Jeremiah 12

If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5

Jeremiah has a heartbreaking task. The prophets before him were told to deliver the message to God’s people: repent, or destruction will come upon you. A difficult message, to be sure. But Jeremiah’s message is even more devastating: the time for repentance is past.

“I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.” Jer 13:14b

All that is left for the nation of Israel is to give glory to God and await His judgement.

“Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to thick darkness and change it to deep gloom.” Jer 13:16

When I think of the reality of the lives of the prophets, I am struck by the fact that men actually lived out these lives. They are too often seen only as lines in the pages of a book, the stuff of myths we dismiss all too easily. Yet Jeremiah lived, a human being with all our common frailties, called to incredible acts of faith that we would consider, probably, the acts of a madman.

God tells Jeremiah to buy a “linen girdle” and to wear it. Later, he is told to hide it in the cleft of a rock by the river. Later still, he is told to retrieve it. The ruined garment is compared to the nation of Israel. It is a wonderful illustration for those of us looking back, centuries later. But how mad the actions of Jeremiah must have seemed to his own people—his own people, who had come to prefer the messages of peace and safety delivered by their false prophets, while plotting against the life of God’s true prophet, Jeremiah.

Yet Jeremiah is still praying. He contends with God for his nation. God corrects him:

“Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.” Jeremiah 11:14

Jeremiah’s life was difficult. He was hated. He was misunderstood. He lived in obedience to a voice he alone could hear. And in his weakness, he contended with God. Yet instead of delivering a message of comfort and peace, even to Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah that even more strength will be required of him. Jeremiah must steel himself for what is coming.

If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5

Love and Ministry

I’ve spent the past few months teaching ESL to a group of Mexican migrant workers. And next to homeschooling my children, I would say it is the most rewarding work I have ever done. But it’s not just because I love to teach English.

Of course I’m proud of how much our students have learned in such a short time. But I am also haunted by the reality that what I am teaching them is unlikely to affect the hardship of their lives.

You see, these migrant workers are competent, intelligent men. We have ex-office administrators, construction workers, carpenters and fishermen. Men who once held good jobs, but who can no longer find work in their own country. So they come here. And they work in our greenhouses, clipping leaves and harvesting tomatoes. Six days, fifty-eight hours a week.

And lately, they have been choosing to spend most of that precious seventh day with us—a ministry outreach. Every other Sunday we have gathered the men from their various houses across Surrey, Richmond and Delta, and taken them to a park. They visit, play soccer, have a barbequed dinner, and hear the Word of God from our Spanish pastor.

It has been fascinating and rewarding for me to see the transformation in these men. When we began, they would look down when we spoke to them. They would choose to sit on the ground rather than sit beside us. It was often awkward, neither group knowing what to expect, and each slightly suspicious of the other. Now, we have built a delicate bridge of trust. The men look us in the eye when they talk. They will sit with us, communicating half with gestures, and half with a Spanish/English dictionary, and tell us about themselves, their families, their home. They laugh. We laugh. There is something genuine in the connection that I want to call friendship, despite our knowing very little about each another.

Maybe it isn’t quite friendship, but there is something—some intangible connection that was not simply purchased with food or English lessons. There is something that came from our hearts, and has been returned from theirs.

It makes me think of those certain people in the church who demonstrate such great warmth with a look or a handshake. Their demonstration of love is intuitive and intentional. They make us feel welcome and wanted. They are often considered the “people persons” of the church, the ones who are outgoing by nature. But it is more than that. It is a ministry. Their love is deliberate, the result of a genuine desire to care for others for Christ’s sake and glory.

My last blog was a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13, the famous passage about love. We often hear it at weddings, but I think it is really about ministry. Whether we are teaching English or handing out hot dogs, it matters whether or not we care.

Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred. Proverbs 15:17

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

Maggie's Paraphrase - 1 Co. 13:1-8a

If I have the ability to speak in every language in heaven and on earth, but have no genuine affection, my words can only be harsh and hollow echoes. If I receive an understanding of the eternal truths of God, and the ability to unravel all of the mysteries and knowledge of God, and if I have such unwavering trust that all things are possible, yet my heart remains unaffected, I am like a barren land. If I give away all that I have, and submit all that I am, but have no deep longing after Christ, it is all for nothing.

Love does not demand immediate satisfaction. Love is generous in goodwill. It does not resent the successes of another, nor flaunt its own. It is not vulgar, it is not self-serving, it is not temperamental. Love pardons without reservation. Love does not take pleasure in depravity but is deeply satisfied with the truth. It is ever vigilant, ever confident, ever assured, ever resolved.

Love never returns void.

The Proper Use of Pathos

Anyone who has lived long enough has experienced something of sorrow and grief. There is no doubt that we find it difficult. Of all the emotions, it is probably the least desired. So how is it that some strange, contradictory desire for pathos lurks within us?

We watch tragic movies. We listen to hauntingly beautiful music. We wander the forgotten shores of lost dreams. We feel the bite of the wind on our face, yet we do not turn away. We deliberately walk through the waters of the whole world’s sorrows, allowing ourselves to be overcome.

There is no doubt that the world is filled with noble tragedies—stories of honor and courage that end in death, the suffering of children, the abuse of the weak, the terrible injustice that one man can inflict upon another. Such is the bittersweet nature of our world: beautiful, fallen, full of joy and sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…” But what is that time to weep? What is that time to mourn? Is weeping only for earthly things, or for spiritual things also?

Paul told the Corinthians that he had more reason to boast than the false prophets who had crept in among them. Among his list of credentials were the many ways that he had suffered. He said,

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
2 Corinthians 11:23-28

Yet, if you think this is impressive, let us consider Christ and His credentials. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, gave up His just entitlement of position, power, and authority, and allowed himself to dwell in the vessel of a creature. And not only this, but He chose to be born in obscurity, poverty, and disgrace, and to live a life which was “familiar with suffering.” He willingly submitted to death on a cross, bore the sins of the world and faced the furious wrath of God His Father, although he was blameless and true. Jesus chose to be made “perfect in suffering” for the sake of His friends, His church, His bride.

And so I conclude that the proper use of pathos is this: to bring glory to God. For if anyone feels that their life has sadness, Christ has experienced it more deeply. If any injustice, Christ has endured more profoundly. If grief, that grief cannot begin to compare with the weight of His Father’s wrath. If a noble tragedy, Christ’s tragedy is nobler. There is no earthly sorrow greater than Christ’s.

But let us also consider His joy. For Christ overcame every trial and became Lord and Master of all. He pleased His Father in His obedience, and restored all of creation to Himself. Moreover, He rescued His Church, His beloved, His bride.

Yes, we will experience pathos. And I believe that we are meant to experience these depths as fully as the joys and pleasures of life, for it is in this way that we may share some small taste of the immeasurable joys and sorrows of Christ, and so, to honor Him rightly, and to glorify and praise Him all the more.

Thinking Biblically

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Rom. 12:1-2)

It is difficult to think biblically.

For those of us raised in a secular home, thinking biblically is not just a matter of overcoming the absence of faith in our household, or the omission of God in our textbooks. It is a complete reformation of our fundamental values and beliefs.

Our character was formed like a coral forest—thought upon thought and action upon action. And though the newly-formed branches may be well-considered, the ancient forests of old thinking are increasingly hidden under layers of silt. And this would be well, if the ancient layers were right and true.

But in the secular home, all was not laid down right and true. And like disease in the coral, the results are sad but inevitable. First, that the disease will likely be carried throughout that whole system of thought, corrupting even the best intentions and well-planned actions. Second, that these entire branches must eventually give way, causing deep wounds to the whole.

It is our nature, upon conversion, to comply outwardly to some standard of Christianity that we perceive in our mentors, and to feel success and satisfaction in the living of a “good life.” And here is where we feel that we have almost finished (that we are only a few bad habits away from winning the race). But it is likely that the most deceived souls linger here, because it is so easy—so consistent with our nature—to exercise restraint in the body without ever allowing the deep work of Christ to renew our minds.

Our inclination to measure all things by ourselves obscures our ability to see God’s providence. Instead of making Christ the subject of our heart and mind and soul, we make Him the fuzzy background in a picture focused on ourselves. And so, acts of “spiritual worship” will always ring hollow without the Copernican shift of a renewed mind. Christ is at the centre.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Abundance, Variety and Order

Technology and innovation are remarkable. But they are nothing in comparison to the things designed by God. He has created a world filled with extravagant abundance, variety and order. Have you ever stopped to ponder, as you cleaned the seeds from a pumpkin, how many pumpkins might be produced from that single one? And how many such seed-producing pumpkins might grow on a single vine? The same principle holds true for wheat, and apples, and blueberries.

And did you ever wonder why God did not just create one type of everything—one type of tree, or even one type of apple? Why should there be endless types of things—of fruits or flies? And isn’t it remarkable that God’s design should not be diminished, but in fact enhanced, the more closely a thing is examined? One could spend a lifetime studying the properties of leaves, or roots or cells (those endless arrays of engines, neatly arranged and delicately sustaining all living things).

That God is a God of order is seen everywhere. Precision and pattern are strands woven into all His works. The curve of a seashell is mirrored in a flower. The same mathematical formula operates in the curve of fingerprints, hurricanes, and galaxies. And yet within these ordered principles lie the vast abundance, variety, and uniqueness of every created thing.

Look! And look again! For therein may be seen some wonderful quality of God.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20 NIV)

Philippians 1:12-25, Maggie's Paraphrase

I am attempting to re-write some difficult passages, in an effort to grapple with the meaning and tone of these messages. I have taken liberties with the text, so please take them with a grain of salt. I welcome your comments or your version of a paraphrase in reply.

Philippians 1:12-25
It is important that you know that what has happened to me has really been the providential will of God, and is in fact providing opportunity for the advancement of the gospel. The whole palace guard and everyone here is now awakened to the reality that I am here in chains in the service of Christ. In fact, my being in chains has actually encouraged most of our brothers in the Lord to deliver the Word of God more courageously and fearlessly than ever.

There are some men, who, perhaps wishing to match what they suppose to be my “religious devotion”, preach the gospel out of envy and rivalry, but there are others who continue to preach out of goodwill. Those last do so in love, because they know that I am put here because I am a defender of the faith. The envious preach Christ for the sake of getting attention or power—not sincerely. Some who despise me even hope to increase my grief. This, by stirring up more trouble while they suppose I lay helpless in my enemies’ hands. But it doesn’t matter why men are preaching. The important thing is that in every way, according to the providential will of God, Christ is preached, both from false motive and from true. And so, I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, because I know that your prayers and the help of the Holy Spirit will result in my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will have no cause for shame, but that Christ will grant me sufficient courage to continue to glorify Him despite my human frailty (whether in life or in death). For in life, my aim is for Christ continually. But, to die is to receive and be received by Him. Still, as long as I live, I have opportunity to bear fruit. So which is better? I don’t know. I am torn between the two. I long to leave this world to be with Christ (which is far better), but for your needs’ sake I am compelled to remain . Yes, I am convinced that I will remain among you, striving for your spiritual development and joy.

A Question of Confidence

I have been struggling with the issue of confidence for some time. Whenever I think I might have something valuable to say, inner voices shake me to silence with questions of my knowledge, my wisdom, my authority, or my fallibility. And for the most part, I have succumbed to these voices, finding myself wholly unfit to speak when I am so far from maturity in Christian growth. But curiously, the compulsion to write has grown despite all my efforts to squelch it.

What does God desire from me? I am quite certain of my own capacity for error. I cannot imagine what God could say through me that He could not say better through a thousand other people.

Yet, perhaps it is not so much the need of God to speak through me as it is my need to speak of God. In his book, The Legacy of Sovereign Joy, John Piper tells of Calvin’s passion for preaching. He asserts that the glory and majesty of God in His Word “cries out for expository exultation.” Likewise, I think, our deepening appreciation of Christ fills some mysterious place within us to overflowing, so that we are compelled to exult God in speech, or song, or in an art of some kind.

But what can be said that has not been said? And what good can come of saying it all again? N.T. Wright, in his book, Simply Christian, speaks of God’s use of varying personalities to convey His message. He says,

“...writers, compilers, editors, and even collectors of scripture were people who, with different personalities, styles, methods, and intentions, were nonetheless caught up in the strange purposes of the covenant God—purposes which included the communication, by writing, of His word.”

Therefore, shouldn’t we all desire to bear witness to Christ through our own unique talents, producing ever new and unique reflections of the glory of God as revealed to us?

And so I face my fears: that my art may be mediocre, or that I may say something that will lead another astray, or that my ignorance may become all the more apparent. But if Christ will accept my dullest work, how can I withhold it? No book is infallible except the Word of God. And as long as I set my ignorance before me, it will serve as a reminder of my dependence upon Christ.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (2 Co. 4:13-15)

Chief End of Man

“What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

I used to think of the answer to that question as an obligation—that it is our duty to glorify God. And I still believe this is true. But there is a deeper truth—that as we come to know God, as we begin to grasp who He is, we are pierced, again and again, with awe and wonder and humility and gratitude. We are filled up to overflowing, and we cannot contain it. Glorifying God becomes less a duty and more a spontaneous reaction. And if that is true here on earth where we can barely glimpse Him, imagine how full our hearts will be, how overflowing and full of spontaneous praise we will be when He is before us!

Questions

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter…
Proverbs 25:2a NIV

I have been asking a lot of questions lately. With curiosity outweighing trepidation, I determined after years of hesitation to traverse that great distance between what born-and-raised Christians seem to know by osmosis, and what I understand. And I have learned a great deal. But I am finding that a subtle price is being paid. I am losing peace.

I don’t think my intentions were wrong. But somehow my motives became skewed. At some point I began climbing a ladder of human wisdom instead of sitting at His feet. My questions became more about “understanding” God than knowing Him. More about reason than wisdom. More about me than about Him. And for the first time, the verse, “Be still and know that I am God” spoke directly to my heart.

I had accepted that God was all-knowing, yet somehow I had never applied that to my own future. God knows all that I have done and thought. But He also knows all that I will do and will think. Somehow, despite myself, He still hears my prayers, knowing who I am. It is incredibly humbling. And it gives one a strange sense of peace, to know that God has seen what is behind every hidden corner of time. Einstein said that, “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” How like God, to constrain us in this maze of time, so that we would need to rely upon Him. But He sees time as though looking down on it from above.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.
Hebrews 4:13a NIV

Therefore, that He hides certain things from us is not at all unintentional. It is His will. It is providential. So when we squirm about in our circumstances, searching for reason, it necessarily contradicts His purposes. At least, that’s how it seems to me now that it must be. Even the disciples were sometimes unable to perceive the meaning of Jesus’ words.

The disciples did not understand… Its meaning was hidden from them…
Luke 18:34 NIV

It doesn’t say that the disciples were thick and slow, or that they hadn’t spent enough time in school. It says that the meaning was hidden from them. And, it is to the disciples' credit that they let the matter go. For when we search for wisdom outside of the revelation of God, we dishonor God. As Luther charges Erasmus in his Bondage of the Will:

Why do you not restrain yourself, and deter others from prying into these things which God wills should be hidden from us, and which He has not delivered to us in the Scriptures? It is here the hand is to be laid upon the mouth, it is here we are to reverence what lies hidden, to adore the secret counsels of the divine Majesty, and to exclaim with Paul, ‘Who art thou, O man, that contendest with God?’ Romans 9:20

I like this thought—adoring the secret counsels of the divine Majesty. What has been revealed to us, we may adore. What is hidden, we may adore as well. Since Christ fully satisfies our every need, we should seek wholly after Him. All other speculations are meaningless. Therefore, our curiosity should be sated with Christ, seeking Him alone.

That they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:2b-3

Faith

In the book of Mark, it is recorded that a man brought his son to Jesus to be healed. The boy’s father said to Jesus, “...if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24 NKJV

What does Jesus mean by, “If you can believe”? Is faith an ability that some have, and others do not? Is faith something we can muster in trying times, or dig out from some hidden reserve? And what are we to make of this man, who believes (who clearly wants to believe) but is struck by the depth of his unbelief?

Most people understand faith to mean a leap beyond their ability to see, or reason, or justify. Or, they may see it as a summoning of some inner resource in order to bridge a gap. Faith, in our culture, is the tape used to mend the rift between some present reality and what we think that reality ought to be. But that is not faith.

The idea of faith seems to come into play most commonly when, in the jigsaws of our lives, a new piece comes to light that seems to have no place, or a new gap is presented with the outline of an impossibly-shaped piece. Then we jiggle and juggle all of our data in an effort to figure out what we are missing. For we must at all costs end the torment of our inability to explain our lives. And so, we have created this silly putty we call faith, to fill the gaps and prevent our reason from seeping away.

But is that what Jesus meant? Or did He mean, believe him? Faith is not a blind leap, but a real trust in a real God. As James Montgomery Boice explains in his book, Two Cities, Two Loves, faith is not subjective. That is, faith is not dependent in any way upon us. He who has made the promise is faithful. Faith is not a warm fuzzy feeling, nor is it some great leap we make past reason and logic. It is a trust placed upon a thoroughly dependable and competent God. Faith becomes, on this realization, a matter more of obedience than of hope. Faith is trust which is properly placed on the object of that trust, namely God. And it is God who makes that trust utterly reasonable and prudent.

What we may trust God for is another matter, and one best answered with prayer and the Word of God. But we are told that faith is a gift of God, and that God gives generously to those who ask. And so, the man’s answer to Jesus seems most appropriate after all. Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief.

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