HOW LONG, O LORD?

 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Romans 12:19 (NIV)

                Today in my devotions I read a piece about the justice of God. The question that was raised was, why don’t we see God’s judgment carried out in our world today? It seems like the wicked get away with their sin, while the righteous often suffer for it. This question is very timely as we watch the ongoing struggle in Ukraine. Why doesn’t God stop the aggression against the Ukrainian people? Thousands of lives are being lost because one man has decided it is his right to re-establish the former Soviet Union. It isn’t fair. It isn’t right! How can God allow this to keep going on?

                Even as I write those words, I can hear the words of the Psalmist ringing in my ears. How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked be jubilant? Psalm 94:3 (NIV) Throughout the Psalms we encounter the Psalmist pleading with God to punish evil doers and complaining about God’s seemingly reluctance to do so. Our hearts resonate with the Psalmist. How long, O Lord, will you allow the wicked to go unpunished?

                We need to be very careful when we ask such questions. We are entering dangerous ground that we don’t fully understand. If we look at the breadth of Scripture, we can get a glimpse of how God has answered the Psalmist, and us. We can also see how we should respond.

                The first thing we need to accept is that God’s ways are not our ways. We do not, nor can we, understand all of God’s plans and purposes. God is sovereign and has the right to act as He pleases. What we can be sure of is that God is in control and He will accomplish His plans and purposes, even if they don’t make sense to us. As it says in Isaiah 55:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:8-11 (NIV)

                In addition to God’s sovereignty, we need to recognize God’s mercy and grace. If God were to exercise His righteous judgment on the earth, none of us would survive. We all are sinners and deserve God’s wrath. But because of His grace and mercy, shown to us through Jesus Christ, we have been saved from God’s wrath. God is currently withholding His judgment so that more people might have the chance to turn toward Him and be saved. As it says in 2 Peter 3:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
2 Peter 3:8-10 (NIV)

                There is a day coming when God’s justice will be exercised in full. All of the wickedness of the world will be accounted for. Every person will have to give an account of their life. Those who have placed their faith in Christ will be pardoned. Those who have rejected Christ will face judgment. But that is sometime in the future. What about the present?

                Although it is hard for us to see, God’s judgment is at work even right now, albeit on a restrained scale. What we see is only the surface of life. We don’t see all that is really going on. Although God’s final judgment means total destruction of sin, evil, and wickedness, God is allowing people who choose that path to face the immediate consequences of their sin. Paul makes this clear in Romans 1.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:18-32 (NIV)

                Although it may look on the surface like the wicked are getting away with their rebellion, the reality is very different. Even now they are paying a high price for their sinfulness. God is allowing them to face the consequences of their choices. They are facing broken relationships, which leads to loneliness and isolation. Because of these broken relationships, their hearts become hard, so that they cannot experience the love they so desperately desire. God allows them to degrade themselves with temporary pleasures that can never really satisfy them. Sometimes this leads to physical consequences in the form of poor health. But it also leads to greater dissatisfaction and an insatiable need for more and more. Another consequence of unrestrained sin is the breakdown of social and family structures. Care for others is replaced with an obsession with self. Relationships meant to nurture and support a person are damaged and often forfeited. Ultimately, a life lived without God leads to hopelessness, despair, meaninglessness, and futility. The book of Ecclesiastes makes this abundantly clear. Without God in a person’s life everything, everything, is meaningless.

                So how should we respond? What is the answer to the pain and suffering in our world? The answer is to turn our eyes toward Christ and away from the injustice of the world. We should grieve for the injustice in our world, but not as those who have no hope. Our hope is in the overwhelming, redeeming love of Christ. We need to intentionally steal ourselves against the despair that Satan wants to drag us into. Instead, we need to patiently wait for the Lord, for He is faithful and He will act. We also need to do our part to deal with the evil in the world by demonstrating a better way to live. Instead of standing on the sidelines condemning others, we need to be taking the lead to show a better way. And above all else, we need to place our hope and our trust in God. The Psalmist was not afraid to bring his complaint before the Lord, but in the end, he renewed his trust in the sovereignty of God. So must we.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah
Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

 

 

Holy, Holy, Holy

 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

Revelation 4:8 (NIV)

                Yesterday, as we were bringing our worship service to a close, we sang the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” There is something about that hymn that always catches me off guard and stirs my emotions. As we sang, tears came unbidden to my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I was overwhelmed again by the enormity of that simple declaration, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Verse three of that hymn is the highlight for me. The last two stanzas of that verse say, “Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee. Perfect in power, in love, in purity.”

                Somewhere along the way, in our attempt to make our faith more user friendly, we have lost sight of the holiness, the total otherness of God. We focus on Jesus as our friend and God as our Father, and rightly so. But God is also HOLY. We should be filled with awe whenever we intentionally enter into His presence in worship. God stands alone, totally separate from sin. As the hymn states it, He is the ultimate in power, the ultimate in love, and the ultimate is purity. There is no other being that even comes close. We should be overwhelmed by the reality that this awesome, holy God allows us to even come into His presence.

                The word holy means to be set apart for special use. When the Tabernacle and the articles to be used within it were dedicated, they were set apart for that use and that use only. When the Bible tells us to be holy, as our heavenly Father is holy, it is telling us to give our lives totally to Him for His exclusive use.

                When it comes to God, the term holy takes on a slightly different meaning. It means that God is totally set apart from the world that He created. He is not tainted by the sin of the world, as we are. He is not bound by the limitations of this world, as we are. He is not dependent upon this world, as we are. Yet, through Jesus Christ, He has invaded this world and become intimately connected with it and with us. Therefore, when God “shows up” He is not affected by this world, but transforms it by His holiness. When God “shows up” in our lives, we are transformed by His holiness. We become engulfed in His glory.

                God’s holiness is a constant. It never wavers, it never is diminished. When Jesus takes over control of our lives, the holiness of God goes to work transforming us into His image. For God, holiness is a constant. For us, holiness is a process. As Paul puts it, in 2 Corinthians 3:18, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

                When we truly encounter the holiness of God, there are only two options. Either we are repelled by His holiness and will ultimately be consumed by it, or we will embrace His holiness and be transformed by it. The choice is ours.

                We live in a world that glorifies the unholy and mocks God’s holiness. Many people dismiss the holiness of God as a fantasy. Many ignore the holiness of God, as if it has nothing to do with their lives. Many acknowledge the holiness of God in a rudimentary way. Some embrace the holiness of God in awe and wonder. Whatever our current stance toward God’s holiness, a day is coming when everyone will encounter God’s holiness in all of its fullness. At that point there will be only one possible response.

It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:11-12 (NIV)

 

FACING OUR FEARS

 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV)

                Fear has become our constant companion. The global pandemic of the past two years has sowed the seeds of fear in the hearts of many. Today that fear has been escalated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We fear for the people of Ukraine who are being brutally attacked. We fear for the consequences of the fall of Ukraine to the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin. We fear the possible explosion of WWIII.

                Fear is one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. He uses fear to manipulate people’s natural responses. Some people, when they are afraid, respond by lashing out at others. This can be in the form of hurtful words or hurtful, even violent, actions. Some people, when they are afraid, withdraw. They close off the rest of the world. The hide, hoping that the cause of their fear will just go away. Other people, when they are afraid, run away. They try to put as much distance between themselves and the cause of their fear as possible. The problem with these responses, and others, is that we take our fear with us. Instead of dealing positively with our fear, we allow it to grow and dominate our lives.

                The only real way to positively deal with our fear is to confront it. When I was in junior high, I was bullied. My fear escalated to the place where I would jump when anyone came up behind me. My fear was eating me alive. After confessing my situation to my parents, I took a stand and confronted the bully, and the bullying stopped. I had to come to the place where I refused to let fear dominate my life.

                We cannot always directly confront the “bully” in our life, but we can determine not to let fear dominate our lives. The first step is being honest with ourselves about our fear.  Being willing to own our fear is the first step to dealing with it. Am I afraid of not being liked or am I afraid my world is going to collapse? What is the cause of my fear? Why am I responding in this way? For example, we may be afraid of the consequences of the war in Ukraine because they are totally out of our control. Sharing our fear with a trusted friend can open the door to really dealing with our fear. Fear flourishes in isolation and is diminished when it is brought out into the light.

                Once we have owned our fear, we need to take that fear to God. Throughout the scriptures, time and again, God says to His people, do not be afraid. He is not telling them to buck up and be strong. He is telling them to rely on the power of His presence. As God said to Joshua as he faced the daunting task of leading the people of Israel into the promised land, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” The key to overcoming our fear is holding onto God’s promise that He will go with us wherever we go. We are not alone in our struggles. Whatever it is that is causing us to be afraid, God is fully aware of it, and He is more than adequate to empower us to face our fear.

                Once we have owned our fear and taken to God, then we need to face our fear in His power. We need to ask for wisdom to know what steps we should take to address our fear. In some cases, we need to have the courage to face it head on. There times when we just need to boldly step into the very situation that causes us to be afraid. I’m sure the men of Ukraine are afraid of the invading Russian army, but they are willingly taking up arms to oppose it. For most of us, our response will not be so dramatic, but it will take just as much courage. In same cases, we need to accept the reality that there is nothing we can do about the situation. In these cases, we need to confidently leave them in the hands of God. And in some cases, we just need to diffuse our fear by gaining the information and knowledge that will help us to better understand the situation we are faced with.

                How we face our fears, how we respond to our fears, is a measure of our faith. When we allow fear to dominate our lives, we fail to tap into the power of God that is available to us. Fear is a normal part of the human experience, but it does not have to be in control. When we are faced with fear, we can look to Christ to give us the strength, courage, and wisdom to rise above it.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:2-3 (NIV)