A Compromise Harvest

We are finishing Judges, a book about the mess that was Israel. Continually worshipping the gods of the peoples around and within their borders. We saw this start in Joshua with them not removing all of the pagan peoples from their land. Amazing how compromise can bite you isn't it? They fell into crud-on-your-face sin (obvious). But that started by little compromises. And Israel reaped the horrors of their sin. Surely their sin found them out.

How about us? I have a sin that I seem to have a lot of trouble with. I want to make my time with God the priority of my day. Jesus said that my relationship with Him is the one thing needful (Luke 10:42). But I just don't get up in the dang morning (like my blameshifting? - it is all the early morning's fault, it just comes too early!). I would like to get up at 6 every morning to spend time with God. Every other relationship is dependent on this relationship. If I spend time with God, I will have fresh grace to share. And if I don't, then I won't.

But my compromises start the night before. When it says 10 I say get me another cookie and something to do. Time to start that philosophy paper that I have known about for 2 months and is due tomorrow. But I should be disciplined in going to bed. I know, you think this is corny. But this is quite possibly the biggest struggle that I face every day. I'm not saying I don't sin in other ways, God knows I do. But this is so centrally important and I seem to be really good at failing. But it is from compromise. I plant an undisciplined seed, and I reap a harvest of sinful laziness.

Have you ever read Romans 7? Paul kind of sounds like this about something he is struggling with. So I am going to finish by quoting him: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin" (vs. 24,25). Someday we'll be free from sin always if we hold fast to Jesus.

God is Whole

“Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” Joshua 21:45

Today, if we are on schedule, we will finish the book of Joshua, the history of Israel’s conquest of Canaan/Palestine. I say history because it is not a story like we think of. We watch stories when we watch TV. These wars happened in real life about 3500 years ago. Notice what we read in this text and just before it. God was perfectly faithful. Of all the things He said He would do, all were taken to the bank and all came back cashed in full. No late fees. No partial fulfillments. On time and full.

Can we not learn something of our God today? He has been around a long time. Do you think you can find a spot in Him? Some part that is flawed? He gives you time to survey. We have recordings about the creation, about the flood times, about an entire nation being dealt with corporately and individually, and many other events where God showed up pretty much till the present day. We even have a couple of comments about before the sins of men (Isa. 14, Eze. 28). Yet in all these things He remains whole. No nicks, no scratches. Not a shadow of turning. He remains the unchallenged Unchanged.

Can you not place your hope on Him then? When things turn for what we see to be bad, can we not trust our Father’s faithfulness? Of all His promises to us, which one do you think will not come to pass? Perhaps it is “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Do you doubt that one? Remember the story of Israel and Him bringing it to completion. There were giants there—big ones with six fingers on each hand (sons of Anak). The people of the land were as big as the land was good (climate has obviously changed a bit over there). Yet all the way through God did not forsake or forget His people. Do you recall the times when He did not go with them. We can think of two—when they disobeyed after doubting God when the spies came back forty years before they went in with the help of God, and when the fought against Ai and 36 men died because of the sin of Achan. Simply put, without God=get beat down, with God=the sun stands still and all enemies become victims. God was there and did not forsake them. Neither will He forget His children now.

Do you doubt that He can forgive your sins? This is not a common American problem. We are so universally arrogant that we think God owes us forgiveness. It is what He does, we say. But given how holy He is and thus how much He hates sin, surely we can’t fall into that category any more unless we cover our eyes and stop our ears. He is angry with the wicked every day (Ps. 7:11). We have seen how he reacts to Israel when they sin. But let us remember that it is not because Israel was a kind, benevolent nation that God gave them promises. It was because of the act of someone else—Abraham received the promise and it was passed to His children. Even so we were not given promises because of who we are, for our hearts are sinful. But because of the kindness of God and for the sake of Jesus, we were given great and precious promises. Even the forgiveness of our sins by the blood Jesus shed.

Let us thank God today that He never lies and always makes sure His promises come true. Today choose this day who you will serve—affirm it again. He alone is good. To quote Ethan Burmeister, “If you are not ravished by Jesus, you will be seduced by everything else.” Let us set our hearts to follow our faithful God.

Labor to Believe

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!” Psalm 27:13

This does appear to be one of the greatest Christian duties—to believe. This world is a fog to the eye of faith. We look, but we do not perceive the eternal, so we judge by the here and now. So rarely it seems do we get a glimpse of eternal realities. When we see that death is not far from anyone and we see that eternity is long. We see that the grave regards king and peasant alike. We see our need for preparation for That Day. We see through the mist to Him. God does grant us these special views from time to time. O that we would cherish and cling to these times; that we would seek them out and as Edwards would say, “labor to be brought.” To be brought near to the living God and to His dwelling place, where the things of dirt grow dim. Thus it is that the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).

Let us ask of God and He will give us these eyes to believe! And may He show mercy and give these eyes to the unconverted! Pray for eyes to see and ears to hear! Read the Bible, and believe.

Rejoicing in the Good

“And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.” Deuteronomy 26:11

I thought this text was very fitting for our current situation. Today we started a week off of our normal Bible reading schedule, and we have a reason to do so. Some are falling behind, some are way behind, and others are desiring a break from the five books of Moses. In short, many are tired. And so it may be time for some serious encouragement. I have little to offer you of myself, but God has much to offer. This verse commands the Israelites to rejoice in the good and, as God is the same now as He ever was, we can know that He desires the same of all of His people. We are to rejoice in the good. So let us gird our minds and think about what good things the Lord has done for us. Though I will leave much thought up to you, I would like to propose some starters.

We are finishing up the journeys from Egypt of the people of Israel and they are about to inherit the promised land. Our God always keeps His promises. Our Redeemer is faithful and true. He brought Israel to their promised land. When you die, if you have laid hold of Jesus by faith, do not doubt that He will be faithful to bring you to your Promised land, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves don’t break in and steal. No more darkness, no more tears or crying or pain. And we will see Him as He is.

We have been born into a dark world, yet we have been shown light. We have Bibles that tell us of a God who hates sin, yet dies to redeem sinners. Do you have any idea how much work it has taken to get a Bible written by the apostles and prophets 2,000 years ago to you here now? Our God and His plan and kingdom are unstoppable!

And if you are one of little faith and cannot see such abstract truths so easily (I often fall in this category), remember that your hand moves by your mere thoughts. You ate food today. Somebody somewhere didn’t. You breathe. Many don’t. You can walk. You can read. You can laugh and sing and cry and sleep. You know color; you can taste food. Beauty is around. Joy is around. All is not dark. The sun shines. The moon reflects and stars shower the heavens. And the Lord of glory shines brightly in all of these. Marvel and admire.

After all, His gifts are meant to direct our attention to Him and create fresh affection for Him. And your list of His goodness can go on and on. It is good to be a Christian today, is it not? Let us remember and rejoice together in the good that the Lord our God has given to us!