Tag: Travis Peterson

Forgetting How to Blush

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How do we handle texts from the prophets condemning the sin of Israel and Judah? That is not as easy a question as one might imagine. On the one hand, it seems simple. Sin is sin. God is not pleased when nations do the things he forbids. But the prophets are speaking something more.

The prophets who speak to Israel and Judah are speaking to a people who have made a covenant with the Lord. They have promised to obey his laws. They have accepted God’s promise of protection and provision. They also have accepted his promise of judgment if they refuse to obey him.

In our modern setting, our national government is not a one-to-one parallel with Judah. America is not Israel. Even if many of our founders were genuine believers, even if you accept the narrative that the nation is truly intended to be a Christian nation, we are not in covenant with the Lord. What Israel was is different than what we are. And thus to apply the words of the prophets directly is not exactly fitting.

The prophets were speaking to people who were in covenant relationship with the Lord, who had accepted his governing, who had signed off on his justice, and who then turned and rebelled. And I still want to ask, what is the closest parallel? How do we apply something like the following?

Jeremiah 6:12b-15

for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
13 “For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.

Notice with whom God is most upset. God is speaking powerfully against the religious in Israel who are speaking a false peace to the people of the land. God is speaking to false prophets and other such men who are telling the people of the land that they need not repent. God is promising judgment to come for those who should have the truth, and out of a love of sin or a love of comfort or a love of status are telling the sinning nation around them that it’s all just fine.

Now, do not think for a moment that God is giving the non-religious of the land a pass. They have committed abomination, but they do not even know how to blush. The concept of shame for grievous sin against the Lord is simply gone from that society. And thus the judgment of God is coming.

How do we handle this? I’d say two things at least are in order. On a simple side, sin is sin, and we need to see that our land is full of evil. Be careful not to let gratitude for our nation and those who have helped us maintain freedom prevent you from seeing our need of national repentance. WE embrace as a nation what God calls abomination. We have legalized the shedding of innocent blood. We have publicized sexual immorality and condemn those who still know how to blush. And if we do not repent, repenting as a nation, we are under wrath that we will not survive.

But, as a Christian, I need to be really careful not to let this passage make me only point fingers at the lost world around me. God’s strongest condemnation here is for the people who claim to be his people, the religious leaders, who speak peace to a land in rebellion against the Lord. We cannot do that and be faithful Christians. We need to weep. WE need to blush. We need to call our land to repentance. We need to warn of judgment and not rest in a supposed righteousness built into our culture.

Our nation is not Israel. We as a people do not have covenant promises of favor from God. We would do well not to boldly commit abomination before the Lord. Those who are in covenant relationship with the Lord, his church, need to be sure first not to participate in the sins of the nation. We next need to be sure not to pretend that the sins of the nation are OK. And we need to warn the nation to repent by first coming to Christ and then by turning from the evils that bring the wrath of God down on any nation.

Does this make me about modern social justice? Nope, I’m about repentance. I’m not about allowing the secular academy to tell us what is and what is not acceptable repentance. I’m about the word of God calling the people of God to stand in opposition to all things that dishonor God. So I hate racism. I hate murder. I hate abuse. And it is my job, as a Christian, to let the word of God command me how to live and how to call others to repentance.

A Quick Thought on God Knowing You

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One common interpretive tool to attempt to make sense of the predestining grace of God is a heavy reliance on the concept of foreknowledge. Those who would argue that God responds to the future choices of his free creatures in order to determine his decree of predestination have to argue that God, with divine foreknowledge, looks down the corridor of time and sees who will and who will not choose him.

A reformed response to this kind of thinking is to point out that God’s word regularly uses the idea of God knowing someone with a different semantic meaning than simple information. When the Lord knows a person or a nation, the Lord is expressing that he has a particular favor on them. After all, the Lord knows, intellectually, all that there is to know. But for God to know you is for him to have a particularly loving relationship with you.

Consider the words of God at the beginning of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:4-5

4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

What is God declaring to Jeremiah? Why is it such a significant turn of phrase? God says that he knew Jeremiah even before Jeremiah was formed in the womb. If this is merely God saying that he had knowledge of Jeremiah’s existence or even Jeremiah’s future choices, that is both amazing and ordinary. It is amazing, as we know our God knows all things. But it is ordinary in that this phrase would mean nothing more to Jeremiah than the expression of the fact that God has intellectual awareness of Jeremiah in just the same way that God has intellectual awareness of all human beings.

But look at the parallel. To know Jeremiah was for God to consecrate him. For God to consecrate Jeremiah was to set him apart as a prophet. The knowledge is put in a parallel position to the consecration in the poetic lines. This is not God saying that he understood what kind of guy Jeremiah would be and so he chose to use him. No, it is God saying that, before Jeremiah was ever formed, God had already set upon Jeremiah his consecration, his sacred calling. God knew Jeremiah in a special way, not in the same, ordinary way that God has knowledge of all humanity. God chose Jeremiah before he was born so that Jeremiah would be set apart and fulfill a glorious divine purpose.

Repentance for Questions

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As the book of Job comes to a close, we watch the dramatic confrontation take place, but it is not the one we expect at the beginning. From the third chapter of the book onward, we are expecting to see Job confront the Lord with his questions as to why all this bad stuff is happening to him. But, in the end, it is the Lord confronting Job, and rightly so.

By chapter 40, we have already had a couple of chapters in which God has shown Job that Job is unqualified to even ask the questions that he is demanding that God answer. Job was not there when God set the universe in place. Job was not there when God set the stars in order. Job does not know how God keeps the snow and the hailstones. Job is finite, and there is no way that he is ready to question God.

And as chapter 40 begins, God checks with Job to see if Job has gotten the point.

Job 40:1-8

1 And the Lord said to Job:
2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further.”
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
7 “Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

In verses 1-2, God asks Job if he really wants to fight this battle. And Job, in 3-5, says that he will remain silent. Job has almost gotten there, but he is not quite there yet.

Thus, with the beginning of verse 6, we get another couple of chapters of questions in which the Lord again declares his infinite might and infinite wisdom in comparison to Job’s finitude.

All this to get to verse 8, the question that God asks that should ring in our ears like a gong. In verse 8, God asks, “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” And you should be able to feel what the answer to this question should be. It is a rhetorical question, and it’s obvious teaching point is this: No human being has the right to attempt to declare God to be in the wrong.

Stop and consider this truth more clearly. What would be required for a human being to have the right to declare God to be in the wrong? There are only two possibilities that I can think of, and each of them is horrific. One possibility would be that a human being could declare God to be in the wrong if there is an external measure of right and wrong to appeal to that is outside of, beyond, and over God. But if such a standard existed, a thing above God to measure him and find him right or wrong, that standard would be the ultimate, not the deity it claims to measure. Thus, to declare that God is measured by an external standard would declare God to be less than God. The second alternative, one even more blasphemous if possible, would be to declare that the human himself is in a superior position to the Lord and thus has the right to measure and judge God.

But all of theology teaches us that God is the ultimate. God is holy, a cut above us in his perfections, and is measured by no external standard. God gives us the standard of right, not the other way around.

Job 42:1-6

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”

In chapter 42, Job repents. He even laughs at his own foolishness for how he darkened counsel by words without knowledge. Job knows that his words added nothing to the discussion. Job knows that his questions came from an entirely wrong place and lacked wisdom. And so, unlike chapter 40 when Job merely said he would be silent, now Job repents. He was wrong in his questions and attitude. He was wrong in believing that he could declare God to be wrong. And so Job turns. And the book ends with God showing Job grace and favor.

I do not, in this little post, desire to be unsympathetic to Job. He messed up—otherwise repenting would not be the proper response—but he messed up far less than many a human would have done in his setting. Remember his wife telling him in 2:9 just to curse God and die? No, I do not want to put Job down in any way. But this is a significant point that we must grab hold of. God is God and we are not. We are in no position to judge the morality of God, because we lack the wisdom and purity to even begin to measure his perfections.

I have had conversations with many people who do not understand the ways of the Lord. They may even say, at the end of the day, that they disagree with laws God made or things God calls sin. They may disagree with the existence of hell or that Christ is the only way. And all of these are questions of the actual morality, the moral goodness, of God.

We must, if we are not to be taken down a very dangerous path, begin with a proper understanding of the infinite wisdom and unending holiness of god. We must remember that, if God really is God, he cannot be measured by a morality that is external to him. He must be the standard of perfection, for no other being in the universe matches his glory. God is right. And when we think that we can judge his choices, we are acting, to follow Scripture’s own description, like fools.

Who Is This?

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One place where modern folks might find the book of Job quite helpful is in how the Lord responds to the questions of Job. It is popular these days to tell everybody that every question they have is a valid one, a good one. We are told there are no stupid questions. We are told that everybody has the right to be angry with god—an obvious falsehood, but not one opposed by nearly enough people.

But consider Job. This man suffered. He went through a hardship that he did not earn through open rebellion against the Lord. And he had questions. Job did not understand why God was doing what god was doing. The actions of God had hurt Job. And Job felt like he deserved an answer.

If the modern Christian wrote this book, I think he would be likely to depict God as a friendly psychologist, listening, nodding, validating Job’s feelings. Perhaps a modern author would even have God tell Job what was up, opening the curtain to give Job a well-deserved peek. But that is not what really happened.

Job 38:1-4

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.

Job had questions for God. Job demanded answers. Job let us know that he would not be satisfied until he could get from the Lord the answers he sought.

God turned to Job, and his first two questions make clear how this is all going to go. God asks who in the world this man is. He is darkening counsel through words without knowledge. That is God telling us that, as Job speaks, he is lowering the IQ of the room. Job is speaking without knowledge. Thus, Job is muddying the waters and not shining the light of wisdom. Job is decrying the unfairness of God, but Job does not know enough about ultimate reality to speak.

Then, in the second question, God turns to Job, tells him to get ready, and then asks where Job was when God laid the foundation of the earth. Are you as old as the planet, Job? If you are not, then how could you possibly think you know enough about reality to begin to question the God who created the universe?

Think of something you know nothing about: cooking, carpentry, plumbing, physics, musical composition, etc. I’m sure that one of those categories will suffice. For illustrative purposes, let’s say you know nothing about plumbing. A plumber, an expert plumber, the kind of plumber that Mario would be uber-jealous of, sets up a new bathroom for you. Imagine that you look at his work, and then begin to scold him for having used what is, in your opinion, the wrong tool to tighten up a pipe fitting. You look at him and demand that he explain to you how he could possibly have chosen the particular wrench he did. Would you not expect the expert to look at you and say, “Where were you when I set up my plumbing business? Have you been trained?”

Your question to the imaginary plumber is infinitely less insulting than was Job’s question of the Lord. Job has no knowledge, none whatsoever, to qualify him to demand that God explain himself. And the point is that neither do we.

God is holy. God is infinite in his perfections and wisdom. You and I are sinners, finite in our understanding. We have no right to demand God answer to us. We have no right to sit in judgment over the Lord as if we could evaluate his decisions. God is God and we are not. And the book of Job reminds us of this foundational truth. Indeed, who do we think we are?

God is God and We are Not

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In the book of Job, Elihu brings us wisdom that the older men sitting in front of him are lacking. Job gets off track and declares his innocence before the Lord, a dangerous thing. The other three friends declare that they understand exactly what God is doing and they offer no comfort to Job, a dangerous thing. And only when the frustrated Elihu speaks do we start really getting some wisdom.

When Elihu speaks in the text below, he will open to us two significant truths that we need to keep hold of today.

Job 34:13-15

13 Who gave him charge over the earth,
and who laid on him the whole world?
14 If he should set his heart to it
and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
15 all flesh would perish together,
and man would return to dust.

Elihu shows us, in his questions and thoughts here, two important things. First, he reminds us that God is not under the authority of any other power. God is the authority, the ultimate judge. Second, he shows us that God is the necessary being, the one upon which the entire universe rests.

In verse 13, Elihu asks, “Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?” What is the obvious answer? Nobody put God in charge. God is the Creator. God is the one by whom, for whom, through whom the universe exists.

That truth must remind us that God is not, therefore, subject to any sort of outside judgment of his actions. God is not judged by an external standard of justice. God is not measured by a law or a standard other than himself. We do not look at God’s actions and then look to someone or something else to check to see if his actions are OK. God is the measure that determines righteousness. God is not subject to any other measure.

Then, in verses 14-15, Elihu says to us, “If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.” This is the idea that God is necessary to the existence of all that is. If the Lord were to stop upholding the universe by his will and his power, the universe would cease to exist. God makes the universe be. The universe contributes nothing to the existence of God.

Realize that both of these points come as a response to Job’s accusations of injustice on the part of god. And thus, these points should also come to modern folks who accuse God of injustice. When a person indicates that the ways of the Lord do not meet their personal understanding of what is right, they need to recall that God, not mankind, is the standard of what is right. So, it should not surprise us one bit that God does not fit our description of how things should be. God is straight while we are crooked. God is even while we are warped. God is holy while we are sinners. And God measures us; we do not measure God.

And when a person thinks to himself or herself that they will walk away from the Lord, we also need to remind them that God is necessary for their very existence. They live by his mercy and in accord with his sustaining power. To turn and think they will make a point against God by not following him is not to harm God. We are subject to the judgment of the Lord. We are dependent upon the Lord. He has never been and will never be reliant upon us.

May we allow verses like these to remind us of the old truth that God is God and we are not. God is Master and we are his subjects. God is right and we are naturally wrong. And the only way for us to be right is for us to shape our view of the world to match the revelation of God in his holy word.

Two Unfamiliar Truths in a Familiar Prophecy

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In Isaiah 7, the Lord presents to us a prophecy that we know well. We see it quoted in Matthew 1 and we think about it a lot at Christmas time. This is the prophecy regarding the virgin conceiving and bearing a son.

But I fear that many Christians are so far from knowing the history of Israel and Judah that they miss what the prophecy originally told us. That lack of knowledge for many opens us up to a couple of errors that can slip in and leave us vulnerable to attacks from those who would attempt to attack the faith.

First, the history. There are some simple facts you must have if you are going to understand the prophecy in its original context. The nation of Israel, the people of God, was divided into two nations around the year 930 BC. The northern kingdom, comprised of ten of the original 12 tribes of Israel, was often identified as Israel, Ephraim, or Joseph. The southern kingdom continued to be ruled by descendants of King David, and was known as Judah for the most part.

When Isaiah spoke to King Ahaz in the southern kingdom during the 8th century BC, Judah was being threatened by a combined force. The northern kingdom was allying with the nation of Syria to come and attack the southern kingdom. This was a major threat, and the king of the southern kingdom was terrified. But Isaiah came to tell Ahaz that this was not going to be a problem. Syria and Israel would not conquer Judah. The Lord would not let that happen. And, quite soon, God would bring the nation of Assyria into the picture to deal with both threats.

With all that in mind, read the prophecy now.

Isaiah 7:14-17

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

The prophecy is simple, but it uses an interesting illustration to show the king how short the time will be until the Lord fulfills his promise. For a moment, do not hang up on the word “virgin.”
A woman will be pregnant and have a child. Before that child is old enough to know between good and bad, the threat to the southern kingdom will be gone. So, within a couple of years, the thing that is terrifying the people of Judah is going to be wiped out by the sovereign hand of God working through the Assyrians. And, so you know, God did exactly what he promised.

Why is this important? There are two things we need to learn from this about the Bible and about interpreting prophecy that will protect us today. And, that is all beside the fact that we see, in this prophecy, that god, the Sovran One over all, is able to tell us exactly what the future holds and to use anyone he chooses to accomplish his will.

First, note that prophecy in the Old Testament can have more than one type of fulfillment. This prophecy had both an immediate and a future fulfillment. Isaiah’s words to King Ahaz were fulfilled in less than five years. A child was born. Before that child was old enough to make moral decisions, Judah was free from the threat of the Syrian and northern armies.

Second, in order to help us understand how that prophecy could be fulfilled in the years of Isaiah, we do need to know that the Hebrew word here translated “virgin” can mean simply young woman, and it does not have to imply physical virginity. In Isaiah’s case, it looks like the word is a reference to Isaiah’s wife whom we see have a son in Isaiah 8.

Wait! Does that mean that those who would attack the New Testament claim of the virgin birth have a leg to stand on? Nope. You see, even though this word is a word that could mean young woman in Hebrew, when Matthew wrote it in a citation of the prophecy, under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, he used a word that means virgin in the way we understand and use it today—virgin, not just young woman. Plus, when you read the accounts of Matthew and Luke, there is no question whatsoever that these biblical authors are intending to communicate to us that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and literally born of a woman who was literally, physically a virgin. So, that Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14, a word with a broader semantic range, in no way speaks against the truth of the way that Matthew claims the prophecy with a Greek word with a more narrow semantic range. Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born. And all this was by the miraculous working of our holy God.

When you understand the two facts I just mentioned, the Isaiah 7 prophecy and those who try to oppose its application to Jesus make far more sense. Prophecies can have an immediate and a later fulfillment. Isaiah spoke of his wife and, as we see in Matthew, of a virgin to arrive centuries later. And the glorious way that God inspired the prophecy makes it apply perfectly to both.

Right Doctrine, Wrongly Applied

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Have you ever heard a person say something that, for the most part is totally true, but which you know has some real wrong in it too? This happens when we try to comfort each other, explain mysteries, confront each other, and in a number of other places. If we are not careful, if we are not loving, we will say right things, or mostly right things, in a very wrong way.

In the book of Job, we know that Job’s 3 friends are not helping. The Lord strongly rebukes them for their useless counsel. But take a look at this 6 verse chapter, and think about how much Bildad said that was completely true.

Job 25

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3 Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can man be in the right before God?
How can he who is born of woman be pure?
5 Behold, even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
6 how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Bildad is talking, and I would suggest that most, if not all, of what he says here is technically true. For sure, he is correct in verses 1-4. Perhaps verses 5 and 6 are problematic, especially in the maggot imagery. But in truth, he, in those two verses, seems to be coming from proper theology. This chapter says that God is high, holy, and mighty. Sin-stained creation is not holy to him. Mankind in our sin cannot be holy to him, not without him granting us a holiness from outside ourselves. For the most part, Bildad is right.

So what is wrong? Bildad is speaking his true theology at a nasty time and with a nasty assumption. In his way, Bildad is arguing with Job. This really is not a good time to argue with Job. The poor man has lost everything and is deeply hurting. Is now really the time to straighten every part of him out? Job is making some mistakes, for sure, and they will be corrected. But maybe Bildad needs to be loving his friend more than fixing him.

IN his nasty assumption, Bildad is assuming that he knows the heart motivation of the Lord. Bildad is assuming that he can say with certainty that the reason that Job is suffering as he is stems from the sinfulness of Job. Bildad is rebuking Job because God is obviously, to Bildad, punishing Job for his sin. And when Job retorts that he has not sinned to earn this punishment, Bildad says that no person is sinless enough not to earn God’s punishment.

The problem with Bildad’s assumption is that, in that assumption, Bildad is wrong. God is not punishing Job for Job’s sinfulness in this experience. In chapters 1 and 2, God points out the righteousness of Job and the narrator of the story tells us that, in those chapters, Job did not sin with his lips. Now, as the argument with his friends progresses, Job does sin, which is why he repents at the end. But Job is not suffering for his own sin. Job is going through a hardship because this is the will of God to the glory of God.

We should recognize, dear Christian friends, that we, like Bildad, can say very true things in very wrong and unhelpful ways. If we apply a theological truth to a situation that we do not understand, we can speak truth and be dead wrong. And if we speak theological truth in a loveless, uncaring, nasty way, we do not honor the Lord. Instead, we do harm to people that we are supposed to love.

I’m not at all suggesting that we not correct those in need of correction. I’m totally for us challenging people when they are in sin or when they preach falsehoods. There are many who claim Christ and who have bought into big lies from the world. We want to stand strong on the word as we challenge those positions. But I would suggest that we begin these conversations with as much love and respect as we can muster. And even if the conversation gets heated on the other side, let us remember to be the people who do not have to lose our cool, because we are the people standing on the word of God.

But when you have a hurting, Christian friend, a friend in deep emotional distress that is obvious, perhaps that is not the best time to drop a theological bomb on them. Be a friend. Be a comfort. When they are able to think with you again, help them straighten out their doctrine. Never belittle the word of God. But also do not crush the hearts of people made in the image of God.

Counsel on Comfort: No Lies for God

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As Job found himself confronted by men who ought to be comforting him in his time of pain, his frustration grew. The three supposed friends of Job came to him with settled explanations for why God was allowing Job’s calamity. In general, their answers to Job were logical—you must have sinned, God must want you to repent. The problem is that their reasons were wrong. They did not know what the Lord was doing. And they could not simply say to Job that they did not know.

Job 13:4-7

4 As for you, you whitewash with lies;
worthless physicians are you all.
5 Oh that you would keep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?

Job asks a question of these men that caught my attention: “Will you speak falsely for God?” What a horrible thing to consider. Why would anyone speak falsely for God?

But a little consideration helps me see that this is a very real temptation. When we find a situation we do not like, how do we often speak? When we run into a believer who is suffering, what are some of the foolish things that come out of our mouths? Often we think we have something to say that will both comfort the person in pain while showing them that God has nothing to do with the situation. And if we say something like that, we speak falsely, even as we attempt to speak for God.

Let us be very careful with hurting friends. On the one hand, we do not wish to be the blunt, useless, unhelpful counselors that were Job’s friends. We need to weep with those who weep. Sometimes, often times, our best move will be to shut our mouths, put an arm around a friend’s shoulder, and just let them know we are there with them. Quite often it would be better for us not to try to explain to somebody our rationale for what they are going through.

I’ve been at many funerals. I’ve been with many families in hospital rooms. I’ve stood in the line of family members having people walk past us to share their condolences. Let me say to you with all honesty that the least helpful people in all of those lines were the people who thought they had something wise to say. The best words I heard were often, “I’m so sorry,” or even one brave soul, at my dad’s funeral, who simply hugged me and said, “This sucks.”

When we do speak, we need to offer hope in the goodness of God. We need to help people know that the loving and powerful God who made them has not forgotten them. We need to say things that let people know that we care and we are not abandoning them. WE need to let people know that it makes sense why they would hurt in their situation, even if we do not have a perfect explanation for why it is all happening or why now.

But we also need to avoid the dangerous lies of men who let go of true, biblical doctrine in the face of pain. We do not help by speaking falsely of God. WE do not help by telling somebody that God is somehow not in control of bad situations, only of good ones. No, that is empty comfort and speaking falsely for God. We must not deny divine providence when our Shepherd walks us through the valley of the shadow.

Perhaps we would do better being honest with the hurting. We do not know the ways and plans of the Lord. We do not know why some of us go through deep pains. And we will sorrow with the hurting, even as we declare their situation to be genuinely evil, genuinely hurtful, truly something that stinks. At the same time, if we are going to speak honestly, we cannot deny the truth that God is in control, God is still over all, and God is still good. Even when we do not understand his ways because he is greater than us in an infinite capacity, God’s ways are still right and his actions are still good. There is no comfort in pretending that God has lost control, that God was caught unaware, or that God’s hands are tied. There is great comfort in knowing that God is going to do eternal good, even when our lives hurt in the here and now.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon as a Hermeneutic

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Did you ever play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? Someone names a celebrity. You have to name a celebrity who appeared with that celebrity in a film. Then you take the second celebrity, name a celebrity who appeared with that celebrity in another film, and continue the chain. The goal is to arrive at actor, Kevin Bacon, as quickly as possible, within six degrees of separation.

For example, start with Charlton Heston:

  • Charlton Heston appeared with Val Kilmer in Tombstone (perhaps my favorite movie).
  • Val Kilmer starred with Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
  • Tom Cruise appeared with Kevin Bacon in A Few Good men.

In my study of 1 Peter 3:18-22, I discovered that Peter was using a method of topical connection somewhat similar to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to bring encouragement to Christians. Of course, it is my civic duty to share this with you.

1 Peter 3:18-22 – For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Peter is here offering encouragement to suffering Christians. In the process, he walks us through some really obscure topics to make his point. And, like Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon, the end of one thought connects us to the beginning of a seemingly unrelated thought. And somehow, when it is all said and done, Peter starts with Jesus and returns to Jesus.

How does that work?

  • Jesus suffered in the flesh, but was made alive in the spirit.
  • Speaking of the spirit, in the spirit, Jesus preached to spirits who were in prison for their disobedience during the days of Noah.
  • Speaking of Noah, Noah built the ark and was one of only 8 people saved from the waters of the flood.
  • Speaking of water, that reminds me of baptism which saves us through an appeal to God based on the resurrection of Jesus.

Here we see a set of leaps that take us through the mystical, from Jesus to Jesus, and leave us with hope. How this all gives us hope, well, that is the topic for Sundays’ sermon. But for now, know that the hermeneutical principle of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon has played a role.

Some Songs We Need

pastortravislv

In the final section of Psalm 119, I notice a verse that has not previously gotten my attention, but which has it now.

Psalm 119:172

My tongue will sing of your word,
for all your commandments are right.

David writes that he is going to sing of God’s word. Of course, that is precisely what is happening in Psalm 119. It also is what we see done in Psalm 19. Those texts beautifully proclaim the value and perfection of the word of God.

The thing that got my attention is that, as someone who has led worship for years, I do not know of many new songs that really sing of the word of God. We sing of salvation. We sing of the joys of heaven to come (though not as much as we used to). We sing of Jesus. We sing songs calling the church to action. But, off the top of your head, what is a modern song about the word of God?

Without making this a challenge for people’s musical memories, and without discussing the value of a dated song like “Thy Word,” and without having someone demand a Psalms only song set, I would like to say that we need more songs, new songs, that sing of the word of God. God’s word is perfect. God’s word is our lifeline of revelation so that we know and can obey the Lord. Without God’s word, we are hopelessly floundering in life.

Now, note the devotional value in the verse too. David will sing of God’s word. Something about the word of God is so great to David to make it worthy of a song. Think of how many things around you are not song worthy. Then consider how great is the value of the word that God would inspire a man, in a song, to remind us that the word of God is worth singing about. O may we treat the word as a song-worthy treasure.

And, secondly, notice that David says all of God’s commandments are right. Do you believe that? Be careful. There are commandments in the word that tend to embarrass us. There are commandments that we hide from. Are you really ready to say that all God’s commandments are right?

I will say that all God’s commandments are right. How dare I? How can I say that? God is always right. I believe the word of God to be his revelation of himself to us. And thus, all his commandments are right. He shows us what is right by him showing us himself and his will. He defines right. God is not measured by a right that is outside of him. Right is measured by whether or not it fits the ways and word of God.