The Call of Christmas

Readings for today: Revelation 10-11, Psalms 43

I find most people live with a sense of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, everyone generally agrees that our world is not in great shape. There is too much violence. Too much pain and suffering. Too much disease. Too much inequality. Too much resource disparity. Too much anger. Too much hate. And we generally blame God for not stepping in. Not taking care of things. Not leveling the playing field. Not solving our problems. Not restraining evil. At the same time, everyone generally agrees they want to be free. Free to make their own decisions. Free to live their lives the way they want. Free to pursue the fulfillment of their desires. So we don’t want God to tell us what to do. Don’t want God to challenge our choices. Don’t want God to restrict our behavior. But we can’t have it both ways. The fundamental reality that the Bible affirms is that we are free, moral agents, created in the image of God, capable of great good and great evil, fully responsible for the decisions we make and the impact those choices have on others and this is why we are subject to God’s judgment.

God loves the world. He loves everything He has made. He loves every creature He has made. He loves every human being He has made. And that’s why God hates what we’ve done to the world. He hates what we do to each other. He hates what we do to ourselves. And He holds us responsible for each and every action and non-action. He holds us responsible for each and every word we say or don’t say. He holds us responsible for the way we respond to those around us and especially the way we respond to Him. He created us to worship and to serve Him forever. And when we reject His creative purposes for our lives, we live for ourselves, and living for ourselves is what ultimately leads us to ruin. God, however, will not abandon us. He will not abandon the world He has made. He is coming again to judge the earth and everyone in it. He is coming again to make all things new and take control of His world once and for all. Listen again to how the Apostle John describes it, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. The twenty-four elders, who were seated before God on their thrones, fell facedown and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry, but your wrath has come. The time has come for the dead to be judged and to give the reward to your servants the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.” (Revelation‬ ‭11‬:‭15‬-‭18‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Thanks be to God that we know the end of the story! Now the challenge is for us to live with God’s glorious end in mind. Live now as if the kingdoms of this world have already become the Kingdom of our God and His Messiah. Live in the reality of God’s reign and rule on earth. This is the call to the church. This is the call to every Christian. And this call is renewed each and every Christmas.

Readings for tomorrow: Revelation 12-13, Psalms 44

Experiencing Christmas

Readings for today: Ephesians 5-6, Titus 1-3

“I cannot wait for Christmas!” How many of us have expressed that sentiment? Especially this year! When we were young, it probably had to do with getting more presents. But as we get older, the sentiment expresses some of the deepest longings of our hearts. We wish there was more kindness in the world. More gentleness. More compassion. As we feel the effects of the social distancing and isolation from COVID, we wish we could spent more time with friends and family and those we love. We wish we could experience more of the beauty that makes up the magic of this particular season. Perhaps most of all, we wish we could connect with God every day like we do when we sing “Silent Night” while holding candles with hundreds, perhaps thousands of other voices at the foot of the manger. In that moment - and perhaps only for that moment - the cares and worries and struggles and heartaches of this world are forgotten as we focus in on the Christ child. 

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...” Paul’s talking about the miracle of Christmas. He’s not only talking about what happened but why it happened and how we can experience a bit of Christmas every single day of our lives. Jesus came to bring salvation to all people. And part of His great salvation plan - the plan that was unveiled for all to see that first Christmas night in Bethlehem - is to train us to live godly lives in this ungodly world. Train us to be little lights in the darkness of our world. Train us to cling to hope amidst the hopelessness and despair of our world as we wait for the day of Jesus’ Second Coming. The Second Advent. The Day the promise of Christmas will be finally and completely fulfilled. 

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus‬ ‭2:11-14‬)

What does it mean for us to experience Christmas on a daily basis? What would it look like to lay claim to the grace God offers us in Jesus Christ each and every day? It has to do with living a godly life. And what is a godly life according to Paul? It is self-controlled. Good and upright. Pure and holy. Notice he does not say “perfect.” We are never perfect this side of heaven but Christmas stirs in us the hope that one day Jesus Himself will come. He will redeem us and our world from all lawlessness and sin and evil and death. He will purify us once and for all as He ushers us into His Kingdom. The Kingdom He’s been preparing for us from before the foundations of the world. 

The reality is we can be kind in this world. We can be gentle. We can be compassionate. We can make more time for friends and family and those we love. We can experience the beauty of God’s creation every day in a sunrise or hiking up a 14’er or fishing a mountain stream. We can give gifts year round and seek to bless those around us. We can gather for worship every single Sunday with God’s people and sing songs of deliverance and praise to our God. These are things we can do. Even here. Even now. Even in the midst of a global pandemic. Nothing stops us. Nothing keeps us from intentionally living with the “Christmas spirit” year round.

Think of the witness it would be if Christians were truly “zealous for good works.” If we were truly passionate about the works of God. Think of how it would change our neighborhoods if we started connecting with people even in a socially distanced way? Think about how it would change our work environments if we got there just a little early to make the coffee or sent out a few thank you notes to the rest of the staff? Think about how it would change the social fabric of our schools if Christian students made the intentional decision to love those who are marginalized? Those who are ostracized or bullied? Those who seem so alone? Think of how our churches would change if we extended grace to those who hurt us rather than judgment? If we forgave those who sinned against us rather than leave and head to the church down the street? Think of how the world would change if we saw our wealth and resources as tools in God’s hands to bring life and light and health and hope in the name of Jesus? All this is possible for those who know and follow Christ. 

If you’ve ever wished it could be Christmas every day, I have good news for you! It can be! Simply love and obey Christ. Live a life of praise and worship and joy before your Redeemer. Renounce your ungodly and worldly passions. Those things only get in the way. Instead, live your life for Jesus. Invite others to join you. Serve those whom Jesus’ loves - the lost and the least in your community - and you will discover the peace the angels proclaimed at Jesus’ birth.  

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Timothy 1-6

True Prophets vs. False Prophets

Readings for today: Jeremiah 25-28

“Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭26:2-6‬)

So many in our world claim to speak for God. Political leaders. Social leaders. Religious leaders. They come from all walks of life. They come from all different backgrounds. They come from all different ethnicities and cultures and nations. They hold all kinds of different credentials. So how is one to know who is true and who is false? How is one to discern the difference between a true prophet and a false prophet? Someone who actually is speaking for God vs. someone who is speaking for themselves?

In recent years, the church of Jesus Christ has endured scandal after scandal. I think of the systematic coverup in the Roman Catholic Church of the priests who abused thousands of children over decades across the country. I think of the scandals that have rocked the evangelical world as leaders like Bill Hybels, Ted Haggard, Mark Driscoll, and James MacDonald among many, many others are exposed for their hypocrisy. I think of the failure of church boards and episcopal governing structures in addressing these problems head on. Their enablement of the abusers only increasing the trauma of the victims. I wish I could say such incidents are rare but they are not. There are far too many false prophets running around these days. They masquerade as end times prophets, health and wealth preachers, and sexual predators who prey on their congregations. They are cult leaders. Religious charlatans. Purveyors of hate. They defend the indefensible. They justify their abuses. They claim special anointing and protections from the Lord himself. And they lead many astray with their lies. Unfortunately, the religious life seems to attract shady characters. Men - and it is almost exclusively men - whose character is utterly corrupt and who see the church as an easy mark. A soft target because of the grace she proclaims. Frankly, it all makes me want to vomit.

Sadly, it seems like such has always been the case. Throughout the book of Jeremiah, we have encountered many a false prophet. People claiming to speak for the Lord who are, in reality, seeking to hold onto their power. The man we meet in today’s reading - Hananiah - is simply the latest in a long line of court prophets who seek to advance their position by flattering the king. Hananiah’s message to Zedekiah is that he will defeat the Babylonians. God will break the yoke from their necks and set them free. It is clear pandering designed to maintain political privilege and power and it bears a striking resemblance to the many pastors of our day who sell out the gospel for a place at the political table. Both progressives and conservatives alike are guilty. I think of Al Sharpton and Robert Jeffress and many others we could name. These are the kind of men of whom God speaks when He says, “I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭23:21‬) 

Friends, God will not be mocked. When Hananiah falsely prophesied a great victory over Babylon, Jeremiah foretold his doom. “And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.'" In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭28:15-17‬) Over the course of my short life, I have seen this pattern repeated over and over again. Those who speak falsely in the Lord’s name are eventually exposed for the religious hucksters they have become. They fall into disgrace and the examples are legion. God will not allow His name to be spoken in vain. God will not be manipulated for our purposes or bent to our will. He will not share His glory with another and woe to any man or woman who declares falsely a Word from the Lord! Woe to any man or woman who calls evil “good” and good “evil!” Woe to any man or woman who would subvert the Word of God and twist it to serve some other purpose! God is watching! He sits on His throne even now! He will expose what is done in secret! He will bring to light the sinful agendas of every human heart! Nothing is hidden from His sight!

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 29-32

War with God

Readings for today: Jeremiah 21-24

Today’s reading makes me so thankful for Jesus. Jesus died in my place. He took the full wrath and fury my sin had earned on Himself. He endured the suffering. The pain. The horrors of hell that I may live. Without Christ, I would be lost. Rightfully condemned. At the mercy of God’s judgment. Just like the people of Israel. It also makes me thankful Jesus is returning to make all things new. To put an end to oppression and injustice and the corrupt ways of the nations of this earth. Only in Jesus’ Kingdom will we find perfect justice and righteousness forming the foundation of His throne. Until that day, we live in a broken world inhabited by broken creatures with broken longings in their hearts that constantly lead them astray.

“I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭21:5) These might be some of the scariest words in all the Bible. Can you imagine what it must be like to be at war with God? To be in complete rebellion against your Creator? Not just ignoring His will but consciously, intentionally, even eagerly seeking to disobey? The sons of Josiah knew full well what they were doing. The priests and prophets of Jeremiah’s time were fully aware of their actions. The people of God who lived in the cities and villages were not ignorant of the commandments of God. They simply chose to ignore them. They simply chose to reject them. And the consequences of their actions are devastating. 

Israel will go into exile in Babylon. They will lose their land. They will lose their homes. Their Temple will be raised to the ground. Their glory pounded into dust. Even worse, their God was now fighting on the side of the Chaldeans! No longer their Protector. No longer their Warrior. He who was for them is now against them. Who can resist His might? “I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls...I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence...I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭21:4, 6-7‬) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God!

And yet, even amidst this national catastrophe, Jeremiah sounds a note of hope. There will come a day when the sins of Israel have been paid and the Lord will visit His people once more. “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness.'” (Jeremiah‬ ‭23:3-6‬) As is so often the case in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament; things are always darkest before the dawn. The promise of a Messiah rises out of the ashes of Israel’s sin like a phoenix spreading it’s wings. David will not be abandoned. A righteous Branch shall come from his line. A king who will reign with justice and righteousness and wisdom. One who will restore the fortunes of God’s people. One who will defeat their great enemy once and for all so they may finally dwell secure. He will even have a name...יְהוָ֥ה צִדְקֵֽנוּ...“The Lord is our righteousness.” 

Jesus is our righteousness, friends. God made Him who knew no sin to actually become sin on our behalf. To bear the full weight of the world’s sin. Past. Present. Future. He took all my sin. All my brokenness. All my fears. He took all my rebellion. All my rejection. All my disdain. He took all my selfishness. All my greed. All my lusts. And He nailed them to the cross. Furthermore, He died not only for me but for the sins of the world. The broken systems of this world. The oppressive and corrupt structures of this world. By His wounds, we are healed. By His brokenness, we are made whole. By His chains, we are set free. By His death, we are given new life. 

The reality is all flesh is at war with God. The desires of our hearts are bent towards evil. Our thoughts and attitudes and actions are corrupt. And God is at war with us. His Spirit waging a battle for our hearts. He has invaded our world. Invaded our hearts in order to cleanse us. Purify us. Refine us. He is a consuming fire. He will not rest until our lives reflect His glory. And the more we surrender. The more we submit. The more we cooperate with the work of the Spirit, the more we will experience the freedom Christ promises. This is no easy task. The flesh and its desires must be crucified. Put to death. There can be no safe harbor for them in our souls. We must allow the Spirit to “save to the uttermost.” We must open ourselves up fully and completely to His work. Only then will we be truly set free.  

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 25-28

The True Pandemic

Readings for today: Jeremiah 17-20

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

One cannot help but look at the history of humanity and be troubled. We are - by nature - a violent, greedy, selfish people. Ever since the fall of humanity from grace in the Garden of Eden, we have been at war. Alienated from God. Alienated from ourselves. Alienated from one another. Alienated from creation itself. It’s why we have so many problems. It’s why - no matter how hard we try - we never seem to make the progress our souls desire. Utopia seems forever beyond our grasp. Justice and righteousness forever slipping through our fingers. The Kingdom of God always just beyond the horizon.

Jeremiah looks around and the diagnosis seems clear. Humanity is desperately sick. We are all infected with a deadly disease. It’s a heart condition. One that cripples us from conception. One that corrupts us from birth. One that keeps us from becoming the people we were created to be by God. Our hearts are deceitful. We lie to God. We lie to ourselves. We lie to those around us. We simply cannot and will not face up to our true condition. We are broken beyond repair. We are totally depraved. We are sinful creatures through and through. God says, “I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10) It’s why every single one of us will eventually die. It’s God’s righteous judgment on our sin. It is the penalty we pay for our crimes. No one escapes.

Jeremiah’s words still ring true today. Think about all we are going through in our nation. Political division. Ethnic tension. Economic instability. Global pandemic. A culture of outrage and hate fostered by political leaders and furthered by a complicit media. And yet, the answers they offer only promise to treat the symptoms not the disease. They only address the downstream issues and fail to attack the root of the problem. The stark reality is we want the Kingdom without the King. We want all the blessings of heaven but we don’t want to follow the only One who can get us there. We refuse to obey His commands. We refuse to submit to His will. We refuse to walk in His ways. And our society continues to descend into chaos and anxiety and fear. I love how Pastor Charlie Dates put it in a recent devotional I read on the root of the ethnic tensions we currently face, “The germ of injustice lives in all of us. We can hear the dream of exceptionality in our indignation. We see those troubling images and videos and think we would never do anything wrong like that. Our tweets are rightfully angry, but often unrighteously condescending. Even those who claim the name of CHrist have forgotten that if it were not for the grace of God we too would do to others what we hate to see them do to someone else.” Without minimizing the seriousness of COVID-19, sin is the true pandemic afflicting the human race.

So what can do we do? How shall we respond? Again, I love how Dates puts it, “We human creatures are not all bad, but all of us are bad. The Bible teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous standard. None of us escapes sin’s reach. And what’s worse is that we cannot remedy our world in our own power or fix ourselves. The Gospel is the only message that can cure the problems it diagnoses. Until you recognize that you are susceptible to the lure of sin, you cannot fully enjoy the gift of redemptive grace.” I think Jeremiah would agree. In fact, I believe this is exactly what Jeremiah is getting at when he says, “A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.” ‭‭(Jeremiah‬ ‭17:12-13‬)

Friends, through Christ, the way to the throne is open. In Christ, we can approach the throne of grace in confidence to find mercy in our time of need. So look to Christ! See Him seated on the glorious throne! Place your trust in Him and invite His Spirit to do His sanctifying work in you, healing you from the affliction of sin. Delivering you from the power of sin. Only faith in Christ can save us from the pandemic of sin.

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 21-24

Cling to God

Readings for today: Jeremiah 13-16

“For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.” ‭‭(Jeremiah‬ ‭13:11)

It’s a weird scene. God tells Jeremiah to buy a loincloth. Wear it. Bury it. Dig it up. All in an effort to illustrate for His relationship with Israel. I don’t know about you but I feel for these prophets. They are often called to do the strangest of things. I often wonder what their friends and family thought of them. I wonder what kind of ridicule and abuse they suffered. How isolated and alone they must have felt. I think of John the Baptist who was described as the “lone voice crying in the wilderness.” It had to be such a hard life. At the same time, I love the message God sends through Jeremiah. The picture of God clinging to us like an undergarment. Clinging to us in the most intimate of places. Clinging to us and never letting go. Why would God do such a thing? Especially when His people harden their hearts and refuse to listen?

God has a plan for your life. How many times have you heard that message? It’s true! From the beginning, God has made His plan clear. Humanity’s purpose is to fill the earth with the glory of God. Fill the earth with the image of God. Fill the earth with the praise of God. This is why God made us in the first place. This is the condition Adam and Eve were born into in the Garden of Eden. This is what all of us will one day experience when heaven comes to earth. No matter what we do or where we go or how much we sin, God’s plan never changes. He never relents from His purposes. He never stops working to bring about His will in our lives. Though we may resist Him. Though we may run from Him. Though we may rebel against Him. God refuses to let go. His grip remains tight. His love steadfast and true.

I think of when my children were younger. How I would scoop them up in my arms at times and try to hold them close. Sometimes they would arch their backs and try to wiggle from my grasp. Sometimes they would fight me and try to push me away. But in the end they always laid their head down on my shoulder and snuggled in close. I think of the teenagers I live with and how upset they get at times. They yell. They cry. They say hurtful things. One of the things I’ve learned is not to fight them but simply hold out my arms. Wait for their emotions to calm down and give them a big hug. Then we talk things out. I think God is like that.

If you are a Christian, you are part of God’s people. You have been given His name. You were created for His praise and glory. You are not insignificant. You are not worthless. You are not hopeless. You are not lost. You are not alone. You are not on your own. God is with you. He clings to you even now. He is as close as a loincloth around your waist. Engaged in the most intimate spaces of your life. Stop running. Stop resisting. Stop fighting. Turn and embrace the One who loves you more than you can ever know. Cling to God even as He clings to you.

Conspiracy Theory

Readings for today: Jeremiah 9-12

Truth is a rare commodity in our day and age. Fake news. Outright lies. Conspiracy theories. Ideologically-driven news cycles. It’s hard to discern what is true and what is false in our world. Add to that the commercially driven lies our culture sells about beauty, identity, happiness, fulfillment, etc. and we find ourselves swimming in a cesspool of deceit. Social media has only thrown gas on this fire. Exacerbating a phenomena that threatens the very fabric of our society. Sadly, the church has fallen prey to these same forces. Trading in the truth of the gospel for something more palatable, more therapeutic that fills the seats, sells books, and makes rockstars out of megapastors. But it’s not just the megachurches who fallen for these lies. I cannot tell you the number of small churches who’ve allowed themselves to be defined more by the culture wars raging around us than the truth of the gospel. I cannot tell you the number of churches who care more about one’s political affiliation, one’s musical preference, one’s theological camp, or one’s denominational label than the truth God lays out for us in Scripture. I cannot tell you the number of individuals I meet who claim to be Christian but whose lives exhibit little, if any, evidence of a commitment to the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Jesus. Left without a champion, truth is lost and our world descends into chaos. 

Jeremiah faced a similar situation, living as he did in the final days of the kingdom of Israel. “Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity...Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭9:4-5, 8‬) It sounds strikingly familiar, does it not? Those who disagree are not just wrong, they are evil. Those who are different are corrupt. Those who will not toe the line when it comes to ideological purity cannot be trusted. Their motives are suspect. They must have a hidden agenda. Surely there is a conspiracy afoot!

“Again the Lord said to me, "A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem...” AHA! There it is! Confirmation of the deep state! Confirmation that those who don’t agree with us are plotting to take over! Confirmation of the most nefarious intentions of our enemies! SEE! It’s all right there in the Bible! But then Jeremiah confronts us with the hard truth. The “conspiracy”, as it were, exists not “out there” but “in here.” Inside every human heart. Deceit. Fake news. Blatant falsehoods. Hidden agendas. Guess what? They’re all right here. In my heart. I fight them every single day. My entire life is a battle against such evil. Listen to Jeremiah’s own words, “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭11:9-10‬)

The reality, friends, is much more complex than we want to acknowledge. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none who is righteous. Not a single one. All of us are like sheep who have gone astray and it is only the love of the Good Shepherd that keeps us from destroying ourselves. Left to our own wisdom, we will become confused. Left to our own strength, we will fail. Left to our own riches and resources, we eventually will run out. And this is why God says to Jeremiah, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord."(Jeremiah‬ ‭9:23-24‬) Truth can only be found in God. The only way to discover truth is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Only after our dead hearts have been revived by the Holy Spirit can we discern what is true and false about our world and about ourselves. Only as we continue to surrender our own agendas, our own ideas, our own thoughts, our own opinions, our own truth to our Lord will we come to see His Truth for what it is and rejoice. Only as we fix our eyes on Jesus will we be able to see through all the lies and deceit this world has to offer. And it is only as we cling to the Jesus Truth and follow the Jesus Way that we will find the Jesus Life! 

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 13-16

The God who Weeps

Readings for today: Jeremiah 5-8

“My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me. Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: "Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?" "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?” “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord.” (‭Jeremiah‬ ‭8:18-22‬, 9:1-3)

Admittedly, I am pushing into tomorrow’s reading with today’s devotional but this passage from the end of Jeremiah 8 is one of the most poignant in all of Scripture and it bleeds into the beginning of chapter 9. Most English translations put these words in Jeremiah’s mouth. Primarily because of how uncomfortable we are with God experiencing deep, heartbreaking grief. As Western Christians we are heavily influenced by Platonic thought whether we realize it or not. We tend to believe God is fundamentally distant. Fundamentally different. Fundamentally beyond all human experience, including emotions. We believe He is untouchable. Unmovable. Unchangeable. We associate emotions with feelings of change. Instability. Unpredictability. And these things cannot be true of God...right? 

But what if we were willing to embrace a different understanding of emotions? A deeper understanding? Again, it is without question that God experiences emotions. Love. Anger. Frustration. Joy. We read about them over and over again and they are not simply anthropomorphisms. (A way for God to express Himself in human terms we can understand. Ex. “The arm of the Lord...”) What if our understanding of God could be expanded to include the full range of emotions? What if us having emotions is part of being made in God’s image? What if our “emotionalism”, which breeds the feelings of instability and unpredictability, is actually a result of sin and brokenness? What if God, because He remains untouched by sin, is able to experience all emotions without being driven by them? 

This brings us back to the passage cited above. God is expressing the deepest, most heartbreaking grief possible.  ”My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.” God is experiencing an incredible sense of loss. His people have betrayed Him. They have abandoned Him. And then they have turned around and blamed Him. “Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: "Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" They refuse to bow the knee. Refuse to repent and return to Him. Refuse to humble themselves before Him. Quite the opposite. They brazenly continue in sin. "Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?" This is a stiff-necked people. A foolish people. A rebellious people. They take their relationship with God for granted. They are entitled. They are spoiled. They assume God will come to their rescue despite their unwillingness to walk in His ways. "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." 

The perspective shifts back to God. “For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?” “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Again, one pictures deep, heavy sobs. God weeping a flood of tears. God experiencing unimaginable pain. Because He has freely joined Himself in an unbreakable covenant with His people, their wounds become His wounds. Their pain becomes His pain. Their heartbreak becomes His heartbreak. Things get so bad, God wishes He could leave. Abandon them to their fate. Leave the Temple in Jerusalem and return to the wilderness. To the time when He tabernacled with them on the Exodus journey. “Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord.” But the Tabernacle is gone. There is no lodging place in the desert God can run to. He is stuck. He is committed. He will endure. This is the great faithfulness of our God! It is costly. It is hard. It is painful. But it remains true. 

Really, God is being faithful to Himself here. Faithful to the promise He has made. To be our God, come hell or high water. This was the message He communicated through the covenant He first made with Abraham in Genesis 15 and sealed through the death and resurrection of His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. His steadfast love establishes the fundamental reality of our lives. The bedrock on which we can build our lives. Without fear. Without shame. Without worry that somehow, someway there will come a day when God will finally lose patience and abandon us. God will not leave us or forsake us for in doing so He would be unfaithful to Himself. Let this truth be your firm foundation today, friends!

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 9-12

The Suffering of God

Readings for today: Jeremiah 1-4

Jeremiah is a hard book to read. Especially if one gets in touch with the pain present throughout. Not only Jeremiah’s pain as he watches his people and his nation struggle and suffer and eventually be destroyed. But God’s pain as well as His people betray Him by chasing after other gods. So intertwined is the pain of God with His prophet that it is often hard to know who’s speaking. For example, Jeremiah  4:19 says, “My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭4:19‬) Traditionally, these words have been ascribed to Jeremiah himself because we simply cannot fathom God saying such things. However, when one looks closely at the text, it is clear God is speaking in verse 18 (“Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.”) and in verse 22 (“For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.”) Is it possible that we are so uncomfortable with the idea that God might feel pain that we automatically bracket this reading out of the text? 

We’re going to see this dynamic pop up over and over again throughout this book and it forces us to come to grips with how we see and understand God. Classically, the question goes to the “impassibility” of God. The idea that God doesn’t have “passions” or “pathos” which has to do with suffering. Some have interpreted this to mean God doesn’t have emotions but that’s clearly not true. God expresses a whole range of emotions all throughout the Scriptures. More specifically this idea has to do with the suffering of God. Can God suffer? Does such suffering suggest a change in God? Does it threaten the immutability of His nature and character? Historically, the answer has been “yes” which then forces us to find other explanations for what we read in texts like the one before us today. But what if God suffers? What if God chooses - in His freedom - to be the kind of God who moves towards suffering? Who embraces suffering? Who welcomes suffering without it changing who He is? Is this not the heart of the gospel? Is this not part of the mystery of the Incarnation? Eternal God choosing to take on human flesh? With all its weaknesses and struggles and hardships? Is this not the heart of the passion of our Christ? God suffering with us and for us even to the point of death?  

It seems to me that we lose nothing by embracing the pathos of God if we understand God has embraced such pathos according to His own will and good pleasure. Certainly, suffering is not forced on God. It doesn’t take God by surprise. It doesn’t enact a change on God’s experience. God is beyond all these things. He truly is immutable or unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no shadow or turning in Him. But at the same time, God has revealed Himself in a particular, one might even argue, peculiar kind of way. He is a God who embraces a broken creation. A God who covenants with a broken people. A God who is steadfast and faithful and loyal and true even in the face of evil. He is a God who likens His relationship with His people to a marriage and the faithlessness of His people to adultery. He frequently uses the language of betrayal and heartache and pain to express His dismay over the sinful choices His people make. No one forces God to remain faithful. No one makes God forgive. No outside force can drive God to do anything He Himself has not already chosen to do in complete freedom. Which makes passages like the one we read today and others like it throughout the book of Jeremiah so intriguing. 

What if God is in anguish over us? What if being in relationship with us breaks God’s heart? What if God’s choice to love us from before the foundations of the earth involved Him choosing unimaginable suffering? Would this change how you relate to Him? Change how you see Him? Change how you experience Him? Change how you love Him?  

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 5-8

Apocalypse Now

Readings for today: Joel 1-3

We live in apocalyptic times. If you listen to the media or to the conversations happening on social media feeds, it seems like the world is coming to an end any day now…unless we vote for their candidate. All politics and social policy is now cast in terms of good and evil. We’re fighting a zero sum game in a never-ending culture war. “Re-elect President Trump and the world goes to hell.” “Elect Vice President Biden and the world goes to hell.” Or so we hear. America’s perch as the world’s leading superpower is being threatened by China and Russia. The great American experiment in democracy seems to be teetering on the brink. Capitalism which has driven wealth-creation on a scale never before seen in human history is broken. Any trust we once had in the institutional strength of the checks and balances of the different branches of government is gone as we watch Congress continue to flail about. It’s hard to live in the twilight of an empire. Compound it with a global pandemic, ethnic strife, and a complete lack of any kind of godly leadership and we end up resonating with what the prophet Joel was going through as he watched the sun set on the southern kingdom of Judah…

“What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.” (‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:4‬) King Josiah was dead. The brief flicker of hope had gone out. The locusts were on the march. The Babylonians were on the move. No one would escape. Swarm after swarm. Army after army would march through Israel, burning everything to the ground. Jerusalem would be destroyed. The Temple razed. Not a stone would be left on top of another. So what are the people of God to do? Send out a Twitter blast? Riot in the streets? Overturn the government? Burn down the establishment? No…

“Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord…Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 1:14, 2:12-13) The appropriate response is always repentance. Always humility before the Lord. Turning to Him with all our hearts. Relinquishing any sense of control. Letting go of our anger. Refusing to cling to whatever power and privilege we have left. Resisting the temptation to play the blame game. Looking in the mirror to see how we have contributed to the mess we are in. Honestly acknowledging our sin. Yes, it feels like disaster is on the horizon. Yes, there is so much fear and anxiety in our world. Yes, we have become prideful and arrogant and entitled and spoiled. We have forgotten our first love. We have abandoned true worship of God in favor of idols. We have taken all the blessings God has given us for granted. We deserve our fate. And yet…

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25) There simply is no end to God’s grace. No matter how many times we fall. No matter how many times we fail. No matter how corrupt and selfish and greedy we become, God is quick to forgive if we will be confess our sin before Him. If we will express but grieve over what we have done or what we have left undone. God’s mercies are new every morning. His faithfulness is great. His love never fails. This is our hope! This is our joy! This is our peace! But God doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t just restore us, He actually sends us out to declare this same gospel to the nations…

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” (Joel‬ ‭2:28) God’s grace is not something we keep to ourselves. It is a gift designed to be given away. A blessing we offer to others. Something we share with the world around us. God poured out His Spirit on His people at Pentecost. It’s like He turned on the faucet and left it running for two thousand years. There is no end to the Spirit of God which is why billions around the world today call on His name. If you are a Christian, you have been drenched in His life-giving flow. You have been indwelt by His life-giving power. You have been filled by His life-giving presence. This sets you apart. This makes you different. You are now the salt of the earth, called to help preserve her from all evil. You are the light of the world, called to help put an end to darkness. Our hope, friends, is not in the coming election but in the Spirit of God working through the people of God to proclaim the gospel of God to a dead and dying world.

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 1-4

A Conversation with God

Readings for today: Habakkuk 1-3

Sometimes it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. We find ourselves deep in the weeds when we read and lose sight of the larger message. Today’s book is a good example. Habakkuk is an obscure prophet. Not much is known about him. There is no biographical information listed. This is the only work attributed to him. But careful study of the book suggests he was living in Jerusalem around 612 B.C. which locates him towards the end of the reign of King Josiah. The Babylonian (Chaldean) empire is on the rise and will soon sweep in to destroy Jerusalem thus fulfilling the prophecy given to Hezekiah who pridefully showed off the treasure of his nation to Babylonian envoys decades earlier. This whole book is a prayer. A conversation between God and his prophet. As such, it represents an invitation. God inviting us to engage in a similar conversation with Him over our nation today.

“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” ‭‭(Habakkuk‬ ‭1:2-4‬) I don’t know about you but I can relate to these words. I look around at the brutality and racism so many of my friends of color endure. I see the abuse heaped upon law enforcement as they try and stand between rioters and the destruction of private property. I watch as our leaders incite violence by their actions and inaction. I watch as evil is called good and good is called evil. It does feel like the law is paralyzed. It does feel like justice is not just delayed but denied. It does feel like the righteous are an ever-dwindling number. What is God’s response?

“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” ‭‭(Habakkuk‬ ‭1:5‬) God is at work in our world. He is raising up His church in places like South America and Africa and Asia. Millions are coming to Christ in these places and the center of Christianity is shifting. It is dying in the West. Europe is fully post-Christian. America is quickly hastening in the same direction. Thankfully, God doesn’t need us. He moves on. He moves in and among a people who will seek Him with all their hearts. And while it’s heartbreaking to live through times of decline. Times when it seems like our spiritual heritage is being squandered. It is nothing new. Christianity has always tended to “die” when it achieves cultural dominance and it tends to grow exponentially in places where it is persecuted and oppressed. This has been true throughout history.

“Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof…I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.” (Habakkuk 1:12, 2:1) Habakkuk accepts God’s judgment. He doesn’t fight it. He understands God’s ways are higher than his ways. God’s thoughts are higher than his thoughts. God’s purposes transcend the fate of nations…even the fate of Israel! God’s judgments are always righteous and true. So rather than fight or complain or question, Habakkuk simply and humbly and faithfully takes up his post. He is a watchman for Israel. He will warn them of the coming judgment. He will stand as witness of the wrath to come. Most importantly, however, he will be a beacon of hope for he knows God will keep faith with Israel and redeem them in the end.

“And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith…For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea…But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” ‭‭(Habakkuk‬ ‭2:2-4, 14, 20‬) God will never abandon His people completely. He will never break His covenant of faithfulness with us. He loves us which is why He disciplines us. He cares for us which is why He refuses to let us persist in our sin. He is passionate and fierce and jealous for us so He will not let us wallow in our own mess. His judgment is always right. The pain and suffering He allows is intended to purify. Sanctity. Bring us back to Him. At the end of the day, God cares most for His glory. The mandate issued at creation will be fulfilled. The earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord! The earth will bow in silence before Him as He enters His temple!

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” ‭‭(Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬) This is why Habakkuk ends with a song. He sings praises to His God. He knows God is faithful. God is true. God is good. God is glorious and will bring His will to pass on the earth. Habakkuk doesn’t need to worry. Habakkuk doesn’t need to be anxious. Even as he watches God’s judgment come on God’s people, Habakkuk knows God’s love never fails.

We are living through such challenging times. Like Habakkuk, we look around us and it seems like the fig trees aren’t blossoming. There is no fruit on the vines. The harvest has failed and our flocks are dying. People are getting sick. Businesses are closings. Savings are drying up. Retirement funds are disappearing. Everything we have spent our entire lives working for is being lost. So what do we do? Will we rejoice in the Lord? Will we take joy in the God of our salvation? Will we rely on God who is our strength?

Readings for tomorrow: Joel 1-3

Spiritual Renewal

Readings for today: 2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35

Josiah is one of my favorites. So much so, I named my son after him. His heart is pure. He seeks the Lord. He humbles himself when he hears God’s Word. He obeys God’s commands. He purges the land of idolatry and evil. He re-institutes right worship. It’s amazing. His faithfulness to the Lord spawns a revival in the land. The people follow his lead. And Israel staves off disaster for yet another generation.

As a pastor, I’ve been blessed to part of such spiritual renewals. I saw it in seminary when I worked in New Jersey State Prison. The inmate church loved the Word of God. They had godly leaders like Nathan and Philip and Rich and Sam and so many others. Black, white, and brown. All passionately committed to the Lord and the results were incredible. I saw it in my first church in Mobile. A group of people who loved Jesus and His Word and loved each other and who were willing to take the risk to follow a young, naive preacher into some crazy ministry. They had godly leaders like Buddy, Daisy, Bill, Sissy, Deb and so many others. All passionately committed to the Lord and the results were incredible. I’ve seen it in my current church. A people who love the Word of God and each other and our community. We have an unbelievable number of godly leaders from all walks of life. All passionately committed to the Lord and the results we’re seeing are incredible.

Does it mean there aren’t challenges? Of course not. Spiritual renewal never progresses in a straight line. It’s not always up and to the right. Not everyone accepts it. Not everything goes well. There are always setbacks along the way. Fighting idolatry is hard. Fighting ingrained behavior is hard. Fighting the naturally selfish and sinful heart is hard. But if godly leaders remain faithful to the Lord. Preach and teach His Word. Obey His commands. Revival comes. Renewal comes. Not always in the way we expect. Not always according to our measures for success. But it comes nonetheless because God shows His favor on those who passionately seek Him.

This has wide implications not only for us as individuals or for the local church. Josiah is the leader of a nation. His example sets the tone for all of God’s people. He uses his influence to change hearts and minds and lead his people to a closer relationship with the Lord. The same could be true for every community. Every city. Every county. Every state. Even for our entire nation. But we need godly leaders to show us the way. Godly character is the most important quality in an elected leader. A heart after God. A heart that is committed to Him with a passion to serve Him and to see all peoples be blessed in His name. This is what our world needs and it begins with each one of us. Are we such leaders? In our homes? In our schools? In our neighborhoods? In our places of work? Are we such leaders in our churches? In our communities? In our world? How are we leveraging our godly influence in order to bring spiritual renewal to our land?

Godly Humility

Readings for today: Zephaniah 1-3

I once met a man who gave up a six figure income in the US to return to his native country of Rwanda where he did not draw a salary for three straight years. He went from being in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest people to the bottom 1% of the world’s poor. He gave up security and safety to live in danger and place his family at risk. He gave up power and influence and privilege in one of the world’s most significant NGO’s to work among those who have been forgotten. When I expressed my admiration for such a sacrifice, his response was confusion. “What sacrifice?” he said. “My life is not my own. My life has never been my own. My life is in the hands of God to do with as He wills.” This, friends, is godly humility. 

“But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord...” (Zephaniah‬ ‭3:12‬) It is hard to overstate the importance of humility to the Christian faith. Humility is what keeps us grounded before the Lord. Humility is what keeps us dependent on Him. Humility is what opens our hands and our hearts, allowing us to release those things in which we too often place our trust. Wealth. Health. Power. Privilege. Status. Authority. Pride. We are fools to place our trust in these things and yet it is so hard to resist temptation. We who have so much actually fall prey to our own desires. Our ability to gratify those desires instantaneously only serves to tighten our bonds. Thinking we are free, we choose to become slaves and there’s nothing more pitiful than a free man or woman choosing to remain in bondage. Nothing more heartbreaking than sitting in a cell with the door wide open, refusing to leave. This is the state we find ourselves in today. Our culture has made “Self” a god and the result is entitlement. Narcissism. Selfishness. Greed. Self-protection. Far too many of us worship at this altar and it is leading us to destruction.

So how do we resist this temptation? How can we uproot Self out of the center of our lives and re-focus our devotion around God? Humility. The fundamental recognition that my life is not my own. My future is not mine to determine. My hopes are not set on the limited horizons of this world. My happiness does not come from chasing temporal pleasures. Humility honors God as sovereign over all of life, including my own. Humility submits. Humility surrenders. Humility bows before the God of the universe and willingly entrusts Him with all that we are and all that we have. This is the secret that my friend understood. He owned nothing. Not his house. Not his salary. Not his job. Not his family. Not his lifestyle. Not his degrees. Not his professional success. Not his future. None of it was his to hold onto. All of it came from God and all of it was used by God as He wills for His good pleasure. So when God called him to leave Colorado Springs and move to Kigali to help his people recover from the genocide, he went. No questions asked. The Master called. My friend answered. The King issued a command. My friend obeyed. The Father made an appeal. My friend responded in faith. Though life has been much harder. Much more difficult. Much more painful and heartbreaking. He has no regrets.  

Humility. Not just an attitude of the heart. Not just a thought process in the mind. But a way of life. It means holding onto the things of this world loosely, knowing the Lord may require them at any time. It means holding onto our hopes and dreams loosely, knowing the Lord may change course at any time. It means holding onto even our pain and heartbreaks and suffering loosely, knowing the Lord often leads His people through such experiences to teach them of His sufficiency. It means holding onto our strength and safety and security loosely, knowing the Lord may demand even our lives at any time. 

Now all this may sound very scary. Very frightening if this has not been your path. Here’s the good news. God doesn’t ask for blind obedience. He doesn’t require us to step into the great unknown. He gives this promise to all who walk humbly before Him...“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes," says the Lord.” (‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:17-20‬) God can be trusted. God is true to His Word. His faithfulness never ends. His love never fails. Simply believe and let God take you by the hand today. 

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35

Jealous God

Readings for today: Nahum 1-3

“Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.” (Nahum‬ ‭3:5-6‬)

Some things you can’t unsee. Like the time I ran my first Bolder Boulder several years ago and saw the male belly dancers around mile four! :-) On a more serious note, now that I’ve become aware of the “honor/shame” dynamic running through all of Scripture, it seems like it’s everywhere. Why does God judge Nineveh with such harshness? Why is He not just content to have the victory but goes further, grinding them into dust? Why does He put their nation to open shame? Lifting their skirts. Exposing their nakedness. Demonstrating before the whole world their powerlessness? Why does He go as far as to throw excrement at them and make them a spectacle? Because God is a jealous God. Jealous for His honor. Jealous for His glory. Jealous for His name. 

The nation of Assyria has enjoyed their time in the sun. Their chariots have rolled all over the Middle East like an ancient blitzkrieg. Their empire is great. Their power limitless. Their military without equal. But they’ve grown proud. They’ve exceeded the limits God set for them. They’ve become drunk with their success. Though they served as the rod of God’s anger against the northern kingdom of Israel, He must now bring them to heel. He must again demonstrate His sovereignty over ALL the nations. Remember the words of the Assyrian commander to King Hezekiah when they besieged Jerusalem? How they dared to compare Almighty God with the small tribal gods of the pagan nations? It’s worth going back and re-reading the story from 2 Kings 18 again. Such disdain and disrespect draws God’s ire. Not because it hurts His ego but because it offends His sacred and holy honor. God will not be mocked! The Creator will not allow His creatures to treat Him this way. They will learn to honor God. They will learn to respect God. They will learn to submit to God. He will bring them to their knees one way or the other because there is one thing God cares about more than the creatures He made in His own image and that is Himself. His glory. His honor. His fame. His name WILL be great upon the earth!

“The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.” (Nahum‬ ‭1:2-6‬) Assyria will learn this lesson in spades. As will the other nations who dare defy the Living God. 

But what about God’s people? What is our response to this God? How should we approach this God? With fear and trembling? On some level, yes. With humility and submission? Certainly. With terror and dread? Absolutely not! Why? Because our God is also good. And He loves His people. He is faithful to His people. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum‬ ‭1:7‬)

So...are you living a life of humble submission before the Lord? Or prideful rebellion? Is God an ever-present reality in your life or does He seem distant? Someone to call on in case of emergency? Do you seek to love God with all your heart or are you apathetic towards His commandments? What about His honor and glory? Do these things cross your mind when you work? When you parent? When you’re among friends? When you relate to your husband or wife? When you vote? When you engage in the public square? Is your worship focused on praising God and pleasing God or are you more concerned with your personal preferences? These are critical questions, friends, in light of what Nahum shares with us today. It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God!

Readings for tomorrow: Zephaniah 1-3

Rationality of Evil

Readings for today: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33

No one sets out to be evil. No one wakes up in the morning thinking to themselves, “How many bad things can I get away with today?” No parent raises their child to love evil. No child sets out to stick it to their parents by becoming as evil as possible. No one starts out loving evil and no one makes evil their life goal. So why then is evil so prevalent in our world today?

Evil is what happens when we set our hearts on something other than God. As soon as we displace God in our hearts, evil becomes far more rational. For example, as soon as I set my heart on loving someone other than my wife, adultery becomes rational. As soon as I set my heart on achieving some position or some promotion, lying about other candidates becomes rational. As soon as I set my heart on wealth, greed becomes rational. As soon as I set my heart on political power, corruption becomes rational. With me so far? Any time we set our sights on something lower than God. Something lesser than God. Something other than God, we are opening the door to evil. When we set our hearts and minds on God, we naturally follow God’s will because we know it is the only way to arrive at God’s purpose for our lives. To pursue any other end. To chase any other dream. To set any other goal means we must find another way. We must take another path. We walk a different road. And that road - by definition - leads to sin and evil and death.

Consider the case of Manasseh. A young man raised by a godly king in the lap of luxury in Jerusalem. He became king at the very young age of twelve. He reigned for over fifty years. And during that time, he engaged in all manner of evil. Why? Why would a young man, raised on the stories of his faithful father and the miracles God had wrought, turn to idolatry? One clue comes in 2 Kings 21:2 where it says, “Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.” You say, why would he want to do that? Perhaps he could sense the coming demise of his own kingdom. Perhaps he looked around at some of the other nations and coveted their power and wealth. Perhaps he wanted to fit in. Wanted to be esteemed in the eyes of his royal peers. After all, his father had this fatal flaw, right? Showed the Babylonian envoys all his wealth in order to impress them? Whatever it was, I seriously doubt Manasseh got up one day after being crowned king and did a U-turn. I doubt he set out to do evil. I doubt he thought to himself, “How can I become the most evil king in Israelite history?” Again, no one sets out to do evil. Evil is what happens when you’re on your way to somewhere else.

So where is your life headed? What are your life goals? If someone were to challenge you at whatever stage of life you find yourself in to write them down, where would God fall on your list? Seriously. Be honest with yourself. No senses in hiding. It’s not like God doesn’t already know. If someone were to look at your calendar. Look at your checking account. Look at your social media feed. Look at the way you vote and the causes you advocate for and why you advocate for them. If they were to interview your spouse. Your children. Your close friends. What would they find? What would these sources reveal? Would they show a strong commitment to the Lord or would they tell a different tale? Remember, “evil” is defined by God as putting anything before Him in your life. It’s not just a term reserved for the Hitlers of our world. So where do you stand? If you find yourself on the “evil” side of the ledger, don’t lose heart. Manasseh repented and God answered his prayer. Trust me when I say God will answer your prayer as well if you but turn to Him.

Readings for tomorrow: Nahum 1-3

Potter’s Hand

Readings for today: Isaiah 64-66

I have this vivid memory from two years ago when Kristi and I got the opportunity to eat dinner with some new friends at a rooftop restaurant overlooking Kigali in Rwanda. It was a beautiful evening spent eating great food and having great conversations. Jason and Kimberly Peters were our hosts that week. Jason serves as the CEO of Hope Haven and lives there off and on with his family. Pastor Jimmy and his wife Sharol lead Potter’s Hand Church in Kigali and Pastor Jimmy was instrumental in helping build Hope Haven due to his civil engineering background and experience in construction.

During the course of the meal, Pastor Jimmy shared his story with us and it has stuck with me. He is a trained civil engineer who has worked all over Rwanda. He has advanced degrees from more than one university. He has not only led many projects but consulted on many more and is very well-respected. In fact, prior to getting involved in ministry, he had an opportunity to go to work for some large construction firms in overseeing some of the key infrastructure work in his country. However, God had a different plan for Jimmy’s life. At the same time his professional career was taking off, he was serving part-time as an assistant pastor in his church. They had a crisis of leadership. It was extremely painful and resulted in many people leaving, including several of their key leaders. Jimmy was asked to fill the gap. He had a decision to make. Should he take the exciting, lucrative job offer from the government or take the difficult, low-paying job of helping his church recover? As he prayed, God led him to verses like this one from Isaiah 64:8, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” 

Jimmy knew the call had come. He was to serve the church. He gave up his position and power and wealth and political influence to serve a church broken by conflict. A church struggling to make ends meet. A church that was coming apart at the seams. He gathered the elders and leaders together and shared the verse God had given him. They renamed the church “Potter’s Hand.” I wish I could tell you some great story of success. Some great story about how God has honored Pastor Jimmy’s choice by bringing prosperity and rapid growth to the congregation. What I can tell you is the story Jimmy shared with me. The story of God’s abiding faithfulness to a small group of people hungry for the gospel with a passion to serve God’s Kingdom. Pastor Jimmy has led his congregation well. Much healing has taken place. The church is growing. God is moving. But it is long, hard work. There are leadership challenges. Financial challenges. Ministry challenges. And yet, the verse God gave Pastor Jimmy before he stepped into this ministry continues to guide them. He is the Potter. We are the clay. The clay doesn’t ask the Potter, “Why have you made me like this?” The clay doesn’t question the Potter’s plans for it’s life. The clay doesn’t worry because the Potter knows what He’s doing. He is shaping us for His own glory.  

It’s an ancient insight that still holds true today. What was true for the prophet Isaiah has held true for Pastor Jimmy. CEO Jason. Pastor Doug. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. God is the master potter. We are his clay. He has us right where He wants us...on His wheel...and He is shaping us to serve His purposes in this world. We have no need to ask Him, “Why?” No need to question His plans. We simply are called to trust and obey. To let the Potter do what the Potter does best. What is the Potter doing in your life today? How is He shaping you? How is He forming you? Where is He at work in you? Give Him thanks no matter what season you find yourself in.  

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33

The Hope of a Redeemer

Readings for today: Isaiah 59-63

I don’t know about you but when I opened my Bible this morning and began reading chapter 59 of Isaiah, I could not help but read it as a Word from the Lord to our nation today. Yes, God’s hand is not shortened. God’s ability to save has not diminished in the slightest. God has not grown hard of hearing. His eyes are not blind to our suffering. So what is He waiting for? What stays His hand of salvation? What keeps Him from stepping in? God is waiting for repentance. He is waiting for us to turn to Him. Waiting for us to relinquish our wicked ways. Waiting for us to stop embracing sin as a means to our own selfish ends.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede…” (Isaiah‬ ‭59:1-4, 7-10, 12-16a‬)

When will we tire of the petty games we play? When has outrage, anger, hate, or violence ever produced anything positive? When has wealth and power not corrupted the human soul? When have all the lies and conspiracies and falsehoods and deceit led to truth? When has anything manipulative or controlling or underhanded or abusive ever served the common good? And why - after thousands and thousands of years - have human beings not progressed beyond such things? We are morally deformed. Spiritually bankrupt. Hypocrites one and all. And the never-ending social media news cycle simply reveals the darkness that lies in every human heart.

So where can we find hope? Only in God. Listen to how God responds to the evil in our world. Listen to how He describes the Redeemer who is to come. “Then the Lord’s own arm brought Him (the Redeemer) salvation, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will He repay, wrath to His adversaries, repayment to His enemies; to the coastlands He will render repayment. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; for He will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.”

One would think we should cower in fear. Tremble at the coming of the Redeemer. This passage, along with many others, convinced many in Israel that the Redeemer would come in power to execute judgment on the enemies of Israel. This is what was so confounding about Jesus. He came as the Suffering Servant. He took God’s vengeance on Himself. He turned aside God’s wrath at His enemies. He repaid the debt of humanity. He satisfied God’s justice once and for all. Such amazing grace! It is why the name of the Lord is lifted up from the East to the West! It’s why His glory rises like they sun! And one day soon He will return. Like a rushing stream. Like the winds that blow. He will come to Zion and He will sit in judgment over the earth. On that day, every knee will bow before Him. Every tongue will confess that He is Lord. All the games we play will come to an end and He will render to each according to His sovereign will. Those who love Him will be saved. Those who hate Him will be destroyed. The Kingdom will come to earth and all things will be made new.

If you have yet to place your trust in Jesus, friends, now is the time. Today is the day of salvation! Don’t let another moment slip by for we do not know the time of the Redeemer’s coming! Though He has tarried thus far, it may be that today is the day of His return. Spread the news! Share the gospel! Tell everyone you know about Jesus!

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 64-66

Gospel in Action

Readings for today: Isaiah 54-58

“Why can’t you just stick to preaching the gospel?” I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been asked this question over the last twenty years. Usually it comes after particularly challenging sermons preached to particular issues in particular contexts. Racism. Classism. Nationalism. Economic and social privilege. Human sexuality. Pro-life issues like abortion or the death penalty. The assumption behind the issue is that Jesus never engaged in social justice or structural reform so why should His followers? But such a perspective fails to take in the whole counsel of God revealed in the Scriptures. Further, it shows a lack of understanding of just how threatening Jesus was to the social and political order of His day.

At the same time, I do appreciate the sentiment behind the words. We must preach the gospel. We must preach the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Only Jesus saves. Only Jesus redeems. Only His death on the cross pays the full penalty for our sin and satisfies the demands of God’s justice. Only His resurrection defeats the power of sin and death and offers us victory. Only by the Word of God becoming flesh and blood and moving into our world are we given access to the Kingdom. Self-help. Social movements. Political organizations. These things simply cannot achieve what only God can do. Only those who have received Christ can give Him away. Only those who have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness can give forth light. Only those who have been set apart for God’s purposes can promote His Kingdom values of justice and righteousness and peace in our world. It’s the same point an ancient prophet named Isaiah once made to the nation of Israel…

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.” ‭‭(Isaiah‬ ‭58:6-12‬)

Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” If you love Me, follow in My footsteps. If you love Me, do not only as I say but also as I do. Show compassion to those who are lost. They are slaves to sin. They walking in darkness. They are blind and do not see. Do not be surprised when they embrace all kinds of selfishness and greed and anger and violence. This is to be expected from those who live in bondage. Hold accountable those who are found. Judgment begins at the house of the Lord. Those who have been set free should not turn and use their freedom for their own gain. They should not submit again to a yoke of bondage and act according to their former ways. They must relinquish the underhanded, manipulative, power-hungry ways of this world and instead pursue the way of Jesus. They must be salt, preserving all they can that is good and righteous and pure and true in our world. They must be light, exposing all that causes evil and suffering and pain and heartbreak. They must serve as agents of God’s justice and God’s righteousness and God’s peace not only individually but corporately in the systems and structures of our world, be it political or economic or social.

To who much is given, much is expected and we’ve been given the gift of the gospel! We’ve been given the greatest gift one could ever receive so with it comes the greatest responsibility a person could ever bear. To bring hope and peace and joy to a world full of despair, conflict, and deep sadness. Thankfully, we do not do this alone. Jesus has not left us alone. He has sent us His Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts, we find ourselves longing for the same things God longs for. Salvation. Justice. Righteousness. Peace. These are the values of the Kingdom of God that the world so desperately craves. So…Christian…it is time to answer the call! It is time to move to the front lines of our current cultural conflict! It is time to march! It is time to speak up and speak out! It is time to loose the bonds of wickedness! It is time to set the oppressed free! It is time share our bread with the hungry! Bring the homeless into our homes and into our lives! To clothe the naked and reconcile with our families! As we give ourselves way for the sake of the gospel - both individually and corporately as a nation - here’s God’s promise…

Our light will break forth like the dawn. Our nation will experience healing. Righteousness will go before us. The Lord Himself will have our back. When we cry out to the Lord, He will answer. When we stop oppressing, stop blaming, stop acting in selfish, greedy, power-hungry ways, then the Lord will satisfy our every desire and make us strong. He will make us a fruitful garden. He will rebuilt our ancient ruins. He will provide a foundation for future generations. But only as we seek to follow Him. Only as we seek to repair the breech and restore our streets and lift up the poor and powerless. This, friends, is the gospel in action.

Suffering Servant

Readings for today: Isaiah 50-53

One of the great blessings of my life has been to meet people like Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda. Bishop John writes and speaks powerfully on the subject of the genocide that horrified a watching world in 1994. He wrestles deeply with the question, “Where was God as over one million people were being slaughtered?” And he comes out the other side with this answer, “Where was God when a million innocent people were being butchered? Where was God when priests and pastors helped massacre the people in their churches? I’ll tell you where God was. He was alongside the victims lying on the cold stone floor of the cathedral. He was comforting a dying child. He was crying at the altar. But He was also saving lives. Many were saved by miracles. God does not flee when evil takes over a nation...God is the giver of eternal life, and He can bring great good out of any situation. He raises the dead; He can also raise the broken. He can restore their hearts and minds and lift their spirits to renewed life. In my country God is doing this today by the thousands. There is so much pain here, so many real tears, and so much guilt that our ministry is like preaching hope from the top of a pile of bones. From atop a mountain of mutilated bodies, we are stretching a hand upward to proclaim a message of transformation and recovery.” (The Bishop of Rwanda ) 

I cannot fathom the journey so many in places like Rwanda have endured. The horror. The pain. The suffering. It’s immense. Indescribable. Beyond words. And yet, I would argue the forgiveness and reconciliation they have found is equally, if not more, profound. When I was there two years ago, I asked a woman if she was ethnic Tutsi or Hutu. “Neither” was her reply. “Here we are all Rwandan.” She went on to describe some of the hell she and her family had been through and the freedom they had found through forgiveness. Only Jesus could provide such grace. Only Jesus could give them such strength. How can I be so sure? Because Jesus knows the depths of human suffering. He experienced the absolute worst this world has to offer. He knows evil intimately and through his death defeats it once and for all. Listen to how the ancient prophet Isaiah describes the suffering of Jesus, some hundreds of years before His death and resurrection.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed...He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth...Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand...Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah‬ ‭53:3-5, 7, 10, 12‬)

The same God who bore the sins of many. The same God who makes intercession for the transgressors. The same God who loved His enemies so much He died for them is the same God who is alive and active in our world today. Bringing about reconciliation through forgiveness. Preaching hope from atop a pile of His own bones. From atop His own mutilated body, He is stretching a hand upward to proclaim a message of transformation and grace. It’s truly incredible and it is available to all who would place their trust in Him. Friends, if God can bring about reconciliation between the victims and perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda can He not accomplish the same in our lives as well? Can He not bring together husband and wife on the verge of divorce? Can He not bring back together children and parents who’ve been estranged? Can He not help Democrats and Republicans find common ground? Can He not heal the racial tensions in our own country?

What is required? Repentance. Confession. Truth-telling. Courage. Faith. Humility. Most of all, a deep and abiding and enduring trust in the power of the gospel. 

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 54-58

Let God Carry You

Readings for today: Isaiah 46-49, Psalms 135

You have a choice. Either you carry your god or let God carry you. Either you load yourself down with the idols of your lives. Idols that are false. Dead. Cannot save. Or you let God bear you up on eagle’s wings. I love how Isaiah 46 puts it, “Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” (Isaiah‬ ‭46:1-4‬) The picture Isaiah paints here is of the foreign nations carrying their gods around from place to place. They put their gods on carts borne by beasts of burden. They are heavy loads. The oxen have to strain to keep going. And all for naught as they are dead and empty. So the result is defeat. Exile. Captivity. Contrast this with the Living God of Israel. No idol can depict him. No statue or totem to carry. So strange was Israel’s faith that many of their neighbors considered them atheist! Because they didn’t appear to even have a god! And yet their God is real. Alive. Active. Bears them up from birth even to their old age. They didn’t make him, He made them. They didn’t bear him, He bore them. They didn’t carry him, He carries them. They didn’t save him, He saves them. ‬

You and I are faced with this same choice everyday. Sure, our idols are not as obvious. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. We don’t have statues or totems or anything like that. Instead, we have bank accounts. Homes. Careers. Relationships. These are the things we place our trust in rather than the Living God. We place our faith in ourselves. We worship ourselves. All our energy and resources are directed towards making sure our needs, our wants, our desires are fulfilled. We are told we deserve this. We are told we’ve earned this. We’re told we want this. That we would be nothing without it. Life is not worth living unless you have it all. Such lies place burdens on our shoulders too heavy to carry. They wear us down. They sap us of our strength. All of us know the rat race we’re on is killing us. We cannot maintain the pace. So what’s the answer?

Turn to God. Let Him bear the burden of your life. Trust the One who shaped and formed you in your mother’s womb. Trust the One who gave you breath and life at your birth. Trust the One who endowed you with all gifts and talents and abilities you have. Trust the One who knows every hair on your head. If you’ll let Him, He will lift you up. If you’ll lean on Him, He will give you strength. If you trust Him, He will never let you down. He has made you. He has borne you. He has carried you. He will save you. This is his promise.

I have a dear friend from Nigerian named Nanpak. He is a young man around 24 years of age. He exemplifies what Isaiah is talking about. He has suffered unimaginable tragedy in his life. Boko Haram killed his parents and siblings and tried to take his life. He still bears the scars from the machete wounds on his back. He has a bullet in his side. But God saved him. God protected him. God delivered him. One would think such a man would be bitter and angry. One would think such a man might seek vengeance against those who killed his family. Not Nakpak. The gospel has set him free. And he believes God has a special plan for his life. He believes he’s been called to fight the rise of infectious disease in his country. He has already achieved a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. He will serve the next few years as a teacher in his country as part of a compulsory service program run by the government for those who graduate college. Then he plans on going back to school for a master’s degree. Because his father was a pastor, Nakpak is also considering ministry or perhaps combining the two in some way in the future. His is one story among many that inspires because he shows me what it means to place my trust in God.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 50-53