Remember and Believe

When we see negative examples in the Bible of unbelief, folly, or wickedness, it is a portrait of stunning detail of ourselves.  Let us not scoff or shake our heads disapprovingly of what we do ourselves but learn from the unerring truth of scripture.  We can say in every case, "It is I, LORD!"  We may not have taken all sins to their ultimate fulfillment, but the potential and willingness to transgress is always present in our mind and members.

Last night I read Psalm 78, a comprehensive account of God's faithfulness, power, and miraculous dealings with the children of Israel.  Asaph provided a historical overview of many things God had done to deliver, provide, guide, and establish His people.  The common issue at the core of Israel's problems was their unbelief of God.  Though God had done much in the past and given great promises for the future, the people seemed incapable of connecting God's faithfulness in the past to assurance of His future faithfulness.  No matter what God did - the ten plagues in Egypt, deliverance through the Red Sea He parted, or provided water from rocks - the people tended to doubt God would come through in their current situation.  This unbelief provoked God to anger.

God did great wonders, but the people did not live in light of His certain love, strength, and power.  Here are a handful of verses all of God's people can relate to at points in our pilgrimage:

• The people forgot:  Psalm 78:9-11 reads, "The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰ They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, ¹¹ and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them."
• The people tested God in unbelief:  Psalm 78:18-22 says:  "And they tested God in their heart By asking for the food of their fancy. ¹⁹ Yes, they spoke against God: they said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?" ²¹ Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, ²² Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation." 
• They flattered God with lies and their hearts did not remain steadfast:  Psalm 78:35-37 says, "Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer. ³⁶ Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; ³⁷ for their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant." 
• The people tempted and limited God because they forgot His deliverance:  Psalm 78:40-42 states:  "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹ Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power: the day when He redeemed them from the enemy..." 
• They were unfaithful and turned aside to idolatry:  Psalm 78:55-58 reads, "He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by survey, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. ⁵⁶ Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep His testimonies, ⁵⁷ but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. ⁵⁸ For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images."

We may not have seen God's deliverance in battle, seen water flow miraculously from the rock, or experienced His deliverance from slavery, but we have more practical evidence of God's character and power than the children of Israel:  we have the Word of God provided for us!  There is the testimony of fulfilled scripture, Jesus Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We also have our own testimony of God's faithfulness, power, and deliverance from the power of sin.  Though we are without excuse, we can justify the habit of making them!  I encourage you to read what God did for His people in Psalm 78 in full and consider the wondrous things He has done for His people and for you.  Let us not be as the children of Israel, forgetting what God did in the past so we doubt His present power.  Instead of bringing condemnation or guilt, the end of such considerations is genuine hope.  This is one necessary application of scripture, as it is written in Romans 15:4-6:  "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. ⁵ Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Comfort Beyond Words

Paul and Silas had a rough day.  Though innocent, they had been falsely accused, arrested, beaten, humiliated, thrown into prison, and their feet secured in stocks.  Acts 17 tells us they were praying and singing praises to God at midnight when suddenly there was an earthquake, the chains fell off the prisoners, and the doors swung open.  The jailer woke up and panicked at the sight of the open cell doors.  He was about to kill himself when Paul called out he should do himself no harm.  No one had escaped, and the man's life would not be required at the hand of his superiors.

Deeply moved the jailer asked, "What must I do to be saved?"  Paul answered, "Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your whole house."  The man believed, rejoiced, and was baptised.  He washed the stripes of Paul and Silas, having been whipped terribly.  When Paul and Silas were released the following day, their miraculous, amazing story was not nearly over.  They went to visit a new born-again Christian Lydia who had offered them hospitality previously.  Acts 16:40 reads, "So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed."  Who encouraged who?  One would have thought Paul and Silas could have used some encouragement because of their terrible experience the previous night.  Yet it was Paul and Silas who encouraged the brethren.  Lydia and the others were no doubt distressed over the harsh, unfair treatment endured by Paul and Silas.  They had been beaten down, but not destroyed.  They came out of the prison battered yet were an encouragement to others through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwelt within them.

As A.W. Tozer said, Christianity is not designed for the classroom but for use in real life.  A life following Christ is to be lived out on the street, in a prison, during times of pain and tragedy, in spite of unfair treatment, and to encourage others.  Paul wrote the exhortation of Philippians 4:4 during house arrest:  "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"  Paul and Silas did not rejoice in physical pain or incarceration, but in the midst of those things they devoted themselves to rejoice in the LORD.  He is always worthy of praise, despite our sufferings.  He will never leave us or forsake us, knows what we are going through, and provides comfort and peace which passes understanding.  It is a peace which cannot be logically explained but only experienced through a life of faith in God.

As I considered how I would conclude this post, this morning I read a Facebook status of a Christian woman.  She posted the immortal words of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."  This verse was not shared by a person who had just received a promotion at work, received a permanent resident visa, or won the lottery:  it was shared by a woman who just heard her father suddenly and tragically passed away.  Who was encouraging who?  I was the one who was encouraged as I in awe considered the strength God grants to all who stand on the solid bedrock of faith in Jesus Christ and His Word.  Our God is a God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation so we may be able to comfort others facing trouble.

Do you experience this comfort which defies description?  God offers it freely to all who trust in Him.  He graciously grants this divine strength not only so you can receive comfort and be strengthened, but so you can comfort others with the comfort you have received from God.  Praise God nothing can separate us from the love and comfort of our glorious Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Door To Glory

Jesus knew His coming to this world would involve much suffering, yet His suffering or pain was not His focus.  Even as Paul recognised the sufferings of this world could not be compared to the glory which would be revealed in him, so Jesus for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross and despised the shame.  Jesus was never selfish or self-focused.  He did not balk at obedience to the Father because it would mean temptation, physical pain or spiritual separation.  John 12:23-24 says, "But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."  Jesus didn't spend the bulk of His time speaking about His future pain, but how His death would be the path to eternal glory and fruit.

When Jesus spoke of His future crucifixion, He spoke of it with the ultimate end in mind.  He maintained an eternal perspective.  Women who desire to have a baby rejoice and celebrate their pregnancy with friends and family, even if it means migraines and morning sickness.  There are happy parties planned with friends, gifts are given, great care is taken to prepare a nursery, and a future mother ensures cute outfits and supplies are ready for the miraculous addition.  Prospective mothers experience a wide range of physical and emotional ups and downs to be sure, but the nine-month period of pregnancy is not set aside for weeping and mourning because a day of intense, excruciating pain is coming.  Future pain isn't the focus:  those nine months are filled with joy at the happy expectation a child will be born into a loving, growing family.

Jesus did not sugar-coat what awaited Him in Matthew 20:17-19:  "Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, ¹⁸ "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, ¹⁹ and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again."  What part of His message does your heart seize upon:  betrayal, condemnation, mockery, scourging, death, or resurrection?  The resurrection of the dead swallows up all those previous troubles as mere inconveniences easily shrugged off in the light of eternity.  We Christians can allow these passing pains to rob us of love, joy, and peace God has provided us through Christ's victory.  Our response to trials reveals to us the condition of our faith, whether we truly trust God or not, or if we will focus on ourselves or turn our eyes to Jesus.

Last night while I waited for my son to be dropped off outside a church, I saw through illuminated windows a wooden figure of Jesus fixed to a crucifix.  Though the carving was three-dimensional, it reduced Christ to one dimension.  There an image hung of God-made-flesh perpetually suffering, always dying, but never dead, risen, or glorified.  How blasphemous that wood appeared to me!  The invisible God who appeared on Mt. Sinai told His people in Deut. 4:15-16 they should never corrupt themselves by making a male or female image.  We ought not wash the blood from the cross, a picture of God's demonstration of love and sacrifice for undeserving sinners.  But by all means remove the pathetic impersonation of my God, the risen LORD who lives today, who will return to earth with eyes flaming with fire to judge His enemies.  Jesus once for all died for the sins of the world, and to affix Christ permanently to the cross only robs us of consolation and Him of glory.

Suffering is not our enemy, but our flesh can oppose the work God intends to do through it.  Our limited vision is often incapable of seeing how God is able to redeem the struggles and pains we endure.  But even as Jesus had to die so many could live, so we know that all things work for the good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  Jesus called His disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him.  Let us not falter at the prospect of betrayal, mocking, persecution, suffering, pain, or even death, for the day of our glorification draws nigh.  May the LORD enable us not to look at future pain or rejection with fear, but to look beyond into the face of our glorious Saviour gazing at us through His Word who will never leave or forsake us.

Is Seeing Believing?

"Seeing is believing," some say.  This statement can be safely tucked away with many other sayings which are not always true.  Thomas believed when he saw Jesus physically standing before Him, but some have believed who never laid eyes on Christ once.  The people who personally saw Jesus perform many miracles and even saw Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead did not believe, as it is written in John 12:37-40:  "But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, ³⁸ that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"³⁹ Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ⁴⁰ "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."

The Jews in Christ's day could not cite "lack of concrete evidence" for their unbelief, and neither can people today.  Quoting from the Bible Knowledge Commentary it says, "Then John again quoted from Isaiah 6:10 to explain that the nation as a whole was unable to believe. Because they constantly rejected God’s revelation, He had punished them with judicial blindness and deadened...hearts. People in Jesus’ day, like those in Isaiah’s day, refused to believe. They “would not believe;" therefore they could not believe."  No man can charge God with blame for his own unbelief, for God has clearly revealed Himself through creation, the order of the heavenly bodies, the complexity of the human body, the existence of a conscience in people, and through the Law, prophets, and Jesus Christ.  He fulfilled prophesies, did many signs and miracles which cannot be historically disputed, died on a Roman cross, and rose from the dead.  He was seen by over 500 people at one time (1 Cor. 15:6), many of whom faced death for their profession of faith in Christ as the Resurrection and the Life.

Jesus said, "Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe" (John 4:48).  John 12:37 says even some who see divine signs will refuse to believe.  The most sound logic and undeniable proofs can be explained away and rejected by those unwilling to believe.  It is not that man cannot believe:  it is better said he will not.  God will not trample on man's will, having freely provided every man the choice to follow his own will or surrender himself to God's will.  There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is death.  The soul that sins shall surely die, but those who repent and trust in Christ as LORD will receive life eternal.  Believe the Word of God or don't.  But I beg all men to cease labouring under the foolish notion God must do some arbitrary act before you will believe in Him.  Your existence and consciousness alone should awaken within you the realisation there must be a consciousness who has gone before to create this world and all within for His purposes.

God has spoken.  God has revealed Himself, and those willing to believe will perceive the truth.  Do you want to see?  Look into the life and person of Jesus Christ yourself.  Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹ to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  After Jesus read these words from the scroll of Isaiah that day, some believed and some didn't.  Some were enraged and tried to kill Him, but others followed Him.  Are you willing to believe or would you kill God if you could?