The Almighty Has Afflicted Me

Ruth

During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there. Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

She and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food. She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.

Naomi said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. May the Lord grant each of you rest in the house of a new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.

They said to her, “We insist on returning with you to your people.”

But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.” Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.”

But Ruth replied:

Don’t plead with me to abandon you
or to return and not follow you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May the Lord punish me,
and do so severely,
if anything but death separates you and me.

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her.

The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

“Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
Ruth 1:1-21

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz.

Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?”

Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family.

Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.”

“The Lord bless you,” they replied.

Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?”

The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”

She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?”

Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

“My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.”

At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.” So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts of barley. She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her.

Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.”

Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May the Lord bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.”

Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’”

So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth 2:1-23

Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find rest for you, so that you will be taken care of? Now isn’t Boaz our relative? Haven’t you been working with his female servants? This evening he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfumed oil, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, notice the place where he’s lying, go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he will explain to you what you should do.”

So Ruth said to her, “I will do everything you say.” She went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had charged her to do. After Boaz ate, drank, and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of barley, and she came secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman! So he asked, “Who are you?”

“I am Ruth, your servant,” she replied. “Take me under your wing, for you are a family redeemer.”

Then he said, “May the Lord bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not pursued younger men, whether rich or poor. Now don’t be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you say, since all the people in my town know that you are a woman of noble character. Yes, it is true that I am a family redeemer, but there is a redeemer closer than I am. Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, that’s good. Let him redeem you. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, as the Lord lives, I will. Now lie down until morning.”
Ruth 3:1-13

Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to perpetuate the deceased man’s name on his property, so that his name will not disappear among his relatives or from the gate of his hometown. You are witnesses today.”

All the people who were at the city gate, including the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you be powerful in Ephrathah and your name well known in Bethlehem. May your house become like the house of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the Lord granted conception to her, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a mother to him. The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Ruth 4:9-17

It’s been a little over 4 years since I last read through Ruth and I forgot how much I love this short book of the Bible! It takes place during the time of the judges and it gives a beautiful glimpse into the lives of a particular family, chosen by God, through whom He would send His Son.

I was reflecting on Naomi’s words at the end of chapter 1 after she has returned to Bethlehem: “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has made me very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” It was affliction, affliction that Naomi attributed to the LORD, that brought her back to Bethlehem with her daughter Ruth.

This made me think of Isaiah 53:
“Yet he himself bore our sicknesses,
and he carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.
We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished him
for the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
…
“Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely.
When you make him a guilt offering,
he will see his seed, he will prolong his days,
and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
After his anguish,
he will see light and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will carry their iniquities.”

An afflicted Naomi returned to Bethlehem, the little village in Ephrathah of Judah, where one day the Son of God would be born so that He Himself would be afflicted for our sins. Naomi was bitter because of her circumstances, wrought by the hand of God. She could not yet see down the timeline to King David, and ultimately to King Jesus, to see that the LORD had a divine purpose in afflicting her and bringing her back to Bethlehem. Spurgeon’s commentary says, “So we may rest assured that nothing can come from those hands but what infinite wisdom directs and infinite love has ordained.”

The same day I read through Ruth, my Spurgeon Advent devotional was about the census in Luke 2, ordered by Caesar Augustus. Spurgeon noted that the census was ordered due to a rift between Caesar and Herod, and how it was really more of a power play by the former to assert dominance. However, were it not for the LORD moving the hearts of these petty tyrants, Mary and Joseph likely would not have left the comfort of Nazareth to go to Bethlehem with her being so near giving birth, and thus prophecy would not have been fulfilled.

It made me just sit back in wonder to think of all the ways the LORD is constantly working behind the scenes to orchestrate events that ultimately fulfill His purposes, and how often, affliction is part of the process. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, thrown into prison over a false accusation, and then raised up to be second in command of Egypt, allowing him to organize food supplies during a famine that would save the offspring of Jacob from perishing. Moses was given up by his mother to save him from infanticide, found by a princess of Egypt, made an Egyptian prince and then exiled after murdering a man, but then raised up by God to rescue His people from Egypt. Esther was taken into Persian captivity, given to the king as a wife, and then had the opportunity (though also potentially a life-threatening one) to save the entire Jewish nation from annihilation by appealing to the king. I could go on and on with stories from God’s word of men and women who were afflicted, yet out of their affliction, God accomplished His purposes.

There was a line in my daughter’s Advent devotional last night that really stuck with me, “God always takes the gifts we wouldn’t pick and turns them into the gifts we really need.” It made me reflect on things that God has given me, and how often I can be ungrateful by commiserating over my situation or circumstances. Perhaps it is something as silly as my computer freezing up or a gas pump not functioning properly, or something more frustrating like a toddler throwing a massive tantrum and making a mess over the floors I just cleaned, or maybe it could be something more serious like a cancer diagnosis or the loss of a loved one. In all of these things, God is working for my good, even if I don’t see it. Maybe He is teaching me to have a loose grip on my control and to become more flexible when things don’t meet my expectations or go my way. Maybe He is teaching me to have patience and grace when everything in me wants to scream at and scold my unruly child or harp on my 6 year old’s bad attitude. Maybe He is teaching me to believe the best when a friend says something that comes across in a way that is hurtful or to just continue to be faithful even when I’m not seeing growth. Maybe He’s teaching me that even when everything around me feels or seems bad, HE IS STILL GOOD. James 1 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

I actually really needed this teaching this week. I have had my approval button triggered because of my overzealous expectations about an event I’m hosting this weekend. In my mind, oftentimes BIG = SUCCESSFUL and SMALL = FAILURE. My sweet sister in Christ, who has a knack for always looking on the positive side, said she was excited about our small turnout because it would provide a more intimate setting which could lead to more meaningful conversations. Her words gave me peace, but also cut to the misplaced hope and expectations I had put in this event. It made me wonder, how often do I let my expectations hinder what God is orchestrating? Just like God brought two destitute widows back to Bethlehem to be brought in by their kinsman redeemer and become the continuation of a family line that leads all the way to Jesus, He can use small, seemingly unimportant, insignificant things to accomplish His purpose. Much like how He quietly and inconspicuously sent His Son into the world, born a King yet with no palace or crown. Jesus came in a small, unexpected way. He was a gift that the world wouldn’t pick, but ABSOLUTELY was the ONLY gift it needed. Many people were afflicted by the Almighty to bring about that moment in time, when the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

I find myself coming back to this excerpt from Elizabeth Prentiss’s book, Stepping Heavenward: “[God] never makes mistakes. But He often deals far differently with His disciples. He lets them grope their way in the dark until they fully learn how blind they are, how helpless, how absolutely in need of Him. What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act.” That last line just makes me well up with tears…”perfection is stamped on His every act.” Naomi most certainly did not see the perfection in the way the LORD had afflicted her, in fact, she wanted to change her name from Naomi, which means “pleasantness”, to Mara, which means “bitter”. Oh what a work the LORD must have done on her heart through this process! How amazing that this woman, who thought her life was ruined and without purpose, found herself bouncing a baby grandson on her lap! Perhaps she lived long enough to see her great grandson Jesse be born as well, but how amazing it must have been for her to realize that the LORD chose HER family to bring the ultimate Kinsman Redeemer to His people – Who would truly unite both Jew and Gentile into one family under God!

There is just SO much to glean from Ruth (no pun intended!) And I am so thankful that the LORD had me in this place in His word, at this time, for my present circumstances. He truly is a GOOD God Who gives tremendously GOOD gifts! AMEN!

Everyone Did Whatever Seemed Right To Him

Judges 17-21

What a whirlwind of tragedy the last chapters of Judges is! Four times throughout the book of Judges it says, “In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what seemed right to him.”

Beginning with Micah, who first steals silver from his mother, returns it, then has a portion of that silver fashioned into an idol for his household, we see that idolatry has infected God’s people. Micah then finds a Levite to come and be his own personal priest, and believes that the LORD will now be good to him because he has a Levite for a priest. How foolish! – and yet I can see how even today people have made God out to be this heavenly figure Who is solely concerned with our outward appearances of “holiness” and “religiousness”, while completely dismissing the idols that they have constructed in the place of God within their hearts. And the Levite was just as guilty – he valued the prestige of becoming a personal priest of a well-to-do household when he should have been appalled by the fact that Micah has a household shrine to begin with! Paul warns Timothy of these types of people in 2 Timothy 3, “ For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.” Micah’s priest then becomes known to the tribe of Dan who then persuades him to come and become a priest of an entire tribe of Israel. Again we see prideful, idolatrous, reckless, conceited, unholy hearts lead men away from the one true God and deeper into sin and rebellion.

The next story is even more egregious, as a Levite man, along with his concubine and servant, are shown hospitality in the Benjaminite village of Gibeah. In a story that plays out almost identically to the story of Lot and the angelic visitors in Genesis 19, the man’s concubine is given to the men of the city, who rape and abuse her to death. The Levite man cuts up the corpse of his deceased concubine into 12 pieces and sends them across Israel to make these wicked act known amongst the tribes. This then leads to an all out war as the other 11 tribes come out against Benjamin. In the end the tribe of Benjamin is devastatingly defeated and nearly beyond redemption, but the other tribes come to a consensus, albeit one that doesn’t seem righteous at all, to enable them to procure wives so that the tribe is not entirely wiped out.

The book ends stating one last time, “In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what seemed right to him.” I find myself coming to the end of Judges with a sense of shock and sadness as I reflect on the depths of wickedness the human heart is capable of and the attempts of those wicked hearts to justify their actions and “make things right”. Yet we continue to see this in our world today – the world has no king (because it has rejected the One True King) and everyone does what seems right in their own eyes.

Dr. Constable’s notes did a great job summarizing Judges and helping me to put my thoughts and feelings into words:

“Judges 19—21 gives us the ugliest story in the Bible. The key to it is that, at every stage, men were acting on the basis of what was right in their own eyes. As far as the men of Gibeah were concerned, rape was all right. To the farmer and the Levite in the house, homosexual rape was unthinkable, but other rape was acceptable. The men of Benjamin thought it was right to overlook sin and to defend evil men. To Israel, revenge and retaliation would be justified, and to solve their problems about marriage for the Benjamites, the massacre of innocent people and kidnapping could be condoned.

“The interesting thing is that none of this had anything [?] to do with idolatry or Baal worship. It began with individuals ignoring the law of God, doing what was right in their own eyes, and it led a whole nation into moral collapse.

“The Book of Joshua recorded Israel’s victory over her enemies through trust in, and obedience to, God. The Book of Judges shows the defeat of the nation by her enemies, from without and within, due to her refusal to trust and obey God. In a sense Judges is the antithesis to Joshua. In Joshua the Israelites attempt to Hebraize Canaan; in Judges they Canaanize themselves.

“No book in the Old Testament offers the modern church as telling a mirror as this book. From the jealousies of the Ephraimites to the religious pragmatism of the Danites, from the paganism of Gideon to the self-centeredness of Samson, and from the unmanliness of Barak to the violence against women by the men of Gibeah, all of the marks of Canaanite degeneracy are evident in the church and its leaders today. This book is a wake-up call for a church moribund in its own selfish pursuits. Instead of heeding the call of truly godly leaders and letting Jesus Christ be Lord of the church, everywhere congregations and their leaders do what is right in their own eyes.

“The principle theme of the Book of Judges is ‘Failure through Compromise’ which is in contrast to the main theme in the Book of Joshua which is ‘Victory through Faith.’

Joshua and Judges, therefore, give proof positively and negatively, respectively, of how the basic principles affecting the relationship that God intends people to enjoy, work out in national and personal life. The Pentateuch revealed these principles:

In Genesis, Moses moved from the general to the specific. God’s primary concern is for people. His purpose to bless man stands out. Faith in God is shown to be the main principle for a successful life.

In Exodus, we observe God’s methods. He created a pattern in Israel. He revealed a person: Himself. And He provided an opportunity for people by giving them personal choices. The outstanding theological emphases in Exodus are God’s sovereignty and man’s salvation. God’s sovereignty should result in worship. Man’s salvation should lead to obedience. We also see in this book God providing redemption.

In Leviticus, we have a revelation of human sin and divine holiness. God is essentially holy, and man is essentially sinful. Leviticus also teaches us how sinful redeemed people can have intimate fellowship with a holy God. The basis for fellowship with God is sacrifice. Leviticus anticipates the sacrifice of Christ.

Numbers reveals that everything depends on our attitude toward God. Kadesh-Barnea was the great testing point for Israel that teaches this lesson most clearly. Obedience must follow faith. We must continue to walk by faith, just as we began to follow God by faith, or we will suffer discipline and setbacks.

Deuteronomy is all about motivation. Here we learn that the basis of God’s government is His love. Likewise, our obedience should be based on our love for God because of what He has done for us. We need to remind ourselves of God’s past provisions and faithfulness, in order to help us to continue to love Him.

I am thankful that the LORD reserved this book of Judges to give us an example, albeit a sometimes gut-wrenching one, of what living according to what seems right to us can lead to. Obviously we see this played out every day in our broken, sinful world that continues to distance itself from God’s instruction. And yet, as I finish Judges, I am reminded of the upcoming chapter of His story – Ruth, where a young, Gentile woman will be wed to a kinsman redeemer from the tribe of Judah. From their offspring, God will raise up a king for Israel, a king who would be a man after God’s own heart. He would rule over Israel and help them return to the ways of the LORD, and though He would not be a perfect king, he would foreshadow a greater King Who was to come. The King Who’s birth we are preparing our hearts to celebrate in this season and Whose return we so desperately long for!

Come quickly, LORD, Jesus – take Your place as King of the World! Yet as You tarry, become ever more the King of my heart! AMEN!

So That You May Believe

John 11

Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

“Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?”

“Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”

He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.”

Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
…
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
…
As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!”

When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked.

“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”

Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”

Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.”After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
John 11:1-15, 17-27, & 32-44

I’ve been away from my blog for a little over a month. We’ve been in a busy, hectic, emotional season and I needed a change of routine to get me through those weeks. Finding the time to journal my quiet times just wasn’t in the cards for me, but I still had some really sweet, encouraging times with the LORD in His Word, through sermons, and short devotions. I am however, hoping to get back into my journaling here, because while the break was necessary, I feel that this is how I best connect with what I am reading in Scripture and most effectively process it in my spirit.

All that to say, I found it encouraging that as I jumped back into John this week, I was struck by the human empathy and emotion that Jesus displays in chapter 11. I think I can sometimes forget that while Jesus was fully God, He was also fully human. I loved seeing the heart of Jesus toward His friends – His love, His care, His concern, and His grief. Even when He knew fully how this whole situation would play out, He was still deeply connected to the loss of the present moment. He did not dismiss or discount Mary and Martha’s grief even when He knew He would be raising Lazarus from the dead, but instead He grieved with them and comforted them.

It’s interesting that after Jesus was told Lazarus was sick, John includes the details about how Jesus loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus…so he stayed two more days, during which time, Lazarus dies. Both Martha and Mary, upon meeting Jesus, express to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” And yet earlier in the chapter, as Jesus and His disciples prepare to go to Bethany, He says to them, “Lazarus has died. I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe.” Jesus knew that this death would ultimately end in a miracle that would glorify God and cause many to come to believe in Him. And because He loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, He chose to allow Lazarus to die, for Mary and Martha to grieve, to question, to even be frustrated that Jesus didn’t show up sooner. And I think that the lesson for myself, and perhaps others, is that sometimes true love, the truest kind of love that can only come from a truly loving Father, sometimes allows us to wait. To have prayers seemingly go unanswered. To wonder where God is and what He’s doing. Because the truth is, He is ALWAYS doing something, though we may not perceive it.

I love what Spurgeon wrote, “Sometimes true love may thing fit to make us wait. It may be the truest love on God’s part to let us lie sick and not to come immediately to us to make us well. Yes, the truest love may demand that the sickness turn to death, for out of death He may bring the greater glory. The LORD does not act according to human scales, for humans do not see what the LORD sees. He sees the end as well as the beginning. If Jesus’ love in its wisdom made Him tarry, however, that love in its sincerity at last moved Him to see the house of grief.”

Jesus is not unaware of our grief, hurt, frustration, persecution, or loss. He sees it and He grieves with us as only a God Who came down from His heavenly throne and put on human flesh can. That in itself is overwhelming as I type it. Though His timing may not be what we would choose, we can trust that everything He does is done out of the deepest, purest love that we cannot comprehend in our broken state. And trusting – believing in Him – is all that Jesus asks of us. He gently, lovingly reminds us, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?“

Towards the end of John’s gospel, he writes, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31) I have a feeling that everything that God allows in our lives is to cause us to come to a deeper trust, a deeper faith in Him. Now, we live in a broken world, and we have hearts that are often held captive and deceived by the lies of the enemy; BUT, I pray for myself, for my husband, for my children, that whatever God, in His love, allows to happen in our lives would draw us closer to Him in faith. May I look at every blessing, burden, loss, and gain as God working in my life to deepen my faith and to glorify Himself. AMEN!

I Saw You Under The Fig Tree

John 1

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

“Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), and he brought Simon to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.

“Come and see,” Philip answered.

Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

“Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”

Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
John 1:29-51

I’ve loved watching The Chosen, and seeing the artistic license they give to creating a back story for the disciples, especially some of the lesser known ones, like Nathanael. No one truly knows what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree where Jesus saw him. Some scholars speculate that perhaps he was deep in prayer, praying that the Messiah would soon come. Some speculate that he had some significant event happen beneath the fig tree. And others, take a more simplistic approach and believe that Jesus simply meant that He had literally seen Nathanael earlier in the day or week sitting under a fig tree. Because of Nathanael’s response, I tend to think the later is the least likely. Clearly, Nathanael was struck by Jesus’ claim, because he knew only God Himself could have seen him in that moment. Jesus, though fully man, was also fully God, and He was able to see into the hearts and souls of those He encountered, much like the woman at the well. He knew Nathanael’s heart, and His claim to Nathanael seemingly revealed to him that He was indeed the Messiah, the King of Israel.

This reminds me of Genesis 16, where Hagar has been sent away with her son Ishmael. The Angel of the LORD appears to her and promises that her son will become a great nation. Hagar declares, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

I also think of what David writes in Psalm 139:

“Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.
You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.
You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.
This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

“Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I fly on the wings of the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon,
even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”—
even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to you.

“For it was you who created my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will praise you
because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.
My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in your book and planned
before a single one of them began.

“God, how precious your thoughts are to me;
how vast their sum is!
If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;
when I wake up, I am still with you.”

In Christ, we were seen and chosen, long before we ever fell down before the LORD as our King and Savior. Paul writes in Ephesians 1: “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.”

God saw us and knew us before we ourselves knew Him. He sees us now in our present circumstances. And He knows what the future holds for us. I can struggle with fear and anxiety when I look at the world around me, but I find comfort in knowing that God has put me in this specific time and place in history for a reason.

God knew that Nathanael, the man many scholars believe to be Bartholomew, would be chosen as one of Jesus’ disciples. He was put in a specific time and place in history for a reason. He would follow Christ, learn from Him, abandon Him at the crucifixion, watch Him ascend to heaven, and then go into the world to preach the Gospel. Many scholars believe he, as most of the 12 apostles, died a martyr’s death for the sake of preaching Christ.

I loved what another commentator wrote about this first interaction between Jesus and Nathanael: “Oh how he knows the sincerity of our hearts! And with that knowing reveals more of Himself to us. He promised Nathanael he would see greater things! He would from that moment on see Jesus in full revelation as the stairway to heaven, Genesis 28. Jesus would from that moment be someone who stood in the Gap between heaven and earth fulfilling the longing of Nathanael’s heart indeed.“

Every couple of days I try to read from the book Piercing Heaven, a collection of Puritan prayers. I love this excerpt from a prayer by Robert Hawker: “So when my poor heart is afflicted, when satan storms, or the world frowns, when I suffer sickness, or when Your waves and storms seem to go over me, what relief is it to know that You, Jesus, see me. And that You care!”

Perhaps there are still greater things that I will yet get to see in the time that God has me here on earth. I certainly hope and pray that one of those things is the heavens opening up at Christ’s Triumphant Return! But until that day, or until He calls me home, I pray that I will find comfort and peace in knowing that God sees me. AMEN!

He Has Revealed Him

John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”) Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
John 1:1-18

Our church is about to start a series on John, so I decided I would try to follow along each week, in addition to my plan to keep reading chronologically.

I don’t know if there is a more beautiful introduction to any book of the scripture than what John writes in chapter 1 of his gospel! He reveals Christ to us as an ever present member of the Godhead – existing since eternity past and affirming His divinity. Jesus was not “a god”, He was God and always has been.

This is affirmed throughout the New Testament writings:

Hebrews 1:2-3
“In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Colossians 1:15-20
“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
For God was pleased to have
all his fullness dwell in him,
and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.”

2 Corinthians 4: 3-6
“But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Constable had some great notes on this introduction to John’s gospel:

>As light “shines” in the darkness, so Jesus brought the revelation and salvation of God to humanity in its fallen and lost condition. He did this in the Incarnation. As the word of God brought light to the chaos before Creation, so Jesus brought light to fallen humankind when He became a man.

>Throughout these introductory verses, John was clearly hinting at parallels between what Jesus did physically in the Creation, and what He did spiritually through the Incarnation. These parallels continue throughout the Gospel, as do the figures of “light” and “darkness.” “Light” represents both revelation and salvation. Likewise “darkness” stands for ignorance and sin.

>The Incarnation was the greatest possible expression of God’s grace to humankind. It was also the best way to communicate truth accurately to human understanding. Nevertheless many people who encountered Jesus during His ministry failed to see these things (v. 10). Neither “grace” nor “truth” is knowable apart from God, who has revealed them through Jesus Christ.

>All the resources of God are present in Jesus, which constitute His “fullness”. It is out of this “fullness” that people receive grace. The glory of God that Jesus manifested was full of grace and truth (v. 14). From the “fullness” of that grace, “all” people “have received” one expression of “grace” after another.

It’s sometimes inconceivable to recognize what great lengths God went to reconcile us to Himself; yet, sometimes even more unfathomable is that people rejected Him. Jesus came to reveal to us the nature of God, one that had been poorly represented by the very people He chose to be a light to the nations. Even now, Christians, because of our fallen nature, will never sufficiently represent God to the world. Only Christ, within Whom the fulness of God dwelt, can fully reveal His nature.

Leon Morris wrote, “What God showed Himself to be through His revelation in the Torah, so now Jesus shows Himself to be through the Incarnation. And what was the Torah? It was not handcuffs, but Yahweh’s pointed finger, graciously marking out to the redeemed the path of life and fellowship with Him. The point of John 1:17 is not ‘Then bad, now good’; the point is rather, ‘Then, wonderful! And now, better than ever!'”

We live in a dark, broken world that needs the Light! As God’s children, we too can live in such a way so as to reveal to those in the dark where the TRUE Light is – in Christ! AMEN!

It Would Have Been Enough

Exodus 16-17

The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt. The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the Lord’s glory because he has heard your complaints about him. For who are we that you complain about us?” Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat this evening and all the bread you want in the morning, for he has heard the complaints that you are raising against him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.”

Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.’” As Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud the Lord’s glory appeared.

The Lord spoke to Moses, “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was.

Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’”

So the Israelites did this. Some gathered a lot, some a little. When they measured it by quarts, the person who gathered a lot had no surplus, and the person who gathered a little had no shortage. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat. Moses said to them, “No one is to let any of it remain until morning.” But they didn’t listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.

They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He told them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and set aside everything left over to be kept until morning.’”

So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won’t find any in the field. For six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and instructions? Understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.
Exodus 16:1-30

The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”

But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”

The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Exodus 17:1-7

Back in Exodus after stepping away to read the Gospel accounts of the Passion Week! It can often be easy for me to start judging the Israelites for how quickly they went from worshipping the LORD after He brought them out of slavery and bondage in Egypt with a might hand and miraculous sign, to moaning and complaining about the lack of food and water. Didn’t they trust that the same God Who devastated Egypt with 10 plagues, parted the Red Sea, and crushed Pharaoh and his army would also easily be able to provide for their physical needs?

But I love that God is not put off by their almost immediate lack of faith and gratefulness. God says He is going to provide them food in order to test to see if they will follow His instructions. But in order for them to follow Him, they have to trust Him. Surely all He had done should have been enough to earn their faith and allegiance.

It’s kind of ironic because there’s a traditional Jewish song sung at Passover called, Dayenu, meaning, “It Would Have Been Enough.” The song outlines several different events of the Exodus, and follows it with the phrase “It would have been enough”. The premise is that if God had done just one of the things He had done, it would have been enough. For example: If He had taken us out of Egypt and not made judgements on them; [it would have been] enough for us // If He had split the Sea for us and had not taken us through it on dry land; [it would have been] enough for us // If He had supplied our needs in the wilderness for forty years and had not fed us the manna; [it would have been] enough for us. What’s ironic is that time and time again, God provides and the people complain. Clearly, it never seemed enough. For centuries, their hearts constantly backslid into faithlessness, discontent, envy, rebellion, and idolatry.

But here’s the thing…while it’s easy to judge their actions and attitudes from our vantage point of several millennia, we are more like the Israelites than we like to think. I am often reminded how easily I can forget God’s past faithfulness and focus on my present circumstances. Grumbling and complaining come quickly when I fail to remember God’s goodness and His blessings. In fact, we could create a whole new song about the blessings we have in Christ:

If He had humbled Himself to put on human flesh to dwell among us, it would have been enough.

If He had lived a sinless life to reveal more of the Father to us, it would have been enough.

If He had healed the blind, made the lame walk, and calmed the storm, it would have been enough.

If He had taught us of the Kingdom of God, it would have been enough.

If He had caused us to understand that God desires mercy and not sacrifice, it would have been enough.

If He had been falsely accused and beaten, it would have been enough.

If He had been crucified and died for our sins, it would have been enough.

If He had been resurrected on the third day, it would have been enough.

If He had reconciled us to God, it would have been enough.

If He had ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, it would have been enough.

If He had sent the counseling Holy Spirit, it would have been enough.

If He had promised eternal life through faith in His sacrifice, it would have been enough.

If He had promised to come again, to redeem and restore the earth, it would have been enough.


The truth is, God owes us nothing, and yet He has given us EVERYTHING in Christ. Who are we to grumble and complain when our circumstances fail to meet our expectations. Yet, just as He was with the Israelites, God is patient and long suffering with us, using even those wilderness moments to draw us closer to Himself and to prove his faithfulness. AMEN!

Passion Week pt 5

I wanted to read the betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion account by all 4 Gospel writers, and I love the different details and points of view that are written while still presenting the same event.

Matthew’s account of the betrayal includes this admonishment and encouragement from Jesus when Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant:

“Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him. At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear. Then Jesus told him, ‘Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels? How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?‘

At that time Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me? Every day I used to sit, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me. But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.‘”
Matthew 26:50-56

Jesus could have called down a legion of angels to save Him from this moment. He could have simply spoken the word and these soldiers would have been frozen and incapable of accomplishing the task which they came to accomplish. In fact, John’s account says that the soldiers fell back at the sound of Jesus answering the question of His identity. Jesus had the power to remove Himself completely from this situation, yet He did the will of the Father out of obedience and love.

I loved how in Luke’s account Jesus pulls Peter aside and tell him that He has prayed for Peter that his faith may not fail. Despite Peter’s insistence that he would never betray Jesus, Jesus knew what would happen, He knew that it would be a devastating blow to the pride Peter took in his loyalty to the Messiah, and yet He knew that it would be through this event that He would later encourage and appoint Peter to go and feed His sheep.

John gives the most detailed account of Jesus’ time before Pilate. I love His words to Pilate as he questions Him about His identity:

“‘My kingdom is not of this world,’ said Jesus. ‘If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’

‘You are a king then?’ Pilate asked.

‘You say that I’m a king,’ Jesus replied. ‘I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.‘”

Jesus always knew why He has come: to testify to the truth and to be the Lamb that was slain since the foundation of the world.

After Jesus if flogged, He appears before Pilate again. Pilate arrogantly chastises Jesus for refusing to answer him, saying that he holds His life in his hands with the authority to hand Him over to be crucified; yet Jesus responds, “You would have no authority over me at all if it hadn’t been given you from above.”

In a final attempt to sway the people’s call to crucify Jesus, Pilate asks the mob, “Should I crucify your king?” to which they respond, “We have no king but Caesar!” One of our pastors did a great sermon on this on Good Friday, taking about how we as humanity reject our true King for the oppressive, destructive king of sin and self. It was a great reminder of how truly unworthy we are of God’s mercy and grace, and yet He calls us to be reconciled to Him through His Son.

And finally in John’s account, he writes, “After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I’m thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth.When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.”

Again, it’s reminding us that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, why He had come, and what must happen in order for God’s will to be accomplished. The Jews did not kill Jesus. The Romans did not kill Jesus. Even my sin is not what killed Jesus. Jesus willingly gave up His own life on our behalf – choosing to bear the punishment we deserve – so that we could be reconciled to God. This is the simple, yet beautiful truth of the Gospel. I’m so thankful that we have these four men’s accounts to broaden our understanding of what Christ did for us. AMEN!

I Know My Redeemer Lives

Job 15-19

But I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the end he will stand on the dust.
Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet I will see God in my flesh.
I will see him myself;
my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger.
My heart longs within me.
Job 19:25-27

Perhaps God had revealed to Job His future plans of restoration and redemption; His plans to judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous. Spurgeon asserts that Job may not have known the full depth of his words, yet despite all his suffering and the false accusations hurled at him by his companions, Job comes to a point where he declares his believe that somehow, some day in the far off ages, he will be vindicated. Spurgeon says, “[Job] declares that there will be found then, as he believes there is alive even now, a kinsman, an avenger who will stand up for him and set right all this wrong. He cannot conceive that God will permit such gross injustice to be done to a man who has walked as he has walked, to be brought so low and then to be stung with such unfounded accusations. He may but dimly have perceived a future state, but his condition revealed to him the necessity for such a state. He felt that if the righteous suffer so much in this life, often apparently without any just cause, and if the wicked prosper, then there must be another state in which God will set right the wrongs and rectify the apparent inequalities of his providence here.”

I think we can so easily get caught up in the very clear but also the perceived injustices and unfairness of this life. And while we should certainly advocate for equality, justice, and fairness, it is God Who is the ultimate Judge, the only One full of righteous justice and compassionate forgiveness. We will certainly endure hardship in this life – our names may be slanders, we may be falsely accused, we may fall victim to terrible injustices or our bodies may be stricken by a horrible disease. We may gain everything only to lose it. We may suffer persecution and vitriol from those who oppose our beliefs and our faith. But OUR REDEEMER LIVES. No matter what happens to us in this world, we can remain steadfast knowing that our Redeemer has overcome the world. Whatever we endure creates in us a deeper longing for the hope that we have been promised.

I think of Peter’s words of encouragement to believers suffering various trials in 1 Peter 1, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

I think of Paul, who was well-acquainted with earthly suffering, and writes in Romans 8, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” In 2 Corinthians 4, he writes, “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

And lastly, I think of John, and his encouragement to believers in 1 John 3, that we will see Jesus, our Redeemer, “See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.”

Job, though he did not have the abundance of scripture that we are so blessed to have, trusted that this life was not the end, and that at some point he would see his Redeemer face to face, the One Who would right every injustice and vindicate him. We have these precious faithful promises, so how much more ought we live our lives with this hope?!

Finally, I love these verses from Revelation 21, “Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

What a wonderful picture of the hope we have! My heart longs within me! Come Lord, Jesus, Come! AMEN!

Am I In The Place Of God?

Genesis 49-50

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”

So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him. His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Genesis 50:15-21

Again, in this final look at Joseph’s life we can see a picture of Jesus. Joseph’s brothers had beaten him and betrayed, sold him into slavery and lied about his death to their father. Joseph had many a reason to hold a grudge toward them and to be bitter and vengeful. Yet Joseph, recognizing again God’s sovereignty in all things, sees that God used even the hard, challenging, painful trails of his life to bring about a greater good. He asks whether he is in the place of God, meaning it is not for him to pass judgement or condemn what God Himself has allowed and ordained. And here we get another glimpse into the mercy and compassion and forgiveness of God. Jesus Himself was God, men plotted evil against Him – He was betrayed, beaten, and executed despite His innocence; yet He saw the greater good that God had planned – the survival (salvation) of many! I think about the verse in Hebrews 12 that says, “For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So often Jesus revealed to His listeners the true nature of God through His parables.

Over and over Jesus reveals God the Father to be the God who is revealed in Exodus 34: “the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.”

On this cold, snowy Valentine’s Day here in Texas, I am so thankful for the love of God, for His mercy and grace, for His compassion and forgiveness, and for the gift of salvation! AMEN!

So That We Will Live And Not Die

Genesis 40-42

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

During the seven years of abundance the land produced outstanding harvests. Joseph gathered all the excess food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and put it in the cities. He put the food in every city from the fields around it. So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure.

Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and my whole family.” And the second son he named Ephraim and said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When the whole land of Egypt was stricken with famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.” Now the famine had spread across the whole region, so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Every land came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, for the famine was severe in every land.
Genesis 41:46-57

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other? Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.” So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 
…
On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live. If you are honest, let one of you be confined to the guardhouse, while the rest of you go and take grain to relieve the hunger of your households. Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won’t die.” And they consented to this.
Genesis 42:1-8 & 18-20

Joseph has become one of my favorite characters. Every time I read his account, I see pictures of Jesus. One of my favorite readings through his story was last January, and seeing the connection between Joseph, Jesus, the Jews, and the Gentiles. I thought I’d gleaned just about every little shadow that pointed to Jesus from these passages, and then I came across the words of Jacob that really stuck out to me: “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.” This reminded me of Jesus’ words in John 6:

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
…
“Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
…
“Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Just as Jacob and his sons had to go to Joseph in Egypt to get food so that they may live and not die, we must come to Jesus to have true life. His mercy and grace are more abundant than the storehouses of Egypt, more vast than the sand on the seashore, completely beyond measure! It was not until they fully recognized and embraced Joseph that they truly received the abundance and life that brought joy and restoration to their family. When we fully embrace Christ as our Savior, when we feast on Him, we experience the joy and abundance and eternal hope of life with Him that He has promised.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Among all the kinds of literal food and drink there is no food that is worthy to be called ‘true food’, or any drink that is worthy to be called ‘true drink’. But the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, which is expressed by His flesh, is food to our souls, and the great truth of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, which is expressed by His blood, is the most nourishing cordial to our hearts.”

I wonder if these are the types of things that perhaps Jesus pointed out to His disciples after His resurrection, where, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures,” and “he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24 :27 & 45) I love finding these tiny, yet significant shadows of Christ as I read through the Old Testament! It will never get old! (see what I did there?)

LORD, thank You that Your word is so amazing, so wonderful, so full of pictures of the great lengths You went to to reconcile us to Yourself! I love Your Word and I love seeing the Gospel in every story! May the Gospel be as evident in my life as it is in the scriptures and may others see Jesus in me. AMEN!