Psalm 1 – 1 Reason for Hard Times

As I was reading this morning in Psalm 1, I was vividly reminded of a reason for hard times. I have to admit that I like good times. I like when I don't have to watch my checkbook as closely because I know that there is ample money to spend. I love it when my kids all listen and I don't have to discipline them for disobedience. I love to "fall back" and gain an extra hour of sleep instead of "spring forward" and lose one. I love it when my whole family is healthy and the doctor has not been visited for months. On that note, I love it when my medical deductable has been met so that I don't have to pay nearly as much for doctor's visits. In short, I love it when life is going the way that I want it and expect it to go. I love it when life is easy…the waters are calm, the sun is high up in the sky, it's about 85 degrees out and I am on my 4^th coconut.

By contrast…I don't really care for the hard times of life. I don't really enjoy having to share my bedroom an infant who could care less if I have a full day of counseling ahead of me. I absolutely hate it when my kids get sick and I can't do anything about it other than listen real closely at night to make sure that they are still breathing. I would rather have to do something else than find out that a close friend has died or something else tragic like that. I hate it when I hop online to check out how much money I have left and realize that I was way off in my "mental" math. In short, I hate the hard times of life. I don't like the cold rainy blustery days that are unpredictable.

But…there is an ironic twist about the days that I love and the days that I hate. The good days, while fun and enjoyable, are really wasted days in my life when it comes to eternity. I am forced to deal with absolutely nothing on those good days. Life can continue on as normal in those good days. I am not drawn one step closer to the God I claim to love as long as life is peachy. I am always tempted on these days to be satisfied with what I know about Him and how far I have come in my walk with Him. And to be honest…there are more days that I care to admit where I give in to that temptation. That's extremely sad considering those good days are a gift from Him that I just take for granted. On the other hand, the bad days are the best days for my walk with the Lord in this life. The worse the day…the closer I draw to Him. The harder the rain, the more shelter I need. The higher the wave, the faster and bigger the rescue.

As I was reading through Psalm 1 again, I got to the verse that talks about the wicked being blown away like the chaff. The righteous on the other hand are like a tree that is firmly planted by streams of water which yield its' fruit in its season. It's funny because this does not mean that life is always sunny for the righteous and things always go well for the righteous. No, the same circumstances come at the righteous that come at the wicked. Righteous people have lost millions in the stock market just as the wicked have. Righteous people have lost their homes due to the housing crisis just as the wicked have. The storms of life rage and not selective as to whom they mess with. The difference however is in what happens to the righteous and the wicked. The righteous produce fruit in those hard times…the wicked perish. The righteous bring honor and glory to God…the wicked have lost all purpose. The righteous have every reason to put one foot in front of the other…the wicked have every reason to give up and float away. The righteous are made stronger in the storms…while the wicked are destroyed.

Give a logical biblical look at the way good works and I am thankful for the storms in my life, not because I enjoy them in the moment, but because of what they produce. Man I hope I remember this when I am going through the storm.

Punishing the Tool

Jeremiah 51

The sovereignty of God shows up like no other in this chapter. This is the account from God of what He is going to do to Babylon because of what it has done to God's people. At the end of this chapter (vs.56), Jeremiah records that God is a God of recompense and He will fully repay. The idea here is that God will not allow the nation of Babylon to get away with what it has done to His people. The word "fully" is a strong word here. God does not just say that He will pay them back for what they have done; rather, He says that He will fully pay them back. That means that there will not be one iota overlooked on God's part. If there is a water tower of His wrath that is to be poured out on the nation of Babylon, then God will work until every last drop of that water tower is released upon them.

Here is the part that I can see so clearly that just lifts God to the highest places in my mind. Back in verse 20, God says this about the nation of Babylon, "You are My war-club, My weapon of war; and with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms. With you I shatter the horse and his rider, and with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, and with you I shatter man and woman, and with you I shatter old man and youth, and with you I shatter young man and virgin, and with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, and with you I shatter the farmer and his team, and with you I shatter governors and prefects." This is what God says about the nation of Babylon. This heinous nation was actually a tool in the hand of God to do just what God wanted them to do. There wasn't one man that was killed that God had not ordained. There was not one fire set that God had not decided before hand would be set. These people, including Nebuchadnezzar, did all that God wanted and purposed.

Then in verse 24, Jeremiah records, "But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes," declares the Lord. "Behold I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth," declares the Lord...This paints a very clear picture that this nation was a tool in the hands of God to do the purposes of God, but that does not mean that God excuses what they have done. They are now going to have to pay for all of the sin and idolatry that they have committed. God goes on to say that He will stretch out His hand against them and roll them down from the crags, and make them a burnt out mountain. It sounds as if God started out almost praising them for the work that He was able to do through them and then ends by condemning them for what they did to His people (who were being punished by God by the way).

Here in is the sovereignty of God...to do what He wants with His creation when He wants to do it in any way that He wants to do it. It's not too often that I hear about the Sovereignty of God in this capacity. So what does this mean in my own life though...this means that as a child of God I know that I am loved by the King. That does NOT mean though that I will be used by God for only good easy purposes. I might end up dying at the hands of my enemies in order to fulfill what God wants. I might end up losing those whom I love very dearly in order to bring God glory. It means that those who have been against me in this life have really been used by God in one way or another to make me more into the image of His Son. God used Babylon to get to Israel to wake them up out of their Idolatrous slumber that they had fallen into. In the same manner, God could use some ungodly avenue to get my attention.

Overall, this chapter reminded me solidly of God right to do what He wants with His creation. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord.'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." There is no telling what God is doing right now and that is not for me to know. What I have is His Word at my hand, and that is what has been revealed to me. I need to be studying it and resting in the sovereignty of God. He will only allow things to come my way that have gone through the sovereign grasp of his almighty fingers. He will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able, but with the temptation will provide the way to of escape....and all for His glory.

Soli Deo Gloria...

The Two Fold Plan of God – Jeremiah 50

Jeremiah 50 - The Wrath of God

This chapter has so many different aspects of God in it. God's love, mercy, patience, and steadfastness are seen towards His chosen people. He said that He would leave a remnant. But the overwhelming characteristic that I was able to pick up in this chapter is the wrath of God. Babylon, while used by God to discipline God's children, is now at the receiving end of God's wrath. God has decided and planned to utterly destroy the Babylonians. He will not let the evil that they have done go unpunished. Verse 45 says, "Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans." There is a plan and a purpose to what Jeremiah and the other Israelites are going through. It is a two-fold plan.

1. God is the Faithful Father - He must discipline/train those who are His. If He did not then He would not be a good father and nor would we be His legitimate children. He would not love us and we would go off and do all that we wanted to do (Hebrews 12:7-11). The Israelites (God's Chosen) had decided that they were going to go and worship who they wanted when they wanted. From the beginning of this book they had decided not only to go and do whatever they felt like doing, but they were going to put people in charge of them who would purposely point them in that direction (Jeremiah 5:31). That sounds an awful lot like what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3 when he says, "For the time will come when they not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." For myself today, I need to be reminded and live in such a way as to please my heavenly Father and not further put Him in a position where He must discipline me.
   


2. God is the just Judge: He must sentence and condemn those who are not His, even if He has used them for His purposes. There is evil in this world and if God is who He has said He is, then He must not only judge those whom have done evil, but He must sentence and condemn those who have committed sins against Him. My first instinct is to look at the world around me and say, "Yep, your time is coming." But that sounds almost like the Pharisee who stood above the tax gather and pointed down at him saying, "Thank you Lord for not making me like that person." My job isn't to look around and figure out who God is going to condemn and who belongs to Him. My job is to look at the world through His eyes and weep for everyone realizing as I go that if were it not by the grace of God, I would be under the same condemnation as the rest of the world. I would not have found God if He had not first found me, I would have not have responded to God if He had not first done a redemptive work in me, I would not have loved God if He had not first loved me. I can take zero credit for anything that I have done in the way of coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ...that is all the work of God for His glory alone. God is the just Judge and when all of time is complete, He will commit one final act of Judging...I have no choice but to weep and plead with men today about what is to come.
   

There was a lot to this chapter and I am sure that as I go through and read Calvin's thoughts on this chapter more things will be stirred up in me. But for now, for today, I need to rejoice in the fact that I am His child saved by His Son all for His glory. I also need to be praying for those who I will pass by on my way in to work, those who will serve me any food that I order today, those who I pay to any kind of work...the wrath of God is building and in His final act of Judging, He will release that wrath out on anyone who is not found in Christ. Soli Deo Gloria

Why Read Jeremiah 48?

Well in my study today I came to Jeremiah 48, which is the prophecy against Moab. In reading through John Calvin's commentary on this chapter, I have found out that the Moabites were the children of Lot. Thus, they had some blood relation to the Israelites. They knew of Abraham and how they were related to him through their father Lot. Because of this knowledge, they were in a different camp that that of say the Egyptians or the Babylonians. There is always a stark difference between God's response to those who know better and those who are ignorant of the truth.

Not only did the Moabites know that the Israelites were related to them through the blood of their father Lot, but in spite of that, they were guilty of three things: (1) they were spared from the destruction and purging that God commanded the Israelites as they entered into the promise land (Canaan), (2) they were constantly plotting against the nation of Israel, and (3) they just sat back and watched the nation of Israel fall apart at the seems.

It is interesting that as I went through and read at least Calvin's stuff that it was apparent that God will punish those who do and those who do not. God is looking for obedience from His children. For those who do things against God with a full knowledge of what God wants, there is coming a time when He will punish them (and it will probably come with embarrassment, Jeremiah 48:26). In the same manner, for those who sit back and do nothing when God's name and character is at stake, knowing full well that they should do something, God will punish them. There are no fence sitters on God's kingdom.

So where does this leave me then today. Here I know that there have been times when I have do things (lot of things, lots of times) that I know God has said, "Don't do that, Ben." What does that mean for me? In the same manner, there have been times when I have sat by and not done or said anything when God's name was at stake.

I don't want to sound like a broken record and I don't want to read into Christianity something that is not there. But isn't this where the Gospel of Jesus Christ comes into play in my life one more time. Here Moab, knowing full well who they are, who the Israelites are, and how they are connected, yet are treating the people of God (which means really God Himself) like garbage. God says that because of their pride and arrogance he is going to destroy them. That is my lot in life as well. I can't even begin to say that strong enough. I have know the things of God and have chosen either to go against them many times in my life or I have chosen to remain quiet (leave my pride in tact) when I should have spoke up. My reward for that should the same as that of the Moabites. I should be made a laughingstock. I should wallow in my vomit...because of my arrogance towards the Lord. I have presumed upon His grace, I have exulted me above Him so many times (all the times where I in effect through my actions have said, "I know what you want God, but I will do what I want this time.") Ahhhhh! Do you hear how horrible that sounds?

So what is it that has kept God from doing to me what He did to the Moabites (and He would be so just and right in doing that to me, no doubt about it)? I want to say that His love, patience, mercy, perseverance, grace, and long suffering are the attributes that allow Him or cause Him to have mercy on me and not destroy me. However, I don't think that is true. Because while all of that is absolutely true, the other attributes are right there as well. His wrath, justice, jealousy, sovereignty, holiness and righteousness are sitting there in perfect harmony with the other attributes that I mentioned. The first set do not negate the second set. God is in perfect harmony and unity with Himself. His love does not negate his anger. His justice is not negated by his mercy. And so on it goes.

So why is it that I have not been treated like the Moabites were treated for their arrogant actions and arrogant silence? I can experience God's love because Christ experienced God's wrath. I can experience God's mercy because Christ experienced God's anger. I can sit here and read God's Word, understand it, be convicted of it, be changed by it because Christ and Christ alone has satisfied all that God would want to pour out on me.

I deserve a whole lot more than what I have been given. That is a fact. It isn't that all of what I have deserved has gone away, been forgotten about, or ignored. That's a fact. All of what I have deserved was handed over to Christ, and He bore that in my place. Why study the Moabites and care about this chapter in Jeremiah...it's because it leads me back to the Gospel and makes me that much more thankful for what Christ has done.

Is Doctrine Really Important?

So I am reading through lots of different books right now, many of which are steeped in the emergent movement. I have also been part of different groups in which their mantra was "No one can really know the truth so why argue over it". But I just got done reading a paragraph that ended with this statement, "...but why quibble about fine points of doctrine when the important thing was his sobriety". The book that I am reading deals with the issue of addictions and where the come from and so on. But this raised the question that I seem to stumble into time and time again...is doctrine important. I mean with the postmodern world that we live in, does it really matter if I am right or wrong in what I believe?

If you know me and/or have read any of my blogs, you will know that my unapologetic answer to that question is "yes". It does matter what we believe. What we believe determines how we live day in and day out. Hitler did not wake up one morning and decide that he was going to go around and murder millions of Jews simply because he thought that was a good thing to do. He belief that they should be exterminated started somewhere. What he believed led him to do the things that he did. Do does it matter what people say about the Bible, God, Jesus, etc....you bet it does because it will determine how they live.

Now I want to get away from the big scenarios like Hitler and other like him to things that would affect most of the people reading this blog. Things like: the songs we sing in worship, the books we endorse on websites, sentences said from the pulpit, and other "small" things like that. Is it worth quibbling over issues like that or should love cover those things as well? In the past I have been criticised for being to critical over issues like that. Is it worth it? Is it best to let people say what they want and just hope that no one heads down the wrong path. Or how about the saying "don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Is is best to read through a book that I disagree with doctrinally and look for bits and pieces that are good? What about songs that are sung on Sunday morning? Do I sing along even if I disagree doctrinally? And on and on it goes? The big question is "Does Doctrine Matter?"

Well according to 1 Timothy 4:16 it does. Paul tells Timothy to watch his life and DOCTRINE closely. The reason why is because the two are intertwined with one another. I never do anything that is out of line with what I truly honestly believe. And I never believe those things which I do not do. Now you might be thinking about sin and the Christian. Does that mean that if a Christian sins that he wants to sin...and what I am saying is yes...at that moment he wants to sin. Nothing ever makes me sin...I either want to or I don't. What I believe dictates what I do.

For instance...if I am on my computer and I am surfing and I am tempted to look at pornography...my doctrine will either lead me away from that sin or it will lead me into that sin. What I believe about God, His Son, His Word, His promises, and everything everything else will show up and become evidences in my actions. In the same manner, what I believe about God and His Word will lead me to either read it every day realizing that strength for the day comes from It or what I believe about it will lead me to make it an option in my day. Either which way, what I believe (doctrine) dictates what I do.

Do does doctrine matter? Yes it does, in more ways that we can imagine. Check yourself to see what you believe (how you live) not just what you say you believe.

Guard Your Heart...

Thomas Watson in his article entitled "The Spiritual Watch" breaks Proverbs 4:23 down like this:

• "Keep" means to arm or to fence off something from danger of something else. It can also mean to take care of a piece of precious metal so that it is not lost. With that in mind keep your heart locked up safely so that it is ready for God when He calls for it.
• "Your Heart" is that portion of who you are that includes your soul, mind, conscience, will, and affections. It is that part of you that is the deposit or charge that God entrusts every man with.
• "With all diligence" means that a Christian is to set a continual guard around this heart that he has been entrusted with. "A Christian's heart must ever be in his eye" says Watson.
• "For out of it are the issues of life" gives the reason why a man is to keep his heart with all diligence. Out of a man's heart flows streams of damnation or salvation. Those are sobering words for anyone who calls himself a Christian.

This idea of guarding one's heart with all diligence in the world that we currently live in brings out so many different applications that it is almost impossible to get the all down at any one moment in time. However, here are a few different applications that readily come to mind.

1. The world's attacks on the Christian's heart are constant and relentless. The world knows full well that if they can control a person's heart, that person will say and do anything that is asked of them almost without thinking. If one is convinced that the TV that they have is not what they deserve, they will go out and buy a new one with the promise that they will be more fulfilled. If one is convinced that his marriage is not what it could be if he were to marry someone else, then he is seconds away from finding a new wife either through mental adultery or physical adultery. Once the world has broken through the gateway of the mind and convinced the affections, the acting out is only seconds away. Guarding the heart is infinitely more important that any other action aside from worshiping the One True God.
2. The sinful stain that is still left on one's heart from original sin acts like a sledgehammer the moment he ceases to keep watch. In some ways, this is more dangerous than all the powers of the world combined together. The heart is one's own worst enemy in that it knows best when it can attack with a certain amount of certainty that success will happen. The traitor knows how best to bring down the kingdom and when to bring it down. And that is exactly what the human heart is to the Christian...a traitor.

"When any danger is near, the serpent keeps his head safe, and to preserve his head he will expose his whole body to injury. In the same way, a Christian should especially keep his heart safe; he should jeopardize his skin to keep his heart from receiving one single wound"

- Thomas Watson

"Guard Your Heart With All Diligence, For From It Flows The Springs Of Life."

The Lure of Idols (Pt. 1)

Idol Worship...it's something that seems so foreign and out there for most Christians that it tends to not even appear on their radar. But do idols for the most part look like a little piece of wood or metal that has been dressed up by humans? What are the characteristics of idols that make them and idol? Do idols even need to be physical or can they be immaterial? What do idols have that make them appealing both to Christians and non-Christians alike? What do you do with an idol when you stumble upon it?

Exodus 20:4-6 says this:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

That is a pretty strong statement to be made by God for all of His children not to pay attention. Here is a statement from God that His people are not to make, worship, and/or serve an idol. He even goes on to talk about what will happen to those people who do decide to make an idol for themselves. Their children to the third and fourth generations will be visited or struggle with their great great great grandfathers desire to serve idols. That's too huge to ignore.

But what God simply talking about physical wooden/metal idols that are commonly though to today. It would be nice if that were the only way in which the Bible speaks of idols. When Saul decides to keep out the choices bits of the Amalekit nation for himself and he is confronted by Samuel, God, through Samuel, says, "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.” God says that rebellion is as idolatry. So there is much more to idolatry than simply making a piece of wood into something idolish.