Tag Archives: Pain & Suffering

Prayers & Principles

God Centered Perspective: Position

3 Comments

God Centered Perspective:  Position.  One of the best places to start our discussion of position is in the book of Job; Job is a difficult, yet encouraging book that is theologically rich.  We see the opening portion of the book describing Job as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil,”1 who even offered sacrifices on behalf of his children, just in case his “children [had] sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.”2  Surely, if there was a man that deserved God’s favor and protection, then it was Job!  The story, however, takes a jarring turn when God recommends Job (two times) for the job of suffering.3  Catastrophe strikes!  Job’s wealth is taken, his children are killed, he is robbed of his health4 and yet the bible tells us that “in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”5  He even attributes his situation to God by saying “naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”6  The only thing that Job had left was a nagging wife that encouraged him to curse God.7  The bulk of the chapters that follow are comprised of Job wrestling through his feelings and emotions regarding God and his current situation, and this is accentuated by some of the worst friends in history who are “counseling” Job!  As the book progresses, Job is pressing for an audience with God because he is convinced that he could argue his case that his treatment was unjust at the hands of the Almighty.  This opportunity is finally afforded to Job in chapter 38 and God begins what ends up being a monologue on his eternal power, perspective and Job’s woefully limited understanding of things.  Job begins to understand that he is limited in his understanding and tries to stop the conversation8, but God is not done “talking” with Job.  God spends four chapters asking Job questions like, “where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth,“ “have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,” “can you send forth lightnings,” “do you give the horse his might,” and “is it by your understanding that the hawk soars.”9  God informs Job that “whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.”10  Job understands that he was presumptuous in thinking that he could bring his case before God.  Job’s response is a good pattern for us:  “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”11  There is no indication that Job ever knew the entire drama that was played out in chapters 1 & 2.  Job realized that he was limited in his understanding and that God was infinite and eternal; that their perspectives were worlds apart.

Adam & Eve were placed in the garden of Eden with a job to do and nothing was outside of their dominion12 – nothing, except God.  God had placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, not to tempt the couple, but to serve as a constant visual reminder that they were still under the authority of the sovereign Creator.  The tree forced them to answer the question, “who is sovereign, who is ultimate, who is supreme, whose earth is this?”  When the couple took the fruit and ate it, they answered this question – they reckoned themselves to be ultimate, unlimited, sovereign and supreme.  And this has been the struggle of humanity ever since.  Our perspective, like theirs, is very limited and clouded – God sees from the beginning of time to the end in one glance, he understands all things while we are woefully limited in our understanding.  There is a battle that rages in the soul of all humanity for personal sovereignty; who (in our own mind) is ultimate and sovereign – us or God?  The reality is that we often times don’t really like the way God has decided to govern His universe, we have authority problems.  We aren’t God, and the truth is that we would make a sorry god, though we delude ourselves in to thinking that we are privy to how all of creation works.  We must acknowledge that “our God is in the Heavens and He does all he pleases.”13  There is a grounding effect that happens in our lives as we understand our place in the universe before the holy God.  God is not only our sovereign Authority, but also our greatest Treasure.  If He is only our sovereign Authority then our faith will be oppressive and marked by duty & obligation.  If we see Him as both, our faith will be marked by delight and joy; the latter is the picture the bible paints of authentic faith.  A deep heart level understanding of our position in the universe begins to produce authenticity instead of pretense; it produces an understanding that we don’t have to have it all figured out – it gives us the freedom to not be ok and the motivation to not stay that way.  It moves us to worship as we proclaim, “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”14

Prayer:  Lord, please help us to remember our place in the universe – that you are Creator and that we are created; that you are sovereign and that we are not; that your perspective and understanding is eternal, infinite, and unlimited and ours is limited, finite and tiny.

Notes:
1“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1 ESV)
2““It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.”” (Job 1:5 ESV)
3“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” (Job 1:6–12 ESV); “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”” (Job 2:1–6 ESV)
4See Job 1:13-20, 2:7-8
5Job 1:22, 2:10
6Job 1:21, see also Job 12
7“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9–10 ESV)
8 ““Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (Job 40:4–9 ESV)
9Job 38:4, 38:12, 38:35, 39:19, 39:26
10Job 41:11 ESV
11Job 42:2–6
12“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.” (Genesis 1:28–30 ESV)
13Psalm 115:3 ESV
14Psalms 8:4 ESV

download PDF
Previous Section:  God Centered Perspective Overview
Next Section:  God Centered Perspective: Broken

Prayers & Principles

Prayers & Principles Background Assumptions

3 Comments

Background Assumptions.  It is important to articulate some assumptions that are made because these will form a foundation upon which we will build in the subsequent discussions.  First, we must answer the question, why did God create the heavens and earth?  The answer is that God created for His glory2.  This is not because God is lacking in any way or that He needs anything from His creation (Acts 17:25); this is because He is Creator and a creation that is glorifying to Him is a natural outflow of who He is3.  Secondly, let us answer the question what is God like?  God is sovereign over all things and has no equal or challenger of any significance; God is good, love, merciful, gracious, patient, holy, peace love, righteous, just, jealous, and wrathful towards all evil4.  Thirdly, what is the purpose of man?  Man was created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27) to reflect the attributes of God to creation, to relate with God and others, and to reign over creation5 with the purpose of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever6.  Our representatives, Adam & Eve, chose to rebel against God by jettisoning His sovereign authority over them; this was then evidenced by the act of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God had specifically forbidden.  This was not a minor infraction, but was an act of grand treason!  Before this rebellion, life functioned harmoniously and in rhythm, like that of a spectacular symphony.  But that is no longer the case.  The consequences of sin are catastrophic:  death (Genesis 2:17), difficulty in child-rearing (Genesis 3:16), distorted roles in marriages (Genesis 3:16), creation opposing man’s efforts to cultivate it (Genesis 3:17-20) and the creation itself is broken (Romans 8:20).  And these effects will not be eradicated until Jesus returns and makes “all things new” (Revelation 21:5).  The fall of man did not surprise God or catch him off guard.  He is sovereign and the scriptures tell us that Jesus existed before the foundation of the world and that God’s plan always was to atone for the sins of his people through the death of Jesus.7  The cross was not plan “B” because plan “A” failed.  So this requires us to answer the last, and perhaps the most difficult, question:  “did God allow the fall to better display his glory and grace?”  If God is sovereign Creator that rules and reigns with absolute authority, then we are compelled to answer ‘yes.‘  God knew before He formed the world that man would stray and had already provided an acceptable sacrifice to reconcile us back to Himself.  God never initiates or is the author of sin, but He does use it to accomplish His sovereign purposes and will – this is visibly seen in the life of Joseph (Genesis 37-46).  If God has the power to stop it, and does not then we must conclude that He permitted it for His greater glory and purposes.  If we probe this question a little further, by daring to ask why would God allow this, what greater purpose could it possibly serve?  Is God’s mercy and grace more apparent to Adam and Eve in the garden or to us in the person of Jesus Christ?  It becomes obvious that the boundless love, mercy and grace of God is more completely displayed in adopting us than it was in Adam and Eve.  We are a depraved, rebellious, hard hearted, idolatrous people who want nothing to do with God, and yet He loves us and chases us down and extends forgiveness and grace by living the life that we could not live, dying the death that we could not die to pay the penalty that we could not pay.  So in short, God’s glory is much more revealed in His grace extended to fallen and rebellious humanity than it ever would have been had we never rebelled.8

NOTES:
1Webster defines a culture as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture.  A culture is formed out of what is valued, what is important.
2Isaiah 43:7:  “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made”, and “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalms 19:1 ESV).  As time, as we know it, is brought to an end God will receive the worship that is rightly His:   “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 ESV).  David proclaims “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” (Psalms 8:1 ESV) and Ephesians 1:11-12 tells us “that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:12 ESV).  God created for His glory because it was a natural outflow of the character and nature of who God is.  One can hardly glance at the stars on a quiet night or take in the Swiss Alps or the Pacific ocean or the Grand Canyon without worship welling up in his soul.  When we take in so much of creation we want to proclaim with Jeremiah that “it is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jeremiah 10:12 ESV)!  More information on this available at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/biblical-texts-to-show-gods-zeal-for-his-own-glory
3For a more in depth discussion on this, see The Character and Nature of the Created Order by Bruce Henry.
4For a more in depth discussion on this, see The Character and Nature of God by Bruce Henry.
5Brian Hedges’ book, Christ Formed in You:  The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change, is very helpful in developing these ideas of reflecting, relating and reigning.  (Kindle edition, location 260-334)
6The Westminster Shorter Catechism, AD 1647; 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 11:36, Psalm 73:25-28.
7“He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” (1 Peter 1:20 ESV); “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24 ESV); “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV); “everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” (Revelation 13:8 ESV)
8“For since the Son of God was made man in order to restore us, who were already lost, from our miserable over throw, how could that be foreseen which would never have happened unless man had sinned?”  “God created man flexible; and not only permitted, but willed that he should be tempted. For he both adapted the tongue of the serpent beyond the ordinary use of nature, to the devil’s purpose, just as if any one should furnish another with a sword and armor; and then, though the unhappy event was foreknown by him, he did not apply the remedy, which he had the power to do. On the other hand, when we come to speak of man, he will be found to have sinned voluntarily, and to have departed from God, his Maker, by a movement of the mind not less free than perverse.”  “For his grace is more abundantly poured forth, through Christ, upon the world, than it was imparted to Adam in the beginning.”  John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries (Complete) on Genesis (trans. John King; Accordance electronic ed. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847), n.p.

download PDF
Previous Section:  Introduction
Next Section:  God Centered Perspective

Faith

The faith of Mary

Mary looks on as her first born son is crucified.  The price that Mary paid for her obedience was high, but the eternal joy that she now experiences far surpasses any sacrifice that she made.  What a picture of faith – in the midst of suffering!  Chosen by God to give birth as a virgin, as the rumors swirled about, a Son that the world did not understand nor embrace, the loss of a husband who was a faithful man (or else who would have left her when she was pregnant as a virgin), and ultimately the horrifying death of her first born.  No prosperity gospel here.  ““Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:26–27 ESV)

Theological

God and Lemonade

Leave a comment

For many of us, we have made peace with the idea of God’s Sovereignty in unbiblical ways.  We use phrases like “God didn’t mean for this to happen, but he can work it for good!” and “God didn’t cause this, but he sure can turn it around!”  In saying (and thinking) these things, we think we’ve found comfort and peace, but if stretched to their logical conclusions, this way of thinking offers neither.  We will have created a God who is absent and/or powerless to stop hard things, but is good and strong enough to make it all work out in the end.  We will have created the kind of God who can offer us neither comfort nor peace.  Thankfully this is not the God of the Scriptures.

Instead, the Bible speaks much differently about God’s character and his authority over all events.  Here are two examples, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.

In the book of Job, God seeks Satan out and lifts Job up as an example of faithfulness.  Satan asks God to allow him to afflict Job in increasingly horrific ways, in order to prove that Job’s faithfulness is only hinged on God’s material and physical blessings.  God tells Satan that he can do anything except kill Job.  Over time, Satan kills his livestock, his children (and their families), and afflicts Job with disease.  At the end of this sequence of events, Job’s wife says something that we would all likely want to say.  Notice Job’s response and also the inspired writer’s comment:

“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Job 2:9-10

Do not miss what Job said there.  Even though Satan has been the direct cause of Job’s suffering, Job rightly attributes all of it to God.  Lest we think he was mistaken, the Bible confirms that “Job did not sin” in all that he said.  Satan was the agent, but he is on a leash.  God was the one behind Job’s suffering.

In the book of Acts, Peter is preaching to a large gathering and makes this statement about what happened to Jesus.

“Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

Even though Herod, Pilate and all of the people who participated in the murder of Jesus were the direct cause of Jesus’ death, Peter rightly attributes all of it to God.  It was planned in advance, and carried out by the willing participation of all involved.  People have sinned against Jesus in murdering him, but they are on a leash.  God was the one behind Jesus’ suffering.

God does not take lemons and make lemonade.  To say that his interaction for our good begins after the fact is not faithful to scripture nor is it comforting.  If God has no wisdom, thoughtfulness, or power in what suffering I experience, how can His wisdom, thoughtfulness, or power be trusted to work it for my good?  Instead, the Bible calls us to trust that all suffering is from Him and is intended to make us more like Christ.  It calls us to believe that God will cause all of these things to work together for our eternal good.

May we be so full of faith that we can say with Job, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Praise God that He makes the lemons and the lemonade.

Contributed by Mike Marquez

Growth/Pursuit

Jesus Loved Mary, Martha & Lazarus so He Stayed Two Days Longer

1 Comment

“This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (John 11:4–6 ESV)

Wow!  Jesus said the illness would not lead to death, but Lazarus died.  Jesus knew that God was going to use the physical death of Lazarus to bring Himself more glory by raising him from the dead.  The interesting thing is that verse 6 tells us that he loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus so he decided to stay where he was for two additional days.  What?  If you love me, come and deliver me!  If you love me, spare me from this pain!  If you love me, help me now!  Jesus loved them, so He let Lazarus die and let Mary and Martha grieve and mourn?  Yes.  This is hard for our western minds to comprehend!  Then He says, ““Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”” (John 11:14–15 ESV).  Jesus knew that allowing Mary, Martha and the disciples to go through such heart wrenching pain would lead them to a deeper and more abiding truth.  Deeper faith that leads to joy is in focus here, not their immediate comfort.  Suffering has a way of moving us in to closer proximity to Jesus because it causes us to depend upon Him more; it often times reveals our complete lack of control over our lives and world.  Martha, Ms. Type “A”, meets Jesus before He even made it into town and said “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (John 11:21–22 ESV)  She has real faith as she proclaims “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” (John 11:27 ESV).
In one of the most encouraging passages in the New Testament, we see Jesus “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled,” (John 11:33), weeping (verse 35) and again in verse 38 He is described as being “deeply moved.”  He felt deeply and strongly.  Jesus mourns over the pain and difficulty of loss of His friend and for Mary and Martha.  This passage is encouraging because He did not tell them to “have faith,” “suck it up,” “stop crying,” or “just trust.”  No, he entered in and wept with them.  What a great pattern for us to model when we are engaging others in deep despair.  Sometimes, we just need to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15).  Undoubtedly, Jesus was thinking “this is not how I created things to be; death and the separation and grief that it causes was not part of the design!”  Lazarus’ died because sin entered the world and the harmonious rhythm of the perfect paradise of Eden was fractured (Genesis 3).  God’s original design was broken and we now are forced to mourn deeply because of this fracture, because of sin.  But, Jesus came to destroy death (1 Corinthians 15:23-28), “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away,” (Revelation 21:4) and “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).  No more pain, no more brokenness, no more agony.  Jesus came to remake the perfect paradise of Eden.  There is coming a day when this world, and all of its brokeness will pass away.  Suffering helps us to recalibrate our heart’s affections and the object of our hope!