Consider The Wonders Of God

14 “Listen to this, O Job, Stand and consider the wonders of God.” –Job 37:14 (NASB95)

“Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.” —A.W. Tozer

One thing we can say about the conversations between Job and his friends - they struggled to understand God. They expressed the same confusion about human life, purpose, and meaning that we still struggle with today. Elihu may come closest to pointing Job in the right direction, at least at times. His statement in 37:14 is one of those that’s right on target. “Stand and consider the wonders of God.”

But it may be that very point of view that we’ve lost. Modern humans, at least most of us, seem to lack the ability to “stand in wonder” of God. We think of ourselves as smart, educated, and wise. Science enables us to tackle most of life’s problems. Technology makes it possible for us to do things that ancient people never dreamed possible. We’re convinced we’ve got pretty much everything covered.

At least until trouble shows up. A crisis, regardless what kind, has the potential to shake us into reality and shock us with the sudden realization that there is a vast number of things we don’t know, can’t handle, and feel completely incapable of solving. The universe is a much bigger place than we think.

Maybe we should learn to practice this “stand and consider the wonders of God.” David must have done that on many occasions while tending sheep. In the quiet solitude there was ample time for him to think, question, consider, literally “wonder” at God. Paul must have done that because he knew that the creation itself declared God’s eternal power and divine nature. Jesus must have spent much time reflecting, meditating, and thinking through the scriptures. All “wondered” at God.

You might read that word, “wonder” and think that I’m talking about a confused mind. Quite the contrary. It has nothing to do with confusion, but a realization of the sheer vastness of God. It is to be awed by God’s power, knowledge and wisdom. It is to marvel at the beauty, complexity and superiority of even a blade of grass to man’s knowledge and ability. Human education and technology? No comparison to God.

Let your soul gaze upon a saving God. That’s a wonder of wonders!

Faithful Until Death

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. – Revelation 1:3 (NASB95)

It is the desire for God which is the most fundamental appetite of all, and it is an appetite we can never eliminate. We may seek to disown it, but it will not go away. If we deny that it is there, we shall in fact only divert it to some other object or range of objects. And that will mean that we invest some creature or creatures with the full burden of our need for God, a burden which no creature can carry. — Simon Tugwell, The Beatitudes

We usually think of beatitudes as that collection of verses in Matthew chapter five. Each one begins, “Blessed is. . . .” But there are a lot more beatitudes. Basically, it’s a statement of blessing, based on a particular reason. That’s my definition, but I think it will hold up. That makes the verse from Revelation 1:3 a beatitude.

There is a promised blessing that comes to those who will spend the time and put forth the effort with the book we know as the book of Revelation. That’s makes it doubly sad when people avoid that book because it’s controversial, or difficult to understand, or filled with confusing symbolism, or deemed unimportant. That last one is a conclusion reached because of all the other reasons. If it were important, it wouldn’t be all that other stuff. Surely!

Evidently John didn’t think that way. We may avoid it, ignore it, and refuse to study it, but the book itself still claims a blessing for those willing to dig in.

We need to address an important mistake, however. Sometimes, people will acknowledge there is a blessing, but it’s said to be for those who read it. Please read the verse again. There are two items that make up the basis for the blessing, and they are in the words, “read” and “heed” (in the New American Standard). Both work together. One must read, and then obey what he reads. The book of Revelation is to be obeyed, not just studied.

Perhaps this is another reason Revelation is an avoided book. Many have read enough to know that it says things like, “Be faithful until death. . . .” Somehow, we sense that this is a book that doesn’t gloss over the realities of life. It asks us to be honest with them, and to realize that Christians must sometimes endure great suffering because they are Christians. Revelation asks us to be faithful regardless what happens.

That’s not what we want to hear. We want to know everything will be alright. Stay with the book! It has that message too. We endure all that the world throws at us because in the end, everything is just like it ought to be. God has already won the victory for us.

Grace Gets Exciting!

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:14–16 (NASB95)

The litmus test of whether or not you understand the gospel is what you do when you fail. Do you run from God and go try to clean yourself up a bit before you come back into the throne room, or do you approach the throne of grace with confidence? If you don't approach the throne of grace with confidence, you don't understand the gospel. You are most offensive to God when you come to him with all of your efforts, when you're still trying to earn what's freely given. – Matt Chandler, from the sermon "Remembering Your Creator"

Anybody who has heard me preach or teach knows that I love the word, “therefore” (or similar words). It’s a word that is meant to tell us something like, “sit up and pay attention now, a conclusion is coming,” or it brings together a series of thoughts. Sometimes, “therefore” appears in a series (“this” “therefore” “that” “therefore” “more” and so on). It’s a great little word.

It drives home important points. For example, in the passage from Hebrews 4, you’ll see “therefore” at verse 14 and again at verse 16. I’ll let you go read the verses coming before this passage, so you’ll see more of what’s involved in Jesus being our great high priest. But the question might be, “So what?” Well, first, we have a great high priest in heaven, and it’s somebody that can sympathize with our weaknesses. After all, he’s been tempted in all things as we are. Sure, he didn’t sin, but he understands. You really need to get that point.

The next idea is thrilling! When we need mercy and grace, we can approach God’s throne of grace confidently because we’ll get exactly what we need, not what we deserve. Grace gets exciting when you understand it. Some think they need to get things together before they come to God. Grace tells us it’s the other way around. When you need God’s help, go to him. He’s the only one who can clean you up.

Wanting To Believe

 1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God. . . .” —   Psalm 14:1 (NASB95)

Thomas Nagel, an atheist who authored a popular introduction to philosophy titled What Does It All Mean? wrote: "I want atheism to be true … It isn't just that I don't believe in God, and, naturally, hope that I'm right about my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that."  –  Jim Spiegel, "Unreasonable Doubt," Christianity Today (2-10-11)

I will not for a moment ascribe to every unbeliever the sentiments of Thomas Nagel.  That would be both unfair, and simply erroneous.  But I do think that there is something in his statement that resonates deeply with both believers and unbelievers.  It has everything to do with what we want to be true.

I’m not saying that truth depends on what we want.  Truth is truth regardless what we might want.  If God exists, He exists outside our desire either way.  Wanting it to be so, one way or the other, doesn’t make it so.  But believing that something is true has a lot to do with whether we want it to be true or not.

There are many passages in the Bible that tell us that we should, even must, believe in God or believe in Jesus.  There is a lot of evidence presented to persuade us that there are things about God and His Son that we should believe.  But believing is always a choice.  I don’t think we talk enough about this aspect of faith.  To believe in Jesus is a choice we make, a conscious decision to accept as true what the Bible teaches about God’s Son.

A strong component of such a decision relates to our wanting the evidence to be true.  There are some who have been so persuaded, so compelled by the evidence that they would say they believed even when they didn’t want to do so.  I would not dare conclude such people are dishonest.  I do think that they might not realize that what compelling evidence does is not simply force us into a spot where we can’t choose any other option, but it creates in us the desire for the very things about which we have been convinced.

I want there to be God.  I want Jesus, the Son of God, to have lived, died and risen again.  I want the sacrifice for sin to be real, for salvation to be real, for eternal life to be true.  And so I believe.  I make no excuses.  I want these things.  I believe them.  That’s my choice.

A Little Persecution

10"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -- Matthew 5:10-12 , NASB95

The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe. When a man has no faith in the reward of good or the punishment of evil, there is no reason to be human. There is no restraint from the depths of evil that is in man. The Communist torturers often said, "There is no God, no hereafter, no punishment for evil. We can do what we wish." -- Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured For Christ, p. 36.

Richard Wurmbrand's book, Tortured For Christ, is a record of the unspeakable torture he and others endured at the hands of Communists. It is not a pleasant read, but it is an important one. What Christians endure for their faith is not what one hears about in the media, and is seldom what is portrayed in books and movies.

Today, you are more likely to hear about the abuse of animals than you are to hear about the abuse suffered by people who believe in Jesus Christ. There is almost a sense that today's world has grown beyond the sharp persecution of years ago, but that would be to misunderstand the realities of our time in history.

American Christians, in particular, are sometimes isolated from the news about other believers in the world and what they must endure in order to be believers. We are much more comfortable with theological arguments, debates, and who is a notch up on the "I'm right and you're wrong" scale. Much of the rest of the world is just trying to avoid pain and death because they believe in Jesus.

Years ago, a friend of mine frequently prayed this: "Lord, send us some persecution!" I would say to him, "Jim, leave me out of that prayer!" He didn't really want to be persecuted, but he did believe that persecution would urge us to get our minds focused on the important and abandon the rest. I still don't want to be persecuted, but I haven't found the magic answer to getting us focused on the really important and away from things that just don't matter.

It's an interesting thing about this age in which we live. We seem to spend more of our time focused on things that keep us apart than on things that bring us together. Is it because we have the luxury of being able to do that? Could it happen because we aren't driven to one another by pain and death? Historically, it is said, that the church has always grown stronger under persecution. Some of that must occur because people are driven to what really matters. But the flip side of that must count as well. People are driven away from unimportant things.

I still don't think I want to be persecuted, but perhaps we need to be driven to the vitally important and away from junk. Which direction are you headed?