Relief from the Accuser

Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.” (Isaiah 51:21–23)

By the thinking of many Christians, these days are the last days according to the many descriptions in both OT and NT. I’m cautious about date-setting yet the daily news seems to be building up to something.

One thing I’ve noticed is the activity of the Liar in my own life. Every time God blesses me with answered prayer or an opportunity to share Jesus with someone else, I get an extreme attack of accusations from Satan about who God is (or isn’t) and my failures as a member of His family. His lies have enough truth in them that I often feel lost and crippled and need to remember passages like this one:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:10–12)

Eve’s downfall came because she listened to what the devil in the garden told her. He appealed to her sense of self and suggested God didn’t really love her. He does the same to me, and when circumstances seem to back him up and my thoughts go there instead of to the promises and character of God, I fall into a pit of discouragement — but not for long as God reminds me again who I am and that I belong. Today He reminds me that the wrath I deserve has been put on my tormentor who wants to walk all over me. The Liar is defeated — by the blood of Christ, by my declaration of faith, and by no fear of death. And get this, he is coming at me, and at the people of God in great fury “because he knows that his time is short.” 

In the mind of God, ‘short’ could mean soon or a thousand years. No matter. The Liar knows that Jesus wins and just those two words erase his accusations and replace them with a hallelujah!

Jesus, just forgetting truth for a moment is awful and the perfectionist in me thinks it is a terrible sin. As I confess my frailties, You are right here to encourage with just the right words for a rebuttal to his lies and nastiness. He can appeal to my human selfishness, hit me where I am weak, twist my emotions with many unexpected events, and side-track me with nonsense, but he cannot defeat You or the blood that You shed for me, or the faith that You planted in my heart. He is also powerless against all fear. For You did not give me a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7). May Your Spirit continually remind me that “Jesus wins.”

 
 

Don’t be a ‘miserable comforter’

 

 

READ Job 5-8

Two truths come to mind through reading the words of Job’s ‘friend’ and Job’s reply. One is the difference between conviction by the Holy Spirit and accusations from our unholy enemy. The Holy Spirit is specific. He points to the sin, my sinful motivations, telling me exactly what I have done or not done that I should have done.

The enemy of my soul is vague in his accusations. I feel guilty but am not certain why, or think I have done something against God but I don’t know what it is. He also makes me feel like I must earn/deserve God’s favor.

Eliphaz started out with praise for the good things Job has done. However, he soon begins to talk of how God disciplines His people, then brings them back to prosperity and even says, “You shall come to your grave in ripe old age” after telling Job, “As for me. I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous thing without number . . . .” with words following that seem based on the assumption that Job was suffering because God was trying to make right a problem in his life.

This ‘friend’ told truth in a general sense yet he was vague about the nature of the problem. He did not have a clue about Job’s sin, either what it was or even the certainty of it. He was moralizing to a very troubled man rather than comforting him. Given the tendency of human nature to easily take credit for good things in our lives and blame ourselves if that goodness fails, these words could have put Job into deeper despair. He could have responded to this speech with, “Yes, I must have erred, otherwise God would not let all this happen to me” as if he was earning all his blessings by his own goodness.

Job did not do that. He knew that what he was going through was not discipline or punishment. His response was a challenge to his ‘friends’:

“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray. How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove? Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind? You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend. But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?” (Job 6:24–30)

He clearly knew that if God was rebuking him, then God would be specific and not hide it from him. Job was deeply suffering for reasons unknown. He needed comfort, not accusations, words of trust not ‘try harder.’ He knew God would not speak vaguely and would pardon him had he actually done wrong, but his situation felt like death without reason. He was dismayed at God’s silence.

The other truth that pops out at me is that when others are deeply suffering, to watch out for a reaction of fear. Job realized his ‘friends’ came to him sure of themselves, but that didn’t last long:

“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away, which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself. When they melt, they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place . . . . They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed. For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid. Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’? Or ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? Or ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’? (Job 6:14–23)

Job did not ask them to ‘fix’ his problem, yet when they saw his anguish, they could not deal with it. At first they were silent (see 2:13) and maybe should have stayed that way, yet they could not bear it with him. Job wanted comfort and struggled to understand what was happening. He also wanted them to believe God was not punishing him. But they were in fear. My experience with fear is that it opposes sound thinking. How could friends’ tell this man who had lost everything including his children that it must have been his own fault?

Sometimes we do bring calamity on ourselves, but Job teaches the folly of making assumptions then trying to solve the problems in another person’s life. This can be unkind if based on “I will fix this because I cannot bear it” — a very selfish reason.

These ‘friends’ did not have a clue why Job was suffering. Unless it involves others, God does not tell others the reasons for what He is doing in my life either. To be a friend, I must not stick my nose where it does not belong. Instead, Christ calls me to “suffer with those who suffer” and remind them of His unconditional love and mercy. He is still with us even if the sense of it gets lost because of our helpless condition.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

Fear is not from God . . .

Exodus 16; Job 34; Luke 19; 2 Corinthians 4

This morning’s news gave a death rate statistic on the coronavirus compared to the death rate of ordinary flu viruses. I went to a website that tells how that statistic was determined and it proved the old saying that statistics can be manipulated to make them say whatever is wanted. For instance, if non-reported cases are included, this ‘scary’ number is not accurate, but for obvious reasons, those cases cannot be included.

If this was not personal, I would pay little attention to it, but it feels personal. I feel as if someone or something is trying to put fear into my heart, never mind most of the planet. I know fear is not from God (see yesterday’s post) so where is it coming from? I also know that some people love to exaggerate. Is this part of what is happening?

In Job, another trait of humanity shows up. Job is accused again and again of lying. His accusers are certain God is punishing him for something he did even though Job insists otherwise. Here is what one of them said:

“Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight. Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.” (Job 34:35–37)

Yet at the end of this book, here is what God says:

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:7)

He then said that Job would pray for them and “I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:8b)

These friends did a lot of yacking without knowing or understanding the truth. Is that what the media is doing as it makes reports about this virus? Some accuse the media of trying to boost their market by terrifying people then reporting the results of those fears. To be honest, it makes me wonder if the world is going off balance.

At the very least, humanity can be fickle. In Luke 19, Jesus enters Jerusalem and His disciples rejoiced. The other gospels included crowds of people, yet very soon the crowds would be saying, “Crucify Him!” It happens in our world in a less significant way with politicians. They get elected amid cheers and soon the same crowd that cheered is throwing insults.

2 Corinthians 4 does offer some explanations for the contrary ways we display. It says that Christians operate in a different realm and way of thinking than non-believing people because . . .

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:4–7)

Yet even as Christ lives in us, the clay jars are all too obvious at times. We can be just like those who do not know His grace and power. We can be too focused on the “things that are seen” rather than the eternal things not seen.

I’ve been saying that the panic over this virus or any other threat to our well-being is really about the fear of dying. Today’s reading is chapter 4 but chapter 5 begins with this:

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:1–9)

I needed to read that. What is the worst thing that could happen? Contracting this deadly virus and going home to be with Jesus? Or staying here and be afraid of dying like many are?

APPLY: Confess all fears, rethink the source of them and trust Jesus. Tell others the good news — that Jesus loves them and promises everlasting life to all who put their faith in Him.