Our Sovereign God

Recognising God's sovereignty is a source of peace in the midst of trouble.  When things are difficult we can feel under attack, and we can wonder what the source of our struggles are.  Is it a spiritual attack?  Does Satan or demons have me in their sights?  Am I experiencing the consequences of sin, or am I simply wrestling with my own negative feelings and thoughts?

When Israel was laid waste by armies from Assyria and Babylon, Jeremiah did not credit physical or spiritual foes with their destruction:  he laid the responsibility for their defeat squarely upon God.  He did not blame God as an evildoer as some do, but Jeremiah recognised their plight as a result of the chastening of a holy, righteous God.  Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty king, but God called him His servant.  It was shocking to the Jews God would utilise a Gentile king to do His will, but God remains sovereign over all.  His ways are higher and good, infinitely better than ours.

Crediting God with the destruction of Israel did not move Jeremiah to hate or forsake God, but drove him to seek God with tears.  See what Jeremiah said in Lamentations 2:1-5, and this is a small portion of his lament:  "How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, and did not remember His footstool in the day of His anger. ² The Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied all the dwelling places of Jacob. He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. ³ He has cut off in fierce anger every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire devouring all around. ⁴ Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow; with His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye; on the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire. ⁵ The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, and has increased mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah."

God did exactly as He warned His people through His Word and prophets, but they would not hear.  What is remarkable is why God did this to His own people whom He loved:  He did not chasten them to destroy them, but so they might be restored.  How far they had drifted from God through their idolatry and brought upon themselves this great fall and demise!  In forsaking the LORD they abandoned all hope, but in humble repentance they would without doubt flourish again.  God would bring back His inheritance into the land with rejoicing, and He would plant them where He had established His name.  Jeremiah wisely did not credit the devil or the armies of enemies as the cause of their pains but the God who reigns over heaven and earth, the Judge before every knee will bow.  It is in surrender to God where peace, hope, and salvation begin.

People who have problems with God need to realise they have problems only He can fix; they have wounds only God can heal; they have folly only God can redeem.  Proverbs 3:11-12 says, "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction; ¹² for whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights."  God's means of chastening often involve pain, and our response shows if we truly trust Him and value His active love as we ought.

With All Your Heart

Before I head off to buy groceries at the shops, I typically jot down a list of things to purchase.  Just because I write an item on the list, however, does not mean I always remember to buy it!  There are few things more frustrating than taking time to prepare and not following through by carefully checking off the list - and forgetting the ingredient which was a main reason why I headed to the shops in the first place!

The Bible is infinitely more important and useful than a checklist I write, yet in the Bible there is great divine wisdom we should be reminded of often.  One of my favourites is Proverbs 3:5-6:  "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."  I find this verse useful because it is very practical.  It is a command to trust God and not lean on my limited understanding.  It establishes the conditions upon which God will direct and guide me into all truth, when I trust and acknowledge Him in all my ways.  If I trust God halfheartedly I give place to the sin of unbelief, and should I acknowledge God in only some of my ways I will wander from His will.

Now here's the rub:  the Bible says no man can know perfectly his own heart because it is naturally wicked and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9).  It is true those who receive the Gospel through faith are given a new heart, but we remain in a body of flesh prone to corruption and deception.  Even Paul, a man greatly led and empowered by the Spirit, did not have the flesh totally whipped into complete submission (Romans 7:24).  I am therefore incapable in the strength of my flesh to fulfil this most basic command.  To trust in the LORD with all my heart I need God's wisdom, strength, chastening, and grace.  I need the presence of the Holy Spirit within me who guides me into all truth.  I must acknowledge my inability to do what God commands to assume a humble posture and be willing to be led to address my unbelief, repent, and trust God instead.

I am very glad for the practical steps we can take to put off the works of the flesh, avoid temptation, and to put on the new man equipped with the armour of God.  But I cannot tick these things off a list and feel better about myself:  constant reliance upon God and acknowledgement of our need for Him is paramount to walk in obedience and faithfulness.  Introspection has merit but pitfalls as well, potentially making ourselves or our efforts the focus rather than God and His grace towards us.  Let us trust in the LORD with all our heart and in every way possible.  God does not just make up the difference we lack or only aid in areas of our hearts hidden from our sight, but by His grace will enable us to obey in this matter.

The Snare of Greed

"Surely, in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird; ¹⁸ but they lie in wait for their own blood, they lurk secretly for their own lives. ¹⁹ So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its owners."

Proverbs 1:17-19

Trapping birds requires subtlety, but those who devise wicked schemes prepare a trap for themselves.  Snares are most effective when hidden, like a hook completely concealed with bait fish find attractive.  Those ensnared by sin, however, display less sense than threat-savvy birds or fish.  They make plans to destroy others, and even if they achieve their ends they destroy themselves in the process.  The foolish do not realise this, but the wise see the danger from afar.

Solomon warned his son of the dangerous sin of greed.  Greed is like the grave:  it is never full or satisfied.  At its root is a love of self, a lack of thankfulness and satisfaction with what God has provided, and pride.  Those who are greedy for wealth pierce themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10).  Greed longs for more, newer, and better.  It compels a man and woman to overwork and prevents them from enjoying the fruit of their labour.  People toil and slave to gain at great cost, and yet life places demands on us to spend.  The lure of a better life always dangles just in front of the greedy, and it robs them of their lives which could be enjoyed presently.

The miser Scrooge from Dicken's popular book A Christmas Carol presents an illustration with whom many can relate.  Scrooge was a businessman whose primary aim was the pursuit of wealth.  It was this exact pursuit which threw his life into miserable poverty.  Oh, he had money, and he had many people who owed him money.  But greed took a painful toll.  The greed of Scrooge led to his fiancee breaking off their engagement and robbed him of the chance of companionship, being a husband, father, and grandfather.  He could afford to keep his home and place of business comfortably heated in the winter, but he suffered the cold to save money on coal.  All his life he aimed to gain, and though he gained money his life was corrupted by greed, bitterness, and cynicism.  His net worth was never enough, and life was empty like his cavernous, cold house.  The happy ending supplied by Dickens is welcome, but such a dramatic turnaround is often unfortunately fiction in people poisoned and trapped by greed.

Take the wisdom of God to heart!  The life of your dreams is not as precious as the life God has given you to live today - regardless of your money, status, or perceived lack thereof.  Should you give place to greed you endanger the life you have, for greed "takes away the life of its owners."  We must own up to our greed, or otherwise it will own us.  Greed, like all other sins, will enslave and rob us of the life God intends we live with Him.  Only Jesus can break the yoke of greed and lead us in an abundant life beyond our favourite fantasy.

Our Consuming Fire

The Bible has been a part of my life for as long as I remember.  Yesterday I recalled an occasion as a child when I was inspired by a passage in 1 Kings 18 to build a small altar of rocks in the back yard.  My actions were inspired by God's response to the prayer of Elijah atop Mount Carmel by causing fire to fall from heaven and consume the sacrifice.  I hoped to be amazed by divine fire igniting the dried pine needles I carefully perched on a pile of rocks.  Around the altar I had carved a trench I dutifully filled with water as Elijah had.  I prayed to the God of heaven, but alas, no fire fell.  And it was a good thing too.  God would not indulge a child with the equivalent of playing with matches.

Looking back on that day long ago under the big pine tree, it is instructive of common mistakes even adults can make when it comes to miraculous signs:  I was focused on the wrong things.  I wanted to see fire fall from heaven, but I didn't consider why God caused fire to fall and consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel.  God caused fire to fall and consume the sacrifice for the purpose of revealing His reality, power, and superiority over the idols the people worshipped - not just to show Elijah was a genuine prophet or to amaze the people.  People enjoy seeing incredible, even miraculous things.  And there is something in us which enjoys the thought of harnessing such power to achieve our ends - even just to impress others.

Another thing I did not consider was God's desire for the people to re-establish the worship of God according to His prescribed order.  The people were divided in their allegiance between God and Ba'al.  Because of wicked King Ahab and his wife Jezebel the prophets of God had been hunted and slaughtered whilst the prophets of Ba'al numbered in the hundreds.  1 Kings 18:30 reads, "Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down."  Even as the altar had broken down, so the relationship with God had been broken through idolatry and neglect.  My thoughts weren't focused at all on the glory and worship of God but what I wanted done.  Calling down fire from heaven was about what God could do for me.  After the altar was restored 1 Kings 18:36 says, "And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word."  Elijah drew near to God in prayer and affirmed all he did that day was for God's sake in obedience to God.

Though I tried to follow the example of Elijah, my model had one crucial omission:  the lack of a sacrifice!  I believe it was Leonard Ravenhill, a man revered for his praying who said, "Everyone wants my mantle, but no one wants my sackcloth and ashes."  The gist of this quote is suggests people desire to have influence with the almighty God, yet are unwilling to present themselves before God as a living sacrifice.  Isaac was willing to be bound and laid upon the altar by Abraham according to God's command, and God graciously supplied a ram as a substitute.  It is Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God who was slain on Calvary as a sacrifice for sinners once for all and therefore put to death the need of sacrificing animals according to the divine Law.  God caused divine fire to fall in the person of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost who regenerates, fills all believers, and guides us into all truth.

If we desire to see fire to fall from heaven, we must be willing to be the living sacrifice upon whom it falls.  Paul exhorted believers in Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."   Fire purges, purifies, and consumes; it heats and provides light in darkness.  May it be our lives would provide opportunity for God to restore people to Himself through our obedience so He might be glorified.