God

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Depth of Riches

Have you ever been doing something in faithful service to God in such a way that you find yourself breaking out into song?  I have.  With my singing abilities, or lack thereof, I always hope I am somewhere alone when that happens, but it does happen.  I will be praying, or studying, or simply spending time with God reflecting on His character and the relationship He desires for me to have with Him, and a song wells up within me and must come out.

I get the impression that Paul experienced that same feeling as he wrote Romans 11.  The chapter focuses on Israel’s rejection of God.  Paul makes it clear that their disobedience and stumbling does not have to be permanent.  He addresses the result of this turning away from God as he writes in verses 11 and 12, “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?  Not at all!  Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.  But if their transgression mean riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!”  Paul continues in this chapter by warning the Gentiles to not become arrogant or think of themselves as better than the people of Israel.  He warns the believers to remain faithful in staying connected to the root of God as he writes, “if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.”  Israel’s rejection of God and God’s mercy to the Gentiles was not to be seen as an unchanging, unwavering decision.  Not that God would change, but He was working to bring change in the lives of people.  His desire is not to replace the people of Israel with the Gentiles, rather He is working to use His display of mercy to the Gentiles to draw His people, Israel, back to Himself. 

It is as Paul contemplates the great mercy that God has shown on Jew and Gentile alike that he breaks out in the following song:

“Oh, the depth of riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
  How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his path beyond tracing out!
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
  Or who has been his counselor?’
‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
  To him be the glory forever!  Amen.”

Wow!  What a song!  As I am writing this, the students at Michiana Christian School  are singing the song, “Everlasting Love”, in chapel.  One verse in it states, “Oh, the wonder of His everlasting love is deeper than the sea.”  That seems to be what Paul is getting at in his song.  He has already written about the great riches being opened up to the Gentiles.  Riches that will be even greater as their fullness is spread to the entire world — both Jew and Gentile.  So, Paul writes this “song” proclaiming the vast depth of God’s riches in wisdom and knowledge. 

We often wonder, “What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?”  That is one of our “daily questions” in the View From The Top:  What Does God Say study that I am using to develop the writings on this blog.  Generally, wisdom deals with the application of what we know.  It is learned through experience and as a gift from God — “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously without finding fault” (James 1:5).  Wisdom is doing, saying, being, the right thing at the right time.  On the other hand, knowledge is information.  Many people and cultures pride themselves in their ability to obtain knowledge.  Knowledge discovers, investigates, and reveals.  Knowledge by itself is not always discriminate in its use or application.  Knowledge discovers things such as nuclear reactions — Wisdom restrains that discovery’s use to that which brings good and not harm.  In both wisdom and knowledge, God exhibits a depth of riches beyond compare.

His wisdom is beyond searching and untraceable!  God’s experience is limitless as He is not bound by time or space.  God is the true author of wisdom as only He knows the proper and best application for anything that we may come to know.  His knowledge is complete and perfect.  No one has completely known the mind of God nor has He needed any person’s counsel to teach Him something new.  God is the author of the universe and everything in it.  It all came about by His desire and His word.  Nothing we learn as new “earth-shattering” discoveries is new knowledge to God.  The depth of the riches of His knowledge is beyond our comprehension.

So, why did Paul burst out in song?  Why do I find myself singing in the midst of contemplating God?  I think it is for the same reason.  When taking the time to dwell in thoughts of an All-Knowing God’s great mercy, I feel no choice but to praise Him for the depth of riches He chooses to share with me.  I am in awe and wonder that this All-Knowing God, full of complete wisdom and knowledge , desires that I would have a relationship with Him through His Son. 

When you and I struggle with decisions in life, limited in our wisdom and knowledge, may we turn to the One who has a depth of riches that He longs to share with us.

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What, Then, Shall We Say?

Have you ever been speechless?  Confronted with such knowledge, wisdom, and truth, that there is absolutely nothing that your mind can think of to say in response.  Or maybe you’ve been in the presence of such foolishness, ignorance, and lies that there is nothing that you can think of saying that would be profitable to anyone.  For many, being speechless is a rare thing.  We have a response for everything.  We must have the last word, so we’ll say something — anything at all, really.  Just don’t let me get caught without an answer.

Paul gives us one of those statements of knowledge, wisdom and truth as he writes in Romans 8:28-30:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” 

What depth of truth!  No wonder Paul raises the question in verse 31, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things?”  What can you say in response to a Sovereign, Almighty God who conforms, calls, justifies, and glorifies according to his incredible knowledge — a foreknowledge that knows what was, what is, and what will be in your life and mine more clearly than we know our self this moment.  Because of what God knows about those whom He has already seen that choose to pursue Him in obedient trust, God can state that He works to the good in all things for those who have been predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.  He can do this because He knows in advance what our choice about Him will be.

And so Paul asks, if this is the kind of God we serve, what can we say?  “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  I’ve always looked at this thirty-first verse of Romans eight and thought, “That’s an easy question.  No one, of course!”  Yet there is one, isn’t there?  If God is for me, who can be against me?  Me!  The Bible teaches that God allows me to choose my master.  God has chosen to limit His sovereign, almighty nature by giving mankind choices — free-will to do either right or wrong.  The decision is ours to accept or reject the very grace and mercy that defines God’s love for us. 

The part that is so hard for me (and you?) to fathom is that God knew every day of my life before I was even born.  He knew how I would respond to the missionary speaker at The Country Church calling for people to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.  He knew the times I would drift and wander — both away from Him and back toward Him.  He even knows if I’m finally back in submissive obedience to Him for the rest of my life or if there are still periods of wandering yet to be lived.  I choose. 

I choose to be done with wandering.  I choose Jesus as my Sovereign, Almighty Lord.  Because God knows I choose, He is faithful and just and will conform me to the image of His Son — calling me, justifying me, and glorifying me as He brings me to maturity in Christ.  What, then, shall I say?  If God is for me, who can be against me?  No one!  Because I choose Him, no one can be against me and win.

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A Night With The Lions

I love the story of Daniel in the den of lions!  Coming from a guy in full time prayer ministry, that is probably not a surprising statement.  As central as prayer is in the context of the story, it is not what I consider to be the main theme of Daniel 6.  I see greater themes — such as integrity, trust, living a consistent lifestyle when people watch and when they don’t, and God’s Almighty nature.

The chapter begins with king Darius appointing 120 rulers to oversee the kingdom with 3 administrators over these rulers.  One of these 3 administrators is Daniel.  The same Daniel who was taken captive and brought into the service of the Babylonians as a “spoil of war”.  In some ways, the story reminds me of the account of Joseph recorded in Genesis.  Daniel is not in Babylon by choice but he determines to live a life that honors and respects God regardless of the circumstances he finds himself in.  By trusting God and refusing to eat from the king’s table, Daniel places himself in a position that God knows it is He who will be honored in anything Daniel does.  So Daniel rises in influence and authority to the point where “Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”  (Daniel 6:3) 

Even Daniel’s rivals and fellow leaders could find nothing in his life to drag out of the closet.  Here was a man that was so  squeaky clean that no amount of digging and investigating was going to come up with anything to dirty his image — let alone remove him from leadership.  Daniel exhibited true integrity.  His enemies “could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”  In our current American political culture, I find this amazing.  I’m not sure I know of any political leader today whose enemies would conclude they can find nothing against them.  Yet here is Daniel, living a life so upright and God-honoring . . . God-honoring . . . that is it!  So, the rival leaders conclude, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”  If he is so God-honoring then we will use that against him.  And so they do.  They set up the king to influence him to make a law that prayers can only be prayed to the king for a thirty day time period.  Oh, and any lawbreakers — they get to spend the night in the den of lions.

What would you or I do in Daniel’s spot?  I can hear myself now.  “That’s not fair!”  “That’s a trap.”  “Prayer is such a private thing anyway, who will know if I’m praying and who I’m praying to?”  “God will understand if I change my practice of prayer to fit this culture I am in, He surely wouldn’t want me to die.”  This could be a long paragraph if I continued, but I think you get the point and could add some excuses of your own.  Daniel’s integrity and trust in God would allow him to have no part in making excuses or justifying a different action.  After Daniel had learned of the decree, “he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.  Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” 

Daniel would not allow others to bully him out of his relationship with God and his daily times of prayer.  His integrity would not allow him to make excuses to change his routine so that he could “pray it safe”.  I can actually picture the apostles thinking of Daniel as they respond to leaders of their day, “We must obey God rather than men.”  So, the trap is set . . .  the bait is taken . . . the victim is brought before the king for punishment . . . and the king has to be thinking, “what kind of leaders have I appointed that they have managed to pull this over on me and leave me with no way out.”  The text tells us the king was distressed and made every effort possible to try to save Daniel until the end of the day.  Finally, his time is up and his last ditch effort to save Daniel actually surprises me.  I had to look twice — yes, there it is . . . isn’t this against the law?  It sure looks to me like the kings final, “when all else fails”, solution is one that sounds familiar — he prays!  As Daniel is about to be thrown into the den of lions, the king says, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”  Sounds a lot like a prayer to me, how about you? 

So, a night with the lions begins.  I’ve heard all kinds of imaginative minds describe what it must have been like for Daniel that night.  The Bible really doesn’t give much detail about his night, but it does describe the night the king had.  The king was worried about his friend.  He “spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him.  And he could not sleep.”  Can you imagine the weight of putting to death your friend, your trusted adviser, the only one of your leadership team who truly lived with integrity?  You’ve allowed your pride and gullibility to make your decisions for you and force you into an action you absolutely hated to do.  Wow, what a night!  No wonder the king heads to the lions’ den at first light.  All the while wondering, “Is it even possible that this God whom Daniel serves continually could actually rescue him from these lions?”  And that is his question when he arrives, “Daniel, did your God save you?”  Imagine the relief and joy the king felt when Daniel replies, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions.  They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.  Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”  Just as his friends had done when facing the fiery furnace a few chapters earlier, Daniel believed in a God who was mighty enough to rescue even from death.  Yet as great as those rescues are,  the greater story is the unwavering obedience shown by these young Hebrews when forced to choose between compromise and life or obey God and die. 

How often do you and I find ourselves making the wrong choices — even when the immediate consequence of our disobedience isn’t physical death.  We choose compromise and acceptance over obedience and rejection.  We choose compromise and fleeting pleasure over obedience and endurance.  We choose compromise and expediency over obedience and patience.  We choose compromise over obedience!

May you and I learn from the integrity of Daniel.  May we live our life with such integrity that no one can find anything to charge us with unless it has something to do with our obedience to God.  May we practice our integrity, serving God continually, in ways that will influence those observing our interaction with our God.  May we do what is right, because it is right, regardless of the consequences.

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Who Will Go? . . . Do? . . . Serve? . . .?

“And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’  Then I said, ‘Here am I!  Send me.'”  Isaiah 6:8

I love to read the words God gives to us through Isaiah.  Chapter six always jumps out at me and grabs my attention because of Isaiah’s quick and bold response in verse eight.  It makes me think about what caused this rapid, positive answer.  Also, what would it take for you and me to consistently have a similar response to the commands of God?

The reasons for us seeing a willing Isaiah are found in the preceding seven verses.  First, Isaiah saw God for who He is.  He saw the Lord seated on a throne being worshipped by angelic beings.  They were singing of His holiness.  He saw God high and lifted up.  God was established in such splendor and glory that there was no mistaking just how powerful and holy this God was.

Secondly, the absolute holiness of God brought Isaiah to the point of noticing himself for who he was.  He saw a sinful man who could not exist in the presence of the holiness of God.  His companions and surroundings did not fit with what he was observing.  The brightness of the throne room revealed just how drab and dirty Isaiah’s world was.

Then finally, he experienced complete forgiveness.  His sin was taken away.  It was out of this sense of joy, and even relief, that Isaiah volunteered to do whatever was asked of him.  It is not until after he volunteers that he receives the instructions for the task he was being called to do.

If we would daily recognize these same three things, perhaps our lives would be more fully devoted to God.  When we acknowledge our unworthiness to even gaze upon the holiness of God, and realize He paid the price to take away our sin, our response to serve Him should come just as quickly and boldly as Isaiah’s did.

I pray that God would give you and me the courage and boldness to always serve Him faithfully.