Tag: Travis Peterson

Jeremiah 20:9 – If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
.

Often people wonder about the mysterious call to ministry. We often hear tell of young men who felt a call to ministry at a particular time in their lives. To others, however, this concept may seem difficult to understand. What happened? What did those men hear?

I think that Jeremiah 20:9 is a great example of what happens when a person is truly called to ministry. Jeremiah, in the middle of his work, clearly wanted to stop saying what it was that he had to say. People were not impressed with his words. The messages that God had been giving to Jeremiah were causing others sorrow and earning Jeremiah punishments. Yet, when it was all said and done, Jeremiah could not stop speaking the words of God. No matter what the cost, no matter what the circumstances, Jeremiah had to speak God’s words. The message of God was burning inside Jeremiah, and he could not rest until he had shared God’s word with the people.

How does this relate to the call to ministry? Simple. Those who are truly called to ministry can not do anything else. This is not to say that one called to ministry lacks the skill to do work in the business world; rather, it is to say that the person called to ministry is compelled by God to serve him and him alone.

I still recall a particular moment in my own life when I recognized my own call to ministry. In a college class at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, a professor asked us if we really wanted to program computers for the rest of our lives. Though I had done well in my classes and could have certainly gotten a job in the field, I knew without question that I could never be happy in life unless I was serving the Lord in some sort of full-time ministry. I simply knew that nothing else would satisfy me other than helping others to know and worship our God. While many serve the Lord very faithfully in byvicational ministry (serving a church while working in a secular workplace), I knew that God had something different for me. This calling is not better than the calling of others, just different.

Now, many years removed from that moment in college, I still find that the power of God compels me to continue. His word is still life-changing, powerful, and perfect. His people still need to hear his word taught. Though I am a weak and often broken vessel, God still has chosen to use me to proclaim his word to his people. This is a great joy to me. Even though ministry can be hard, sometimes devastating; I still can do nothing else but proclaim the word of God to the people of God for the glory of God.

Jeremiah 2:12-13

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
.

The world is full of lies, not least of which are the lies that the world itself contains what can satisfy our souls. God has created us in a very particular way with very particular needs. He has made us so that there is only one thing that will truly satisfy our souls at their deepest points. God has created us with a deep longing, an unquenchable desire, for himself and his glory. God has made us so that we will only find our hearts satisfied when we behold and proclaim the glory of the Lord. We will only truly be happy when we worship God.

The tragedy of our lives is that we go looking to the world to find satisfaction for our souls when the only thing that will satisfy us is the Lord. The illustration from Jeremiah 2 is perfect. We turn our backs on the well of clean, pure, living water, and we instead put our faces in the dust, mud, and dirt of the broken cisterns of the world. We turn to things that may not be bad in and of themselves, but which are incomplete replacements for the truly soul-satisfying glory of God. We look to food, drink, sex, or possessions to find our joy. Sadly, in doing so, we turn our back on seeking our satisfaction in the one place that our hearts can truly find satisfaction, God himself.

So, what is the solution? Is the solution to swear off eating and turn away from marriage? Of course not. The solution is to seek first our joy, our satisfaction, our purpose for living in the only place that satisfaction can be found: God himself. Then, once we have truly found our satisfaction in the deep well of God’s glory, we can be free to enjoy the things God has created in their proper place. We can satisfy our souls with the Lord, and then live in (but not of) the world and not be destroyed by the trinkets and tiny substitute pleasures it has to offer. A man who has drunk deeply of the well of pure living water will no longer be tempted to drink a muddy trickle from a broken and polluted well. Similarly, a man who is satisfied in God will be able to turn away from the foolish indulgences of the flesh.

Isaiah 37:35-36 – “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
.

In two verses of the Bible, we learn three major truths about our God that many people do not fully grasp. Here in Isaiah 37:35-36, we find ourselves at the end of a crisis situation for Jerusalem. The Assyrian army, a brutal force, is preparing to attack. The people of Jerusalem have no chance to stand before their attackers. Yet, God promises something special. God promises that the Assyrians will not overrun Jerusalem.

Now, to the things we learn about God. First, look at the reasoning that God gives for saving the city of Jerusalem. Many people think that, if God helps a person, it is because that person has done enough good things to earn God’s help and protection. But in Isaiah 37:35, God declares that he will protect Jerusalem for the sake of his own name and for the sake of his promises made to David. God is acting, in this setting, for the sake of promoting and protecting his own reputation, his own glory.

Thus, the first lesson that we must learn is the lesson continually repeated throughout the scriptures: God’s top priority is God’s own glory. When God acts, he acts for his glory. When God fulfills his promises, he fulfills them to his glory. When God loves us, he loves us in such a way that displays his glory. Because God loves us, he allows us to behold his infinitely wondrous glory. Everything that exists does so for the glory of God. Let us learn from this that all of life, all of who we are must be centered on the glory of God if it is to be what it is intended to be.

Secondly, we learn that there is a genuine wrath of God. When God’s glory is assaulted as it was by the Assyrian king’s arrogance, he responds very strongly. God sent an avenging angel to destroy those who would dare attack the city that held the temple of God. And if that was true then, it is still true now. We do not dishonor the name and glory of God without doing so at great risk. Perhaps we do not see God send angels to destroy armies as much today as we might have seen during the formative days of Israel; yet, it is still dangerous, infinitely dangerous, to dishonor God. He is concerned about his glory, and we dare not affront him.

Thirdly, in this passage, we see a glimpse of the mighty power of God. In one evening, God sent one angel, one servant of his, to take on an army of 185,000. There was no fight. There was no close call. There was no battle. There was no escape. An entire 185,000 soldiers fell before the angel of God. If God can take out 185,000 in one night without breaking a sweat, we had better understand that his power is far beyond what we often ponder. We would do very well to keep the awesome might of God in the front of our minds as we live out our daily lives.

In two verses of the Bible, we are reminded that God is focused on his own glory, that God has a frightening wrath toward those who dishonor that glory, and that God has the power to enforce his will and fulfill his promises. This God we serve is awesome. He is glorious. His glory is the most important thing in the world. And we, if we are wise, will rightly reverence and fear him. IF we are wise, we will give him glory with all that we have. Even if we are in Christ and freed from any danger of his wrath, let us never fail to give our God the glory due his name.

Psalm 119:71 – It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
.

O how sadly we have confused prosperity in this life with the blessing of God! O how sadly we have confused affliction in this life with being somehow forgotten by God! Our modern, success-driven minds simply do not have a category for the glorious truth that is revealed by God in Psalm 119:71. Take a look once more at the verse, and see what David says is good.

David declared it good that he was afflicted. Why was his affliction good? His affliction was good, because it led to his learning and treasuring the law of God. David’s tough life circumstances, his hardships, his struggles actually led to him learning to love and follow the word of God more and more in his life. This all caused David to say that it was good, actually a positive thing, that he suffered. David understood that it is far better for him to love God’s law than it is for him to be comfortable.

How radical is this kind of thinking? It certainly does not sell well. You will not hear a Psalm 119:71 sermon at a seeker-driven church or on any of our prosperity preaching pseudo-Christian television programs. Why not? Because in order to embrace the truth of Psalm 119:71, you have to embrace an eternal, God-oriented worldview. In order to love Psalm 119:71, you have to love that God is in control of all things, including your affliction, and that it is good for God to allow you to suffer if it will lead you to see his greater glory.

So, where are you today? Do you understand that God is so in control of the world that your affliction can actually be good? Do you embrace such an eternal worldview that you are willing to suffer in this life if it will lead to eternal joy in the presence of your Lord? Are you willing to give up temporary happiness in order to gain eternal soul-satisfaction? Are you willing to understand that the blessing of God does not equal a successful earthly present life? If you are willing to accept these things, then you can embrace the beautiful teaching of God found in Psalm 119:71.

Revelation 16:5-7 -And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”
.

This text, found in the middle of the bowl judgments in the book of Revelation, reminds us of a very significant point. Regardless of how harsh the judgment, in eternity, all who witness the judgments of God will declare those judgments to be just and right. In our lives, we experience many things that are very difficult to comprehend. We struggle to know why it is that God would allow certain things to happen. We may, if we allow our sinful minds to wander, actually wonder if God is doing the right thing. But, when all is said and done, none of us will question the will and the works of God when we are in his presence for eternity.

Before putting this thought away, think of the significance of it. There are things that we will discover in eternity that, if we understood them now, might seem hard to take. But in eternity, there will be no question. If we find, in eternity, that someone was not truly saved that we believed to be saved, we will not accuse God of being unfair or unjust. We will declare what we see the altar declare in verse 7 above, that God’s ways are just. If we find that a truly evil person on earth was saved on their death bed, we will not complain. Instead, we will declare that God’s mercy is great and wonderful to behold.

It will do us good to acknowledge here on earth that we know that in eternity, all of God’s works and all of God’s ways are perfect. Even if we do not understand how God does things or why he does them the way that he does, we will never question his perfection or his justice. And if it is true that we will not question those things in eternity, maybe we can better learn to trust him now.

2 Chronicles 16:7 – At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.”

2 Chronicles 16:12 – In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.

Asa’s story is a sad story of a man who started well, but who finished poorly. In the early days of his life, Asa sought God. He relied on God for his needs to be met. Yet, in his latter days, Asa forgot the faithfulness of God, and he relied on his own strength, cleverness, and resourcefulness. It turned out that Asa was relying on the wrong things at the end, and the Lord was not pleased with him.

There is something greatly worth learning from Asa’s life. Asa relied on outside help instead of God when his army was in trouble. He relied on doctors instead of God when he got sick. I do not think that God is saying in these passages that we should never let others help us out or go to doctors. However, when we rely on others’ help or when we rely on doctors’ abilities to the exclusion of seeking the help of God, we dishonor God greatly. We need to seek God’s favor, his healing, his help first and foremost. We can seek God’s favor as we go to the doctor when we are sick, but we dare not forget to seek God’s help and rely solely on the advances of modern medicine.

In reality, we have lessons to learn from Asa for every part of life. Where do you rely on your own strength or the strength of others? Where is your trust? Are you thinking that you are safe and secure because your country has a strong military? Are you feeling like you will succeed because you are bright and energetic? Are you thinking you will remain healthy because you have a good doctor and a fine hospital? Do you think your church will grow because the pastor is gregarious and his sermons are riveting? If any of those things are your hope, without relying on God, you are dishonoring God just like Asa did. Repent, and recognize first and foremost that the Lord is the one in whom we trust. It is God who meets our needs. Only he is enough to care for us, and we must not think, even for a moment, that we can accomplish, even the simplest task, apart from him. Remember John 15:5: if we remain in Jesus, we will bear much fruit; but apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

John 11:5-6 – Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

John 11:14-15 – Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
.

John Piper adeptly points out in The Blazing Center that the account of the death and eventual resurrection of Lazarus serves to teach us an invaluable lesson about the importance, the very primacy, of the glory of God. Lazarus, a good friend to Jesus, was sick. He was, in fact, dying. Jesus, rather than going to heal Lazarus the minute he received the news, instead chose to wait until Lazarus died before heading to the village.

Here are the obvious points to ponder: Did Jesus love Lazarus? Yes. Did Jesus love Lazarus’ family? Absolutely. Did Jesus love his own disciples? Without question. Then how in the world did Jesus let all of these people go through such pain, such sorrow, such tortuous agony of losing a dear loved one when Jesus could have prevented the entire situation? That last question is the one worth pondering.

It was more loving for Jesus to let Lazarus die and to let his family and friends suffer loss than it would have been for Jesus to have come and healed Lazarus. How? Because, when they all saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, they saw more of the glory of God than they ever would have experienced had they simply experienced a healing. Thus, it is more important for us to experience the glory of God than it is for us to be healthy, happy, comfortable, or even alive.

Do you have in your mind a list of things that God has to do for you if he really loves you? You had likely better change that list. God need only do one kindness for you to demonstrate his love; that kindness is that he reveal himself to you. God need only let you experience a relationship with him in order to give you everything you could ever truly need. “Let me know you! Let me see your glory! Let me experience your presence,” should be the cry of your heart. Do not keep comfort and ease as the tests for God’s love. God demonstrated his love for you when Christ died for your sins (Romans 5:8). And, God shows you ultimate love when he allows you to see his glory and power, no matter what pain you have to travel through in order to gain that glimpse of God’s glory.