Category: Christian Life

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The Scroll, its Seals, the Songs

Behold the Lamb. The Baptist proclaimed this message to his followers. When Jesus arrived, the forerunner cleared the air and made plain the character of the Messiah and His Mission. The Lamb came to take away the sin of the world.

The Apostle John heard this declaration and believed. He began to follow Jesus.

At the time of the writing of Revelation, John again encountered the Lamb. Here, we read of how this man beheld the Lamb in His glory. He had been transported to the place where he could witness the full scope of Christ’s reign over Creation.

We come to Revelation 5 and begin to see a series of passages that describe life on earth. The vision starts with words on pages that are sealed followed by trumpets, thunders, and bowls.  Each one of these things come in sets of seven.

First, John saw a book. It was a something of a scroll. It rested in the right hand of the One who sat on the Throne.

The unusual thing about this scroll was the way that it was written. The Apostle noticed that this scroll had writing on both sides of it.

Scrolls inscribed by pen and ink had to be crafted on one side only. The reason was that having ink on both sides of the parchment would have created a sticky mess. The pages would have been rendered unreadable.

The significance of having words on both sides of the scroll is that Heaven reads the way of our world from a different perspective. The Throne of the Lord possesses the vantage point of omnipotence, omniscience, and everywhere presence.

Imagine a fine tapestry, an elaborate oriental rug perhaps. One side is ordered and ornate. Go to the other side and what is seen is how the threads are woven together and tied off.

Think of the fabric of our earth this way. We see what we see, but there is a whole series of unseen strands, seams, and knots fashioned according to the mind of God.

The King of History

Seven seals held the scroll together. These would have appeared to John as official-looking fasteners, each carrying an imprint of governmental authority.

In Roman days, the Empire affixed wax seals impressed with an imperial symbol. The seal could only be opened, or broken, by a designated authority recognized by the government. The tomb of Jesus was sealed in such a manner. To break a seal unlawfully was counted as a high offense and was punishable by death.

John sat in wonder at the scene before him. A strong angel posed the big question: “Who is worthy to open the book and loose its seals?” (Revelation 5:2).

All was still. None moved to take the scroll.

John was crestfallen. He wept much. He sensed the importance of the words contained in that book.

Who was worthy? One of the elders among the 24 seated in that throne room came forward to comfort the Apostle.

“Weep no more! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Revelation 5:6). The Son of Man had triumphed in His work on earth. He could lay claim to dominion in every corner of it.

It was not by power, nor by might, that this victory came. The Son won by the Spirit moving through His weakness in humility.

And so here John beheld the Lamb standing as the One slain. Memories of the Cross flashed into his consciousness. By that offering of His broken body, the Son gained the authority to set in motion the progression of human history that would be unveiled in the coming pages.

Seals unsealed. Trumpets sounded out. Thunders roared. Bowls poured forth. These things are coming soon.

Worship Breaks Forth

First, however, John sees a season of absolute worship. The Lion prevailed as the Lamb. He gave His life as the ransom for all. He took the scroll. The Story’s final chapters are in His hands. The grandest of grand finales are about to be shown to all present. The joy of the moment long anticipated could not be contained. Father, Son, and Spirit altogether in union with saints and angels shall celebrate as John looked on.

The rounds of rejoicing begin with the elders, the representatives of mankind there in the presence of the Throne. A new song burst forth from them as they bowed to the Lamb. They took up their harps; they grabbed their guitars and began to play and sing.

Fragrances rose from the bowls that they held. The whole place was made to smell of prayer. The supplications of the saints of the all ages scented the scene.

The song was full of the lyrics of redemption. The work of the Lamb had drawn men to Him and to His salvation. Redeemed to God by the Blood – a new and living institution had formed. This is the Church of Christ in her glory, members in particular called out from “every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

Paul wrote of this mystery of oneness begun by work of the Son in his letter to the Ephesians. “Now there are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

Yes, the oracles of God were sent to the world through the people of Israel, out of them came the Son and Savior. Now, all are one in Him who is the Chief Cornerstone of the Temple, a holy habitation filled with Spirit.

This moment in time is what all believers — all those who have chosen to hear and become friends of God — have been waiting for. No wonder their joy breaks through. Soon they will form a kingdom of priests to rule and reign with Him.

All Creation Joins in Song

The sound of this song ripples in all directions and to all creatures. The voices of untold angels enter into the chorus of faith. “And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands” (Revelation 5:11).

Again from Ephesians, we read Paul’s words about this angelic interest in the program of redemption: “His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10).

The Story told on earth speaks beyond the clans, tribes, and nations formed from the dust. The record of Righteousness goes forth to the eternal audience, to the greater congregation mentioned in Psalm 40, to the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).

God’s purpose was to demonstrate His ultimate power to the realm invisible to our eyes. He revealed that the nature of the Lamb was the way for Him to roar as the Lion throughout the universe. It was this joy that Christ incarnated, living as one of us, set before Him in His mission.

Revelation 5 climaxes with a declaration of total communion found at last in all the Lord has made. “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, ‘Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him who sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.’”

May we think upon this reality, for it is reality for the Lord who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Let us look unto Jesus. Let us behold the Lamb, “… the Author and Finisher of our Faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Alleluia and Amen.

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Jesus at the Door

Revelation is the Bible book that piques our curiosity in a major way. Its words turn lots of heads. Strong reactions are provoked. Some take it literally. Others read it as figurative – moral stories with hidden messages. Others dismiss it as fantasy, a collection of allegorical expressions from the wacky minds of persecuted people suffering from martyr complexes.

To take a look at this part of our Scriptures means that we first have to consider who received these words and to whom they were directed.  Like the majority of the New Testament books, Revelation was crafted as a letter. It had a sender and an intended audience. This is a reality presented right up front.

The angel came to earth to visit John the Apostle and reveal “things that must shortly take place” (Revelation 1:1). Before the discourses about the things above and events afar off in the future, the words provide details about the situations on the ground in the congregations as they existed in Asia Minor as Year 100 approached.

There’s a promise right up front for us: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). He who ignores Revelation misses out on something awesome.

At this point of his hearing, seeing, and writing, John was the only one of the original 12 Apostles yet alive. He had survived waves of attacks on the Christian movement. He still witnessed the Gospel spread throughout the Empire and beyond it – Thomas, the doubter of John 20, had reached and perished in India by this time.

John watched over Mary, the mother of Jesus, as he was instructed to by Jesus as He, the Savior, hung upon the Cross. Eventually, the Apostle wound up in Ephesus, serving the congregation that had been founded and nurtured by Paul and his companions, Priscilla and Aquila.

John saw the Lord in his time of trouble. The message came to him as he was in exile on Patmos, an island used by the Roman Empire for banished political prisoners. He was sent there “because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).

Circumstances aside, John worshipped in Spirit and Truth. Jesus met him and commanded him to write a letter to the churches of the region. The Son delivered seven particular messages addressed to the leaders of these congregations.

Kingdom of Priests

For starters, believers who take up and read Revelation are reinforced in their identity as members of Christ, the first born of the dead, the One who loved us and “released us from our sins by His Blood” (Revelation 1:5).  As ruler of all of kings on earth, the Alpha and Omega who possesses all dominion, has called his followers to serve as Kingdom Priests.

This phrasing hearkens back to Exodus 19. There, the Israelites, freshly delivered from their long season of slavery in Egypt were told of their purpose in the plan of the Lord: “… you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

What does it mean to be a priest in the economy of God? The book of Leviticus outlined the duties delegated to the tribe chosen to serve at the Tabernacle, the worship center for Israel. Among other things, their primary jobs were to teach the commandments, to receive the sin offerings and sacrifice them, to inspect those stricken with leprosy and pronounce cleanness and uncleanness. They served the people as they were to get to know God and helped them to learn how to walk in His Presence.

Did they fulfill this purpose faithfully? They did not, as the Old Testament stories show us. That does not mean that they are done away with.

These priestly duties now fall to us who belong to Jesus. We are preeminently priests, servants of His Temple, the Temple of His Body (see John 2). We talk of God. We point to the one true Finished Work offering of the Son. We encourage people to draw near to Him. We reveal Heaven’s thoughts on sin and repentance, on forgiveness and reconciliation.

Touched by the Son

There, in the setting when Revelation was communicated, Jesus sought to draw His disciples back into order with their great calling. For this reason, I see it as important for me to put myself into each of the churches addressed in the early chapters of this book.

I am called by the Good Shepherd. He knows me by name. He first loved me and now I can love with His love.

John, being the disciple who most talked of the love of God, wrote Revelation with an emphasis on the love that comes from the Lover of all souls. The close of the first chapter describes how John fell faint at the feet of His Master. Jesus was gloriously attired and He possessed flaming eyes of fire. His face shone like the sun.

We need to take note of how Jesus responded to John: “And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last, and the living One, and I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. …” (Revelation 1:17-18).

Ponder these introductory passages before you read further. These words give us a true sense of how Christ yet seeks to relate to those on earth. Even resurrected and positioned in glory, Jesus comes as One who serves. As He washed the feet of His followers in the Upper Room, He now lifts up the faces of those cast down.

Knowledge of His perfect love should drive away our fears about Him. He came not to bring us to sorrowing that leaves us paralyzed. He seeks to encourage us in the Mission He communicated. There’s a big world that He’s in love with, so in love that He came and died to make the Way for any who would turn to Him to become royal family members.

Can you see Him like this? Sure, those eyes of fire might burn us as they burned John. Imagine the touch of that hand of grace, that right hand of full authority reaches to us. Arise and be comforted for the Lord is God and He has saved you.

Later on in Revelation we will read of His coming as the Conqueror. Evil shall be once and for all defeated, the wicked ones cast away and assigned their places among the dead, separated from the Holy Presence.

Hear and Open to Him

What Jesus told the churches listed here in Revelation 2 and 3 was particular. However, He emphasized that every one of His followers must tune his ear to hear what the Spirit has to say.

To the Ephesus congregation, He instructed them to get back to the simple love that once characterized their fellowship. To Smyrna, a group under persecution, the Word was to fear not and hold fast. Pergamum was warned to turn back to Truth and away from false teaching.

Thyatira was commended for deeds of love and faith and service, but chastised for the practices of immorality promoted by some in the church. “Wake up and strengthen what little you have left” was the charge given to those in Sardis, a fellowship on life support with a remnant of true believers.

Philadelphia was a faithful band of followers and the promise was that they would be kept in their hours of testing. Last was Laodicea, the lukewarm, self-satisfied congregation, a lost sheep church that was on the mind of Jesus. He was there for those in Laodicea, knocking at the door, waiting for an opening to sit and dine with them on a meal of truth and life.

As believers today, we can find ourselves in any of these seven spiritual environments. The great news for us is that the Son cannot leave nor forsake us. He comes. He knocks. He patiently waits, hoping for us to open up to Him.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My Voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and with dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

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Great Harvest, Few Laborers

Jesus refused to allow His followers to sit idle, even after they’d stumbled. There was work to do, and He commissioned them to do it. He sent out more than 70 disciples as we read at the opening portion of Luke 10.

This was done even after what we read in Luke 9. The Savior chided His chosen band for their faithlessness and their perversity as it related to the boy under demonic siege. He rebuked them for misguided attempts to demonstrate their privileges and authority regarding an outsider proclaiming Jesus’ Name and for their agitated call for a discourteous town to burn.

And yet these people were the Son’s main messengers. They delivered His invitation to life eternal and worked wonders as He empowered them.

This is what He had to work with. Did He need these guys? As the Lord Almighty, Maker of the heavens and the earth, He needed nothing. Right? This seems like a logical conclusion at which to arrive.

Yet I am convinced it’s the wrong conclusion.

There’s something deeper and wider at work, a mystery that brings us to both wonder and bewilderment. People had to be included in the work.

The Lord positioned Himself to be in need, in need of us, as strange as that sounds.

He did so because of the essence and necessity of love and loving. Minus the freedom of choice and the ability to respond, relationships exist under the forces of command and control. These things form all other rules of engagement related to religion.

Yahweh had something else in mind. He desired lives devoted to fellowship and exchange. Give and take was to characterize the expression of His life set loose in people.

The Lord instilled this reality in His realm through the nature of reproduction. Species were made diverse — two dimensions, the male and the female, were crafted to come together so that there would be more, more, more. In the lower forms of life, this procreation is made to happen via instinct. This was by design, and because such operations continue according to that design, there exists an ever-present testimony to the hand of God at work in our world.

Free to Agree or Disagree

The Lord gifted those beings situated higher in His created order with something more. That is, the ability to think, to reason, and to respond. The response mechanism rooted in real liberty included the capacity for refusal.

Yes, I have to say that God made space for agreement and also for disagreement.

These higher ones possess a liberty given according to the Creator’s good pleasure. Simply put, God wanted angels and humans to choose Him. Rather than pressurize them into conformity, He designed these created ones with a sense of self, and a spirit as part of their essence.

Among the angelic host, there was freedom. Lucifer occupied an amazing and most powerful position as an anointed cherub welcomed at the mountain of the Most High. He chose to seek an enhancement of his position. He become “I” centered as iniquity brewed within him. He stirred a rebellion that garnered a third of the host to his side. He could and he did enter into an attitude of anti-love. And he led others in it. He refused to live in contentment and fell like lightning from heaven as the father of lies and became a most murderous power.

Liberty is what love is all about. God is love, and love cannot flow if it is not exercised in freedom. Without freedom, there’s no exchange going on at all. Without freedom, all initiation is unidirectional and all reaction is preexistent and programmatic. It is domination, not relationship.

Can there be true joy in this manner of arrangement? Not really.

And so when it comes to the communication pattern for the spread of the Gospel, Jesus uses those who choose to draw near to Him.

Could He have had it any other way? I think not. Love is the issue and love involves the Lover and His beloved. Split that latter word into two — be loved. The Lord made it a point to use those who allowed themselves to “be loved.”

Still in the Work

As we have seen reading through Luke, this reality made for some messy moments. Yes, there were high points for sure, but the beauty of the Bible is that it tells the straight, unvarnished stories of a number of people.

We get words about David on how by faith and in the Name of the Lord, he slung a stone that put the giant on his face. We also get words about how this very same hero took a rooftop walk and wound up stealing a man’s wife for himself with a disastrous fall into sin.

“The harvest truly is great.” Jesus declared this. Nothing can change that. There are always going to be those in need of the Gospel.

“The laborers are few.” This is the other reality. God works with what He’s got.

These weak and often selfish followers were His workforce. They agreed with the Truth of His Person. He knew this and understood perfectly. Their faith lacked luster for sure, the evidence of this is there for us to read. The maturity process was going to be a bumpy one — both for the truly human Son and for His followers.

These disciples experienced defeat, but the Lord would not bench them. The harvest remained. The reapers were needed. Despite their still developing capacities, Jesus got them back on the field.

Go and tell the cities and towns that the Son has come, they were instructed. Announce the Peace with God that is now available. Some will receive this Peace, others will not.

Those sent out were to make themselves at home with those who received the Message. Eat and drink, share the table with such as these. Believers become family at once, do they not? Heal the sick. Announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

The Lord’s Day Shall Come

Not all doors will open, Jesus warned. Rejection was nothing new to Him. They were not to take this personally. Rather, the disciples were told to move along from those who refused to listen. Wipe away the dust of such places. Their day of judgment will come just as it came to Sodom.

Sodom did get a witness, albeit a rather weak one in Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Let’s not forget that Lot and his family were related to the one called the father of faith and the friend of the Most High.

Lot may have struggled to project his faith to the townspeople, and to his family. Still,  the fires from heaven fell upon the immoral scoffers of Sodom as Lot and his daughters and wife were pulled clear of the devastation.

Sure, the Genesis account does reveal Lot’s spirituality as something less than fervent. However, Peter writes of this man as a righteous one who was “vexed” over the wickedness that he saw around him (see 2 Peter 2:7-8). Lot’s flickering faith was alive enough so that he recognized heaven’s messengers when they came to visit the city and rescue him.

Peter understood better than most the trials of our faith. He faltered more than a few times. He denied the Lord, and even punctuated the last denial with a curse. This disciple was the perfect writer to speak of Lot under the terms of the finished work of Christ. He understood the faithfulness of the love of God and according to this love he spoke of Lot.

Jesus told His laborers just enough about the judgment to come. He told them things to embolden them and to comfort them.

Those who turn their backs on the Message shall face God. The Day of the Lord will come — it will arrive suddenly as an amazing interruption to a world that snoozes passively under the blanket of the wicked one.

The harvest is here and now. We are the laborers Jesus seeks to use in the fields. Maybe we don’t have much going for us on the surface. But we have Him. He loves us and we love Him. We choose with purpose to hear Him and let others see Him at work through us.

Psalm 37:4 gives us the secret: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Seek contentment. And the best way to find contentment is to fill our minds with the thoughts from God’s Word and our hearts with the love that the Holy Spirit gives.

Rejoice in the Lord, and again we say rejoice.

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The Final Word and the Order of Angels

Jesus came as the Final Word from Heaven to earth. God got down in the dirt with us, as one of us.

There was no other way to say what needed to be said, and so God took a Body prepared and lived the life in Person, under the sun and upon the waves. A top down operation it was not, as we read in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. He did not ride into the world followed by a mass of angels, though He truly could have as the Captain of the host of Heaven.

Instead, God entered the horizontal plain. He came to see us eye-to-eye. In doing so, He spoke as the truest Prophet, served as the highest Priest, and claimed the surest of all crowns as King of kings.

Through the ages, prophets were raised to deliver the messages. They came and went. A few were heard and their words were heeded at certain seasons.

Voices for God

Samuel, for one, was called by God to bring Israel back to right worship after the disastrous era of the Judges. They had left the tribes fragmented and defeated in their distance from the One who had delivered them from bondage in Egypt.

Samuel’s ministry was one of restoration. The Word came to him as a youth serving in the Tabernacle. A time of renewal and victory was the result of his ministry, as his preaching and teaching touched the people and moved them nearer to God.

But Samuel grew old and this prophet’s sons were weak men who did not walk in his ways. Thus, the people, in a foolish fit of human reason, demanded to have a king set over them like all the other nations.  The Lord gave them over to their request. A throne was established and a king was set upon it.

This arrangement of rule did not make life better for Israel. The kings proved to be all too human. The majority of them governed with selfish ambition. Their ways are recorded in histories that relate a nation plagued by ups and tremendous downs.

And yet God kept sending His Word through people who chose to fear Him and hear Him.

Most prophets wound up like Jeremiah. He preached consistent and true words, but those words were dismissed and mocked. He suffered much and sang out sad laments as the nation and its royal city Jerusalem slid into deep judgment and heathen occupation.

Jeremiah told of the faithful Lord, the One whose mercies never end and are ever new. He delivered the promise of the new and living Covenant to come. This “expected end” would satisfy and replenish every weary soul as the Word would be written upon hearts rather than tablets of stone. “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” said the Lord (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

To understand all of this and how it came to be, we have to read the book of Hebrews. In these pages, we get a clear presentation of who Christ is in His fulfillment of Old Testament truth.

The Throne Claimed

At last, the Son was sent. He did more than talk. He lived out the sentences written from eternity past. And He lived them out as one of us. He fulfilled all the Law of the Lord in word, thought, and deed.

Christ entered into Creation, His Creation, with all of its definition and decrees and limitations. Yes, God took on a body of flesh. He lived in this body according to the leading of the Spirit. The radiance of His glory was seen only briefly and by just three – Peter, James, and John – on the Mount of Transfiguration (see Matthew 17:1-2). Jesus lived within the confines of the universe He formed and upholds by the Word of His power, to the letter.

Why? He came to be the Man of all men to die the death for all men. And by His death He “by Himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3).

After He finished this work of His, He ascended to take His seat at “the right hand of the Majesty on high.” We read of how the disciples watched Jesus rise through the clouds in Luke 24 and Acts 1. Here, in Hebrews 1, we are told where He went.

The Son of Man became superior to angels through all of this, according to this passage. The royal order of the universe was now restored because of Jesus’ accomplishment as the last Adam (see 1 Corinthians 15:45).

The first Adam’s failure disturbed the original order established. Man was meant to exercise dominion through operating in the image of God as Heaven’s designated leaders of life on earth.

To reclaim the kingly position first assigned to man, Jesus became Man. God the Son redeemed all things and regained man’s superiority above the angels. Psalm 8 reveals that man was designed to be crowned with glory and honor and given “dominion over the works” of God’s hands (see Psalm 8:5-6). This status had been forfeited by the fall at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The Son became a fellow of ours. He experienced humanity to the full, even unto death.

Reestablishing the Order

More than raising us into right standing with God, Christ’s obedience and offering of Himself also put the angelic realm back into its proper place.

The rebellion of Lucifer, referred to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, spawned division. This bright, wise, beautiful being sought an exalted status; he lusted for the worship due only to the One Most High. Others sided with him and became demonic affiliates with this fallen prince who possessed power over the world system and its kingdoms, a point noted by Satan to Jesus in the wilderness temptation (see Matthew 4, Luke 4).

Hell lost. The devil was defeated.

Jesus the Son conquered the grave; the curse of death could not corrupt His perfection. As the fully resurrected Man, as a true Son of David, He inherited the Throne of Majesty.

Jesus came from Heaven and situated Himself underneath the cosmic realm of the air. He ambushed Hell and triumphed over the power it possessed by taking all wrath and rage as penalty for sin upon His Person. The fear of death that once imprisoned us was crushed.

All authority belongs to Him. And since we’ve been made one with Him, His authority is ours also.

What of the angels and their power? What are they to us? They are our servants as stated rhetorically in Hebrews 1:14:  “Are not [angels} all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

Yes, the angels are our ministers, as they were always meant to be. They serve God and because we are His joy, these beings are all around us. Let us therefore be wise, watchful, and kind according to this instruction:  “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).

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Getting the Whole Story

Life doesn’t seem to make sense. Surely you have had this thought. More than that, you’ve probably said this, out loud. Admit it; you have said this, a lot – to whoever would listen.

Leave it to the Lord, via the Holy Spirit, to inspire a book that puts a series of such thoughts into the Scriptures. That’s just like God. He knows us in absolutely every way possible. And because of this He has given us words to read, ponder, consider, and utter for every mood imaginable.

In Ecclesiastes, the result is a stream of consciousness, a run of sentences, poems, declarations. Its verses can leave you scratching your head sometimes. The writer, who I believe to be King Solomon, lets loose, framing his frustrations over and over.

The book opens this way:  “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). The Hebrew word for vanity is hevel. This is the word for smoke.

Smoke, smoke, smoke, all is smoke. I imagine the writer choking on these words as he ponders them. But it is an honest assessment of the world as he is seeing it at the time.

This is all that comes from the toil of those living under the sun.  Burn the midnight oil; work dozens of hours of overtime and what do you have to show for it all?

Smoke, that’s all. One way or another, it all goes up in smoke.

Welcome to life lived based on what we take from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Lord warned Adam and Eve not to eat of its fruit. Here, in Ecclesiastes, I think that we read of the outcome of their disastrous decision.

Knowing Too Much

Job wrestled mightily with the problem of his pain. His grief and affliction brought him low, but he refused to stop seeking God. We read of how Job held fast to his integrity and clung to the hope of his Redeemer and resurrection.

The writer of Ecclesiastes faced another type of wrestling – the mental turmoil that can come from knowing too much.

Yes, Solomon knew more than anyone alive. This how the Word described him:  “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people…he was wiser than all other men” (1 Kings 4:29).

To go with this remarkable breadth of knowledge, Solomon also had health, wealth, and peace in his days. He faced very few challenges–that is, on the outside of himself. This would leave him open to trouble as find out at the end of his days, when foreign wives turned him toward idols (see 1 Kings 11:4). There’s a great truth expressed by the writer in Psalm 119:71:  “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

Internally, Solomon tossed and turned. He admitted his restlessness. He struggled with feelings of confusion. Things as he saw them did not add up. And it exhausted him.  “All things are full of weariness. …” (Ecclesiastes 1:8).

These doubts and questions kept coming. Solomon kept thinking and over-thinking, and these mind games he played led to projects and pursuits and entertainment and academic searching.  He had this written down. He had to have a detailed record of it all.

And because he made sure this happened, we have these pages in our Bibles. The Spirit kept him honest. He strings together words that, if taken by themselves, would make us think that life on earth is just a big zero.

Priceless Pearls

Don’t give up on Ecclesiastes. Put your hand to the plow. Push forward and read carefully. Exercise what Eugene Peterson described as “The Forbidding Discipline of Spiritual Reading.” By this effort, words read can become words lived as we let them sink deep into us.

Faith does come by the Word of God, as our eyes let the Light in and our minds allow us to hear the Voice as He is walking toward us, seeking us, calling us.

Press on and join yourself to the Preacher and his provocations. In the midst of the tangle of rough and haggard sentences, you will find that there’s something small and round and luminous. There are pearls to admire, a precious gem of thought that should give us pause.

Here’s one of them for us to think over:  “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

In the Psalms, the writers tossed in the imperative Selah at strategic points. The exact meaning of this term has been debated, but most scholars agree that Selah indicates a suggested pause or quiet moment or musical interlude is to be observed.

I am saying that we can read well and learn to insert Selah at times into our reading, especially into our reading of the Bible. Otherwise, we can just get all caught up in racing along through the syllables, reading but not recognizing or relating to the text and its context.

Reading is something I do a lot of. I am usually working through two to three books at a time in a addition to the daily Bible reading regiment I have. This means that I can get so revved up in the midst of it that the words on the pages do little to touch and nourish my heart.

Three Words

Selah. Sabbath. Shalom. These are three words that I want to better understand as I go through the fourth quarter of my life. I want to obey what Psalm 90 tells me:  “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

Selah–we need to pause and consider.

Sabbath–we need to rest and talk and sit at tables enjoying food and company. God established this after the first days of Creation. I believe that the Lord wanted us to know that our existence is not about being busy, busy, busy. The devil’s the one who is constantly roaming and looking to devour.

Shalom–we interpret this word to mean peace. But actually, it speaks of being whole and complete. Jesus finished the work of our redemption at the Cross. There’s nothing more for us to do. We are made one with Him in our salvation when call upon Him.

After all of the ranting and raving and muttering that we read in Ecclesiastes, we do get to enjoy a finishing touch that is clear and right. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

These are the words we must hold fast in our hearts. Think on them. Rest in them. And see yourself as whole in Christ.

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Our Glory Is Not Our Own

It wasn’t much of an entrance, by the world’s standards anyway. But then God never needs much to work with. A small corner of a small room in a small town provided the setting for the arrival of the Son of God.

Jesus was delivered by His mother, Mary, in Bethlehem, in a manger, in a space hollowed out for animals to sleep and to feed. With the carpenter Joseph watching and helping, and among oxen and lambs and some barnyard fowl, the Lord of Heaven came forth to begin His stay on earth.

The details have been spoken of over and over and over throughout the centuries. The telling of these things never grows old. Tinsel and glitter and parties and shopping extravaganzas serve to propound a faux brightness and a nervous tension in our midst. Joy lives on, however. Joy reigns. Joy bursts from the hearts of real believers with songs and prayers.

The Christmas story shines so brightly because it shows the glory of God as it is reflected by such common things. This is precisely the point about Creation and about man in particular.

Our glory is not our own. The glory we exude comes from Him. What God has made for His good pleasure are things that serve as a revelation of Him and of all that He is.

Angels and Glory

I think this is what makes us different from the angels. These beings that move among us possess glory that is a part of their equipment. They were given a shine, and it is a shine that is fitted and fixed. Angelic brightness does not grow in intensity. It is what it is.

Lucifer’s original title – light-bearer — referred to the brightness given to him. It was a mode for the service assigned to him, as he was situated near the throne of the Most High. His glory was a gift to him, but he came to view it as mark of superiority. For this reason, the devil initiated a rebellion that captivated a full third of the host (see Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:13-18).

Satan fell into what he is because of his self-centeredness. He grew enamored with his glory and forsook the design of God for his office and status as an anointed cherub.

Angels were brought into existence according to the will of the Lord, and so were we. But they were not made in the image of God as we are. Also, the angels were not made “living souls” by the breath of God.

What does it mean to be made in His image? I believe it speaks of reflection and connection, union and communion. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are Three Persons and One Lord, and as such, God is love. Love is about the things that are related and refreshed and reflected one to another.

The essence of God in His Trinity understanding has always been about glory that is both shared and as well as distinct. The Persons of the Godhead are One and yet each is unique. It is such a marvelous mystery, a reality so far beyond comprehension that it may only be embraced.

Think of how Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:  “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You … Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:1, 5). In John 16, Jesus spoke of the Spirit like this:  “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:4). And Jesus talked of His followers to the Father this way:  “All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them” (John 17:10).

Glory, glory, glory in the Highest is what is being communicated by these passages.

Consider this:  when the Lord revealed Himself to Moses, it happened in a wilderness as this man watched over his father-in-law’s flock. Then, God showed up as fire in the midst of a bush. The glow of the glory did not reduce the bush to ashes. Instead, His Presence abided in His Creation and brought Moses near. His Presence consecrated the very ground upon which Moses walked.

Later, we read that Moses’ face absorbed the glory of the Lord as he sat before God. This was noticed by the people and they were afraid to face Moses because of his glow.

In the New Testament, we come to understand that glory has been given to us through the offering and ascension of the Lamb of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, cloven tongues of fire were seen upon the disciples in that upper room on Pentecost as the Spirit moved upon them.

Stephen spoke the Gospel and those who heard him said he possessed the face of an angel. The glory of the Lord shone from him because of the work of the Holy Spirit in him. The record of Luke in Acts 7 reveals that as he perished from the stones thrown at him, Stephen saw Christ as He stood in His place at the throne of grace.

Glory, Closer Than We Think

The glory of God is closer to us than we think. The Holy of Holies, the most hallowed place of Israel’s Tabernacle and Temple, was divided from the rest of the worship center. What was put between this glorious room and everything else?  A curtain – the separation was demarcated by a veil, one that had been stitched and fashioned by the people who worshipped the Lord.

The Holy of Holies’ curtain was decorated with two cherubim. This imagery pointed back to the Garden of Eden and the angels who guarded the way to the Tree of Life in the midst of the Presence in the Garden. Man’s fall put something between the Lord and His prized creatures, the ones He made in His image.

It wasn’t a wall of separation that was erected, however. The glory of the Lord was not locked up behind gates and bars and chains. It was not vaulted or sealed. It was veiled – His glory just inches beyond us. Between man and the glory lay just a curtain, just a woven tapestry; a creation of fabric was what kept the glory of God from human eyes.

Veiled was the sign of His Presence until the coming of the Son. When the Son completed His redemptive work, the Temple curtain was ripped from top to bottom.

Jesus came to reveal the salvation of God to all flesh (see Luke 3:6).  God the Son took on flesh, bone, and Blood. Fragile things of frail dust as they are, these in Christ still were subject to the ordinances of nature and the earth. His Body was and is a true Body. He grew weary. He ate food. He wept. He touched many – infants, lepers, blinded eyes, deadened ears.

Our flesh can be sliced with ease. We bleed readily. And so it was with Jesus.

The Son’s glory was deposited into our form, into our likeness. He hid Himself behind the fabric of humanity, our very humanity.

Jesus was born to be torn.

With the tearing of the Son on the Cross, the veil of the Presence of God was opened to everyone. Glory can flow to us and into us and through us. We who are born again in Him are now living temples of the His Spirit. We are free to be set aglow with the glory of God. We can have as much of Him as we want, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians:

“…When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:15-18).

Let us rejoice for what He has made us to be. Though we are common, rough, imperfect works in progress, we still stand as reflectors of the glory of the Lord God Almighty.

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The All We Have to Give

A widow marched to the offering box with all that she had, as we read in Mark 12. Just two mites were in her hand – all of the money she had to her name. A mite represented the smallest and least valuable of the coins in circulation during Jesus’ days on earth. It is likely that a single penny plucked out of a gutter on Dundalk Avenue would count for more monetarily than what this woman gave.

Others in the giving line that day, for sure, deposited far more by economic and business standards. But were these ones being as generous as her?

On this day, the Lord was watching and He liked what he saw.

Jesus took note of this widow and her gift, and He rejoiced. He gathered His disciples to Him and made much of her. “Truly I tell you, this widow has put more into the treasury than all the others,” the Savior explained (see Mark 12:43).Here was someone willing to give her all to the work of God. Her action revealed a wealth, a richness that exceeded the riches as they are measured by our world.

The One with Almost Everything

This story comes to us a couple of chapters after Jesus encountered a rich, young ruler. That man was a man of means. He had money, youth, and power – everything that the world counts as valuable was his.

Still, this rich, young ruler was missing something and he knew it. He surmised that he was somehow poor. The sense of his poverty brought him to Jesus. He fell before the Savior and asked:  “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (See Mark 10:17).

Jesus first deflated his words of flattery – “Why do you call Me good? None is good except God alone” – and then told him to keep the commandments. These things, the man claimed to have done from his youth.

Next came what Mark described as a moment of divine affection:  “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing:  go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (see Mark 10:21).

Go, sell, give, come and follow. Simple and huge commandments had been laid before the rich, young ruler; these commandments were directed straight at his heart. He was unready for such an answer. He left the scene in dismay and grief, Mark wrote, for his possessions were many and these things possessed him, as they so easily do when we wed ourselves to the ways of the world.

Jesus sorrowed too at that moment. “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God?” He lamented to His disciples as the man walked away.

Seek His Face

What became of this rich, young ruler?

We aren’t told specifically. Some have conjectured that this man was really John Mark himself, the very one who wrote the story. The Bible, however, leaves open the question of his identity. The Word of God refuses to behave like fairy tales and legend stories. Tidy endings very often go missing, and we are left in wonder and moved to consider afresh His unsearchable judgments, His ways that are passed finding out (see Romans 11:33).

What the Bible does clearly tell us is this:  “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face evermore” (Psalm 105:4). His face, God wants us to come before His face.

This is the richness of real life in God. David wrote, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8).

Could it be that the rich, young ruler had this going on inside of him? Jesus was there and this man wondered of a better life, of a life before the Lord, of a life eternal and forever, of the life missing among his prosperity. And so he sought the face of God in Jesus. He put himself right there.

This brings to my mind Ecclesiastes 3:11:  “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

The widow had so little by sight. Something in her brought her to the Temple on that day. She saw the richness of God and His grace. She committed herself to Him. She was richer than she, or anyone of the others giving that day, could imagine. She embodied what James wrote:  “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).

The rich, young ruler, perhaps, wanted to be an heir in the Kingdom. He wanted peace with the Lord and an understanding and security in the life that comes from above. I pray that he did bring himself to heed the words of the Lord. I want to believe that he gave away his possessions to possess what really matters.

Oh, how rich we are because of our faith in Him. May we realize this eternal reality. And may we be generous with the love and faith the Lord has poured into us. Let us bless others and forgive and show mercy and walk before Him in His greatness.

Small things are never despised by Jesus. Anything given with the whole heart is worthy of honor for what the world sees as last is made first in Heaven.

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The Shadow of His Wings

A lot gets said about the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. We really make quite a to-do about the Christmas story with its manger. And well we should. Christmas comes during a season when it’s colder and darker. We enjoy the proclamation of the Light of God entering into our world. This warms our hearts.

Jesus came to earth with an ultimate purpose and eternal destinations in mind. We are getting close to that time of the year when we celebrate the Son and the story of His arrival, His original Advent, the time when He allowed Himself to live a “little lower than the angels.”

There will be dramatic presentations featuring choirs, Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, the shepherds. Songs such as “Joy to the World” will ring throughout churches as we think on the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Yes, we hear plenty about how Jesus came – conceived of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin girl. We also know a good bit about where He came from – the little town of Bethlehem, as prophesied in Micah 5:2. His birth was a miracle starting point – just the beginning of a series of things related to the Lord’s redemptive plans for the world that He so loves.

Now more than ever, what matters to me is where Jesus went and where He is at present.

The Savior reached His ultimate destination with the Ascension. He was lifted through the clouds to take His seat at the right hand of the Father. There, He sits as the Advocate for us. He speaks on our behalf for He brought perfected, glorified humanity to Heaven as the Resurrected One, the firstborn from the dead.

There were other stops along the way to this place of honor and intercession set above our world.

The Curtain Torn

During His days on earth, Jesus set His face “like a flint” toward Jerusalem and the Cross upon which He was nailed and hung (see Isaiah 50:7 and Luke 9:51). This city with its Golgotha – the skull hill of Roman execution — was to be the scene of His death.

He always understood this. The dark and bitter battle in Gethsemane marked a fierce struggle for the Son to push forward and reach the site of the ultimate offering for the sins of all. He labored in that Garden through a lonely and desperate evening of prayer for the Father’s will to be done.

He did arrive at the Cross – battered, scourged, crowned with thorns. He was lifted up from the earth as He said that He would be. From the wood He went to the grave, from the grave He came alive and went to the sky.

The reports of the crucifixion include the high moment when the Christ committed His spirit to the hands of the Father. “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).

The curtain referred to in this passage is the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the worship center God had ordained and defined for His people. The only thing that rested behind that veil was the Mercy Seat. This seat was where the High Priest was to sprinkle the blood of atonement for the sins of the people.

The Mercy Seat

I have always been drawn to stories about the Mercy Seat. This significant item, related to the worship of God, is first introduced to us in the latter chapters of Exodus. The instructions for the Mercy Seat’s design and its position in the Tabernacle were given to Moses during his days before the Lord at Mount Sinai.

The Mercy Seat sat atop the Ark of the Covenant, a holy cupboard that originally contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a pot of manna saved from the days of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and the budded almond branch labeled by Aaron that confirmed his family’s assignment to the priesthood.

This lid upon the Ark was a slab of pure gold and of one piece with the figures of two cherubim that framed it. The angel statues faced the space to which the blood was applied, their wings hanging over it and guarding it. This picture gets mentioned in a number of Psalms as “the shadow” of God’s wings. It is a place of refuge and rejoicing, according the songs attributed to David:

“Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Psalm 17:8).

“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by” (Psalm 57:1).

This Seat and the Ark it sat upon were rarely seen, at first. Only the High Priest was supposed to come before it as he entered into the Holy of Holies, illumined only by the glory of the presence of the Lord. And he was to do this just once a year on the Day of Atonement.

A reading of the Old Testament reveals that the Ark was eventually brought out into the open and not always for good reasons. In 1 Samuel, two diabolic priests carried the Ark to the battlefield because they perceived it would bring some magic power of victory to Israel’s army. They were wrong and they wound up dead, the Ark falling into the possession of the enemy Philistines.

Eventually, David brought the Ark with the Mercy Seat to his palace compound in Jerusalem. He sat and prayed before this as he ruled as Israel’s king.

Jesus, the eternal Son of David, would also come to the Mercy Seat, but not to the one fashioned by human hands.

The Blood Speaks

Like all things related to the Tabernacle and the Temple of Israel, the Mercy Seat was a figure of something actual and real in the place where God dwells. The book of Hebrews tells us this:  “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24).

The veil was torn, as shown in the gospels, to indicate the new and living way that Christ made for us who believe upon Him. “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

The Manger, the Cross, the Grave, the Throne — all of these are sacred places in the Gospel story, the telling of the works of the Son. We know them and talk about them and rejoice over what represent. They stir our faith.

For me, however, I want to ever keep the Mercy Seat in my mind. From that holy thing, the substance of our salvation continues to speak today, tomorrow, and forever. The Blood of the Lamb of God is there even now. The Blood answers every accusation made against us. We are declared to be all clean, made whiter than snow.

We stand redeemed in Him and eagerly await His arrival to reign as there will come the New Heavens and the New Earth.

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The Sad Comes Untrue

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

These words spring from the joyful Sam Gamgee and are found in J.R.R. Tolkein’s novel , “The Return of the King.” Singer Jason Gray turned this line into a refrain for a series of his songs that I like to sing to myself.

These words really should form an anthem for us who are believers in the Savior. Sad things do come untrue because Christ makes us new.

Facts are facts – there is no disputing them. Consequences are real and all too often tragic. Bad things happen. We do bad things. He hurt others with wrong words, with harmful acts. We are flawed and crooked; such is our nature drawn to the dust and to the fear of death.

Division. Confusion. Disaster.  These things are very real in our world.

Real, yes; but must they be true?

Facts may remain. They can be listed and read, over and over and over. They form the essence of accusation and condemnation and revenge.

Forgiveness

Truth, I believe, involves definition. As a result, one has to dig deeper, below the surface to our foundations. Underneath everything is His everlasting arms. Those same arms were spread open on the Cross of Calvary and they invite us to come to Him.

Face it, we really know not what we do. Deceived and desperately wicked are our hearts in unbelief.

What is the response of Christ to these realities? It is this:  “Father, forgive them. …”

Grace and mercy must form the bedrock for us. It is only by grace that we are even here. We came alive one instant and we had nothing to do with it. Life was given, freely, a gracious happening it was. It came through no effort of our own.

Mercy answers what life brings to us. It is extended, and we may receive mercy simply by recognizing our need for it. Mercy revives and restores in the wreck and the ruin of what we make of things. We are forgiven and set free. Our sins are buried in the sea of His forgetfulness and removed from us, as far as East is from West (see Micah 7:19 and Psalm 103:12).

Reach for Hope

And so I say sad things do come untrue, as they did for a particular robber in his condemnation, who hung there beside Jesus on the execution hill that day. The facts of his crimes sent this man to that cross. But the truth about his destiny changed in moments.

“Lord, remember me when You come into Your glory,” he said to Jesus. It was a cry for mercy. It was a cry that was heard. It was a cry answered with a promise.

“Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise,” said the Lord.

The upside of the world came down to this robber. He was given life from above just as his life here below neared its end.

All that was sad became untrue. This robber was made new. Eternal life was made his reality. His past was gone forever, swallowed up in the forgiveness of the Son of God.

Let’s allow God to show us afresh the truth about who we are in Him. To work the works of God we need only believe on Him who was sent from God (see John 6:28-29).

It is simple really. Defeats do come, but though weary and burdened, we may reach for any thread of hope dangling at the edges of the robe of His righteousness. May we stretch weak, withered hands toward Him and be made whole, for holy is He.

Let the sad go. Let it be untrue to us. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

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Complainers Welcome!

Are you a complainer?  I am. I actually think I am too good and too experienced at it. I am a well-practiced whiner and critic. I struggle with this part of my makeup.

If you are like me in this area, I have some news for you. This, like all things, is worked together for good by the God who loves us and gave Himself for us.

The Lord allows room for our complaints. Lament is something that God encourages us to do. He knows that we are dust. He fully understands our makeup. He’s quite aware of the things we think and feel.

Lament and complaint are really forms of meditation. We think. We ponder. We imagine. The uncomfortable and troublesome things weigh heavily upon us. We give our minds over to them and we need ways of escape.

Have you ever had it up to here with something or someone? Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you didn’t know what to do?

God shows us the ways of release. More the 40 percent of the songs and hymns contained in the book of Psalms are devoted to the right practice of lament.

Some of these writings push beyond lament to what’s known as imprecation. That last term could be described as songs to sing, or prayers to pray when you wish someone really gets what you think they deserve. They are songs you may sing when you think you want someone dead. Seriously. Check out Psalm 109 and the strong language used in relation to the enemies of this writer.

Psalm 142 gives us a brief, but clear example of the practice of lament. “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I showed him my trouble” (Psalm 142:1-2)

Lament recognizes the reality of life on earth. It doesn’t ignore it. It faces it head on and shows us where to take our stuff.

The verbs in these opening verses are strong verbs. The psalmist “cried” and “poured out” his feelings. Instead of venting to people, he dumped his issues before the Lord.

This is a habit we would all do well to learn. Only God can handle the knowledge of good and evil, as was made very clear in Genesis 3. Once, Adam and Eve entered into that realm of information, they could only run and hide.

The truth is that human beings are fallen, broken creatures in need of measureless mercy that comes only through Christ. Writer Francis Spufford described the “crack in everything” as the “undeniable human propensity” to fall and fail. Men and women possess sin natures that expose themselves in big and small ways each and every day. This we must accept as reality. It cannot be avoided in this present cosmic atmosphere.

But there is another reality, the one of hope, the one that points us to the new world to come. A day is promised to us, a day when Christ shall return and set things right as He established His rule over all Creation. A New Jerusalem shall come from Heaven to earth. It will be a city all square and full of the presence of the Lord.

The Bible presents two great lamenters – Job and Jeremiah. They were men who lived amidst much trouble. Did they keep this trouble to themselves? They did not. They poured out their complaints. They cried to the Lord. They demanded that He answer them. And He did answer them. And He used them mightily.

As you read of these men in the Word, notice what was at the center of their hearts. Yes, they did make a lot of noise. They emptied out their hearts with vigor and honesty. They held nothing back.

Job, though wounded, frustrated, and accused, still held on to the integrity of this truth:  “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). He kept this in mind, even as he saw God as dismissing him. He knew that the eternal Redeemer would come down and stand up for His own.

Jeremiah, a prophet who was largely ignored and much abused, was responsible for Lamentations, a collection of funeral songs. He sang these as he watched his people destroy themselves in idolatry and disobedience.

At the center of this collection, however, we read some of the most gracious and powerful words in the all the Bible:  “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:21-25).

These are words we must speak in the midst of our complaining. This picture of God must be held fast. This truth is the reality of comfort that comes from above. This reality answers the reality of the disasters in this realm.

Let’s pour out our souls before Him, yes. And let us hold fast to His mercies, for faithful and true is our Redeemer who shall soon rule and reign.