. Against a good pitcher, your timing has to be perfect enough for the barrel of your bat to meet the center of the baseball before it crosses the plate. You have to hit the baseball with the right part of the bat—the “sweet spot” as baseball enthusiasts call it. You also have to generate enough bat speed and swing the bat at the right launch angle to send the ball far and high enough to clear the fence.

.

My point is simply this: No one picks up a baseball bat against a good pitcher for the very first time and lucks into hitting a home run. The ability to hit a baseball with skill and power is cultivated over time through practice. The good hitter has swung the bat properly so many times that he doesn’t even have to think about it anymore. He has developed muscle memory. His timing has been tuned as he has faced thousands of pitches thrown at various speeds and locations.

In 2 Peter 1:10-11, the apostle Peter describes a similar process. He tells the church that if they “practice these qualities” they “will never fall.” Likewise, by practicing these qualities, they will be ensured entrance into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Peter is challenging the church to practice their faith. Faith, in other words, does not lie dormant in the believer’s life waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself. Our faith in Christ—the faith that leads us to salvation—is meant to be lived. It is supposed to be practiced. Namely, Peter wants the church to cultivate the life habits of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (1:5-7). These eight qualities accompany the life that has been “cleansed from former sins” (1:9).

Let me be clear about one thing: Peter is not saying that we earn entrance into the kingdom of Christ by performing these qualities. He knows that salvation only comes “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (1:1). No one can earn their way into God’s grace. Grace, by definition, is a gift, which eliminates the ability to earn it. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Jesus did it all for us.

While no one is saved by works, no one is saved without them. That’s Peter’s point. The person who has been forgiven and cleansed by God’s saving grace will confirm reception of that grace by practicing godliness. We aren’t saved by practicing these qualities, but we aren’t saved without them. Knowing Jesus results in becoming like Jesus. Faith must be practiced.

I recently asked a group of people to name something they were each good at. As they took turns naming things, I asked, “How did you get good at that?” In every instance, the answer was the same, “I did it over and over,” or, “I practiced.” Human beings are designed by God to grow through repetition and habits. We make progress when we do something so much that muscle memory results. Over time, the truly skilled person no longer has to even think about what they are doing. They have so repeated the skill that it comes almost automatically.

If that’s how we develop important skills in other areas of our lives, what prevents us from applying that same methodology to cultivating virtue and godliness? It seems to me, following Peter, that the pathway to godliness consists in practicing habits of godliness in the strength provided by God’s grace. In other words, if I want to grow in self-control, I need to find small ways in my day-to-day life to exercise self-control. If I want to grow in loving others, I need to find small daily ways to put others before myself.

A few years ago, out of alarm by my selfishness, I started parking as far away as possible when I would go to the grocery store. I was trying to replace my normal tendency of racing other drivers to the best spots with a new habit of putting others first. I was hoping it would help me to be a more loving person.

While my example is silly, I’m more convinced than ever that the way forward in godliness and virtue must come through grace-infused practice. Will you practice your faith?

About the Author: 

Casey McCall is Lead Pastor of Ashland Oldham County, located in Buckner, KY.

Posted at: https://www.davidprince.com/2020/08/12/to-grow-you-must-practice/

God's Sovereignty in 2020

By Steve Hill

Dr. Kenneth Meyer tells about flying into Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on a certain occasion. As the big plane passed over the expressway, Meyer noticed a colossal traffic jam. He also saw that many people were getting out of their cars. Some were standing on their bumpers, straining to see what was going on. As Dr. Meyer glanced northward, he saw what they could not possibly see—the telltale flash of red lights. Meyer knew the problem would be taken care of quickly, so after the plane landed at O’Hare and he proceeded towards his car, he had a completely different perspective from the average traveler on the expressway. He knew he would soon be home. Perspective makes all the difference. We are earthbound creatures, but if we could somehow look down upon the traffic jams in our lives, we would react much differently.

That is precisely the case in the story of the young shepherd David and the armies of Israel as they stood before Goliath. They had fled from Goliath in great fear, but David calmly stood there and said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26). Before the day was over, with his sling whirling overhead, David was running full blast at that great giant. You know the rest of the story. David let go, and the stone hit Goliath right between the running lights. Israel prevailed that day. The difference was one of perspective. The Israelites saw everything from ground level. David had the divine perspective.

This era of COVID-19 induced hysteria and uncertainty is unlike anything I have ever experienced in my 68 years of life on this earth. I’d like to encourage you with some words of hope to navigate these turbulent times. 

1. Cling to the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.  God is always, eternally on His throne.  Our Lord has not been napping during this era.  He has allowed it to give us opportunity to be tested and to be built up into the fullness of the image of Christ.  Take a moment to read Psalm 139:1-6.  God intimately is familiar with each of us and our individual peculiarities.  God cannot be fooled by us.  He knows us inside out.  After all, He made us in His image.  The psalmist says that his knowledge is “too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”  Heath Lambert tells us that we must “…get to know a Person whose goodness, trustworthiness, love, mercy, grace, and patience are inexhaustible.”  He is “infinite in perfection.” 

2. Commit yourself to daily renewal and dedication to His loving authority over your life.  If God is all-knowing and all-wise, he is worthy of our complete trust.  It is important that we believe this in the deepest part of our being before a crisis hits.  And a crisis will eventually come.  I have observed so many individuals, couples, and families who were much too casual with God.  When crisis entered their lives they were unprepared for it because they were unfamiliar with the Lord on a personal level.  This is why the gospel is so important and why we should take Milton Vincent’s charge to preach the gospel to ourselves every day!

3. Consider how to encourage the weak among us in this era of the coronavirus.   Paul wrote this helpful verse in Romans 15:4:  “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  Continue your faithful reading in God’s Word for that is where you will find comfort and solace.  Limit the amount of time you watch television, especially the news.  It can be a real downer.  Find ways to help your neighbors, especially the elderly, single moms and widows.  You will find great reward in helping others.

Like the old hymn said:  Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey!

Author: Steve Hill is the pastor of Senior Saints at Canyon Hills Community Church.

Is God Absent When He is Silent?

by SYLVIA SCHROEDER

Our pastor says a lot of good things, but recently a sentence caught me mid stride as it were, flattened against the walls of my thinking then stepping into my situation with a warm hug. He is preaching through Esther. I love that book.

The silence of God does not equate the absence of God

God’s Sovereign hand is all over it, and the drama of its story is spellbinding. 

“The silence of God does not equate the absence of God,” Pastor Tim said.

The Bible opens and closes with the presence of God. He is present. Although when we can’t see Him at work with our physical eyes and sometimes we wonder where is He and why doesn’t He do something? But God is God. 

He is no less present when I am acutely aware He is in front, behind and at each side as when it feels He is in a game of hide-and-seek. His silence never means He is absent. 

Voices in the streets are really loud right now. Actions erratic.  

I often turn to Psalm 77 when it feels dark, when I can’t find my way. It’s written by someone experiencing a silent God, invisible in spite of searching and pleading. 

“I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.” Psalm 77:1-2 (NIV)

I know that cry, and I recognize the deafening silence. Do you too? 

“I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.” Psalm 77:5-6 (NIV)

Asaph’s Psalm works its way through the paths of an invisible God who at times works in unseen ways. His mind weaves through the same questions we ask.  Has he rejected us? Has His love vanished and promise failed? Where is He? Until they rest on the most important question. Who is He?   

“Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?” Ps. 77:13 (NIV)

Our vision is challenged. Someday we will turn a corner and vision will clear. We will know that to be silent is not to be absent. We will see God’s hand in the mundane ordinary events of life. In our awe we will wonder how we could have ever imagined Him absent. 

“Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.”

Our adult eyes are tested to look beyond the reality around us and embrace what we can’t see, to believe it to be more real in fact, than what we can see. We will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that He was waiting at each turn, around every corner and into the dark hallway of our souls. And the warm embrace as He steps into our vision will be glorious. 

Posted at: https://sylviaschroeder.com/is-god-absent-when-he-is-silent/

Fiery Foundation

SHARON SAMPSON

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

Two years ago, we traveled to Bar Harbor in Maine for our fall vacation. One of the things we enjoyed along the coast was the beautiful granite. An informative sign read as follows: “The colors and textures of the rocks around you tell a story of heat, pressure, and time that formed this landscape. These rocks started as massive pools of molten magma deep below the earth’s surface. As this liquid rock cooled into granite, it cracked, allowing newer magma with a different mix of minerals to intrude along the fractures. As upper layers of bedrock eroded, pink granite striped with dark diabase was exposed.”

At the time, I was counseling a woman who was undergoing fiery trials of a kind that many of us will never experience. Terrible heat; terrible pressure. At times, it seemed like too much to bear. I thought about this dear friend as I looked at the rocks all around me. There was a beauty to these rocks, but it was a beauty born of heat, pressure, and time.

The granite was a picture of what I saw in my friend’s life. There was a beauty about her, even in the midst of trials. What was the beauty? It was the beauty of watching her trust Christ, her suffering savior, the one who could truly sympathize with her suffering. It was the beauty of watching her cling to God’s character and promises, despite the heat and the pressure. It was the beauty of watching her apply in a laser-focused way everything she had ever learned about the Lord. It was a process that took time; that is taking time.

Seeing those rocks and thinking of my friend reminded me of 1 Peter 1:3-9:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Where are you feeling the heat in your life today? Where do you feel pressed? Perhaps you, like the psalmist, are asking, “How long, Lord?”

When God was doing his creative work of forming granite, there was heat and pressure. Hot, molten magma. And yet, today, one walks along the rocks and marvels at the beauty of pink granite with black stripes woven throughout. How beautiful! Such is our life with Christ. The heat and pressure are so difficult. What is he doing? How long must we suffer or struggle? How long must we wait?

We may not know why. We may not know how long. Such things belong to our sovereign, incomprehensible God. But we do know much! He has given us the knowledge of his character and the surety of the promises found in his Word.

We can focus on what we know, rather than what we don’t know. We are free to think about how we are being formed into something beautiful. The heat is intense. The pressure is hard. But our lives are guided by the hand of the one who knows what will become of each and every situation we endure, and what will become of us. Despite the intensity of the here and now, he makes everything beautiful in its time.

About the Author: Sharon Sampson

Loves the Lord; married to Mark; has a married daughter (Kirby); enjoys teaching, biblical counseling, writing RP parodies, and working at RPTS.

Posted at: https://gentlereformation.com/2020/08/06/fiery-foundation/

The Different Tenses of Grace

Devotional by John Piper

We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12)

Grace is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it — we call this “undeserved favor”; God’s grace is also a power from God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us — which we also don’t deserve.

Paul said that we fulfill our resolves for good “by his power” (verse 11). And then he adds at the end of verse 12, “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The power that actually works in our lives to make Christ-exalting obedience possible is an exertion of the grace of God.

You can see this also in 1 Corinthians 15:10:

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

So, grace is an active, present, transformative, obedience-enabling power.

Therefore, this grace, which moves in power from God to you at a point in time, is both past and future. It has already done something for you or in you and therefore is past. And it is about to do something in you and for you, and so it is future — both five seconds from now and five million years from now.

God’s grace is ever cascading over the waterfall of the present from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past. In the next five minutes, you will receive sustaining grace flowing to you from the future — in this you trust; and you will accumulate another five minutes’ worth of grace in the reservoir of the past — for this you give thanks.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-different-tenses-of-grace

Fear Your Fear of Man

Article by Marshall Segal

If we knew how dangerous the fear of man really is, we might fear men less and fear our fears more. Other sins have beset me in my walk with Christ over the years, but few have so consistently eluded my radar like this one.

The fear of man often goes undiagnosed and unaddressed because of its subtlety. This fear knows how to wrap itself in the robes of love, pretending to count others more significant than itself, while secretly counting on others to fan the flame of its own conceit. The fear of man proudly proof-texts its weakness for people-pleasing: “I try to please everyone in everything I do” (1 Corinthians 10:33). But it quietly refuses to finish the sentence: “. . . not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (1 Corinthians 10:33). We often fail to confront, or even recognize, the fear of man, because it so often looks like love, and too many of us love to look loving.

But blow away the rose-colored smoke and break through all our favorite mirrors, and we find the fear of man is not the nice friend we thought it was. For all its subtlety, the fear of man is desperate, vicious, even cruel. Pretending to be love, it blinds us to love, even to Love himself.

Blinding Glory

Perhaps no text exposes the danger of the fear of man like Jesus’s warning to the religious rulers of his day:

I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. . . . How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (John 5:41–42, 44)

He was warning a crowd of Jews who were furious because he had healed a man, even though the man had been disabled for nearly forty years. The crowd was so furious, in fact, that they wanted to kill him (John 5:18). While he healed the sick, the possessed, and the blind in droves, his own people could not see just how blind they really were.

Why did some fail to recognize and treasure the Son of God? Why did they consistently miss what it means to love our neighbors? What motivated them to eventually murder the Author of life? Jesus says, at the root, they received glory from one another and despised the glory that comes from God. Because they feared man, they could not believe Jesus. They listened to Love, and heard hatred. They looked at Safety, and saw danger. They stood before Joy, and felt misery. They were offered Life, and preferred death.

“We must find our refuge, not in the praise and approval of one another, but in the arms and heart of heaven.”

The scariest part about these man-fearers, though, is just how immersed they were in Scripture. Jesus laments, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). They searched the Old Testament Scriptures, likely far more than many of us do, and yet the fire of revelation did not burn off the fear of man. They were searching for glory, but not the glory of God. They prove that we can be at home in the Bible and yet still in bed with sin. And few mistresses corrupt and manipulate like the fear of man.

Subtle and Deadly

The fear of man is a repeated theme and warning throughout Scripture, but the phrase itself is used only once, in Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” While this is not the only verse about the fear of man, these few words are packed with help for discerning and fighting it.

The fear of man lays a snare, which teaches us two important lessons: the sin relies on disguise, and it intends to harm. When King Saul wanted to destroy David, he gave him his daughter Michal as a wife if David would kill a hundred Philistines. Saul said to himself, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him” (1 Samuel 18:21). Saul meant to kill David (1 Samuel 18:25). So, the fearful, self-absorbed king laid a snare (his own daughter!) under a thin veil of love and kindness, not knowing he had already fallen headlong into the greater, more deadly snare: the fear of man.

What happens next illustrates the awful harm the fear of man can do to a man. David kills not one hundred, but two hundred Philistines, and claims his bride. “When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually” (1 Samuel 18:28–29). He was even more afraid. As with any other sin, if we feed the fear of man, it will not leave our table. It will eat away at everything — relationships, budgets, schedules, ministries, convictions, and sleep — until we perish or put it to death.

And how do we perish? How does the fear of man ruin a man? Notice, “Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David” (1 Samuel 18:28), and yet he still could not surrender or submit. Instead, he opposed and threatened David continually (1 Samuel 18:29). Because Saul feared man more than God, he set himself against God, and nothing could be more deranged or dangerous than making war with God.

Big Enough to Fear

That war against God brings us back to our proverb: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” We know that the fear of man is subtle and seeks to harm, but Proverbs 29:25 tells us more than that. It also tells us how to be healed. The only remedy for this tyranny is a deep, abiding, and growing trust in God. We must find our refuge, not in the praise and approval of one another, but in the arms and heart of heaven. And we must fear him more than we fear them.

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
     that one may turn away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

The fears are many and varied that lead to death, but one fear is a deep and overflowing fountain of security, stability, and joy. The fear of the Lord is the only fear that breeds peace, and not just any peace, but a peace that surpasses all of our meager ideas of peace (Philippians 4:7).

“Woe to us if we tremble before criticism and yawn before the cross.”

If God is small, peripheral, and relatively harmless, the shadows in the eyes of others will haunt us. Their expectations will corner us. Their disappointment will crush us. Their anger will undo us. To be free from the enslaving fear of others, God has to be big — bigger than their expectations, bigger than their disappointments, bigger than their anger, big enough to fear.

Let Him Be Your Dread

How could fear ever make us feel safe? How does the fear of the Lord conquer our fear of man? The prophet Isaiah begins to explain how:

Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary. (Isaiah 8:12–14)

Only when God becomes our greatest fear can he become our safest place. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread, honor him alone as holy, and he will become a sanctuary — a refuge from danger, a haven from wrath, a shelter in any storm.

The apostle Peter later picks up these verses when he writes to persecuted Christians, “Even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” (1 Peter 3:14–15). To cure the fear of man, we must see the Christ who died for us as fearfully and wonderfully holy. To stop fearing wrongly, we must start fearing rightly. Again, Peter says,

Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:17–19)

Have no fear of men, but instead, live among men with a holy, trusting, even joyful fear of God. Don’t fall into the same snare that the Jews of Jesus’s day fell into, mistaking the Lamb’s wounds for weakness. Nothing we might fear is as powerful as this blood. No power of hell, nor praise of man, can compare with the staggering, even frightening, splendor of his majesty. Jesus is the dreadful King and Judge who has become a sanctuary — for all who believe and fear. Woe to us if we tremble before criticism and yawn before the cross.

Fear More, Fear Less

As subtle as the fight against the fear of man may feel, so much hangs in the balance — our ability to see and savor Jesus, our boldness as his witnesses to a hostile world, our willingness to lovingly correct and exhort one another, our freedom to obey the will of heaven, whatever it might cost us on earth. And the fight will be won not mainly by analyzing the thoughts, intentions, and words of others, but by relentlessly exposing ourselves to the fearful wonder of our Father.

“Only when God becomes our greatest fear can he become our safest place.”

“All experiences of the fear of man,” Ed Welch writes, “share at least one common feature: people are big. They have grown to idolatrous proportions in our lives. They control us. Since there is no room in our hearts to worship both God and people, whenever people are big, God is not. Therefore, the first task in escaping the snare of the fear of man is to know that God is awesome and glorious, not other people” (When People Are Big and God Is Small, 95).

The first task is not to diminish other people — their desires, opinions, and expectations. Rather, the first task is to elevate God — his power and wisdom, his love and wrath. Let the bigness of God expose and quiet your fear of man, and then free you to love, really love, the people you are prone to fear.

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/fear-your-fear-of-man