As High as the Heavens are Above the Earth

A devout and godly Christian that dies from cancer at an early age...

An earthquake that kills thousands and thousands of people in Japan...

A group of terrorists that kill thousands of  innocent people on 9/11...

A God that allows people to suffer, some for eternity in an awful Hell...

A God that sacrifices his own perfect Son for a group of people who defy Him...

What do these have in common?

These situations are all related in that they often go against our basic sense of reasoning and our view of who God is. Ask any non-Christian why they don't believe in the existence of Christ, and they will likely name one of these events, or others like it. Even if Christ did exist, they still don't see how he could possibly have their best interests at stake. 

The sobering thing is though, not only "unbelievers" think this way. So do Christians! I would be lying if I claimed a never-wavering faith in every single thing God does or has done, whether in my life, in history, or in Scripture. If you are like me, the question "If God is good, why do these things happen?" is sometimes never fully satisfied. 

We try to answer it cleverly by saying "Well, it's obviously because of sin's presence in the world." True, but why did God allow sin in the world? If He hates Sin and He hates suffering, why does he allow it? 

Well, because He's God, and He does what He wills.

Sadly, this answer isn't quite as satisfying as we'd hoped it would be. It sounds to many like the principal Christian cop-out. "Just because, He's God." But it's true, He is God, and He does do things that don't make sense to us. But instead of gaining a sense of security, the only thing this statement does is cause us to bite our lip.

Why doesn't this give us a sense of joy and security? 

Because despite the fact that God is sovereign, bad things still happen!

We aren't letting go of our own human reasoning. We want God to line His reasoning up with ours, but He's God, and He doesn't, and it's not fair. We wouldn't say this of course, but I know I feel it often. Again, all we do is bite our lip and sigh while saying "God, you know what you're doing."

What if we lined our reasoning up with His? 

What if, while acknowledging we will never understand God's reasoning, we made it our own!?

What does this look like? It looks like accepting every circumstance with a genuine joy, because the God of the universe is in control! Instead of simply claiming "He will make things turn out in the end," we can claim "Things are just as they should be, and are that way for a glorious purpose!"

Does this take away grieving and sadness? By all means no. But in a statement that many would consider extreme (and I don't often state the extreme), I believe this takes away confusion, doubt, and anger in the hardest circumstances. But before you protest...

In this life, we will never be completely free from confusion

Just as we will still sin as God's children on earth, we will still doubt. But just as we are sanctified and sin is no longer our master, neither is doubt and confusion! Instead, the doubt of God's plan is not natural, but rather a human arrogance; a sense of entitlement to our own sense of reasoning. 

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

In Christ, every season is a season of joy and security.

Brian

Francis Chan on Arrogance (3:00 to 7:00ish)

   

They Failed... We Are Failing...Will We Continue to Fail?

Right now in my Bible reading I have just finished Joshua and am several chapters into Judges.  It’s amazing to me how there is “nothing new under the sun” as Ecclesiastes puts it.  The same issues, failures, and inconsistencies have plagued us humans since creation.  I think you’ll find this to be true as you read. 

Let’s start at the end of Joshua.  As you know, Joshua followed Moses as God’s appointed leader of Israel.  Finally, Israel has entered into and conquered the majority of the inhabitants of the land.  If you know this story well, you know that the previous statement is already a problem.  They were to annihilate everyone who inhabited the land.  So, either God hadn’t given them the power to conquer, or they were disobedient.  Take a guess!!!

Nevertheless, they divided the land among the different tribes and begun to settle the land.  In Joshua 24, we find Joshua gathering all the tribes of Israel together, reminding them of God’s faithfulness in bringing them out of Egypt, rescuing them from the hand of kings, and God’s other blessings.  God promised many years ago to give them this land, and at this moment they stand in the Promise Land!!

After reminding them of these things, Joshua commands them to “choose THIS DAY whom they will serve” (emphasis mine).   They can serve this powerful, faithful God, or they can choose to serve something else, but TODAY was decision time.  It’s almost as if Joshua is saying, “Are you in, or are you out?  Because if you’re in, then act like it! And if not, then make it known so that you can be dealt with.”

The people respond: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Jsh. 24:16-17a).  

In Judges 2:11 we read, “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.”  This begins the pattern of Judges: The people of Israel do what is evil in the eyes of the LORD Þ they cry out to the LORD for help Þ He rescues them Þ they do what is evil in the sight of the LORD Þ … you get the point.

Sound familiar?  I mean not just in your knowledge of the Bible, but in your own life!  Yeah, me too!  Over and over we declare to God that He is our satisfaction and identity, yet constantly run to and fill our lives with other things in an attempt to quench the desires that only He is able to fulfill.

Immediately preceding  2:11, the writer of Judges informs us of the next point that I think is applicable to our lives…

“And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel…And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:7, 10b).

Can you see what happened?  There was a breakdown in the family structure of passing on what God had done in the lives of the Moses and Joshua generation!  How, when they had seen God so clearly work, could they have failed to pass this on to their children?  Was there anything MORE important that they could have told them?  Did they get so wrapped up in the daily grind that they forgot this?

Although this blows my mind to think how quickly this change took place, I think that we are in the middle of something very similar.  If you have read anything about the youth of our nation, we are not far off from the reality in this story.  Even the youth that have been in the church their entire lives are walking away from the church immediately after graduation.  I would encourage you to read The Last Christian Generation by Josh McDowell, or Battle Cry for a Generation by Ron Luce to see just how desperate we are.

Have we failed, as the church, to pass on our faith to the next generation?  Was the Gospel not evident in our lives to those younger than us?  Hundreds of years from now will books say something similar to what we have seen in Judges?  What are YOU doing to influence the next generation for Christ?  What is your church doing to set our youth on fire for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Let’s agree together as the people of Israel did in Joshua that TODAY we choose to serve the LORD, and to raise up a generation of young people who will do the same.

More to come on Judges – I believe it’s a very applicable book to us.

Scott

Perspective on the Death of Osama Bin Laden

As you are all aware, Osama (Usama) Bin Laden was pronounced dead as of yesterday.  As I heard the news last night, I immediately got really interested, and honestly pretty happy.  All over the Café at Liberty there was a “buzz” of conversation, some “woopees,” and more staring intently into the TV screen. 

After my initial reaction, I began to think about what our response to this event should actually be.  Does the Bible speak to this?  Should we feel relief, joy, sadness, or what should we feel?  I can’t say that I have the answers, but lets try to discuss this “real quick like.”

First, here are some of the responses of newspapers today:

Philadelphia Daily News — "We got the bastard!"

Edmonton Sun — "Burn in hell!"

New York Daily News — "Rot in hell!"

New York Post — "Got him! Vengeance at last! US Nails the bastard!"

Tampa Bay Times — "Got him (Shot him)"

San Francisco Examiner — "The butcher of 9/11 is dead"

Many Christians would actually echo these cries! And are they right in doing so?  Remember, this man is responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands! 

Although our flesh resounds with these cries, we are to have the mind and heart of Jesus, and are to obey what he commands.

He tells us that people will know that we are His followers because we love one another.  However, not only are we to have a deep affection for other believers, but we must also love our enemies:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a^] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matt. 5:43-48

Even pagans love those who love them, so are we any better than unbelievers if we hate this man?  The reality is that Osama Bin Laden WAS an extremely evil, deceived man.

The next reality that you and I must grasp is that YOU and I are or were in just as much rebellion to God.  You see, it’s not the amount of evil things that you do, but rather that you oppose the Holy, Righteous and Just, Sovereign God of the Universe. 

The only thing separating you and I from the state of Osama is the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed on the cross.  God’s mercy to US should be seen in the highest regard, rather than judgment on anyone else. 

Secondly, however, God is a God of Justice and Wrath.  Osama deserved to die! But again, so do you and I.  So, we can say of Osama’s death, “Justice has been served,” remembering that we deserved the same death. 

I think that it is legitimate for us to feel more at peace (though he was not the only leader), but I think that it’s important for us to filter everything through our Biblical, Christ-centered worldview.

Please feel free to comment.  I would love to hear your thoughts – these are just my thoughts in between classes.

Scott