Give Glory to God

When I was in college, I had an encounter with a young coed who was in the throes of depression.  Being an eternal optimist, I tried to encourage her with the most uplifting scripture I knew: I said, "Thanks be to God who, in Christ, always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere."  (2 Corinthians 2.14).

She shook her head, and sighed.  "I guess I'm not feeling very triumphant today."  And she turned around and left.  Now there may have been better ways for me to encourage her, but her attitude seemed to be that God owed her joy.  If He did not bless her, she would not praise Him.  This is an attitude we all seem to have in the modern age.  Yes, we will raise our hands and praise Him mightily when things are going well for us.  But in our darkest moments, we withhold the very praise that the Light of Life inhabits.  And that's sad.

Listen to these three verses, and try to guess the context of each one.

Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give Him the praise.  Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." (Joshua 7.19)

Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked. (Jeremiah 20.13)

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said.  "We know this man is a sinner." (John 9.24)

God is glorified in Truth
In the first verse, Joshua had been leading the Israelite army to one victory after another, under the leadership of God.  It kind of sounds like Achan was a mighty warrior, who had performed a great feat on the battlefield, and that Joshua was encouraging him to tell everyone about his victory.  But in actuality, Achan was a war profiteer, and had stolen some spoils of war for himself.  This was in direct disobedience to God's command that everything be destroyed.  So as a result of Achan's sin, the Israelite army had suffered a bitter defeat that day.  Achan knew he had disobeyed God, and had been the cause of the loss of life of  his countrymen; he also probably knew that admission of guilt would bring swift and severe punishment to him and his family.  But Joshua encouraged him to "give glory to God" and tell the truth.

So giving God praise is not necessarily connected with our own well-being.  In this context, "give glory to God" was an encouragement to tell the truth--it was like putting your hand on the Bible and swearing to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  The phrase could be used in this way, because lies do not bring glory to God.  Even if confession brings the sting of death, God is glorified in Truth.

God is glorified in our need
The second example above is from a long lament by the prophet Jeremiah.  He had just prophesied against a priest, the son of the chief officer in the Temple.  Jeremiah called him out for lying, for giving false testimony in the Temple, and for prophesying lies.  But the priest had Jeremiah thrown in prison.  Jeremiah complained in prison that he had only told the truth, had only said the words that God had given him to say; yet he was sitting in a prison licking his wounds, while the priest walked free.  Jeremiah cursed the day he was born; he said the day his father knew that a son had been born to him was not a day of rejoicing, but a day of weeping.  Yet in all of this self-pity, Jeremiah recognized that God was stronger than his circumstances.  Jeremiah may have been beaten and imprisoned, but God would be glorified forever.

A contrast is made between God and man: God is good, men are evil; God is powerful, able to rise up against the wicked; men may think they are in control, but not one of them knows the day he will die.  So even when Jeremiah was angry at the world, and had every reason to be depressed, he gave glory to God.  So should we.

God is glorified in our healing
In the third example above, it sounds like the men were asking questions of a sinful man who had been blind, but that God had restored his sight.  Were they joyful with him, that God would do this wonderful thing in his life? No.  They were the Pharisees, the church leaders of the day.  They had it in for Jesus, who had performed the miracle that allowed this poor man to see.  It was not the man that the Pharisees were calling a sinner--it was Jesus!

So again, the command to "give glory to God" was a solemn charge to tell the truth.  The Pharisees were conducting an investigation of Jesus and His actions, so they could turn the court of public opinion away from Jesus and back toward themselves.  The witness for their prosecution suddenly became a witness for the defense when the man said, "Whether He (Jesus) is a sinner or not, I do not know.  One thing I do know: I was blind but now I see!" (John 9.25).  This testimony was not likely going to get him in the good graces of the Pharisees; he would probably be excommunicated from the synagogue for such words.  But glory did not belong to the Pharisees; glory belonged to Christ Jesus, the Healer.

As these three examples show us, we can't let our circumstances control us.  God is still God, whether we feel good or not.  He is still King of all Creation, whether we are on top of the world or struggling to hold it together.  He is still worthy of our praise, whether we see His blessing or not.

Last night my wife and I had a discussion about rewards in Heaven.  Are there different levels of Heaven that Man can aspire to?  Will those who did good works for God on earth be given greater recognition in Heaven?  My thought on this is I don't know; but if we earn any praise, it should be turned back on Jesus.  If we earn any crowns, they will all be cast down at Jesus feet.  The point is that if we are to humbly thank God in the best of circumstances (we're talking Heaven here, people!), then how much more are we to glorify God in the worst of circumstances here on earth?

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart feel lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? A constant friend is He;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

"Let not your heart be troubled," His tender words I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose all doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, and only one step I may see,
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise;
When songs give place to sighing, and hope within me dies;
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free,
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I'm happy; I sing because I'm free!
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Jesus wants you to be with Him

Last week I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Be Happy Right Now, Because Right Now Lasts Forever."  The message is shallow and pithy, because happiness is not the ultimate goal of humanity.  We may think that it is, but it is not.  The message is also incorrect, as the moment can be broken in an instant. And new circumstances cause the "right now" you were experiencing a moment ago to change, and the "right now" that you will have five minutes from now is different than what you are experiencing as you read these words.

See, life is a series of moments, of decisions, of turning points that you may or may not control.  Your personal growth depends on how you react to the challenges life brings you.  The challenge you faced yesterday may have taught you how to overcome the challenge you face today.  So "right now" is not a continuum; it is a series of points in time that make life interesting.

In his letter to a young christian named Titus, the Apostle Paul urged him to be holy, to teach godliness, to hold onto hope, and to know the redemption granted through Christ Jesus.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say, "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2.11-14)

Too bad that passage won't fit on a bumper sticker, because it is a better challenge for us than any bumper sticker you could find.

Grace
The grace of God is the undeserved love God showed us in Christ while we were still sinners and His enemies.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly...But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us....For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" (Romans 5.6, 8, 10).

This grace is given by which we are saved apart from any moral achievements or religious acts on our part.  Titus 3.5 says, "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."  Ephesians 2.8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."  Even the faith we have to accept God's gift of grace is a gift from God.  But this same grace instructs us that our salvation should produce good works.

Godliness
Read verse 12 again.  "It teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age."  We are born with a sinful nature, separated from God.  We are encouraged to put off that nature and to put on godliness, through the Holy Spirit.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who life like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5.19-23)

Hope
What is our blessed hope?  Paul said it is the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  The grace we spoke about earlier is not an end to itself.  The godliness to which we aspire is not to make us feel good about ourselves.  We want to receive grace and take on godliness because of our hope in Christ that He will return and take us home with Him.  2 Timothy 4.1-2 says, "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction."

We don't live in the moment; we try to change the moment for the glory of God, in the hope that He will come and make all things right.  Hope is not sitting around wistfully, saying, "Gee, I hope I get to heaven some day."  NO!  Our hope is grounded in faith that we WILL see Jesus again, not in judgment, but in love.  That is what grace is for, and it is why we strive for godliness.

Redemption
While we are waiting for the glorious appearance of Christ our Lord, we are to purify ourselves and to be an example against worldliness, so that some in the world may be led to Christ.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6.10-13)

In the 17th chapter of John, Jesus says a prayer for the disciples, and for all believers (both present and future), just before he is arrested and crucified.  In this prayer, He shows us His heart.  His greatest desire was to have us with Him always.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world. (John 17.24)

Think about that for a moment.  Jesus was not saying He wanted us in heaven with Him.  It is not a stationary place.  Where Jesus is changes, moment by moment.  A few hours after He prayed this prayer, he was being led up to death.  He wanted us to be with Him there.  Three days later, He was raised from the dead.  He wanted us to be with Him there. In the decades that followed, Jesus moved in the hearts of his disciples so that the knowledge of Him would spread around the world.  He wanted us to be with Him there.

Wherever Jesus is working in the lives of people today, He wants us to be with Him there.  The message is that we have seen the glory of God, the glory that God gave to His Son (and to us) because God loved Him (and us) before the creation of the world.  With that message, Jesus is doing great work all over the world today, and He wants us to be with Him there.  One day, when His work on earth is done, and He comes to take His children home, He will want us to be with Him there, too.

 

Coming Soon! Judgment Day: The Wrath of God (It will make your ears tingle!)

Hollywood loves disaster movies.  Terms like "spine tingling" and "hair raising" have been used to describe scary films for almost a century.  And as technology improves, the images become more and more realistic.  But as frightening as the films may be, there is always something in the back of our minds telling us, "This is just a movie."  So when it is over, we can go back to our normal lives.  We may have to sleep with a night-light for a few days, but pretty soon, we'll be over it.

There are at least three instances in the Bible where the wrath of God was revealed to His people, and the physical response was so traumatic that God predicted that their ears would tingle.  Think about that for a minute.  The God of the Universe is so angry, so fed up with sin, that He points His finger in your face and promises to punish you severely.  Your blood pressure shoots up.  Your heart rate increases.  All the blood drains from your face, and you feel faint.  You can actually hear your blood pumping.  Numbness and tingling spread to your extremities--your fingers and toes become numb and your ears literally tingle.  This is how scared these people were after hearing the words of God. This is the reaction the Bible describes when it says "make their ears tingle."

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

And the Lord said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle.  At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family--from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.  Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering'."

Remember, Eli was the High Priest in Israel, in the time before kings.  God ruled the land, with the priest acting as the Mediator between God and Man.  It was assumed that the priest's sons would follow in his footsteps.  But Eli's sons blasphemed God.  There were rules set down from the time of Moses on how to conduct yourself in the Tabernacle or the Temple; breaking those rules disqualified you from serving as priest.  In fact, Eli's sons had committed some acts that should have exiled them from Israel.  But Eli looked the other way.

Samuel had been given to God by his mother.  He would be the next priest.  It was his job to tell Eli what God had said.  In this case, Samuel, a boy probably no older than 13, was acting as a mediator between God and Eli.  In the Old Testament, the High Priest was endowed by the Holy Spirit of God.  When Eli's sons disrespected their father and his position, they blasphemed the One he represented.

Jesus said:

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this life or the next. (Matthew 12.31-32)

 Leading Others Toward Idolatry

The Lord said through his servants the prophets: "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins.  He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him, and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle.  I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.  I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies.  They will be looted and plundered by all their foes because they have done evil in my eyes." (2 Kings 21.10-15)

Manasseh had been an evil king.  He made bad choices.  He decided to worship the idols that God had expressly told the people not to worship.  But because of his position and power, he caused others to abandon God as well.  He led the people of Israel away from God and toward the detestable practice of idolatry.  And God promised to wipe them out, even to the third and fourth generation.

Look, you can do whatever you want to do--it's your life.  But when you start making others turn away from God, look out.  Jesus said, "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.  It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.  So watch yourselves." (Luke 17.1-3a).  God's judgment is swift and sure.

Diluting the Worship of God with Pagan Rituals

Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem.  This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen!  I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.  For they have forsaken me, and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they, nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.  They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command, or mention, nor did it ever enter my mind."  (Jeremiah 19.3-5)

He goes on to say that God would allow other nations to slaughter the people of Jerusalem for their sins.  God is a jealous God; He expects full obedience to His commands.  Yet with every generation, the people became more lax in their worship until some started including pagan prayers and rituals into their worship of God.  That led to the next generation sacrificing to other gods as God had commanded them to sacrifice to Him.  And then finally they started human sacrifices, which God had never, ever intended to be done.

Just like God knows the physiology of His creation (i.e. He knows what makes our ears tingle), He also knows our hearts.  Instead of watching each generation of His people fall away, and having to judge them for it, He provided the ultimate sacrifice.  He sent His Son, so that all could be forgiven.  This forgiveness is available to all who ask Him to save them.  It is available to you.  If the thought of Hell and damnation causes your ears to tingle, ask Him to save you today.

Sadly, we have become so hardened to the Truth that we ignore it.  Just like the old scary movies don't make us jump any more because we have seen too many of them, the Old Testament promises of judgment don't break our hearts anymore, because we have all become accustomed to grace.  But one day, that grace will no longer be extended to all.  On the Day of Judgment, God will separate the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad, the called from the worldly.  He will send His own to heaven and eternal reward.  He will send everyone else to hell and eternal punishment.  If that doesn't make your ears tingle, it should.

Our pilgrimage to God's House

When I was in college (a Baptist affiliated school), we had an intramural sports program, and many from the men's dorm participated.  They would get creative with their team names.  During the intramural football season one fall, one team called themselves "Sons of Thunder".  This was clearly a reference to the disciples James and John--Mark 3.17, in listing the twelve disciples that Jesus had chosen, says this: "James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder)."  Apparently these two disciples, and maybe their father too, were so bombastic and so full of hot air that Jesus gave them this nickname.

Anyway, this intramural team was so bad, and lost so many games, it was embarrassing.  The next season, they re-named themselves "Tons of Blunder."

In the book of Psalms in the Bible, there are several of the psalms written by men who called themselves "Sons of Korah."  Now, this is not a very flattering name for themselves.  Korah was a Levite who stood up to Moses and challenged him.  His gripe was that Moses and Aaron held an elevated position in the camp, over the other priests and Levites, who had also been set apart by God.  Numbers 16.3 says, "They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron, and said to them, 'You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.  Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly'?"  Well, Moses took this challenge to God, and God commanded everyone in the camp to step away from the tents of Korah and his friends.  Numbers 16.32-33 says, "and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions.  They went down alive into the grave with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community."

Now why would men generations later identify with such an infamous character?  This was not a man to be emulated--he was judged by God, and swallowed up by the earth.  He had insolently stood up to God's representative, and pridefully staked a claim as being equal to Moses; God humbled him and his followers, and made a spectacle of them before the whole camp.

I think this is why the psalmists identified with Korah.  Maybe they felt that God had humbled them.  Maybe they felt that God had separated them from the camp, and buried them alive in the ground.  Many of the psalms that they wrote are mournful and sad.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for the living God.  When can I go and meet with Him?  My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" (Psalm 42, 1-3)

But now You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go out with Your armies....You crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness....We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.  Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.  (Psalm 44.9, 19, 25-26)

Did you notice that last verse?  There is an over-riding hope, a desperate appeal to God's love for their redemption.  And these verses were written centuries before the birth, death and resurrection of Christ.  Anyway, this was the background of my weekly reading of the book of Palms this week.  I read chapter 84, and was struck with the tone of it.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Psalm 84.1-2)

Perhaps the writers were speaking of the Temple of God.  They longed to be in the presence of God on this earth, and the closest place they knew to Him was at the Temple.

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young--a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.  Blesses are those who dwell in Your House; they are ever praising You. (Psalm 84.3-4)

Perhaps the writers noticed birds nests in the eves of the building, as they entered the Temple to worship.  They heard the songs of the birds when they gave their offerings, and likened the birds singing to their singing praises to the Creator.

Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Tears, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.  They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. (Psalm 84.5-7)

Perhaps the writers noticed others who had come to worship at the Temple of God, who had traveled long distances.  Many had made long pilgrimages to the Temple of Zion, and the tears they shed along the way rivaled the springs in the valley and the autumn rains.  Each one's journey had a common theme: they had only been able to take one step at a time, as God had given them strength--step by step, strength to strength, until they had reached their destination.

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.  O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in You. (Psalm 84.10-12)

Those who were in the Temple of God rejoiced at being there.  They felt His presence and His purpose in their lives as long as they were there.  Have you ever had a spiritual mountaintop experience, one so deep and meaningful and moving that you never wanted to leave?  This was the psalmists' desire.  If I have to quit my job back home, I'd rather be employed as a Temple doorman than to leave this place.  God is good.  Trust is good.  Trust in God is very, very good.

This weekend I got to visit my dad.  He has always been a strong man, and a source of strength and encouragement to me.  I'll never forget his reaching up and lifting me down from the roof when I was too afraid to jump.  He has always been taller, bigger, stronger than I.  But now he appears frail and weak.  My heart breaks for him as I watch him battle cancer.

This made me look at the Psalm in a new light.  When the Sons of Korah said "How lovely is Your dwelling place," were they longing for heaven?  When they envied the birds for being close to God, were they wishing that God had given them wings like the birds, so they could fly up to heaven and be closer to God?  The angels in heaven are ever praising God; perhaps the psalmists were saying that the angels were blessed when they wrote, "Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising You."

Maybe the pilgrimage they spoke about in verses 5-7 were the trials of this life; maybe the Valley of Tears is this earthly existence, where we mourn the loss of loved ones who have passed on.  We must carry on, "from strength to strength", until we can be united with them once more in heaven.

Hear my prayer, O Lord God Almighty; Listen to me, O God of Jacob.  Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on Your anointed one. (Psalm 85.8-9)

Our hope is in heaven.  When we pray to God, we pray in the name of His Son, Jesus, the Anointed One.  When we pray, we seek God's favor; perhaps we want Him to see whose side we are fighting for, whose mark is on our forehead and on our right hand.  "Blessed is the man who trusts in You."

God, please be with my dad.  Do not withhold any good thing from him, because he trusts in You.  Bless him in this valley, and welcome him into Your gates when he reaches home.  Amen.

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don't be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall...so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can't contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

The Potter's House

Have thine own way, Lord, Have thine own way.
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting yielded and still.

In Jeremiah chapter 18, we get a glimpse of what God is like.  The prophet put it in human terms, words we can all understand.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. (Jeremiah 18.1-4)

If you've ever seen a skilled craftsman making pottery, it is a beauty to behold.  The lifeless lump of clay starts moving with the spinning of the wheel, and as the potter lovingly caresses it, it takes shape.  The motion of the wheel and transformation from a useless lump into a useful pot makes it seem like the clay comes alive.  There are times when the clay appears to have a mind of its own--as the artist's hands build up the sides into thinner walls, the walls might topple over.  This might have been the "flaw" that Jeremiah described as he watched the potter shape his vessel.

But instead of giving up, the potter regrouped, and made a different vessel.  Maybe this one had thicker sides, or was lower to the base.  But the point is that the potter was making the decision on how best to use this lump.  He did not ask, "Clay, what do you want me to make of you?"  He did not wait for the clay to say, "Potter, I really want to be a flower vase."

This is what God is like.  He calls the shots.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord.  "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand." (Jeremiah 18.5-6)

Again, Jeremiah uses words that we humans can understand.  I truly believe it is impossible to describe God in human terms.  But since that is our base of operations, our limitation, then God is described in ways that we might describe an Artist, or a Warrior, or a General, or a Father. In this case, in describing God's sovereignty, Jeremiah says He has a right to change His mind.  We know, however, that God is unchanging--He cannot be moved.  He is forever, and forever His word stands.  He is faithful to Himself always.  So how can He change His mind?

If at any time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.  And if at another time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. (Jeremiah 18.7-10)

This is the mystery of Free Will given to man versus the Sovereign Will of Almighty God.  God may give some people a promise to destroy them, like He did with the city of Ninevah in the days of Jonah.  But if, like Ninevah, that city repents, then God will not destroy them.  You might say that this was His will all along; in this case, He threatened destruction (which is what they deserved) in order to get them to change.  In the same way, God may reveal His plan to bless His people Israel; but if the people sin (like He knew they would), then He will rain destruction down upon them.

Jeremiah was given a message to the people of Judah.  The prophet trusted God completely, so I'll bet He believed every word.  But God knew how the people would respond, even before He sent the message.

Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, "This is what the Lord says: 'Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you.  So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.'  But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart'."

God was giving them a chance.  He had His plan to punish them, but He wanted to given them every opportunity to repent.  If they had turned from their wicked ways, God would have turned from His plan to punish them.  But because God is omniscient, He knew before Jeremiah gave the message that they would give up on God.  I work in insurance; we make predictions of frequency and duration of claims so we can set premiums; we make predictions of what a certain claim will cost, so we can set appropriate reserves to pay that claim.  A meteorologist makes predictions of weather patterns; a stock broker makes predictions of future costs of commodities.  You may make predictions in your vocation, as well.  But we all have one thing in common: our predictions are not infallible.   We can be surprised.  We can be mistaken.  Our predictions may be way off sometimes.  That is the difference between us and God: He never makes mistakes.  What He predicts will, in fact, happen.  You can count on it.

You may have had low times in your life where you just give up.  You may throw your hands in the air and say, "It's no use."  You may think, "I can't change.  I'm too set in my ways."  Or you may not think that change is worth it for you.  Isaiah 57.10 describes people who are so set in their sinful ways that they refuse to change.  "You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.'  You found renewal of your strength and so you did not faint."  Somehow, you found strength to plod on through the hopeless fog; amazingly, you were determined to slog on through mud and muck even if you sink to your ankles with every step.  God is watching, shaking His head at you.  Does He not promise blessing if you repent?  Re-read Jeremiah 18.7-8 again.  Does He not promise to avert His judgment on you? 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29.11)

God knows your heart.  He knows you better than you know yourself.  You may not have thought yesterday that you would give your heart to Him today; but if you do, He will give you a hope and a future. He will change your destiny from hell to heaven; he might even work things out so that you avoid the absolute mess you were heading for before you called out to Him. When He gives you a choice to follow Him, do not say, "It is hopeless."  That is a lie.  He is the creator and sustainer of hope.  Let Him show you.  Let Him mold you into what He wants. 

What is God like?

In the ancient world, a person's name held great meaning.  For example, the patriarch Jacob (a name meaning "he deceives") was given a new name by God; he was called Israel (meaning "he struggles with God").  This new name, Israel, was carried on by the nation--for thousands of years, the people of Israel would struggle with God. But when God gave Himself a name, it was Adonai (meaning "The Lord").  And in the 34th chapter of Exodus, God explains what that Name means:

Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and stood there with him (Moses) and proclaimed His Name, the Lord.  And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.  Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34.6-7)

Broadly, this shows that God has two sides: On the one hand, He is gracious and loving, compassionate and forgiving.  On the other hand, He is jealous and exacting, and hates injustice; He never lets a sinner go without facing the consequences of his sin.  But how can this be? How can a God whose name is synonymous with love and grace and forgiveness also exact revenge and payment for sin?  He is like a parent who catches her six year old stealing candy from a convenience store.  The parent loves the child, and forgives him immediately; but the good parent will also make the child return the stolen candy and apologize to the store clerk.  This penalty is humiliating to the child, but it is necessary; the parent will also keep a close eye on the child from that point forward, to make sure that he does not repeat the offense.  And when the parent becomes a grandparent, she will tell her grandchildren about the time she caught daddy stealing candy, so that the grandchildren will not make the same mistake.  This is forcing humility to the second and third generation.

But what was God saying about Himself that we should know about Him, so that we can be like Him?  Specifically, we see attributes of God that come from His own spoken words:

• He is compassionate.  Exodus 22.25-27 says, "If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.  If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body.  What else will he sleep in?  When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate."  
• He is slow to anger.  Psalm 78.32 & 38 says, "In spite of all this they kept on sinning; in spite of His wonders, they did not believe...Yet He was merciful; He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them.  Time after time He restrained His anger and did not stir up His full wrath."  Jeremiah 15.15 says, "You understand, O Lord; remember me and care for me.  Avenge me on my persecutors.  You are long-suffering--do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for Your sake."  Paul said this in Romans 2.3-4: "So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?"
• He is abounding in love.  Genesis 19.16 speaks of the time that God spared Lot and his wife from the destruction of Sodom.  God sent angels to escort them out ahead of the fire and brimstone that would rain down on the city. "When he hesitated, the men grasped Lot's hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them." 
• He is abounding in faithfulness.  Psalm 108.4 says, "For great is Your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."  Psalm 115.1 says, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."  Psalm 138.2 says, "I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your Name for your love and faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word."  One of my favorite verses is Lamentations 3.22-23: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."
• He maintains His love to multitudes.  In the 20th chapter of Exodus, when God gives the Ten Commandments, the second commandment against making idols is underscored with this warning: "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."
• He forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin.  In his prayer of dedication to the temple, Solomon said this in I Kings 8.30: "Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place.  Hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive."  Psalm 86.5 says, "You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call on You."  Psalm 130.3-4, 8 says, "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared...He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins."  Isaiah 43.25 makes this promise from God: "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more."  In Daniel 9.9, the prophet made this confession: "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him."  The beloved disciple John said this in 1 John 1.9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness."
• Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.  Joshua 24.19-20 says, "You are not able to serve the Lord.  He is a holy God; He is a jealous God.  He will not overlook your rebellion and your sins.  If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after He has been good to you."  Job 9.28 says, "I dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent."  Again in Job 10.13-14, "But this is what you concealed in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind; If I sinned, You would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished."  Nahum 1.2-3 says, "The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.  The Lord takes vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies.  The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished." 

So I know I do not want to be an enemy of God.  I don't want to be one that struggles with God.  I want to know God by His name, the name He calls Himself: THE LORD.  I want to receive His compassionate mercy, His long-suffering, faithful love.  How do I do this?  Jesus came as a sacrifice for our sins, so that God's wrath would be averted.  If we accept Jesus into our hearts, He will take our punishment away.  What a glorious promise.  If you haven't given your heart to Him, please do it today.  There will come a time, at the Great White Throne Judgment of God, where we will have no more chances to repent.  If we do not have the blood of Jesus shielding us from God's wrath, we will be banished from His presence and sent to an eternity without Him.

When you see the warning signs, pray

 “Father, our heart breaks for America, we see discord at home, we see fear in the marketplace, we see anger in the halls of government.  As a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us, and for that, we cry out for your forgiveness.” (Texas Governor Rick Perry.)

Yesterday the Governor of Texas hosted a day of prayer and fasting, and the mainstream media ridiculed him.  It might not have been such a huge story, except that there are rumors that Gov. Perry will announce his candidacy for President of the Unites States soon.  And as President of all the people, members of the media say, he cannot freely exercise his own religion of Evangelical Christianity because that may exclude people of other faiths.  And everybody knows that anyone who represents the United States of America must give up his own constitutional rights (e.g. freedom of religion) in order not to "offend" non-believers.

This is sad.  It's wrong.  It has got to stop.

Joel 1.4 says, "What the locust swarm has left, the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left, the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left, other locusts have eaten."  This verse describes a great calamity to a farming community.  Let me explain: if you see a swarm of locusts, it's usually because food is scarce. They gather up into huge swarms, sometimes containing as many as 50 billion insects.  They swoop down on crops, stripping the land bare.  Usually they move on.  But the prophet Joel is describing a scene that goes from bad to worse--the swarm has come and stripped the crops, but they have left behind pregnant locusts, who continue to eat what the swarm has not consumed.  Then, when the young are born, they eat what the pregnant insects have left.  After that, the young locusts attract mates, and eat what little was left over.  Are you sensing a cycle here?

Okay, you say.  I get it.  Joel was warning of a huge famine, and bugs would come destroy the crops.  So what?  There have always been famines in various parts of the world, and the human race has managed to survive, locusts or no locusts.  But it's not about the locusts.  In this passage, locusts are a metaphor for sin.  And water is a metaphor for blessing.  The scene is set when the water is scarce.  No water means no blessing, no cleansing from sin.  So the nation is in a moral famine.  Just like America today.  We are ripe for a swarm of locusts to come camp on us and wreak utter destruction on us.

In his vision of the Apocalypse, John described one scene in this way:

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.  The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.  When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.  The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.  And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.  They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months.  And the agony they suffered was like the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.  During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. (Revelation 9.1-6)

Now, if I truly believe the Word of God, and I believed that sin had overtaken us like locusts taking over a field, I would do something about it.  If I believed that the devil (described above as "the star that had fallen from the sky to the earth") was about to open up the pits of hell (described above as "the Abyss"), and that the demons he let out would be like those swarms of locusts, I would fall on my face before Almighty God and ask His forgiveness.  If I sincerely believed that the devil could command the locusts to torture those without Christ (described above as "those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads"), and that those tortured would cry out for death to rescue them from the agony, but death would not rescue them--if I truly believed that this was the way our Nation was heading, I would cry out to God, and proclaim a fast so that God's mercy would rain down on us.

Why would we persecute someone for having the courage of their convictions? Especially if those convictions were to seek God's blessing on this nation?  Two weeks ago the mainstream media was beside itself about the Tea Party.  Those conservative Republican congressmen ran on a promise of no new taxes, but didn't they realize our country was in a crisis? Reporters just couldn't believe that anyone would vote against tax increases, even if they had been elected on that promise.  After all, promises were meant to be broken, right? This is Washington, after all: that's how politics works--you promise what you have to in order to get elected, then you compromise your beliefs in the name of bipartisanship.  Besides, we were being told that if Congress did not raise taxes and raise the debt ceiling, America would lose it's triple-A credit rating, and the stock market would crash.  Well, guess what? The debt ceiling was raised, and we lost our triple-A credit rating and the stock market crashed anyway. 

So what does God say we should do about it?

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.  Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children; let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.  Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar.  Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord.  Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations.  Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is your God'?" (Joel 2.13-17)

And what will God's response be to true repentance?

Then the Lord will be jealous for his land, and take pity on his people.  The Lord will reply to them: "I am sending you grain, new wine, and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations." (Joel 2.18-19)

This is the blessing that we all seek. We all want our needs to be met; we all want to be fully satisfied, never in want, confident that others won't hate us.  And if all it takes is for the people of God to meet together, and pray, and call a fast--if that's all it takes, then God bless the organizers of The Response in Houston yesterday.  God bless Gov. Rick Perry for openly asking for God's mercy.  And God bless America, because we are steadfastly on the road to everlasting separation from God.

Life is too short

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes. (James 4.14)

August 3.  He worked for a trucking company.  She had gotten a job at an accounting firm.  A couple months ago they had seen their oldest daughter married in a beautiful church wedding.  Last month the younger twin daughters had been accepted into the colleges of their choice, one to Dallas Baptist University, and the other into the nursing program at Tarrant County Community College.
Life was good.
He called her.  "You want to take off work and be with me today?" he asked her.  It was a week day, a work day, but he had the day off.  She took the day off to be with him.  They went to breakfast, then headed north on I-35 toward WinStar Casino in Oklahoma.
She held his hand.  Traffic got pretty slow just south of Gainesville.  Construction on the northbound section of the highway caused a line of cars to creep along, then come to a complete stop.  They didn't worry, though.  They had all day.
Life was good.
Then it all ended.
A loaded tractor-trailer rig was headed north on the highway, some twenty minutes behind them.  The driver ignored the SLOW--CONSTRUCTION AHEAD signs flashing lazily that hot summer day.  The cab of the truck had an AM/FM stereo, but the signal from the Dallas station was fading.  The driver looked down just for a minute to find a new station, one that came in clearer.  Then, tragically, he hit the line of stopped cars going 55 miles an hour.
Life was over for the couple enjoying each other's company.  They would not see the birth of their first grandson.  They would not see their twin daughters go to their first day of college classes.  Thankfully, they would see Jesus that day.
It's been two years now, and many in their extended family have taken time today to reflect back on the couple's lives.  Joys for having known them.  Regrets for not doing more with them, or for them while they were here with us.  Two years since our lives were changed irrevocably.
"I should have played one more round of golf with him."
"I should have apologized for that thing I said to her."
"We should have had them over one more time for dinner."
Now, until we see them in Glory, those chances are forever lost.
Maybe that's what James meant when he wrote, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4.17)  Life is too short for regrets.  The best way to avoid them is to confess and repent right then, and do whatever you can to restore fellowship.  Jesus gave an example to His followers.  He knew that volumes had been written in the Old Testament scriptures about the importance of giving offerings to God.  And yet He said this:

Therefore, if you are offering your gifts at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5.23-24)

Maintaining fellowship with your brother is more important that your giving an offering to God.  See, God doesn't need your offering, but you need your brother.  "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27.17).  "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." (Hebrews 3.13).  "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10.25).

I did not foresee the Day that my brother-in-law would be taken from us.  My sister-in-law has no more Tomorrows to share.
I miss you both. 
Will see you in Heaven, Goofy.  Take care of Snowflake.