A Complete Picture of God

Those who reject the revelation of God in the Old Testament (because they don’t like His wrath on wicked people) are missing more than they realize. Besides giving us a picture of how God hates sin (which Jesus will also do at His Second Coming), many passages describe His incredible faithfulness to His people. If He is not a God of wrath, does that mean that He is not a God of faithfulness either?

The Bible offers a cohesive description of a holy God who hates sin, but also a loving God who cares about sinners. When I read the following, I am reminded that this is the same God that promised in the New Testament that He would never leave me or forsake me.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your builders (or your children) make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does. “Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land — surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: ‘The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.’ Then you will say in your heart: ‘Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; from where have these come?’ ” Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 49:14–23)

God’s people felt abandoned after they turned away from God. All that they enjoyed had been destroyed and they were taken into a foreign land. Their future looked hopeless.

But God did not abandon them. He compared His love for them like a woman nursing a child. He told them they were carved into His hands and He thought about them all the time.

Not only that, He said that those who had destroyed or abandoned them would return, and the space where they lived would not be big enough to hold these who would change their minds about God. This included their sons and daughters. Those who came back would be put on as a bride adorns herself with ornaments, and all who had pulled away would bow down before God’s people.

This is the same God that I worship. He never stops loving His people. He never abandons me. Not only that, He will bring those who stray back into His kingdom. He can touch the hearts of even pagan kings so that they know He is the Lord God, the One who is worthy of their worship and homage. He can even signal them to be part of the return of my family to the fold of God.

Of course Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation of Himself to us. Even in His first coming, we see God’s hatred of sin when Christ made Himself the ultimate sacrifice for it. If God did not hate sin, He would have spared His Son yet His terrible wrath was poured out on Jesus at Calvary.

Calvary also reveals God’s love for His people — even in the same horrible death. Yes, the life of Jesus showed a loving and caring attitude toward sinners (except religious hypocrites), but it was His death for my sin that sums up both wrath and love in one incredible declaration. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Oh that our eyes would stay open to all that God reveals about Himself!

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Oh Jesus, I know that You love sinners. But I also know that You hate sin. If You didn’t, You would not have gone to such extremes to provide a way of escape from it and from its consequences. You are the ultimate demonstration of the love of God. This love would not let Israel fall away or let them be forsaken. This love would not even let those who walked away from the fold stay away. You are totally faithful to Your people and to Your own nature.

Words like this passage from Isaiah build my confidence in You. I know that You will never forsake me. I also know that You are totally able to bring back into Your care those who turn away, even those who turn from me because I belong to You. As I pray for them, You give me confidence that one day they will also bow down and again ask for room to dwell with me in your kingdom. Nothing is impossible for You.

Delightful Living Water

Are the people of God supposed to be healthy, wealthy, wise and totally satisfied all the time? The child of a pastor once told me, tongue in cheek, if we are not, we should fake it! Such expectations put unrealistic pressure on those who assume they are not acceptable if they do not live up to such standards.

The Bible does say we should rejoice in the Lord, and be wise, and be content with what we have, but it says those things because God knows that these and other commands are needed. We are not perfect people and need to hear what the Lord makes available to us.

This morning’s devotional reading directs me to a passage that has blessed me countless times when I‘ve had a great thirst for God, particularly to act in the spiritual lives of my children. Yet each time this happened, I did not remember or turn to these verses. Instead, God directed me there in some way and surprised me with such direct words to meet my need.

But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel. (Isaiah 44:1–5)

Using part of this passage for his devotional reading today, Spurgeon asks if anyone is thirsting for the living God or unhappy because they cannot find Him as the delight of their heart. He asks if anyone is joyless and praying, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation” or conscious of being barren like dry ground, without fruitfulness and usefulness. He says this is the needed promise: “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”

God always amazes me. He provides the grace required, even beyond the utmost reach of my needs. As water refreshes the thirsty, He refreshes me and satisfies my desires. As water makes seeds grow, my spiritual life grows by His grace, His living water. As water makes buds swell and fruit ripen, so also does living water produce spiritual fruit in me.

Also, there is that sense of being drenched with it — in that there is more than enough and the blessing from His supply lifts me to a high place. Today, these verses remind me of how the grace of God produces that sensation like a child experiences seeing Niagara Falls the first time, or what is felt in the heart when standing in a safe place watching forty-foot waves pound the Hawaiian shores. Pure awe and incredible joy.

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Oh Lord, I know that in context, the last part of this passage is a promise to Israel. Yet as a believer in the Messiah, You invite me to claim status as a citizen of the Israel of God. This promise is for me too, and when I read this section of Your Word, the Spirit says to me, “I do this for those people; I can do this for your people. Nothing is too hard for me.”

No matter the state of my emotions or the level of my faith, when You remind me of Your promises and Your power to keep them, I am deluged with delight.

(Photo credit)

My sufferings = His sufferings

Corrie ten Boom

(1892 - 1983)

Dutch, Christian Holocaust survivor

Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian woman captured by the Germans for harboring Jews, experienced unimaginable treatment in a concentration camp before her release on a clerical error. She spoke of the power of Christ who, in the midst of great suffering, never left her. His loving presence made her “more than a conqueror” (Romans 8:37) in the suffering and later set her free to share the gospel with thousands of people.

Today’s devotional reminds me that England’s freedom to preach and practice the gospel of salvation by grace happened because God shielded His people. On this day in English history, a plot was uncovered that the Papists were going to destroy the Houses of Parliament. Later, on the same date, King William III quashing the hope of Popish ascendancy and securing religious liberty. According to Spurgeon, our Puritan forefathers made this a special time of thanksgiving, with singing: 

    While for our princes they prepare
    In caverns deep a burning snare,
    He shot from heaven a piercing ray,
    And the dark treachery brought to day.

Spurgeon rejoices that God takes care of His people, and that no one can defeat those who trust in Him.

Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD. (Isaiah 54:16–17)

Yet God does not always shield. Sometimes His people suffer greatly. Corrie Ten Boom’s sister died in Ravensbruck. Many others have died defending the gospel that we love, refusing to deny the Christ who died for our spiritual liberty. Yet while the world asks, “Why does God allow suffering?” Christians know that He not only controls, but has purpose in all that happens to us. Sometimes it is hidden at the time, but later revealed. And sometimes, as Ten Booms recounts, it is revealed even in the midst of great pain.

Corrie Ten Boom knew both the horror of torture and the wonder of God’s care in that concentration camp. She also knew that God calls His people to do something that only grace and His power can do in us. He asks us to have an attitude toward suffering that only makes sense to people like her, people who have experienced it and know that grace can make it a reality. 

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13)

Oswald Chambers says that if I am going to be used by God, God will take me through a multitude of experiences that are not meant for me at all, but meant to make me useful in His hands, to give my life greater value. They will also enable me to understand what others experience so I’m not surprised or confused at what comes across my path. By suffering, He lets me see how Christ suffered and how I can be like Christ in suffering.

I may never have ongoing trauma like a long time in a concentration camp, but I might live next to a difficult neighbor, or struggling with poverty, or ill health, or wayward children. In whatever happens, God reminds me that the sufferings of Christ are not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God,” and only as I am related to Him can I understand what God is after when He allows me to suffer.

Christians easily talk about seeking the will of God, but that talk tends to be suspended when it comes to suffering. Most of us pray quickly for deliverance. We want God to make it better, to restore the good times. Instead of trying to identify what is happening to us with the sufferings of Jesus Christ, we would rather partake in the glory. We miss the point, never mind the wonder of His grace in such suffering.

Sometimes it is a purging process. God wants to remove sin and selfishness that we might be more like Jesus. I’ve known resistance to this. Do I really want my personal ambitions put out of my life? And if I do accept that God is rebuking or purging me, I sometimes insist that He shows me exactly what He is doing so I can “help” Him. How foolish! God seldom shows His specific reasons for what He is putting me through. I cannot “help” Him for that would make me self-righteous and therefore useless. Instead, He asks me to walk by faith, not sight, and trust Him as I go through the fire.

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Lord, in the worst things of my life, I most remember Your sustaining power and Your very real presence. You have used calamities large and small to draw poisonous selfishness out of me. I know that You are not finished. While my life has been marvelously blessed, I understand that to become all that You want for me, I must also be a partaker of Christ’s sufferings. Grant me faith to trust You no matter what lies ahead, so I will rejoice as You work out Your perfect plan.

God prefers dummies

All my Christian life I’d bemoaned my inabilities before God, even apologized for weakness and not knowing the answers, not being able to do what I thought needed to be done, and just for being a dummy. Then one day, after a particular bout of helplessness and feeling inadequate, God hit me with the truth. This truth removed a great weight. In my enlightenment, I laughed out loud. Being helpless is exactly how He wants me!

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7–10)

Paul knew helplessness. He also knew grace and the power of God. I did too, but I had never connected my complaining about uselessness with this being a desirable state. I’d adopted the world’s idea about the need for confidence and assurance. How can anyone serve God without it?

Spurgeon says no one can serve God WITH it. Today’s devotional reading begins with these absolutely true words, “A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness.”

Whenever I have tried to do anything with confidence in my own abilities, defeat is certain. God never equips me to do anything as long as I am sure of myself. Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

In all the military conquests of the Old Testament, those who went forth to fight boasting of their power or failing to ask God to guide them, always returned in defeat and disgrace. New Testament spiritual battles are no different. Fighting spiritual enemies requires spiritual resources. 

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)

All Christian ministry and service requires His strength and direction. As Spurgeon says, those who serve God must serve Him in His way and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. Anything I do unaided by divine strength, He will not support.

The rub is that as long as I think I have one iota of ability or knowledge about anything, my sinful nature is apt to run with it. By doing that, and failing, I must learn the hard way that His strength is not given unless asked for — in humility and helplessness.

Most of us fall into thinking that smart, talented people are of use to God. I’ve learned that God must break all reliance on personal intelligence and abilities. This is about who gets the glory, but it is also about the being effective. My ways are flawed, but God’s ways are never wrong and never miss the target. No matter how good my ideas, His work and mine do not. Obviously, relying on Him and His ways is far easier when I feel helpless. 

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Lord, Your Word says that You choose me before the foundation of the world. That I understand. However, I also now understand something else about the way You make Your choices.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:27–31)

Finally, I am content to be a dummy.

Old life > New live

When I first became interested I quilting, I ran into a new acquaintance in a book store in the quilting section. We looked together at several books, then she asked me, “Are you a real quilter or just one of those people who buys quilting books?” That pointed question cinched it — she became a dear friend.

Since then, I’ve grown to love those who are straightforward. I always know where I stand with friends like her, and where I fail. I thought of her this morning when I read this verse.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

This is a favorite verse, but it raises pointed questions. Am I really crucified with Christ? Or do I just like the idea of being pious, being dedicated to serving Him? Do I actually know what it means to have Christ live in me? Is my life lived in total dependance upon Him? Or am I deceiving myself?

I also remember that being a Christian is something like being a soldier. Once enlisted, a soldier is a real soldier, but it takes boot camp and training before that person thinks and acts like what he has become. It is the same for those who believe in Christ. We become, but then we have lots to learn.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:6–11)

I have enlisted. I know that positionally I have been crucified with Christ. This “death” is not physical, nor is it spiritual. Instead, it is about being dead to sin. I have made some progress. Sin that once held me captive no longer has any power over me. I am dead to it, not interested, make no response.

But there are weak spots in my affirmations. Being alive to God covers more than overcoming old sinful habits. I once fought things more blatant, but now struggle with choices between what is good and what is godly, what is allowed and what is effective for the advance of His kingdom, what pleases me and what edifies others. The battle is less about evil and more about the old nature that still wants to rule my life.

God shows me that being dead to sin only can lead to prudish pride. Even non-Christians can say no to evil without replacing it with godliness. Living this way would make me self-righteous and still living in the strength of my own will. Instead of being genuinely crucified with Christ and dead to sin, “I” still lives.

Godliness goes beyond my ability to say no. Being alive to Him means just as that verse in Galatians says; it is no longer I but Christ. My life is to be under new management. This is similar to what John the Baptist said about Jesus. 

I am not the Christ. . . . He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. (John 3:28–31)

Some say living in the power of Jesus Christ is a decision put squarely in the believer’s lap. I do not agree. If I could make that decision and so live for God, then I would not need the saving power of Jesus Christ. As John said, I am of the earth — but He who comes from heaven is above all. He is the Savior; I am not. 

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Dear and faithful Lord, each day brings opportunities to live for You — or for myself. Each hour I must consider myself dead to sin and self-rule because You say it is already a reality. I AM dead to sin and alive to God, crucified with Christ so that the life I now live is by faith in Him. Positionally, it is so. Faith calls me to believe that I am what You say I am. Yet in my experience, I’m still learning to listen to Your call and follow You with all my heart. As I battle with my selfish I-wants, I also depend on You to live out Your life in me, making me the person that You say I already am.

More to know about the God who never changes

Who likes getting in a rut? As much as I move furniture, like new things, and often change my mind, I’d like some things to be changeless. I don’t want to see more grey hair and wrinkles when I look in the mirror. I don’t want the green grass to fade and turn brown, or the fall leaves to do the same. I’d like time to pass more slowly and children to remain wonderfully childlike. It would be nice also if prices didn’t go up and the stock market didn’t go down.

Yet change is the stuff of life. Christian teacher and author Howard Hendricks says, “Christians resist change more than anything else, yet change is our destiny.” He is correct. God is at work changing us into the image of His Son. The work goes slowly, but He has promised to finish what He started. We are changing and will be like Him.

What then about change? Is there nothing that stays the same? Even the sun grows dim and our world will wear out.

You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed . . . (Hebrews 1:10–12)

Yet at the end of this passage and many more like it, the Bible assures us of one thing: God remains the same. He never changes.

For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. (Lamentations 3:22)

Some say God does change, that He was once a wrathful and violent deity that destroyed His enemies as shown in the Old Testament. Then when Jesus came, He revealed what God is really like, meek and mild and full of love. Those who think this way need to think more about verses like these:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)

The Lord Jesus Christ does reveal God to us. Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Yet the Christ who came as a babe and died on the cross for our sin is not the total revelation of God in the Person of His Son. First, His claim of being the “I am” affirms that He is the eternal one, God the Son. This means Jesus is also God in the Old Testament — when those wars were fought and His enemies destroyed. Also, several times He made pre-incarnation appearances as “the angel of the Lord.”

Then there is the Second Coming. When Jesus returns, that meek, mild image will give way to a revelation of God in judgment. He came first to save us, not judge us, yet Christians are warned that we must, “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” (Colossians 3:5–6). In wrath, and in Jesus Christ, God will judge the world. In the revelation given to John of the last days and the judgment of this earth, John sees this:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11–16)

When He came the first time, Jesus revealed grace and truth. He showed us the love of God and His desire that sinners be saved. But even then, He declared that the peace He offered would cause division (“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Luke 12:51) and those who refuse Him would face judgment and wrath later when He returned and God would “judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16).

For some, the switch from meek and mild to a sharp sword and eyes like fire is unthinkable. Who does not prefer grace and mercy? Yet because God never changes, His attitude toward sin and rebellion remains. One day, those who persist in their rejection of Him will discover that the God revealed in Jesus Christ who died for our sin in the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament who hates sin and will punish it forever.

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Lord, Your unchanging nature is an anchor for me. If You were whimsical and unpredictable, I would have nothing to cling to — for all things change. Yet You remain the same. I’m glad that You sent Jesus to show the world that You are willing to forgive sin. And I’m also glad that You will send Jesus again to judge sinners and reveal Your wrath against sin, for Your unchanging attitude toward sin gives me greater incentive to turn from it and obey You.

Christian Homes

In the beginning, believers in Jesus Christ met in one another’s homes. While most of the universal church assembles in buildings reserved for worship, house churches still exist in some parts of the world where authorities do not allow Christians to assembly publicly.

Even in North America, a few have forsaken church buildings. They abandon what they call “the organized” church because they have been hurt, or because they see corruption of various sorts. To escape all that, they meet in their homes. However, Spurgeon takes a different approach to the idea of churches in our homes. He uses these verses to prompt his thoughts. 

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philemon 1–3)

From this, Spurgeon asks his readers about their homes. He wants to know if parents, children, friends, servants and all members of each home are saved and part of the universal church, or are some still unconverted?

This question is dear to my heart. Even though only my husband and I live in this home, we have family members who are not part of the church of Jesus Christ. As Spurgeon says, how would this father’s heart leap for joy, and this mother’s eyes fill with holy tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved!

We have prayed for unsaved family members for many years, looking to the great mercy of the Lord until He works in their lives. In the case of Philemon, he may have had a deep desire for the salvation of all his household, including a servant named Onesimus. This man wronged him and ran away from his service. No doubt his master’s prayers followed him. At last, as God would have it, Onesimus was led to hear Paul preach and his heart was touched. He returned to Philemon, this time as a faithful servant, but more; he was now a beloved brother in Christ, adding another member to the Church in Philemon’s house.

Our children will likely never move back home, and many of our relatives will never live under the same roof as we do, but there are unconverted among them. For these, I pray that God will bring them to Himself, so that we are part of the same church, the Body of Christ who worship God in spirit and in truth.

Spurgeon has more words about the church that is in a home. He says it must be ordered well. Believers are the most challenged and our faith (or lack of it) the most evident in our homes. We must deal with the common affairs of life in holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity. I agree.

More is expected of a church home (a Christian home) than of an ordinary household. Our family worship ought to be devout and from the heart. Our love ought to be warm and unbroken. All external conduct ought to be sanctified and Christlike. Home is not the place where we can “be ourselves” and the larger church the place to be “pious.” The church in our home is the place where our Christian faith and integrity are tested and revealed. If we cannot be obedient to God in our homes, how can we be effective in Christian service in the larger church?

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Lord, in our home the congregation is only two, at least most of the time. Yet You have told me that the way I behave in my home is the truest reflection of my faith. In some ways, this thought gives me joy for You have helped me so much to be a more godly wife and mother. Yet I am also convicted and must confess how often I fall short of godliness in this church that is in our home. As I bring my failures and disobedience to You, I know You forgive and cleanse, but I also know the importance of being like Jesus in daily living. Even if my unsaved family were not observing me, You offer grace and peace that I might walk with You in every thing that I do, bringing You glory and magnifying Your name.