Faith and Victory

The Bible is full of truth, layer upon layer.  The more I consider and study it, the basic and fundamental themes grow more profound.  I find myself increasingly amazed by the power and simplicity of the Gospel.  God's love and grace is a revelation of not only His goodness towards us, but to guide how we live.  The world has hijacked terms like "love" and "peace" for worldly pursuits, and these feeble caricatures bear no resemblance to the abundant provision God supplies for those who trust in Him.

After Jesus miraculously fed a crowd of thousands, they returned the following day hoping for more food.  Jesus told them not to work for food which perishes but for what would provide them eternal life.  The Jews asked Jesus, "How can we do the works of God?"  John 6:29 says, "Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  The good work Jesus spoke of was to believe Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, the Bread of Life come down from heaven:  all who partake of Him through faith will be born again and have eternal life.  Men are not saved by good works, but those who trust in Jesus are to enter into the good works He has prepared for us, that we would love God with all our hearts and love others as He loves us.

Walking in God's love is a good work all believers are called to, and it should be no surprise the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 begins with love.  It is not a coincidence we need to breathe oxygen to live on earth, and God created an atmosphere on earth with the perfect balance of oxygen to support humans and all living things.  One percent less oxygen and the air would be deficient of oxygen, and one percent more and the atmosphere would be oxygen enriched and volatile!  God is wise to supply all our needs through the Holy Spirit who indwells and enables us to do what we are called to.  It requires faith in God to obey Him and forgive others, to exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control.  Faith in Jesus is not just the starting point but what enables us to continue and persevere.  Paul wrote in Roman 14:22, "...whatsoever is not of faith is sin."  Simple faith in God works and overcomes all.

See the prevalence of love and faith in the Christian experience in 1 John 5:1-5:  "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. ⁵ Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"  The victory provided by faith in Jesus is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of grace.  Jesus has given us the command to love others as He loves us, and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  With the Holy Spirit within us we overcome the world - not because of our might, power, love or wisdom - but by faith in Jesus.  Selah!

Angry At God?

"Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ nor give place to the devil."

Ephesians 4:26-27

Anger is a natural response for people, and it is not always a sinful one.  It is possible to be angry without sin, but the occasions are very rare.  Paul makes clear the connection between remaining angry and giving place to the devil - which makes us exponentially susceptible to sin.  When Jonah became angry after God relented from destroying Nineveh, God asked Him a question we do well to consider when we are angry:  "Is it right for you to be angry?"  If we would answer honestly, much of our anger has nothing to do with God or righteousness at all.  The driver behind much anger we experience is pride and self.  It is fuelled by perceived infringement on our rights or desires, and it is nothing about God being robbed of His just due or being sinned against.

Is it possible to be justified in anger towards God?  No, for there can be no righteous indignation directed towards a righteous, holy God.  In his book Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges wrote this:

"Let me make a statement loud and clear.  It is never okay to be angry at God.  Anger is a moral judgment, and in the case of God, it accuses Him of wrongdoing.  It accuses God of sinning against us by neglecting us or in some way treating us unfairly.  It also is often a response to our thinking that God owes us a better deal in life than we are getting.  As a result, we put God in the dock of our own courtroom...I acknowledge that believers can and do have momentary flashes of anger at God.  I have experienced this myself.  But we should quickly recognise those occurrences as the sins that they are and repent of them." (Bridges, Jerry. Respectable Sins. NavPress, Published in Alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2016. pg. 123)

I don't know I have ever heard it put the way Jerry Bridges did when he asserted, "Anger is a moral judgment."  This is very perceptive and helpful to deal with the source and reason behind anger we experience.  It is good to recognise there are moral judgments I accept as right and wrong and these do not necessarily always line up with God's righteous judgment.  I have been angry before at people I believed were in the wrong, but my anger revealed it was really I who was sinning.  When we are offended it can often be another way of saying we are angry.  Being "offended" pins the blame of our anger on someone else, but we still must own it.  Feelings of frustration or annoyance can also be anger in disguise.  Praise the LORD He knows our hearts better than we do, and better yet God is able to cleanse them!

Brothers and sisters, let us not give place to the devil in our lives through anger - especially when we are angry towards God.  He is altogether righteous and good, and we are not.  We can always bring our anger to God in repentance, and He is able to help in profound ways sowing to the flesh through exhibiting our anger could never accomplish.  How good it is to be set free from the bondage of anger and bitterness!

LORD God of Hosts

"O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. ⁹ You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them."

Psalm 89:8-9

The LORD God of hosts is supreme over all, and all power and authority is His.  The One who created the sea can rule it, and His might is incomparable.  The psalmist Ethan the Ezrahite asked, "Who among God or man can compare with the LORD?"  Man is at the mercy of the power of a raging sea, but God has the power to still the waves.

This passage reminds me of when Jesus and His disciples sought to go to the other side of Galilee in ships.  Mark 4:37-41 reads, "And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. ³⁸ But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" ³⁹ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" ⁴¹ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"

What a contrast between Jesus and His disciples as they travelled in a boat which rapidly filled with water!  Jesus slept soundly whilst the disciples feared for their lives.  When they roused Him with cries, wondering if He cared their lives were in danger, Jesus rebuked the wind.  He did not shout; He did not need to.  He said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" - and the sea immediately was calm.  The disciples were amazed beyond measure, wondering who Jesus could possibly be.  Psalm 89 penned by Ethan the Ezrahite had already identified who Jesus is:  the LORD God of hosts!

How wonderful is this, that the storms we face are under the rule of our LORD and Saviour Jesus.  The Good Shepherd of our souls is altogether faithful and will not forsake His little ones.  He does not fear as we do, and He does not help like we might expect.  Perhaps the disciples wanted Jesus to bail water out of the sinking ship or grab a rope, but Jesus stilled the storm with a calm voice.  Only God rules the raging of the sea, and Jesus identified Himself as God by the miraculous signs He did.  Let us place our faith in and glorify the LORD of Hosts, for there is no one mighty to save as He.

Give God Thanks

Following Jesus isn't easy, but it is an abundant life worth living.  Faith in God brings a fulfilling sense of purpose and hope nothing else in this perishing world can provide.  Though we have comfort, help, and rest in our God, at times we can be bombarded with bad news, devastated by circumstances, and be drowning in sorrow.  Over the last couple of days I have felt like I cannot cast my cares upon Jesus because they are casting me.  When the burdens are suffocating and we are too weak to move a muscle, praise the LORD He can lift us up for He stands by to save.

After prayer and reading Psalm 88 in the Bible (which was extremely relevant) this morning I flipped open Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.  The passage in the book that I read was exactly what I needed to hear and be reminded of.  Allow me to share it with you:

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul writes, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  This command is different from the command in Ephesians 5:20, where we are to give thanks to God for everything.  I believe, considering the context, that in Ephesians Paul is exhorting us to develop a habit of continual thanksgiving for all the blessings God so graciously pours out on us; that is, one characteristic of a Spirit-filled life is a thankful heart.

 In the Thessalonians passage, however, Paul is instructing us to give thanks in all circumstances, even those we would not feel thankful about.  Is Paul asking us to give thanks through gritted teeth by sheer willpower when in our heart of hearts we are truly disappointed?  The answer to the questions lies in the promises of God found in Romans 8:28-29 and 38-39:  "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers...For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Verse 28 tells us that for those who love God, all things work together for good.  The meaning is that God causes all things to work together for good; for "things" - that is, circumstances - do not work together for good themselves.  Rather, God directs the outcome of those circumstances for our good.  The "good," however, is defined in verse 29 as our being conformed to the image of God's Son.  In other words, Paul is telling us that God intends all our circumstances, both good and bad (but in the context Paul has in mind, especially the bad ones), to be instruments of sanctification, of growing us more and more into the likeness of Jesus.

So in situations that do not turn out the way we hoped, we are to give God thanks that he will use the situation in some way to develop our Christian character.  We don't need to speculate as to how he might use it, for His ways are often mysterious and beyond our understanding.  So by faith in the promise of God in Romans 8:28-29, we obey the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to give thanks in the circumstances.

Further, as we are in the midst of the difficult circumstance, we have the promise of Romans 8:38-39 that nothing, including the situation we are in, can separate us from the love of God.  Again we must cling to this promise by faith.  So we have a dual assurance to enable us to give thanks in the circumstance.  First, by faith we believe God is using or will use the particular difficulty to conform us more to Jesus.  Second, we have the assurance that even in the midst of the difficulty we are enveloped in God's love. (Bridges, Jerry. Respectable Sins. NavPress, Published in Alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2016. pages 81-82)

How blessed we are to have an almighty God who loves us beyond compare!  My love perishes with me, but the love of Jesus endures forever.  We might not always feel loved but we can know we are by the love demonstrated by Jesus when He willingly suffered and died on Calvary for sinners.  Who Jesus is and all He accomplished through His death and resurrection are eternal, and nothing that happens in our lives or even things we do cannot rob Him of victory.  Therefore, let us bless and thank our LORD Jesus Christ, for the God who gives also takes away - and gives good again in double measure.  Instead of being bitter through disappointment or angry with perceived injustice, let us in brokenness cry out to our Saviour who loves us and stands by us ready to save.