Why learn doctrine?

Early church teaching was not enough. Personal Bible study was not enough. I went to Bible school in my 60’s. It was not enough. I completed a Master’s degree in biblical and theological studies. It was not enough. Now I’m reading Stephen Charnock’s two-volume, “The Existence and Attributes of God.” It is not enough. The hunger to know God and the desire to know the whole counsel of God remains.

Paul said, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) What is it?

John Piper says when the foundation of what I knew cannot see everything, a deeper foundation is needed. It sees and feels everything, and he lists cancer, nuclear weapons, environmental crises, terrorism, abortion, burned-out cities, broken marriages, bummed-out kids, depression, but that deeper foundation does not fail or allow me to break or sink into despair. It allows me to be joyful, no matter what:

Again I will build you, and you shall be built. . . .  Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. (Jeremiah 31:4)

How does God build His people to dance, no matter what? Piper points out, “This is the whole counsel of God. If you intend to dance in the April sun, just remember, either you do it with your eyes closed or you do it on the great granite tableland of the whole counsel of God, also known as doctrine.”

Yesterday I thought much about dying and leaving this world. Those thoughts threatened my joy, even as I watched a cheeky squirrel running back and forth along the fence, even as I nearly completed a bright blue and yellow quilt, even as I had a brief but blessed online communication with my oldest grandchild. But doctrine brings joy back:

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (Luke 6:22–23)

How can this kind of treatment feel like a blessing? Because my hope is in a reward secured by Jesus Christ and trusted because of the faith He puts in my heart — and this is doctrine. Without it, there is no leaping for joy when hated, excluded, reviled, and spurned as if an evil person.

I’ve seen how all that I see (as it pounds against my awareness because of modern technology) requires a deeper foundation, a greater understanding of this God in whom I trust. How can He bless me in this messed up world? How can joy remain as friends are diagnosed with stage four cancer, bombs fall in cities filled with terrified humanity, earthquakes destroy thousands at a time, terrorists kill at random, babies are aborted by the millions, divorce rates rise, children are abandoned and homeless, even godly pastors suffer depression, and many in my family seem headed to hell?

Doctrine. The God who can give me joy in this mess here will take me to the greater reward of eternal joy. It does not matter how twisted this world becomes because He will usher in a forever that is marked by eternal joy.

PRAY: Jesus, I just taste it here, even in the hurt of what I see. Your joy is not the same as the ‘happy, happy’ of this world for it floods my life here no matter what the latest news says, or hearing prayer requests that desire comfort without asking for the grace to leap for joy even when You do not remove the pain. Doctrine. It tells me about You and the more I know about You, the more I can think and speak of Your glory and blessing, and jump for joy even when my body yells a bit because it now creaks when I leap!