Month: March 2017

We need the Shepherd, the God of War, to restore the soul again to its former state of peace, security and abundant blessing. “Turn us again:” cause us to repent and turn to our Lord in prayer and faith. “Cause your face to shine:” smile on us with favor and blessing and your loving presence. “Save us:” restore us again by routing the enemy.

The believer looks back to the Christ Event of Redemption, just as the OT believer looked back to the Exodus Event of Redemption: the Shepherd and God of War took a vine from the Enemy and transplanted it in the Promised Land to grow and prosper. But now, because of Sin, He has allowed the hedge of protection to break down and the enemies have come into the vineyard to trample and devour.

In answer to repentance, prayer and faith the Lord’s shining face shows up to cause the enemy to perish at His rebuke. He turns His shining Face to us and gives us life and we are restored again. We will not turn back and will call on His Name.

The destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, the Land and the Nation in the Babylonian Exile is the most devastating event imaginable for the people of God. Everything is lost, even hope is demolished. In retrospect it is like the Genesis Fall of Man into Sin and Curse. It is like the Death of Jesus on Friday.

What is left after the loss of all hope, even the apparent loss of God? The presence of God in Paradise (Fall), in the Temple (Exile), and in the Promise (Crucifixion) has vanished. What now? It is the “what now” that makes the story.

What’s left is a faith relationship with God. Prayer is left, and the Enemy can’t take that away. Even if that prayer is for justice and for the punishment and destruction of the enemies, faith and prayer remain. Somehow the people believe they will still thank and praise God forever.

Yes, Redemption comes after the Fall, Return after the Exile, and Resurrection after the Crucifixion, but before we see it we must believe it. And in the ultimate, absolute, Final End of it all justice and judgment, mercy and grace, and the end of the enemies will be seen. Meanwhile, pray.

A parable and a dark saying is like a riddle: a riddle is a saying of something you can’t figure out unless you are given the simple key. The history of God’s people is recounted from the Exodus to the reign of David as king.

The riddle is why did the people act so faithless, unbelieving, rebellious and idolatrous in the obvious face of all the wonderful miracles of salvation and provision of God’s grace? But even more: the riddle is also about why did the Lord act so faithfully, wonderfully and mercifully to His faithless people?

It was irrational for the people who were miraculously delivered and provided for to respond in Unbelief and rebellion. It doesn’t make sense. The Sin of Unbelief may still be the greatest Enemy with which we have to deal. But it was irrational for God to continue faithful to His promise and covenant in the face of their unbelief. It doesn’t make sense. The wrath of God makes sense; the faithfulness does not.

The answer to the riddle: Grace! The human mind will never, even in eternity, plumb the depths of the mystery of the Grace and Love of God.

Unbelief, the first or primary Sin, is the Enemy that arises in the form of Doubt: doubt God’s Word; doubt God’s promises; doubt that God is good; doubt that God won’t change His mind; doubt of God’s unchanging, faithful Love. The believer questions the truth of the basic belief in Exodus 34.6: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”

In a season of trouble and distress the Lord does not seem to be present, or even caring enough to intervene in answer to prayer. The Psalm looks back and remembers what the Lord once did: He defeated the Enemy and gave life in the Creation Event and the Exodus Salvation. For me, I look back and remember He did the same in the Cross and Tomb Event. But will He do it now, in my present hour?

Has His faithful love failed? Can I still trust His promises? The “Yes” answer awaits; the psalmist won’t answer; the jury’s still out. The Gospel story brings us to the threshold but a step of faith is still needed to enter. Fresh faith is demanded for every present moment of crisis. Is God good? Say, “Yes!”

Human beings are not willing and able to imagine how incorrigibly terrible evil really is. Humans are not willing and able to imagine how awesomely Terrible God can be.

Almighty God is terrible (able to evoke terror) as Warrior and Judge against our enemies. I don’t enjoy picturing a kind, gentle, tender, soft, caring and loving Shepherd God as being a warlike, violent, fearsome, cruel, hateful and punishing Warrior God. One reason I don’t like that picture is because I can’t see the Enemy as terrible (terror evoking) as he really is. And I can’t see how terrible he is because I Continue reading Psalm 76: Terrible Victory over Terrible Enemies

All people and all of time is inexorably headed toward a Great and Final Judgment on the Last Day. That is as certain as death and taxes. This day will come at The Judge’s choosing. Every human being has some awareness, though dim and widely suppressed, of the coming Accountability.

Snippets and signs of The Judgment will show up from time to time: earthquakes and earth shaking events happen, but the Lord holds the pillars steady until the Time; the cup of the wine of God’s wrath is poured out for the wicked here and there; the horns, the power, of some are brought down and some lifted up until the End.

The listed enemies of the Just Judge are the proud, the boastful, the arrogant, and the insolent. This attitude of the wicked must be judged: shaken, put down, made to drink, and cut off. This attitude in one’s own self must be discovered, repented of, and rooted out by the Cross. Repent now of this inner enemy: desire to control, judge others, blame and criticize, run my own life, “let me alone,” and various self serving and prideful thoughts. Lay the Cross on such thoughts. Receive forgiveness before judgment.

The worst calamity imaginable for the people of God has taken place. The Kingdom is destroyed, the people taken into exile in a foreign land, the city is in ruins, and all hope of earthly wellbeing has turned to despair. But that’s not the calamity; the great calamity is that the temple is utterly destroyed. The temple is the meeting place of God on the earth.

If the presence of God is gone, where can we meet him, how can we pray, how can we gain access to our God? Indeed, where is God? Is there a God for us? Is the Enemy stronger than our Lord? Now there is no place to turn, no One to help, no way to find a way out. We can live without king and kingdom, land and city, but we can’t live without God.

Though all is lost, no answer comes, and no solution is in sight, God’s people still pray and plead. We call on our Lord to look at His Holy Place, to see what the Enemy has done, to remember Creation Power, and to arise and act again. Without visible hope in the presence of defeat we still pray to the God of Promises.

The age old theodicy problem is addressed many times in the Bible but never quite solved to anyone’s satisfaction. “Why do the wicked prosper, and the good people, like me, get the short end?” In terms of our studies, “Why do my enemies still linger to torment and destroy, while I don’t always experience rewards for good behavior?” The mystery is framed with hundreds of different questions.

The short answer: “Nevertheless, God is good.” The prosperity of the wicked almost caused me to slip and fall from faithfulness to a God who isn’t fair. I wash my hands in innocence and maintain a pure heart before god, but all in vain.

Then I entered the presence of God and it all became clear: “I have the Lord, and they don’t.” My enemies will perish; just wait. God is with me, and I am with God. He holds me, and I hold on to Him, and nothing will separate us. He will receive me to glory. “Whom do I have in heaven but Thee?” It is enough. He is my portion forever.

In spite of appearances to the contrary, I can still say, “God is good.” Take that!

All people all over the world of all times and all places have a dream of living in an ideal kingdom under an ideal king; some day there will be a place and time where life is peaceful, pleasant and prosperous. A perfect king who rules under the direct guidance of the Lord of creation is needed to bring about this “utopia.”

This ideal king rules in equal justice and perfect righteousness for all citizens. Rain, fertility, prosperity and abundance is provided freely. Safety, security and protection is guaranteed by this king for his kingdom. This kind of king was never realized for Israel, yet the dream never died and the hope of a future, idealized Messianic Kingdom under a Son of David grew stronger and stronger until one day a Man announced, “The kingdom of God has come.”

The Good News is: the ideal kingdom under the ideal king has come, is present, here and now; He lives and rules in the spirits of all who believe Him. It doesn’t get any closer than that and it is always available for us to enter by repentance and faith. We can leave the cardboard construction (world and flesh) of the Enemy and enter the real.

The Lord God is righteous and He cares about justice, rightness, fairness and equity for all His creation and all His creatures. Righteousness involves both deliverance and condemnation as long as evil and unrighteousness exist in the universe. Forgiveness, life and salvation cannot come until sin is judged and evil is eradicated. Righteousness is praised; right wins; justice prevails; and rightness rules.

The history-long war between good and evil, God and Satan, life and death, angels and demons, sin and holiness, flesh and spirit, kingdom of God and kingdoms of world will be fought until the Final Judgment of the Last day. Meanwhile, the battleground is in the soul for the soul.

One might think that the enemies might let up a bit on the faithful believer in old age, but not so. Enemies relentlessly continue to hurt the soul and seek to destroy life, no matter how long the Lord has been faithful throughout a long life. Therefore, the “old” believer continues to praise God for His righteousness and deliverances, pray for imprecations on the Enemies, and seek refuge and protection in the presence of God. And in the face of the devil’s lies, the Lord does not forsake. Right wins and rules again.