False confidence?

Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”: These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments. You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you. (Isaiah 47:8–15)

A television series featured one character that had the attitude that no matter what happened, it would turn out fine. One of my friends is like that too. Neither one trusts God for ‘fine’ even though this positive attitude seems to be working for them, at least some of the time.

A pessimist might argue. The dictionary calls this person a prophet of doom. In a recent study of optimism, neuroscientists found an interesting principle: optimists shared similar patterns of activity in a key brain region when they imagined future events, but each pessimist’s brain patterns was unique. 

They were looking for the difference because optimism is associated with better physical, mental and social health. But the above Scripture adds another factor — an optimistic attitude also needs to be based on reality. In the OT audience that Isaiah was speaking to, the people wanted a positive future, but because of their sin, it was not going to happen. Their optimism was based on a strong ‘I want’ rather than on the will of God. The reality is that fighting with God and winning is not likely, no matter how positive I feel about the outcome.

I’m reminded of that book about the power of positive thinking. My dad was hooked until I said, “No matter how positive I think, I can never be an opera singer.” That burst his bubble. He knew how I sounded. 

The fans rooting for their hockey team in the NHL playoffs hold up signs saying “BELIEVE” as if their confidence will make winners out of the team, but that does not work either. Confidence in me and my plans seems right, but it does come with a warning:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13–16)

Some of us are not optimistic, meaning me. I’m more apt to think that I can’t do something. For this, James adds: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

Jesus, You are very good with attitudes and guidance as long as I’m trusting You and not myself or my feelings both negative and positive. Trusting myself never works out and how wonderful that You care and want me to do the right thing — and will let me know what that is. All I have to do is listen to You instead of my own thoughts and emotions.

The real world

Ezekiel 1:1–3:15, Revelation 1:1–20, Job 32:1–10

The last two days brought emotional extremes. Tuesday I learned that my heart problem for the past several years has amazingly healed. My heart is functioning normally! With excitement we planned a celebration dinner and invited our son. A few hours before the dinner a neighbor came and told me that our next door neighbor had been hit by a car and was killed instantly. Tears flowed. Then we went to dinner. Our son told us of a tragic situation in the life of someone all of us care about. More tears flowed. Our meal was good, as was most of the conversation, yet all of this has narrowed my world.

Today’s Scripture readings are a timely look at visions from God to His prophets. They take my mind to what is actual and a much larger view than the images and memories of the past two days. The Old Testament vision was given to Ezekiel, also during tragic times:

“In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” (Ezekiel 1:1) Since the Bible says no one can see God and live, these were visions like God, not actually God Himself. It was a view that put the prophet on his face: “Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.’ And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” (Ezekiel 1:28–2:2)

As I read, I could see parallels between what Ezekiel saw and the book of Revelation in the NT. Ezekiel fell on his face, as John the writer of Revelation also did. Ezekiel was given a scroll, as was John later in Revelation.

Both men were allowed to see what would happen in the future and their description of what they saw was mind-boggling and difficult to describe. Both of them used many metaphors in an attempt to write the vision, most of which was “lamentation and mourning and woe.”

John described his experience as a “revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.” He said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches . . . .” (Revelation 1:10–11)

Then he saw Jesus and said, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last . . . .” (Revelation 1:17)

At this, my thoughts were lifted from my current emotional highs and lows to the throne of God. When Jesus comes, none of it will matter. He will wipe away all tears and make all things right.

In the meantime, I must deal with those highs and lows. As my son said, the joy of my medical news was offset by two tragedies, but “at least your heart can now handle it.” We smiled, but I think of another reality. In this life there are tough issues, but even in them, there is a sustaining sense of the joy that is to come. Those three things illustrate the amazing power of grace, as did the calm that remained even in those highs and lows.

And Job’s story fits in here too. He had heard the berating of his ‘friends’ and now a younger man stepped into it. Out of respect for the older men, he’d held his tongue, but he “burned with anger.” (Job 32:4–5) He said, “It is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right . . . Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.” (Job 32:8–10)

Part of the tragedy of life is being mocked and misunderstood, of trusting God and being accused of wickedness, of being in pain and having that pain disregarded by ‘friends’ who are more concerned that your theology matched theirs. These are real pains also.

However, these prophets wrote truth about what others could not see. John and Ezekiel call me beyond the stuff of this life to something greater, something unknown yet I know it. They urge me to remember that time is running out. It will not be long until Jesus comes again.

God doesn’t want me to focus on my pain, or my joys, or even the rightness of my theology. He takes me beyond what other people think to His grand plan of redemption. I may not yet comprehend all of it, but I do know that God works all things together for my good that I might be transformed into the image of His Son. And one day, I will also see Jesus, not in a vision but in the fullness of His glory. That prospect levels the highs and lows into a stabilizing and yet exciting reality. No matter where my emotions are going, He is going to consummate His relationship with me in a glorious eternity. 

Glory revealed . . .

Today’s devotional reading on “The Mind of a Christian” takes me to a passage Paul wrote about his Jewish countrymen. He said, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:1–4)

This echoes how I feel about those who don’t know Christ, Jewish or otherwise. It is my heart’s desire and in my prayers to God that they may be saved. Some of them are religious, but base their ‘salvation’ on the things they do, or their faithful church attendance, or that they are ‘good’ people. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Their minds have not yet grasped the wonder of what God has done.

His saving power is in that last verse above . . . “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Jesus is the end of rule-keeping and self effort, the end of all personal striving to be righteous, the end of trying to earn salvation. This is the glory of God — to grant salvation to sinners because Christ paid our penalty, bore our punishment, died so we could live. He is the end of the law, the end of my self-effort because no one can be saved that way. We all fall short. No matter how good I might be, it is not good enough.

For those who believe in Jesus, the awesome good news is this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9). This is the knowledge that was missing for Paul’s countrymen. They didn’t know it, or didn’t submit to it. Instead, were trying to be righteous by themselves. Actually, self-righteousness is the default mode for humanity. Because of it, we who are Christian often feel as if no one hears us, no one cares about God’s good news. The world can seem a dark and lonely place.

Last night at our small group Bible study, we looked at a few chapters in Revelation. Our group leader has nearly forty years experience in teaching the New Testament. The rest of us have either a few years of Bible college or very little Bible education, yet we saw and agreed on one thing: God is awesome.

As we read and studied, our professor reminded us that the early church and even the church today can feel small, a minority that few people give any positive attention to or value. We are without respect in a world that has decided God and the Bible are irrelevant. For that, this last book of the Bible offers us a revelation of Jesus Christ in His glory. God pulls back the curtain and lets us see what is really going on in eternal reality, the truth about all things, and on Whom our value and attention ought to be. Read in that light, chapters 4-7 exploded God’s glory into our feeble hearts.

Here are just a few verses from that revelation of Jesus that take my eyes off all littleness self-concerns, and put them on the One who is in charge . . .  

CREATOR: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

REDEEMER: “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10)

ETERNAL HONOR: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:12–13)

ETERNAL LIFE: “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:15–17) 

Amen.

Prayer needs reality and objectivity

Not too long ago, I was sharing how a prayer had been answered and how much I valued the reality of prayer. Someone said, “Oh, you probably just do it yourself.”

Some think prayer is a spiritual exercise, a psychological shot in the arm like auto-suggestion, but that is not what God says. Meeting with Him puts me in touch with reality. What could be more real than God’s perspective, or more objective than what the Creator says about His creatures?

If I were talking to the air or to myself, then my words would be from within me, my ideas. However, God has shown me the ugly stuff that comes from within. He says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” (Colossians 3:5–9)

Prayer must have a different content and motivation than that old self. In fact, prayer’s main rule is to ask according to the will of God — and doing it myself is definitely not God’s will.

The best way to learn what and how to pray about comes from the Bible. It is God’s revelation of His will and clearly shows the difference between what He does and what I think I can do without Him.

In reading God’s Word, I can sense the mind of God. As a Christian, God even tells me, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5) Because my old mind is polluted, He is transforming it. Acceptable prayer never comes out by looking within or “doing it myself.” Instead, the Word of God says . . .

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1–4)

Besides putting off the old self, I’m to “put on” the new life Jesus gives. This includes attitudes like humility, meekness, and patience. I’m also to let the peace of Christ rule my heart and “let the word of Christ dwell in (me) richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in (my) heart to God.” (Colossians 3:12–16)

For all this, the Word of God is indispensible. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16) for it is the only way to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

I need God’s perspective when I approach Him in prayer. His Word offers me objective truth, even His very thoughts. He urges me beyond any form of “do it myself” — in how I live and even how I pray.

Through His Word and through talking it back to Him, prayer becomes an amazing connection with reality. In prayer, I am not doing anything but expressing total reliance on the God that can do “exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask or even imagine!”

 

No other Name, no other idol

Today’s verses remind me of those mazes in crossword puzzle books where you are to start at one side and draw a line through to the other. The challenge is avoiding the many deceptions and dead ends because there is only one way through to the other side.

Finding and knowing God is like that. Deceptions and dead ends abound. Many religions and spiritual movements claim to be the way. Some people even say that all of them lead to God, but this is not what God says. When Philip, one of His disciples, asked how to know the way, Jesus said . . .

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

How could Jesus make this claim? It is because He fulfilled an ancient prophecy . . .

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14, about 700-740 B.C.)

But as (Joseph) considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:20–23, 700 years later)

Incarnation is the way through the maze, the way to find God. If anyone sees, finds, knows, accepts and believes in Jesus Christ, then they have seen and found God. Here are the rest of Jesus’ words to Philip . . .

“If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (John 14:7–11)

Jesus made this remarkable claim many times. He could say such things for God had promised to come and dwell among us, and He was the fulfillment of that promise . . .

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:44–46)

I’m sitting here thinking about this and letting Jesus’ claim grab hold and sink in. Christians believe it, but we need to focus on it; I need to focus on it. I need to let the reality of who Jesus is continually permeate my thoughts and govern my day, my plans, my entire life.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:15–20)

Today’s devotional says that whatever I know about God comes through Jesus. He is God’s revelation of Himself to me. He is also the only One who takes the place of all my idols. He is reality, the way through the maze and the way that I am to walk, the life that I am to live, and the truth that rings true in all situations. When reality renders its verdict, it always points to Jesus.

Seeing God

Things I cannot see but know they exist include electricity, magnetism, imagination, the human spirit, and love. Those who say they will not believe in God because they cannot see Him do believe in many things they cannot see. The Bible says that the problem is not with the eyes but with the will, another invisible reality.

Joseph Parker (1830-1902) was an English Nonconformist. This sounds bad, but for him meant a Christian who did not go along with the practices of the traditional church of his day. He had other ideas and some of them have been expressed in my devotional readings. The one for today is so well written that some of what follows comes from this pastor who gets right into the very nature of God. He starts with this verse…

Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable. (Job 36:26)

This is to say that God is at least a mystery. For one thing, He is invisible, but as pure Spirit this is not unusual nor does being a Spirit make it impossible to know Him. He did reveal Himself…

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he (Jesus) has made him known (John 1:18) and He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15)

Parker says the invisibleness of God is not a scientific discovery, but a biblical revelation. It is also the difficulty of all life, and the higher the life the higher the difficulty. He points out that we cannot see ourselves and live either. We can see our incarnation into a human body, but not our very self — the pulse that makes us human. It was this very question of “who am I and what happens to me when this body dies” that drew me to seek the answers that God gives.

Science cannot answer that question. Those who study anatomy cannot find the human soul. Unfortunately, they conclude there is no soul. Their reasoning reaches beyond itself and by this conclusion, takes away its own life. Think of this: has anatomy found genius? Or laid its finger on imagination and held it up saying, “Look, the mighty wizard”? To do so is simply foolish.

Think of it; if there is no soul simply because science has never found one, then there is no genius or imagination either. A surgeon’s knife cannot expose either one, but those who value life dare not set foot on the rickety bridge called “therefore.”

However, many gladly put their feet on any bridge that leads away from God. The Bible says this is because the human heart resists and says “no” to Him. This is not intellectual superiority but moral distaste, an invincible aversion caused by human sin.

… both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:9–12)

To sinners, God is unknown and unknowable, yet that does not render Him nonexistent. Scientists know about magnetism and agree that it exists, but not because they can see it. If this reasoning about God held true, science should ignore magnetism and run away from it, shaken and whitened by negativism and fear, yet they do not nor do we. We rely on magnetism – without fully understanding or seeing it.

Scientifically, I cannot see or examine God at all. He does not belong to that realm even though He is creator and sovereign over it, just as He is creator and sovereign over the human spirit, the invisible realm. But because He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, and because He grants faith to sinners, He can be seen in exactly the same way we see imagination and genius. As the Word of God says, this is the first place to look for God…

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,

The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;

He speaks to me everywhere.

(first two stanzas of This is my Father’s World, by Maltbie D Babcock)