Tag: future

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Bible Original

Lead me on

God's leading

I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:12-13)

Lord Jesus, how many things do you refrain from telling me because I am not yet able to bear it?

The sins in my life that I am yet blind to. Sins that would overwhelm me with guilt if I saw them all now.

The things that will happen in my future. Good things I would try to force into reality if I knew about them now.

And hard things I would fret about if I knew they were coming.

Yet, in your timing, by your Spirit, you will lead me into all truth.

Lead me on, Holy Spirit. 

Categories
Psalms

Frustrated by the evil we see

Psalms

“What’s the point of following God and doing what’s right, when I’m struggling and so many people I see doing their own thing are prospering?”

So many times we feel that way.  We look at all the people doing evil around us, and they seem to be enjoying life, and we compare their lives to our own struggles and we wonder what’s the point of following God.

But in Psalm 37, David gives us words of encouragement as he looks back upon his own life.  He writes,

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong  (Psalm 37:1).

Why?

For like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.  (2)

And he admonishes us,

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil.

For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.  (7-9)

In other words, don’t get angry when you see the wicked around you prospering.  Don’t fret about it.

Because when you do, you start to become bitter, and it leads you down a slippery slope in which you are tempted to give up your faith and to start living your own way.

But while evil men will eventually be cut off, you will find blessing if you continue to hope in the Lord.

And so David tells us,

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  (3)

Put another way, “Don’t throw away your faith when you see the wicked prospering.  Continue doing what is good, and trust that God will reward you.”

He then says,

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  (4)

David’s saying here, “Make God your chief desire.  Seek him above all things.  And if you do, he’ll give you all your heart desires.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll give you a new Ferrari if you seek God.

But as you delight yourself in God, some of the things that you once thought were so important will not seem so important anymore.  And the things that are truly important, God will bless you with.

Moreover, the gifts he gives will not leave you empty as the things of this world will.  In short, if you make God your chief desire, that’s when you’ll find true satisfaction in life.

And so David says,

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.  (5-6)

You may feel unrewarded, but know that if you commit your way to him, he will not forget.  And the day will come when all will see what you have done and praise God.

When you’re feeling jealous of the wicked because of their prosperity, remember:

Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.  (16-17)

David then encourages us,

If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.

Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.

For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.

They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.  (23-28)

How about you?  Are you frustrated by the evil you see?  Then remember these words:

Wait for the LORD and keep his way.

He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found.

Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.

But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.  (34-38)

I like that last part.  For those who follow God, there is a future.  And it is good.  But there is no future for the wicked.

So let us not fret over the evil we see.  Rather, let  us be still, be patient, delight ourselves in God, and put our trust in him each day.

And as we do, we’ll find a life that’s truly worth living.

Categories
Jeremiah

While we’re still here

Jeremiah

I’ve been thinking a lot of about life and death recently. 

One of the pillars of my church here in Japan, a woman named Kathleen Benton, passed away last week due to cancer. 

She wasn’t a pastor, but she touched many lives and made a difference in every life that she touched.

Maybe some people wouldn’t call her a pillar, but I think she was.

As I look at this passage, it really speaks to me as a person who is still here on earth. 

God was talking to the exiles in Babylon.  They had been taken from their homes and forced to live in a land that was not theirs.  It was a land filled with idolatry and godlessness. 

But God said to them,

Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. 

Increase in number there; do not decrease. 

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.  (Jeremiah 29:5-7)

It seems to me that God says the same thing to us. 

Like the Jews, we are in a world filled with idolatry and godlessness.  And it would be easy to just say, “I just want to go to heaven already!  I don’t want to deal with this world and its problems.”

But God says, “While you’re here on earth, enjoy the life I’ve given you.  Settle down.  Marry.  Have children.  Be productive.”

More than that, he said, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the place that you’re in.  Pray for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Sometimes Christians just isolate themselves from the world.  They live in fear, making the church their fortress, and just praying that God would keep them safe there. 

But God doesn’t want us to do that.  He tells us to be active in our community.  To make a difference in it.  To be involved politically.  To touch the lives around us.  And most of all to pray for our community and our nation.

And instead of living in fear of the future, he wants us to know that there is a future and a hope for us, even here on earth.  He told the Jews and he tells us today,

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you… (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

So while we’re still here, let us seek the Lord.  Let us pray to him.

Let us not live in fear of the future or of what we see in our community today.  Rather let us go out and enjoy this life he has given us.  Let us be productive, using the gifts he has given us. 

And let us touch the world around us, making a difference in people’s lives.

Categories
Isaiah

The God who knows the futu…our name

Isaiah

There are a number of non-Christian and “Christian” Biblical scholars that have serious doubts about whether Isaiah wrote chapters 40-66. 

There are numerous reasons for this.  One is that Isaiah wrote about the future as if it had already happened.  The second is that Isaiah’s prophesies are remarkably accurate.

One thing to remember as you read about Babylon and Persia and Israel’s exile in the book of Isaiah is that none of this had happened yet. 

Babylon was not a world power at this point, and of course, Persia had yet to topple Babylon to take its place. 

For that matter, while the northern kingdom of Israel was in captivity, Jerusalem still stood.

If there was any major enemy for the Israelites at that time, it wasn’t the Babylonians or the Persians.  Rather it was Assyria. 

In fact, when Manasseh was captured, it was Assyria that took him prisoner.

The reason Manasseh was taken to Babylon was probably that the king of Assyria thought Babylon and Israel were joining together to rebel against him.  So he decided to deal with both rulers at the same time.

But anyway, many people look at these prophesies Isaiah made and say, “There is no way that Isaiah could have so accurately predicted these things.” 

And so they conclude that someone other than Isaiah wrote them, sometime after Cyrus, king of Persia, let the Jews go back to their homeland.

But essentially, that’s a position of unbelief.  Ultimately, they’re saying there is no God and no supernatural knowledge or intervention. 

That’s not a historical position.  It’s a philosophical one.

I’m not going to set out an apologetic for this other than to say that there are other prophesies that are simply impossible to redate, namely the prophesies made concerning Jesus. 

We know that those prophesies were written before Jesus was born because the entire Old Testament was translated into Greek at the latest by the 1st century B.C.  That’s historical fact that no one can dispute. 

And if these prophesies can tell where Jesus was born, the timing of it, his life, the manner of his death, and his resurrection, then I have no problems believing that Isaiah could make all these prophesies about Babylon and Persia before they happened.

The most remarkable thing about this prophesy in Isaiah 44 is that God names the ruler who would allow Jerusalem to be rebuilt.  Before Cyrus was even born, God named him and talked about all that he would do. 

I believe that it was because Cyrus was so impressed when he read these prophesies, that he immediately allowed Judah to go to back to their homeland.  (2 Chronicles 36:22-23) 

While Chronicles only mentions the prophesies of Jeremiah, it’s very possible that Cyrus had access to these prophesies of Isaiah as well.

But what Cyrus learned, we can also learn from this passage.  Not just that God knows the future.  But something far more personal:

God, who knew and formed us in the womb (24), loves us and knows our name.  He cares for us.  And he has a plan for our lives if we’ll only cooperate with him. 

As Ephesians says,

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. 

In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  (Ephesians 1:4-6)

Take the time to meditate on Ephesians 1:3-14.  As you do, know that God knows not only the future, but your name as well. 

He loves you. 

So rest in that knowledge.  And rest in that hope.