Protected because God promises…

And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient heights have become our possession,’ therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people, therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around, therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. (Ezekiel 36:1–7)

Reading the minor prophets is sometimes frightening, but mostly a comfort for it tells me what God is like in His holiness and in His faithfulness to His people. Here He declares to His prophet that no matter how badly the other nations treat them, He will not only deal with those nations, but also protect His people and cause them to prosper.

“But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children. Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God. And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 36:8–15)

The NT says that all those who put their faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ are “Israel” and belong to Him. His new covenant includes these promises and adds even more. As I read and learn of what He tells Ezekiel, He speaks to me. No matter what I face in the hardships of life, or in the reproach of those who reject the good news of His redemption, He will prosper me and all who belong to His family through faith in His Son.

Jesus, You are my source of love, joy, peace, confidence, hope secured. When I die physically, I will live forever with You forever, made to be like You and never again experience the negatives of this life. You kept Your word to the Israelites, and You keep Your word to me. How amazing!

 
 

What about the last straw?

Sometimes we hear Christians in great trouble say, “There is nothing left for me now but to trust the Lord.” Others might respond with, “Oh dear, has come to that?”

Likely every believer has had moments like that, as if God is much less able to deliver us from trials than His promises would lead us to expect. It might even seems as if trusting Him means totally giving in to whatever has us in despair and never experiencing a return to ‘normal’ or seeing a change for the better.

To be honest, having this case of bacterial pneumonia sometimes has me feeling I will never get better and that trusting the Lord means living with fatigue and a continual cough for the rest of my life. Even verses like this one seem to add to my concerns at times, rather than encourage me:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… (Ephesians 3:20)

I tend to think that instead of giving me a return to health, the “abundantly” of this verse means the ability to live with the problem. That means sleep much and not being able to spend much time with others. The Bible also reminds me:

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2:9)

However, that is not a promise that He will do what I want. It is a revelation that He is able to do what He wants for me without me being able to figure it out beforehand.

This should not bother me. I read fiction by Deborah Crombie, love being totally mystified, and feel great satisfaction when the end of the story comes and it makes complete sense. The trouble is, life is not like fiction and all trials do not end with “reader satisfaction” or happily ever after. I’ve a friend whose husband is dying of cancer, and another whose husband committed suicide. Certainly heaven will take away all pain, but right now, the only hope for inner peace is trusting the Lord — and for the two of them, that is one huge challenge.

It is for me too as I experience pain for them, a deep sorrow that makes my own situation seem small. Their struggles add to the helplessness of not being confident that God will ‘fix’ any of it. As already said this week, sometimes God doesn’t give us what we can handle, but helps us handle what we are given. Can I do that? Not without the Lord’s help.
 

PRAY: Jesus, again I think of what You said in the garden: “Not my will but thine be done” and while my situation is not even a tiny bit as horrid as what You faced, I understand the great challenge of yielding — no matter what. Grant me the ability to handle whatever You decide and do it with grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit — that You might be glorified.

Jesus loves me, this I know

Yesterday a friend suggested that I was too worried about the situation that is distressing me. She said, “Let it go.” She had the right idea, yet letting go, at least for me, requires a foundation. On what basis can I drop the problem?

It can be taken to Jesus, which I was already doing, but the burden would not leave me. It can be pushed aside by busyness, likely to produce ulcers. It can be dismissed as unimportant, which would calcify my heart. Nothing was giving me comfort. Maybe wanting comfort is selfish? Maybe this is a burden that God wants me to carry so that I will keep praying?

Today’s devotional verses and thoughts give me encouragement and something that lightens the load . . . 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35–37)

Chambers says that while nothing can wedge in between the love of God and His people, things can mess up my fellowship with God. When that happens, it is almost always related to the original lie of the serpent in Eden. In essence, he suggested to Eve that God didn’t love her and didn’t want the best for her.

That lie hangs itself on my burden. The enemy suggests to me that God’s love isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. He isn’t interested in His people, His plans are more important than our feelings . . . yada, yada. Thinking this way puts dread in my heart for the future of someone I love — when I should have hopeful expectation.

For that person, for myself, the foundation of our faith is the unmerited love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary. We don’t deserve it and we cannot earn it. Love is the very nature of God. He is the reason we are more than conquerors, no matter what comes at us. The fact is that we would not even realize that we are victorious against these things unless they made their overthrow attempts. It is in facing overwhelming odds that we find out the power of God’s love to give us victory.

 . . . The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5–7)

How can there be peace, even joy, in difficult distresses? Successful risk-takers know it. Those who jump on a wild horse and ride the beast know the joy of it. Surfers who ride that gigantic wave through to the end also know the joy of it. It makes sense that staying in a safe place means not knowing or realizing that the peace of God is possible even in the midst of tribulation, distress, persecution, and danger.

Chambers says we should not fight to remove our distresses — because in Christ we are more than conquerors in those distresses, not in spite of them, but in the middle, in the experience. I do not know the joy of the Lord in spite of burdens, but because of them. Paul said, “. . . In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” (2 Corinthians 7:4)

After saying, “Let it go,” my friend said that the same God that loves me and wants what is best for me also loves the person I’m concerned about and wants the best for that person. In essence, she was saying that I need to pray, but more than prayer, I also must remember that God loves us. His love cannot be altered or removed in the experiences of life, monotonous or horrendous, ease or trials, nor when the devil says otherwise.

Love replaces idols

I've been taught that eros, phileo, and agape are Greek words used for “love” and each has a distinctive meaning. However, one of my seminary professors says that the words themselves are not used that way in the Bible and all of them must be defined by their context.

That said, when I read the encounter of Peter with the risen Christ, I’m aware that different words for love have been used. Because of this, the understanding of this passage could be affected. However, just reading it in the context of the events John has subscribed, it is more likely that Jesus repeated His question because Peter had denied Him three times . . .

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. (John 21:17)

I feel the pathos in Peter. I’ve also failed to confess Jesus many times, and disobeyed Him more times than I can count. Yet when I bow before Him, if He said to me, “Do you love me?” I would say that I did, and feel the conflict in my words. I know that if I love Him, I should do what He says.

Yet the love of God does not depend on my performance. If He can love me even when I turn my back on Him, how can I not love Him? This is a love of gratitude, not a love that He requires me to prove. As with Peter, He simply asks me to use the gifts He’s given me to minister to others.

Making mistakes and falling on my nose are part of the Christian experience. We are climbing a mountain, growing in our likeness to Christ. It does not happen overnight, nor is our love perfected overnight. Look at the words used here . . .

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:11–13)

He says “increase” and “may establish” – words about an ongoing growth, not an instant one. If it were, then John would not have had to write this . . .

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16–18)

 . . .  and Jesus would not have had to say this . . .

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34–35)

I’m nearly to the end of this two-month study of idolatry. In this time, God has helped me identify some people and things that I’ve used as substitutes for faithful devotion to Him. I feel lighter and more joyful than I ever imagined. All I can say is what the Bible has been telling me . . .  “Love God . . .  and keep yourselves from idols.”

The Immense Love of Christ

Prayer requests are most often for physical and personal problems such as bodily ailments, relationship conflicts, and decisions about life. Paul’s prayers were most often about spiritual life, such as knowing Christ in a personal relationship, having strong faith in Him, and knowing how much He loves us.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14–19)

Yesterday’s worship service focused on two things, knowing the will of God and knowing how much He loves us. Over the years, my scattered mind has struggled with focusing on anything, but today I am thinking about His love, and singing songs that reflect it.

While it feels good to have someone say “I love you,” love is not mere words. It is action. Christ does things that demonstrate and prove His love. He came from the perfection of heaven to a place of sorrow and death. He was made flesh, the Creator made a creature. He who filled heaven was enveloped in a child, born in a manger rather than a palace. He, the God of strength, become hungry, thirsty, tired. This was His loving choice.

To show His love, the sinless Judge of all was condemned. The God of life was put to death and He who had the keys of hell and death was laid in the prison of another man’s grave; in life He had nowhere to lay his head and in death nowhere to lay his body.

He did this for us, while we were yet sinners, enemies of God, fallen, miserable humans. The continual suffering of Jesus Christ from the cradle to the cross, speaks louder than words of the transcendent love of Jesus Christ to sinners. He took upon Himself the wrath of God that sinners might be saved and that we might spend eternity where we otherwise would not belong.

Such love is a wonder. It includes affection but goes much farther. The love of Christ is submissive and willing to suffer for the sake of others. It is above all measure. Time did not begin it, and time will never end it. It cannot be bound to a place, not can sin overcome it. Understanding furrows its brow for this love is beyond any love we know or can imagine. How can love persist for those who hate it? How can love forgive those who kill it? How can love offer reconciliation when it is spurned, heap kindness on contempt, favor on ingratitude, mercy on sin?

The love of Christ moved Him to do all of that so I could spend all my days admiring and adoring Him, wholly  captivated by thoughts of His love for me.

Know and believe that God loves me

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

Being loved and feeling loved are not always the same thing. A child may be denied candy because the parents love the child, but the child may not feel loved, even loudly profess that feeling when not getting candy or whatever else is wanted.

Sometimes I wonder if that is the way we are with God. He loves us, but when we don’t get our way and life hands us a bitter pill instead of the candy we’d hoped for, we think that God no longer cares. 

Part of this is the same problem as the child who wants the candy; we do not always know what is best for us. Withholding something that seems like a blessing feels like unkindness, even cruelty. We question His love, forgetting that God knows what is best for His children and what will bring us more harm than good.

I have more trouble when the circumstances of life, which I believe are under His sovereign control, but become difficult. I know God could fix the problems, or make them go away, or not let them happen in the first place. So why does He allow this pain or that trial? I have acted like a disciplined child, questioning the love of my heavenly Father and failing to recognize or remember that His love is still set on me.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:5–14)

Today’s devotional reading says that the secret of walking closely with Christ, and working successfully for Him, is fully realizing that I am His beloved. He has set His heart upon me. He watches over me with tender interest and works out the mystery of my life with fondness. He keeps my hand from the candy jar and if need be, sends difficulties to deepen my faith. My part is to remember His love has already been proven. Jesus died on the cross for me. 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:32–34)

Like a loving parent, not being allowed excess candy in life is God’s wisdom for His children. Allowing trials goes beyond what we suppose is love even more, yet even a loving parent will correct their children, and not dote over them to the degree that no tripping, falling or mistakes are allowed. 

Then there is another reason for doubt. I have days where I feel that God does not love me, but my feelings are not attached to any circumstances or events. When that happens, I have to conclude that this is nothing more than the devil repeating his age-old line that he used on Eve in Eden; You can eat from that tree (or do whatever you want) because God really doesn’t want the best for you, a lie that suggests that God does not love me.

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Father, I know this struggle from time to time. Yesterday’s class on spiritual warfare was about this very thing — that our enemy tells us lies in an effort to make us think wrongly about You. When that happens, I start feeling and acting contrary to truth. As John says, I know and believe You love me. Help me today to ignore the Liar and instead know, believe, and abide in Your love.