Grief, Glory, and a Dear Old Friend

Grief is sometimes a surprisingly slow burner.  Tragedy deals you a very shrewd, very unexpected sort of blow, but rather than finding yourself immediately laid on your beam ends like a ship in a hurricane, you merely shrug, or scowl, or raise an eyebrow.  This is your brain's equivalent of a counterweight on an elevator, I suppose - it keeps you from falling too quickly.  An hour later, though, you feel it, and you hate yourself for that shrug or that eyebrow, and the tragedy turns over in your mind a hundred different ways, unbidden, for day or weeks or months, until you wonder if you will ever cease to discover new reasons the said tragedy is so tragic. 

A few weeks back, I received word that my dear friend Nick had been badly injured in an accident.  We had been best friends throughout our teenage years (he moved to Colorado a few years after high school).  The years of teendom are, nearly invariably, the silliest years accorded to the cycle of humanity:  indeed, if you possess such a friend as is able to endure you through that complete, interminable succession of seven years, this is a friend indeed. 

I will spare you, dear reader, of the descriptions of our bookish exploits and nerdish frivolities.  I remember these times with great fondness indeed, but they lie behind the realm of the discussion at hand (and at any rate, it is difficult to stop such amusing nostalgia once it is begun).  However, it is enough at this point to explain that for long years, we were inseparable friends.

The day after his accident, he succumbed to his injuries in a quiet hospital and slipped away.  Amazing to consider, no?  Only 36 hours before that, he had been as healthy and strong as anyone aged at 30 years.  How quickly one's situation changes.  Children are born, people join in marriage, fortunes are made, souls enter eternity. 

And in the midst of all of these things, God is at work.  As we dismantle the tragedies in our lives, we naturally attempt to reassemble them in ways that make sense to us, but how futile this endeavor is, how hollow these efforts sound, how weak and insubstantial are the end results, unless we find the Lord in the center of it all.  Even if the tragedy in question is a loved one who died saving a busload of orphans from certain death, the clearcut nobility of such a death can hardly surmount the sad reality that your loved one is gone, and that in perhaps 50 years, there will be scarcely anyone who remembers this incredible sacrifice. 

And then, of course, you have, quite suddenly, this sense that basically anything can happen.  I am, most decidedly, not referring to your "I Believe I Can Fly" high school guidance counselor telling you to reach for the stars and be yourself - no; I mean that all of those things which you assumed could only touch your life if you saw them in a newspaper quickly begin to seem more real - house fires, muggers, accidents, terminal illnesses, and so forth.

Again, though, if we can at all, we must meet with tragedies knowing that God is at work, and that His work, furthermore, is always purposeful, is always in keeping with His character, and does extend to all things (cf. Rom. 9:21-24, Ps. 135:6, Ps. 33:8-11, Dan. 4:35, and many others).  The sovereign purpose is glory - salvation of undeserving sinners with staggering love, grace, patience, and righteousness, and conquest of evil by means of infinite power, wisdom, and righteousness.

We have discussed this before, so I merely touch on it here.  The point is, God's sovereign work gives us not merely a reason, but the reason, that things happen:  because He is somehow glorified by it.  Some will reread that statement with horror, but yes, God has designed even tragedies for His own glorious ends.  Think of the cruelties that Joseph's brothers visited upon him, and then think how God used those circumstances.  Said Joseph to them much later, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." (Gen. 50:20)

Other examples abound in Scripture, and once you begin to identify them, you cannot help but see them everywhere in its pages.  Paul and Silas are imprisoned wrongfully and beaten brutally, but (literally) at the end of the day, the jailer is saved by the grace of Christ (Acts 16).  The Jerusalem saints were persecuted and scattered, but this dispersion caused the gospel to go forth into new places (Acts 8:1-4).  Even the death of Jesus Christ, the most appalling treachery and crime in all of creation's history, was predestined by God to produce the only way of salvation for a lost and wayward race of sinners.  Incredible.  Go and read Acts 4:27-28 this minute if there resides any doubt in your mind that God Himself was the architect of Christ's death.  Go and read Isaiah 53:10.  Does this not add yet another layer of glory to Christ's death, to consider that the Godhead conspired to bring it about in order to secure the salvation of Christ's church? 

Walking through life with an understanding of God's sovereign purpose of glory helps us to declare, "I cannot say why this tragedy has befallen us, but I know beyond doubt that God is in control, and that this tragedy is an essential part of His plan, and that by this, God is sure to be glorified."  Because we trust in His wisdom and goodness (having tasted them again and again), this sort of understanding is a boon to the distressed believer; it offers real joy in the midst of admitted sorrow. 

And if the tragedy is appallingly black and difficult, let the arduous burden of sadness convince our hearts still more of the overwhelming greatness and surpassing importance of God's glory:  this may be harder than anything you had ever reckoned you would (or could) face, but this means that God's glory is more incredible, and more essential, than you had ever imagined.  There is great purpose at work.  If God has promised us that we will, upon our deaths, experience an eternity free of hardship in His very presence, then He is surely not trifling with us in this life by allowing such tragedy.

We can bring this full circle, then.  I do not know the many reasons why God designed that my friend should die at age 30, but I know that He will be rightly glorified in all of this.  I can say this with all my heart.  And I think that one reason among many, perhaps, is so that His gospel might be proclaimed.  Below is part of an e-mail that my friend Nick sent me years ago; it is undoubtedly the best thing he ever told me in all of our years of acquaintance:

As you know we've both grown up in Christian homes. Myself, I thought I had become a believer WAY back in the day when I was but five or six years old. Did the whole "accept Jesus into my heart" deal. And sure, I spent a good amount of my time serving the church, doing missions, and the like. And I have no doubt that God had me doing those things for His glory, but all those times I was so brokenhearted and downtrodden by the things going on in my life, I never realized God was simply trying to get my attention and let me know that I wasn't saved. How do I know that to be true? How do I know that it wasn't just me being a backslider, or just not being a good enough follower of God? Simple. I never understood sin to be what it was. I was never shown the Law as a mirror to help me SEE my sin. And past that, I thought I was saved. I was proud, selfish...I did good things in the name of God, but I was like the people who will come to God during Judgement Day and be turned away even though they did all those great things in His Name.  

I never read my Bible. I never hungered for it, I never wanted to be at church and looked for ways to leave early. So that's my setup. My preface for my conversion.

Years and years and years have gone by. Twenty three to be exact. Many of which I was fully capable of making a wise decision regarding God. In the last couple years since moving to Colorado life has been pretty miserable. But, something was still missing. Remember now, I THOUGHT I had God in my life, but He wasn't dwelling within me. So somehow by a miracle I started listening to a radio talk show called The Way of the Master Radio. I had been given some from a friend of mine, but it was a year or two before I even tried listening. Well, Way of the Master is based on some really neat ideas. Ideas of the Bible, go figure. Here's their deal: Law to the proud, grace to the humble. They do a lot of phone fishing (witnessing to people on the streets) and ask some questions such as these: Do you think you're a good person? What do you think happens to you when you die? Have you ever lied? Stolen something? Used God's name in vain? So basically these people brought it to my attention that I am a filthy rotten sinner and there is absolutely NOTHING I could do on my own to save myself from eternal damnation. That scared the living daylights out of me. I was never certain in my salvation, always had doubts. So I heard these messages and started thinking. I was consumed by the fact that I was a sinner. And I knew Jesus died for me, but I couldn't get past it all. Was I saved? Was I lost still? Way of the Master asks some simple questions to help you see if you are in the faith. Nothing special. "Is Jesus precious to you? Do you read your Bible without fail each and every day and enjoy it? Do you share your faith? Are you growing in holiness?" I looked back on my life. I could not answer yes to any of those questions. In fact I was worse off than before.

So one evening after I got home from work I fell on my face and wept. I repented for my sins and I put my full trust in Jesus. I understood that He really DID die on that horrible cross to save me from my wretched self. I realized that if I would have died the day before I would have spent my eternity in Hell and I was terrified of that thought. But God is so ultimately kind that I couldn't help but stay on my knees and cry for a good long time. Every time I think about it I can't help but weep with joy due to His kindness. I am radically new. I've been regenerated!!!! I absolutely love reading my Bible and read it every day. I love worship and understand what it's really about. I've stopped watching a lot of movies and shows that I used to like. I stopped listening to a lot of music. I'm thankful, I watch my words, my thinking is radically different. I'm learning tons of new stuff each day and I know God has a lot of work yet to be done in my life. Ha ha, if I were to name all the things He's working on currently with me it'd be a pretty big list. I hate sin because God hates it. My conscience is way more active these days. I know it was dead previously. I had no real remorse. I can't even attend church anymore without being in tears through the worship. Even now as I listen to some stuff I'm ready to cry.

He is so kind, isn't He? So loving, so amazing. So big and powerful and sovereign and righteous and just. So perfect, so merciful. "Indescribable, uncontainable. You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name. You are amazing God." So cool. So cool...!

So yeah, that's my story.

Andromeda

The very first reference to the stars comes just sixteen verses into Scripture, on the fourth day of the world's history.  On several occasions in that first book (15:5, 22:17, 26:4), God uses the stars as an illustration for a prodigious number.  Take Genesis 15:5, for instance:  "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them...So shall your descendants be." 

Had Abraham counted all the stars in the sky he could see over a number of months, his tally would have culminated in the thousands.¹  Advance ahead to our era, and Joe Anybody can point his binoculars into the night sky and count far, far more - perhaps 200,000 if he travelled to both hemispheres (Joe can get to South Africa with far less inconvenience and time than Abraham could). 

Having established that, it is all the more remarkable to note that scientists now place the estimate for population of stars in the Milky Way at 100 - 400 billion.  To put that figure into some semblance of perspective, this means that for every star you can see with your binoculars, there are at least half a million behind it in the Milky Way that remain invisible. 

Right now in the late summer sky, somewhere in between Cassiopeia and the Square of Pegasus, there resides a small and somewhat vague area of white light, visible to the naked eye, if one knows where to look.  This is the Andromeda Galaxy.  Consider this a moment.  Every star you can see, unless you have some serious hardware, is a card-carrying member of the Milky Way clan.  Even these are indescribably distant from our tilted heads, but then, beyond the silver veil of all these constellations and stars, some 2,500,000 light years (or 14,700,000,000,000,000,000 miles, if you prefer) from our own modest galaxy, resides the Andromeda Galaxy.  You are looking at another galaxy.

Now, it was not settled that Andromeda was even a galaxy until about 93 years ago - before this, the general thought was that ours was the solitary galaxy in the universe.  By 2013, the calculated estimate sits at 170 billion galaxies stretched across the 13.8 billion light years of the universe that we can discern.

This is all very interesting, certainly, but what possible spiritual bearing does this have?  Here are a few thoughts:

1.  God's sovereignty is exalted.  David says, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all." (Ps. 103:19) Suddenly, the word "all" takes on such a weight, such a crushing mass, that we are helpless to conceive of it.  God's sovereignty is, of course, just the sort of sparrow-preserving, hair-numbering control that Christ himself described in Matthew 10:29-30, and the psalmist would have us know that this sovereignty extends to all things - even a molecule of gas floating through the Triangulum Galaxy.  Such is the extent and the specificity of God's incontrovertible will.

Some would ask, "Why would He bother with this degree of sovereignty?  Why should God be concerned about the shape of a dust cloud in some galaxy which science can barely even recognize across the cold marches of space?"  To this, we simply respond, why would He not?  God is not overburdening Himself in the maintainence of billions of galaxies and all they contain, is He?  Was His intellect taxed to the breaking point as He spun His all-encompassing plan?  Does He now wish He had just a few more hands (like parents everywhere do) so He could get more done with greater care?  Of course not!  His sovereign plans were planned and are executed with perfection; they subjugate every atom in the universe, and for God, this is easy.

2.  God's omnipotence is exalted.  These familiar words open God's Word:  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Consider such understated words in the light of our incomprehensibly vast cosmos!  We further discover in Genesis 1 that God created all things from nothing, that He used mere words, only powerful pronouncement, to create all things, and that He fashioned the heavens in a single day:  perfect power personified. 

Our Lord applies that infinite might in His sovereign rule over all things.  The fact that His power is infinite means that He can distribute that power across every single atom in the universe, and He is still applying infinite power to every atom.  Our powers of explanation simply come unhinged at such lofty notions.


Science, then, continues to grow our understanding of the universe, and, as a result, continues to grow our wonder toward the God of all things, the divine Architect of these wonders, which have been laid up quietly in His keeping through the millennia, until we were able to see them.  Science, which so often seeks to turn God to flinders, is a gift from God to help to describe His own glory - incredible.

I want the Creator and Keeper of all things for my God.  The One whose very words causes the entire cosmos to endure (Heb. 1:3), the One who does as He pleases with that overwhelming sovereignty (Ps. 135:6, Rom. 8:28), the One who declares as Creator that He alone is God, and that we ought to turn to Him alone (Is. 45:22) - this is the God we are privileged to serve, brothers and sisters. 


Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,

"I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone,
Causing the omens of boasters to fail,
Making fools out of diviners,
Causing wise men to draw back
And turning their knowledge into foolishness,
Confirming the word of His servant
And performing the purpose of His messengers.
It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’
And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’
And I will raise up her ruins again."

     - Isaiah 44:24-26

¹ The text of this website provides good insight on this and other matters.

For Those Who Grapple with a Difficult Doctrine

Candor is an arm-twister.  Hard as I try, I am obliged to confess that the truth of God's complete sovereignty over completely everything is difficult to wrap my theological arms around.  God's sovereignty gives us confidence, and it answers many questions, to be sure, but it also raises some hard questions, and sometimes these questions amalgamate to cause us to question the very reality of God's sovereignty - how can God be sovereign with evil in the world, and so forth?

Fortunately, the concept of utter sovereignty is not one that is unveiled dramatically in Romans 9.  Paul did not invent it, and neither did John Calvin.  Certainly, that go-to passage in the ninth chapter of Romans speaks very clearly about God's sovereignty, but there are incredible and innumerable pictures of His sovereign hand in action all throughout Scripture.  I would like to touch on one of these - a very well-known story indeed - in order to bolster us in our confidence in this indispensable fact of God.

A word to Moses from his God:  "But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion.  So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles..." (Ex. 3:19-20a) We know the setup here - God's people are enslaved in Egypt, and He commissions Moses to bring them out.  At first, this appears as merely a predictive statement - God need not be sovereign in this declaration, but merely omniscient.  However, after Moses is first rebuffed by Pharaoh, God reassures him in this way:  "But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt." (Ex. 7:3)

Some will say, and indeed have said many times, that God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart is only because Pharaoh first hardened his own heart - a judgment laid down by a loving God whose hand is forced.  We note, though, that God provides His own reason for the hardening - the same in both of the aforementioned verses, actually - it is for the cause of glory, so that God may do more wondrous works in Egypt.  Elsewhere He addresses Pharaoh himself and categorically states the same (Ex. 9:16, Rom. 9:15).  Glory, not judgment, lies behind this divine act, and it was done not in response to Pharaoh's misdeeds, but in accordance with God's own purposes (His intentions were voiced, incidentally, before Moses ever departed for Egypt, back in Ex. 4:21).  God's plans include and require Pharaoh's sins.  God's power is uniquely displayed!

Then comes the miraculous and repeated devastation of Egypt (Ex. 7-10).  God's targets:  vital crops, coveted livestock, and - most importantly - the false, impotent deities that the Egyptians set up as patrons over these economic essentials.  The façade of legitimacy is forcefully torn from the religious system of Egypt, and her economy is utterly unraveled. 

The final plague, of course, comes at the hand of God Himself, who goes throughout Egypt and kills all of the firstborn personally, a tragedy that would burst into every Egyptian household and family.  This proves to be the final straw, and the Israelites take their leave at long last, laden with the treasures of Egypt, which they obtained merely by asking (Ex. 12).  See how God continues to take things away from the rebellious nation, all in the process of exalting His own name!  God's plans include and require the blessing and deliverance of His chosen people.  God's grace and love are powerfully manifested!

When the children of Israel begin to move out of the land, they are led by God very carefully.  He keeps them from some obvious routes that would certainly lead them into warfare, and in so doing, leads them pointedly toward the Red Sea (Ex. 13:17-18).  When they arrive, God gives very interesting instruction:  "Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.  For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’  Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." (Ex. 14:2-4a)

Mark this well, friends.  God has been demonstrating absolute control here, and He now expresses the desire to deceive Pharaoh into still greater folly, one that will brutalize the Egyptian military on top of everything else, by drowning their elite chariot battalions in the Red Sea (which the children of Israel had just traversed on dry land).  God's plans include and require the deception of Pharaoh so he is driven to pursue the Israelites, to great ruin.  Behold His conquering power!

Mind you, this is the same God doing all of these things.  He delivers on one hand, and He slaughters on the other.  He plans the obedience of Moses, unto His glory, and also the disobedience of Pharaoh, also unto His glory.  Amazing!  Divine purpose, when joined with divine omnipotence and divine omniscience, leads to assured outcomes.  Let us make two statements, now that we have looked at God's work in Egypt.

1.  God does whatever He likes, for His own reasons, with absolutely everything.  The centuries of enslavement, the sinful and stubborn resistance of Pharaoh, the enticement for Pharaoh to pursue God's people - all of these were indispensable features of God's plan, purposed before time began.  If we wrap our minds around this - that the evil as well as the good was a part of God's plan (not that He sinned or tempted, but it was in His plan nonetheless) - then amazing comfort begins to build in our hearts.  Could God have delivered the Israelites sooner?  Of course.  Could He have helped Pharaoh's heart to be softened?  Certainly.  He did things the way He did them, though, because these constituted the conditions of maximum glory.  He says, in effect, to Moses, "My glory is more important than your objections to My plan."  To the Israelites:  "My glory is more important than your immediate release."  And, yes, to Pharaoh, "My glory is more important than your repentant heart."  The Lord has His reasons, which far supersede our own, and He acts on those reasons.  Bless the Lord for His wonderful reasons!  When we grasp the value of His reasons, immeasurable comfort is ours, for we see that He commands all things according to His perfect designs.

2.  God is loving and fair.  Absolute sovereignty does not negate what we know about God. This same God pronounces Himself as good, just, loving, merciful, and patient, in response to Moses" plea to be shown His glory not so long after the Red Sea excursion (Ex. 34:6-7).  The fact of complete sovereignty does not change our God; amen?  If you struggle with how He could be in control of all things, and yet completely fair as He condemns or saves, you are certain to have plenty of company.  In fact, Paul has words just for you in Romans 9:20-24.  In a nutshell, we are in no position to question the God whom we cannot fully understand; we must accept what His Word reveals about His sovereignty (just as we do with regard to the Trinity, the divine and human authorship of Scripture, and many other such truths). 


This is one case in which we can certainly have our cake and eat it as well.  We have the double reassurance that God is always going to act with holy integrity, and is always working events according to His purposes alone.  We have the blessing of His sinless, just, certain, and glorious work in all things!

Application Goes Yard

Sometimes the prospect is easy:  "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (1 Pet. 1:16b) Excellent; my work is to pursue holiness.  The application is apparent.  Sometimes, though, things are more difficult:  "For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place." (Is. 43:3) Where is my application?  Have you seen my application?  It must be here somewhere, but it simply is not apparent.

If my entire goal in studying the Bible is unlocking practical application, the only seeds that will germinate in my studies will often be those of frustration, because immediate application is not always forthcoming.  My marching orders are simply not there, so Scripture, which is purportedly God-breathed, does not seem so very useful after all.  This, see, is the major problem:  God did not fashion His revelation - write it, as it were, on tablets of steel - merely to provide moral direction.  If this is your purpose in approaching the Bible, I might recommend Mother Goose instead - it will require far less study and discipline, and will usually have more pictures.

No; the purpose of the Bible is to reveal God and His character (often spelled g-l-o-r-y).  God creates.  He judges.  He sustains.  He saves!  He promises.  He delivers.  God is the constant in His Word - the only constant; amen?  He is the theme, the central thread.  If I reduce the Word down to "What should I do?", though, I see that the Bible in my hands is nothing more than a pretty mirror.  I have taken something that is so overwhelmingly God-centered that it can prostrate a soul in eternal worship, and have managed to reckon it as something man-centered by focusing upon myself.

Let us not mistake here.  Does God give me instruction in His Word?  Abundantly and definitively so, and you shall never (I pray) find me making light of His commands.  Behind every command, though, is the character of God.  Look again at the 1 Peter quote above - I am to be holy because of His holiness.  And would I indeed rush out to follow His commands, were I not convinced of the extraordinary truths about God which pervade His Word?  Would I concern myself with obedience if I did not understand that He is full of wisdom and care, power and justness?  The Bible is about God, His name, and His work.  All else - not only in the Word, but in creation - flows from this.

Where, then, does this leave the concept of application?  Does it lessen its importance, blunt its proliferation?  On the contrary, a veritable application juggernaut is created, one that goes far beyond the others, and that must come before the others.  This application is worship.  Think on this - it does not matter what passage I read, be it narrative, epistle, poetry, or law, I can always, always trace things back to the Lord, and there is always some facet of His character which beams out with dizzying brilliance. 

The first step, then, is always to worship and to marvel at the glory before us.  We can do this with any part of Scripture - look for this before anything else.  Look for God on the pages of His Word.  If the passage in question has further applicational derivatives, we will thus find ourselves in a far more humble and joyful frame, and will desire to obey the application from a pure heart.  If, however, the passage is devoid of any other application, as is the case at times, we do not come away from the Word disappointed, because we have seen our God, have grown to know Him just a bit better, have worshipped, and have trusted. 

The application of worship is monstrous.  It is undeniable theocentric; it approaches God's book on its own terms.  It forms an excellent and indispensable starting point in the quest for application, and it is unashamedly sufficient as application when it needs to be.  It tells us that, yes, there is worth and depth in coming away from Scripture with the simple awe of seeing God as He is, even without adding three more line items to the applicational checklist. 

God's Word and the Passionate Non-Pharisee

Not so long ago, we discussed the danger of pulling apart the strands of love and truth in the lifeline called Christianity.  As "knowledge" is frequently and foolishly vilified in many churches of today, it seems desirable to harken back to this subject from a slightly different path, to create a short tally of the immense and enlivening benefits that arise from understanding God's Word.  Psalm 119, unsurprisingly, has much to offer in this matter.  Here are four actions, all crucial to the believer, which an understanding of God's Word unlocks for us.  I will state them as commands to frame their critical nature in our lives; amen?

1.  Apprehend His glory.  "Make me understand the way of Your precepts, so I will meditate on Your wonders." (v. 27) We are happily used to seeing God's glory in the pages of His book, but perhaps it does not always occur to us to see His glory in His precepts.  Situated in those commands, though, are such wonders as His unwavering righteousness, His absolute wisdom, His sovereign hand, and His untiring justice.  These lie at the very heart of our Lord's character, and they radiate from His Word in very real and personal ways, because those very precepts are what shape our actions and choices as believers.  This is one of the invaluable ways in which God's glory becomes infused in our mission as His people - this is glory that we cannot afford to forgo.

2.  Passionately discern.  "From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." (v. 104) Here again, understanding is centered around the precepts in God's Word, but here the result is hatred of "every false way."  This is discernment of the most powerful sort.  It is discernment that informs literally every moral decision we must make, and it is discernment that is founded in a ferocious and dogged pursuit of God's righteous standards.  Notice the psalmist does not say, "I do not really like every false way"; he says, "I hate every false way."  Evil is repugnant to him; it offends him and excites a vehement and passionate reaction. He hates what is evil because he cherishes what is good (cf. Phil. 4:8).  Dare we attempt this class of spiritual discretion without understanding God's Word?  This is not sterile and pharisaical book knowledge, friends.

3.  Fervently obey.  "Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart." (v. 34) At first blush, this is very obvious - we understand the Bible and we therefore obey God - but look again.  Not only does it help us to obey, but to obey with all our hearts.  This is fervent, zealous obedience, as opposed to begrudging, joyless obedience - as John describes it in 1 John 5:3:  "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." 


We must examine this more closely for a moment - how indeed can a book accomplish such zeal as we see in the discernment and obedience described here?  First, it is because God's people read His book in the company of the Holy Spirit, who works powerfully through the Word.  We recall how similar the commands of "be filled with the Spirit" and "let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you" truly are (Eph. 5:18 & Col. 3:16).  God's Word and God's Spirit work together, or they do not work at all (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10-14).

Second, as we read God's Word, and God's Spirit works within us, we encounter none other than God Himself on the pages.  We behold His priorities, His perfections, and His precepts, and so we are given all the reason in the world (or properly, in Christendom) to love His beauty, to understand His commands, to pursue His righteousness, and to fear His judgments.  This is why we had to begin this blog with God's glory - it is the impetus, the force that imparts true spiritual momentum.


4.  Partake of true life.  "Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live." (v. 44) As God's Word is immutably righteous, being laid down and preserved by He who is immutably righteous, it imparts spiritual life to those who understand it.  We do not, as Moses tells us, "live by bread alone," but rather, "by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." (Deut. 8:3b) We cannot be pulled out of our Ephesians 2:1 spiritual death into Ephesians 2:5 spiritual life without an understanding of the Word.  Once God has given us life, we cannot grow and continue in that life without an understanding of the Word.  Would we scoff or ignore the very book that unlocks life itself?  By no means.

God has blessed us beyond measure with His Word, and it becomes us in every respect to seek a knowledge of it.  We must not fear becoming Pharisees simply for poring over its wealth, but we must see it as the divinely-appointed flame that truly ignites our hearts.  As a final note, do you see how every last one of these blessings (God's glory, obedience, discernment, and spiritual life) represents something that is beyond our natural inclinations?  We would not give glory to another, would not trouble to improve our discernment, and so forth, were it not for the work of the Spirit through His Word.  It is remarkable how the Lord turns us right side up, with powerful blessings which come through the Bible.

My Abundant Source of Lack

Unsought blessing is a definite component of God's program of grace.  Do unrepentant sinners continue to draw breath, often for a lifetime, untroubled for a time by the fetters of eternal, divine fury?  Are such as these sometimes granted an inexplicable understanding and acceptance of the need for Christ's salvation, such that they seek it with earnest repentance?  Does God preserve His children in salvation, even when they foray deep into sin?  Unsought blessing is all around us - without it, we would not last for even a moment in this world, much less taste the joy of salvation.

There is also, however, such a thing as sought blessing - those articles of grace which God chooses to withhold until we ask Him for them.  If we know something of the priority God places upon the demonstration of His glory (and we really should), this only makes sense; we perceive a lack of some sort, and our pervasive inability to satiate it compels us toward the throne.  By making us active participants in the communion of grace, God helps us to see more fully just how we need Him (in a quiet piece of irony).

This certainly places a high premium on prayer, does it not?  James says to the scattered Jewish elements of the church, "You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask." (James 4:2) Let us approach this from the opposite direction:  because I do not ask, I do not have, and the vacuum created by my prayerlessness draws in temptation - a sad substitute. 

It is tempting to fool ourselves into the notion that a period of prayerlessness does not truly affect our spiritual state - we feel that just as a healthy eater can eat the occasional Crunchwrap Supreme without adverse corollary, the spiritual believer can coast along for a day or two without prayer.  What blessings, though, are we missing on these off days?  The gifts of the Lord that fall upon us are not optional graces sent for our amusement; they are blessings intended to equip us for godly worship and kingdom work.  Similarly, the gifts of the Lord that befall others when we pray are for God's purposes of good and glory.  Do we, as children of the Most High, truly desire to ignore these opportunities from our kind and powerful Father?  Pray, friend.  Pray often, and pray for the kingdom; dress your prayers in quality and quantity alike.

We must go further than supplication, of course.  James certainly does:  "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3) He maintains, with divinely-supported clarity, that we lack because we ask with wrong motives; that is, our hearts are not right in prayer.  For this reason, the other elements of prayer - praise of God, confession of sin, and thanksgiving for past blessings - take a crucial role in shaping our hearts into what God desires.  In this frame, we find contentedness in the work and character of God.  We ask with a different attitude, and for (sometimes very) different things in this state, but indeed this is vital work whether we open our mouths to ask for anything or not. 

We are led, then, to two simple questions we might ask if we find ourselves in a state of dissatisfaction or want:  Am I in prayer?  Is my heart in line with the Lord?  Perhaps the answer is that I have not brought my cares to my loving Father, or maybe I have been selfish in my supplications, and am thus unfitted for His answer or undeserving of a present resolution.  God does not always remove the thorns from our flesh, but He always stands ready to give us the grace to persevere - a powerful answer to prayer indeed, if we are exhibiting steadfastness of prayer and unity of purpose with Him.

There is always, always an answer to our present lack to be found in prayer.  He is faithful, and He is sufficient!  How then do we not pray, brothers and sisters?  How is it that I can muddle through a day apart from my Father, whom I know in my very bones to be gracious and sovereign and near?  He stands by with grace in His keeping, and He desires for us to embrace our utter need for Him (remember this?).  May prayer be to the soul even as breathing is to the body.

Knocking the Narratives

I suppose that I, in the course of reading the Bible, could stick solely with the historical accounts, in a bid to keep things interesting and lively.  Of course I could.  In fact, I freely admit that I have fallen prey to this sort of (insert adjective of choice here, reader - wrong, silly, incomplete, shallow, faulty, even faithless?) thinking in the past.  We need to make fuller use of God's Word - pull more fruit down off of the divinely-planted tree and feast, as it were. 

I am confident you will not argue this point with me, my friends, since all Scripture is inspired by our omnisapient Lord and is useful for His saints, as Paul told Timothy (2 Tim. 3:16).  No; the problem here is that we sometimes take the other stance, is it not?  Sometimes we become averse to the narratives because we sense that they will somehow belittle our otherwise impressive spiritual profundity in the eyes of others.  "My studies are currently taking me through Hebrews; what about you?"  "Well, um...actually, I was just reading about Cain and Abel this morning...in my Fun Adventures with Jesus Bible.  Do you want to watch the video with me?  Mark Hamill and Richard Thomas do all the voices." 

Of course this is silly as well, and I doubt that you will argue this either, but we can still prove it from Scripture.  Psalm 111:2 & 4a proclaims, "Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them...He has made His wonders to be remembered."  In other words, we cannot knock the narratives.  God does unforgettable things so that we will take notice, take interest, and take delight.  He desires for us to absorb ourselves with the narratives because they reveal Him.

Can we indeed discern any act on His part that has not been less than incredible?  The very breath I just drew demonstrated His sovereignty over the created order, His faithfulness to His own counsel, His grace to a sinner, and His blessing to one of His elect.  My life should be a running prayer of thanksgiving and praise!  Every second reveals another breathtaking vista of divine glory. 

We find, incredibly, that there is no such thing as doxological neutrality with God's works.  We can rejoice over all of them.  Not only do they reveal His wonderful character, but they underscore with an inimitable uniformity that He does everything perfectly.  Not one deed has ever fallen short, has ever flown astray - each is comprehensively guarded by total deity.  So we may rejoice at His works for their glorious perfection as well.

God sovereignly purposes His revealed works for the continued joy of His people.  And if God is indeed sovereign, then we know that He had each and every one of His children in mind when He made His momentous plans.  So then I, Josh Linn, as a child of God, am fully intended to, fully equipped for, and fully capable of meeting with my God in the accounts of His wonders which He preserves in Scriptures.  I can continually meet with Him, and I can continually honor Him for the record He has given us!  Feast, then, Christian, upon the narratives which divine hands have kept for us!  Feast and be satisfied.

Plain Old Beautiful Deity

The drop of a very small hat is enough to induce us to discuss the deity of Christ.  This is one of those songs that is always in the jukebox and is always getting played.  I do not feel bad, then, in playing it now - not with the venerable John 1 or the glorifying Colossians 1, but with the tantalizing Exodus 23.

God declares to Moses in verse 20, "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared."  This is a mighty promise of mighty help to the homeless Israelites.  God will send them an angel to protect and escort them into their new home, but thus far all we can say is that this help will come in the form of a ma'lak (an angel or messenger).¹ 

He continues in verse 21:  "Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him."  Our Lord levels the charge at Moses and His people to be attentive and obedient to this ma'lak, which stands to reason.  God is not about to send help which should be scorned, abused, or ignored.  He is always purposeful, so any help that He sends must also be purposeful.  But again, where is the deity?

To scoff this help that is sent to them is, according to God, unwise, because this guide, this protector, will not pardon their transgressions.  Who is this ma'lak that he should even be mentioned in conjunction with the forgiveness of sins?  Indeed, is not the problem of sin so very problematic because only God is able to forgive sins?  To whom might we turn, if not to God, in a bid for forgiveness?  The answer, of course, is nobody, because nobody else is the Creator, sovereign Ruler, and righteous Judge of the world.  No one else is of the slightest consequence in the arena of forgiveness.

This begins to make sense, because God effectively links the idea of sin forgiveness to the incredible statement, "My name is in him."  We know, of course, that God is not saying that the ma'lak ate a spoonful of some sort of ancient alphabet soup which, coincidentally, spelled out hayah (I AM).  In such cases as this, we understand that a person's name signifies his or her reputation - who that person is.²  It is God alone who can unequivocally declare, "To whom would you liken Me that I would be his equal?" (Is. 40:25a) It is no small matter, then, for Him to assert that His name, and thus His glory, reside within someone else. 

Who possesses the character of God except God Himself?  How could this be Moses or an angelic being, when we are discussing the glory of the very one who must humble Himself, who must stoop, to survey what transpires even in the heavenly realms (Ps. 113:6)?  This must be, therefore, but another example of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ making a glorious appearance in the pages of the antiquity.  He is God, but distinct in His person from God the Father, who is speaking here to Moses.  In other words, "the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1b) 

If more proof (or more glory) is in order, read on through verse 23:  "But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries."  Here is an exegetical gem.  How can it be this ma'lak's voice, and yet God is talking?  God is speaking, and yet the Israelites are admonished not merely to hear, but to obey the voice of the ma'lak.  Can we conclude anything other than the evident truth that when the ma'lak speaks, it is God who is speaking?  To clothe it in New Testament parlance, this ma'lak speaks as the Word of God.

If one has the glorious character of God, the unique abilities of God, and the divine authority of God, then such a one can be none other than God Himself.  How pleasing it is, my friends, to see our Lord Jesus Christ before His incarnation - actively at work in guidance and protection of His people.  It is good indeed to remember this work when we think about the cross of Christ - He has long been in the business of defending and aiding the weak and humble in accordance with the Father's will, and we are delivered a tangible example of this before ever He set a human foot upon this world!


¹ Vine, W.E., Merrill F. Unger, & William White, Jr.  Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.  "Nelson's Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament."  Nashville, TN:  Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1996. p. 4.
² ibid., p. 158.

Nobody Wants a Boring God

As Christians, we serve a very interesting God.  He is interesting for many reasons (not least of which is His unique reality in this universe), but we see this best perhaps when life itself becomes interesting.  In the unforgiving jaws of a boring, predictable, run-of-the-mill life, God is still incredibly interesting - it is simply more difficult to perceive this.  If we desire to glory in our God in His fullness, we must prepare ourselves for the possibility of unsettling, discouraging, painful, even hazardous circumstances.  When we encounter the living God in these conditions, though, we do not walk away disappointed.

We remember how God sent Moses back to his enslaved people in order to begin His certain task of dislodging them from Egypt.  Exodus 4:30-31 recounts how the divine power displayed through Moses's miraculous signs causes the downtrodden Israelites to believe.  This could never be counted boring, but it is expected:  God is powerful.  We believe, with a genuine belief, because we have seen that power.

Something wonderful happens at the end of verse 31, though.  The display of God's power is momentous enough - it kindles belief in the midst of an oppressed people!  However, Moses and Aaron then deliver incredible news:  the One who holds this power is concerned for you, dear brothers and sisters.  Your omnipotent God has seen your travails, and He is not pleased with your present station.  At this, the people prostrate themselves and worship their God.

It is one thing to perceive the excellencies of the Lord; they are worthy of notice, of worship, of appreciation, of pure wonder, all by themselves.  However, we must confess that it is another thing altogether when those very same qualities are directed, incredibly, at us!  We, these sinful, transient, weak, myopic, squabbling trifles, pass under the specific notice of the Divine, of the Perfect!  His mighty hands, which fashioned the cosmos, now extend to give us grace!  When we have not deserved the slimmest iota of life here on earth, He gives a lifetime, and He fulfills His powerful and heartening covenants for His children.  Believe, by all means, dear friend, but do not forget to worship as well.

One further point on the Exodus narrative - Moses applies to Pharaoh for the release of his people, and is summarily turned down.  Furthermore, the workload of the Israelites is augmented to an impossibly grueling pace.  In this moment, as despondency readies itself, the Lord says simply, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.” (Ex. 6:1b) 

In other words, the stage is now set for the Lord to begin His work.  Indeed, He might have worked such that Pharaoh was induced to free the Israelites before this point, but this would not been nearly so interesting, so telling of God's character, as what He actually does.  The increase in difficulty for the Israelites, as God reckoned in His perfect wisdom, was not wasted, because it allowed Him to reveal Himself far more strongly to His people.

This pattern can be harrowing, and it is certainly familiar to us in its essentials, but it is far from boring; amen?  Life is rarely easy.  How easy it is for me to imagine that the remedy to my present dilemma, whatever that dilemma is, can come only in one form.  I quietly, and often unwittingly, conclude that there is only one recourse that will extricate me.  Any other course of events tends to whisper that God has answered my prayers in the negative, but this ignores the manifold complexities of the world, of God Himself, and of His perfect plans.  We all know that God delivered the Israelites, and He delivers us as well, even when it is death itself that brushes our difficulties away, like a shroud from our faces.

Life is certainly interesting when we follow an interesting God - it becomes something not to be feared, but anticipated, as our indestructible God reveals His perfect plans and perfect character. 

The Imputation: Yes, But What Does It Actually Mean?

In the last blog post, we addressed some glorious considerations surrounding the Father's imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, and of our sin to Christ.  We can all, I think, agree that the imputing work of the Father is indeed glorious, but it seems important to take an "at the end of the day" sort of look at what it truly means to have Christ's righteousness imputed to our spiritual accounts:  what are the practical ramifications of this mighty undertaking? 

Some will say that justification results in God's children receiving the righteousness of Christ.  In several senses, this is entirely correct:

• Christ's righteousness is credited to our spiritual account (2 Cor. 5:21).
• Upon justification, the Spirit of Christ takes up His permanent residence in our enlived souls, and works in and through us (Phil. 2:12-13, Gal. 2:20).  This moves us firmly and wondrously into the place of posse non pecarre (the ability not to sin).
• Justifications sets us on a path of growth in personal holiness that will continue through our lives (James 3:2, Romans 7:14-25) and culminate in sinless glory in the presence of the Lord.

Far be it from us indeed to dispute such clearly-articulated, peace-giving, and God-glorifying principles; they are heartening companions in life's foxholes.  However, this is one path along which we cannot push even one step too far - the consequences are too dangerous.  Those who force this issue further arrive at the tragic conclusion that imputation means that Christ's righteousness becomes our own in the fullest extent - it is not merely credited to our account, but wield it in life with nearly sinless efficacy.

Even if we manage to overlook clear lexical evidence to the contrary (look up dikaioo, or "justify" sometime), we can still reap a sizable harvest of concern and disappointment at these thoughts.  To those who believe that Christ's righteousness is their complete and pervasive possession, the path to obedience is not about seeking obedience to the Word of God.  Rather, it is tied closely to knowing that the righteousness of Christ is active within them, and if they can simply keep from getting in the way of the natural righteousness which Christ has placed within them, then natural obedience is the natural result. 

This may strike you as odd or silly, but this sort of mindset is pervasive.  You may have heard it said that in order to obey, believers need simply to stop getting in God's way with their own efforts to obey Him.  If so, then you have struck pay dirt.  "Don't try; just trust"?  "Let go and let God?"  There is theological fool's gold in them there hills.  It may seem an innocuous frame of mind, but let us consider three pertinent points:

1.  This point of view blasphemes Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:21 proclaims, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  We see here that we become God's righteousness because Christ became sin.  If we hold that our becoming God's righteousness signifies that we were made righteous, then we are left with the unenviable task of maintaining that Christ similarly was made a sinner when He became sin.  The clear parallelism of this verse cannot be argued; we cannot suppose from these words that Christ's "becoming sin" is a different sort of "becoming" than our "becoming God's righteousness" simply because we wish to. 

Of course, to label the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Lamb of God, as a sinner of any sort is rank blasphemy.  He became sin only in so far as He stood condemned in our place for those sins, so that we might stand justified in His place for His righteousness. 

2.  This point of view sunders our reliance upon Jesus.  If the imputation of Christ's righteousness, such that we stand justified before God, means that we are natural obeyers, how little do we need Christ in our moment-by-moment as our authority!  Natural obedience negates our need for the Word which the Spirit of Christ wrote, preserves, and illuminates.  The conviction of His Spirit is scarcely necessary if our obedience is automatically engaged merely by a passive acknowledgement of the work that Christ has already completed in us.  Ironically, I become my own authority as the righteousness of Christ is channeled into my sanctified bosom.

Rather, passages like Philippians 2:12-13 or 2 Peter 1:3-11 teach us with diamond clarity that the presence of Christ in us, working in our souls, should prompt us to strive for obedience, rather than assume its existence. 

3.  This point of view belittles the glory that Christ wishes to reveal in our lives.  The Lord has determined that His people would see His glory through the travails of life.  "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom. 7:24-25a) "Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.  And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (2 Cor. 12:8-9)

We see who our Lord is when we are obliged in our weakness to turn to Him.  His compassion, patience, and wisdom are clear and comforting, and we have the blessing of seeing faithful biblical truth come to brilliant life in our own hearts!  Our weaknesses are intended to humble us before Him in all of His gracious wonder, and He allows us to soldier through weakness for this reason.  It is no use to pretend those weaknesses have departed when they are still very real, my friend.


The imputation of Christ's righteousness to our spiritual accounts has given us salvation and paved the way for our growth in holiness.  It is devastating folly to conclude otherwise.  What else is there, but to humbly and gladly serve the Lord of glory?

Partial Partiality: A Hindrance for Powerful Prayer

You pray.  You pray often, and you pray for those things fitting for the kingdom.  You earnestly ask for salvation for those around you.  You seek the spiritual growth of your church in your prayers - just let more disciples come, Father, and help us all to grow in our zeal.   Morning, noon, and night, you pray.  Sleep robs the final thought of your whispered prayer into the dark quiet.  As you awaken, prayer begins afresh - Lord, this is Your day.  You pray.

And yet, for all this, you seem to miss out on these big-ticket items that saturate your prayers.  The people around you remain unsaved.  Your church continues in its - you almost say "rut," but you quickly change it to "present trajectory."  Everything remains status quo ante votum.  Does this sound at all familiar?  I cannot pretend this is not well-traced territory for myself; I have trodden it before, and perhaps you have as well.  What do we do in such instances?

The oft-quoted recourse to "unanswered prayer" (a misnomer if ever there was one) points to a lack of faith as the chief culprit:  "Had you more faith," proclaim the head-shakers, "the Lord would respond more faithfully to your prayers."  What they mean is that you must get it through your head that the Lord can truly do the very thing for which you are asking.  Indeed, there is something unsavory about a prayer laced with the poison of insincerity and doubt, but many times, it seems as though this comment misses the mark.  We ask of the Lord with every faithfulness of understanding:  "Of course You can do these things, omnipotent Lord.  It would profit me nothing to ask it, otherwise."

I would like to propose another reason, then.  Sometimes, I think, my faith in the Lord is sufficient to believe His omnipotence, but my heart is not prepared to be gladdened by His glory.  Christ could work tremendous wonders, both in and for His church, such that my every prayer were brought into rapturous bloom, and still I would manage to mar its effect on my own joy, with a quiet application of indifference or impatience.  "Of course you can do these things, omnipotent Lord.  What else would You do?" 

2 Chronicles 16:9a teaches, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."  Divine and powerful aid is the gift to the ones who are devoted wholly to the all-seeing God.  This devotion brushes aside the sort of indifference that would ignore or even scoff His glory, and the reward for that devotion is the "strong support" of God Himself.  Where God gives strong support, there is sure to be glory in it.  And a blameless devotion to the Lord on our part will surely contain obedient work and fervent prayer for Christ's kingdom, so the end result is that the kind support of the Lord will be gloriously directed toward these righteous endeavors - which are the focus of our effort and prayer. 

It makes sense, then - if we desire to see God work through prayers, it is indispensible that we prepare ourselves to desire and value His glory (and thus His established, steadfast kingdom).  It is a sobering thought to suppose that God does not move powerfully to respond to our prayers, in part, because our hunger for Him is too small - that God withholds the strong manifestations of His glory because that glory would be wasted on us.  May these things not be so, brothers and sisters.

Rejecting this sort of partial partiality toward God demonstrates an earnest, intent sort of focus upon the Lord.  Now, here is the truly marvelous part - not only does this sort of righteous longing for God invite Him to respond to our prayers, but it also poises us to revel in the glory that we are able to see, even when God's longstanding counsel prompts Him to do something other than that for which we have prayed.  If we hunger for God's glory and yearn to see it unleashed in this world, then we will certainly not fail to notice that He radiates glory in the contradiction of our prayers, as He accords with His perfect will, just as much as He demonstrates glory in the affirmation of our prayers.  In the light of such revelation, how could we then be choosy about which glory we see and enjoy?  So our joy remains whole, and our devotion intact, even in those occasions when our prayers are confounded by the far, far greater plans of the Lord. 

Be not unmoved, unfeeling heart of mine.  Find your joy in the Lord's glory, and He will never disappoint.  The more we seek it, the more we will desire it, and the more we will see it.

Glory, the Gatekeeper of True Belief

How does one seek the glory of God?  The seraphim agelessly declare that this world is filled with it (Is. 6:2-3); the psalmist tells how the heavens declare it (Ps. 19:1).  It surrounds us, then, and it all points back to the Lord of glory, as it should, but of course there is a prolific and powerful satanic endeavor afoot which precludes the possibilities of the unbelieving grasping it in its vast implications (2 Cor. 4:3-4).  God's sovereign and effectual salvation is the event whereby this spiritual blindness is lifted, and we begin both to see God's glory and to reflect it (2 Cor. 4:6, Matt. 5:16).  But how do we go about seeking it?  How do we prefer it in our lives above the glory that we give to, or receive from, others? 

The case can easily be made that we seek God's glory by those classic and basic disciplines of the Christian faith:  prayer and Bible study.  Scripture instructs us as to what sort of God we serve and the promises He has made; there is unending glory, then, in its pages.  Prayer is a means of humbling ourselves before God, and indeed our supplications invite the Sovereign to visit the manifestations of His glory upon our humbled hearts as He moves to answer.  These two disciplines constitute both directions in the blessed communication between us and our Lord, and there is stunning glory in each.

We can and should make the case, however, that God's glory also must be sought in obedience to His commands.  Paul makes an example of Romans 2:7b of "those who in perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality."  Christ Himself instructed His listeners in the Sermon on the Mount, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16) Our good works, as directed by God in His Word, stir up His glory!  They do not create or augment God's glory, but they render it more visible to the eye of the vigilant soul.

Some will say, "There is glory enough in prayer and study, without adding obedience on top, thank you very much."  The fear in such as these is that an intent focus on obeying God will send Christians by the legion down into the murky pit of legalism, untroubled by thoughts of love.  Aside from this, who knows but it will impugn the graciousness of God's gift:  by requiring obedience of Christians, we make a thinly-veiled assertion that Christians must buy their salvation with deeds.

These are the protests, but they do not get very far.  We cannot cherish prayer or study with one hand while pushing obedience away with the other.  If you do not seek to obey Him, what use are your prayers?  Is there glory in seeking your own comfort, in not offering praise or contrition?  And again, what will it avail me if I study the Word of the Lord, but suffer it to have no bearing in my life, because I do not care to obey?  Will this accomplish a vision of His glory?

Christ raises the stakes to perilous proportions with His statement in John 5:44:  "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"  In other words, if we seek a substitute for God's glory, we quite simply cannot believe.  Paul intertwines the issue of obedience in his statement about "God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation." (Rom. 2:5b-8) The people who endure in righteous deeds are the ones who are seeking His glory, and so are the ones to whom eternal life will be given, in blunt contrast to those who act selfishly.  Although it is a separate discussion that must be had (right here, actually), such people are not earning their salvation, but merely proving it.

The overarching implications are stark and simple - those who believe are those who hunger for God's glory, in whom the desire for that glory sparks obedience.  There is no such thing as a Christian who is unmoved to righteous acts because of an indifference to the glory of God.  Two questions spring to the fore -

1.  Christian, was your conversion attended with repentance?  Did you (and indeed, do you) loathe your own sinfulness in the light of God's perfect holiness?  Did you begin to desire to please Christ?  This is what it is to turn from your sins and seek God's glory - if this is alien to your soul, by what measure can you pronounce yourself a Christian?  I beg you would count this a word of compassion and warning, my friend - consider your salvation closely.

2.  Again, Christian, are you settling for less of God's glory because your obedience is apathetic at best?  We have each of us been there before; I can say with confidence that these are not unfamiliar shores to my eyes.  But behind obedience lies the dazzling vista of God's glory!  You and I will not be disappointed in the slightest if we dare to obey with greater zeal and endurance!  The mere mention of the fact that God's glory lies on the other side of obedience should spur us to the swiftest action!  May our feet not hesitate; may our hearts not quail.  Obey and wonder!

Herein lies yet another blessed moment in which I am obliged to conclude quite simply that the glory of the Lord is incredible beyond the paltry frame of human thought. 

The New Precious

How pleasant it is to notice still more ways in which God differs from His creation!

The Koh-i-Noor diamond is a stunning piece of the history of India, an exceptionally large gem that was unearthed hundreds of years ago.  For a time, it reigned as the largest diamond in the world.  Generations of rulers and aristocrats have regarded it with calculating eyes, and as one might expect of an oversized diamond, it has passed rather forcibly through many hands and nations over the years, being carried away time and again in the aftermath of some conflict.  This gem currently resides in the Tower of London.

It is large, rare, and old, and so increasingly precious.  This axiomatic:  a thing is hard to come by, or it ages through the centuries, and so becomes precious.  Be it a Stradivarius, a first-edition Dumas, a Colt-Paterson 1836, or a photograph of a 19th century ancestor, scarcity generates "precious." 

So says the world, and so it often contents itself with this sort of "precious" - and to be honest, there is some truth here, of course.  The intent here is not to puncture our notion of preciousness, but rather to demonstrate how wonderfully precious God's character is, and in an entirely unique manner.  Think about this a moment - if you told me that there was something which was found throughout the world, and could be had freely, and would never wear out, and indeed more could always be had, I would conclude you were speaking in riddles, and perhaps the answer was "dirt."  "Precious" would not be the first adjective I would ascribe.

Of course we refer not to dirt in this description, by to the nature of our Lord!  If we can turn our thoughts from dirt and the like, and consider instead God's character, then things curiously transform.  Let us consult the authority and take a brief sampling:

• God's ways are unsearchable.  (Rom. 11:33)
• God's judgments are unfathomable.  (Rom. 11:33)
• God's wisdom and knowledge are profoundly deep.  (Rom. 11:33)
• God's love surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:19) and extends to the heavens (Ps. 103:11)
• God's peace surpasses comprehension (Phil. 4:7)
• God's faithful love never ends (Lam. 3:22)
• God's mercy is rich (Eph. 2:4)
• God's grace is surpassingly rich (Eph. 2:7)
• God's sovereignty encompasses all (Ps. 103:19)

Thus the things God is, and the things God does, are precious, but they are not rare; they are superabundant!  Were all believers, for instance, to devote themselves to standing on the nearest street corner and crying out continually of our Lord's abudant forgiveness and saving love, and were each of us seeing ten lost souls come to repentance in every hour, we would no more risk exhausting the extents of that love and forgiveness than I would risk blotting out the sun by standing atop the CN Tower.

The outpourings of God's character upon us are exquisite, but not fragile; valuable, but not rare; priceless, but not locked away; as old as time, but new every morning.  How then do we explain how wonderfully precious He and His character are to us?  It is simply as follows:  the preciousness of God's character does not stem from its scarcity, but from its perfection.  Who God is, and what He does, are so entirely and unfailingly perfect that He immeasurably distinguishes Himself from His own creation until even His holy seraphim, who have never tasted evil, cannot look upon Him, and and are pleased perpetually to cry out His utter holiness (Is. 6:2-3). 

This perfection, and the incontestable separation that it brokers, mean that God possesses what we cannot.  Here we perceive the scarcity of it - it is alien to our fallen sensibilities - and when by those very perfections our spiritual eyes are opened in salvation to the sheer wonder of God, He is made exceedingly precious to our hearts.  We are prostrated before the glorious grace He bestows, and then are pressed down again as we perceive the magnitude of grace yet promised but not dispensed, an infinity of unceasing glory which will serve through long and tireless epochs to increasingly demonstrate just how precious He has been all along.

Our Lord Jesus, grant that we should regard you with the value that is Your glorious and unique due, and may appropriate and genuine worship issue not only from our minds and our hearts, but from our hands in service to You alone!

The Art of Daily Self-Evangelism

When my eyes open in the morning, I endeavor to make that first moment one of thankfulness to the Lord.  Depending upon the hour, this may be genuinely difficult, and I cannot claim uniform success in this (nor, at times, can I remember it clearly later), but indeed there is something wonderfully pleasing about beginning one's day in this context of gratitude. 

Pleasing though it is, there is surely more that may be done in those first moments of wakefulness to help in recalling us to our duties and our unique station in this life as believers in the one true God.  I submit that it would not go at all amiss, were we to preach the saving gospel of our Lord to our own hearts every morning. 

Why say this?  Does it save us anew?  Impossible.  Does it, however, help to frame our day?  Absolutely.  Before we break our fasts at our paltry morning tables, let us feed our souls with the unspeakably rich bread of life (John 6:35)!  Let us refresh our thirsty souls (Matt. 5:6) with the living water that comes only from Christ (John 4:14) before we raise any glass to our lips.

Weigh out the benefits of this daily "self-evangelism," as it were, dear fellow believer.

1.  It calls to mind the greatness of God.  You knew of this when salvation first came to you; how much better do you know it now?  Has His indescribable grace grown to your thinking less dear or more, less essential or more, less urgent or more, less constant or more, and less sufficient or more?  We have far grander, more sweeping vista of His fathomless goodness now than even we did in that first great moment when He gave His precious salvation and breathed into our hearts new and startling life. 

He is the God of the universe, but He is not enthroned in heavenly halls so remote and austere that He is not aware of you; He purposed to save you personally, along with all of your brothers and sisters, before He created a single molecule, and He now resides with you and in you.  He is your God in every sense of the word, and your Father in ways too powerful to describe.  He who created you, saved you, and keeps you is worthy of your daily remembrance and devotion, is He not?

2.  It brings us to remembrance of our own weakness and sinfulness.  Again, this was in your truest thoughts when you were saved, but do you not understand this still better now?  Having contended with temptations of all sorts, across a spectrum of biblical mandates, the totality of which we could not perceive upon salvation, it certainly does not fall to us to congratulate ourselves for our own righteous worth.  If anything, we echo the true words of the seasoned apostle, righteous but pained, who cried, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24)

We rely solely upon the Lord for our righteousness, and we daily remain His happy slaves, like Paul and Timothy (Phil. 1:1).  As we remember Christ's gospel, we gird ourselves for service to Him above all, and we apprehend the pollution that always poisons our souls when we dare to elevate our own thoughts and opinions to reside alongside, or even above, God's clear testimonies.  We needed the Lord as unbelievers, and we need Him no less now.

3.  It brings the gospel to the fore of our thinking.  The gospel reminds us of who our God is, and who we are, and it also draws our attention back to the things which make for peace.  How fitting, when our hearts are prostrated before Him, and we have fitted ourselves for His service, that our hearts should be full of His gospel!  Oh, to be gospel-minded as we embark upon our interactions with the world around us!  To be settled in the convictions of our hearts concering His gracious salvation as we meet with people who so desperately need it, and who can, this very day, hear it from our lips!  Not only are we more likely to speak of saving grace when we have been reflecting upon its wonder, but we are more likely to believe in its efficacious strength in that moment, so that our speech does not falter and the weakness of our proclamation does not belie the precious and immeasurable power of the gospel. 

Drink in the riches of your Savior's gospel, my friend.  Drink deeply and daily, and serve your King with a glad and full heart!

Glory Without Love

In the brief history of this blog, we have already made much mention about God's glory - its importance and pre-eminence in the world.  This is not a lament, for indeed, how could the grateful recipients of His perfect and continual grace ever say too much about His glory?  Having said this, it must be acknowledged that we do run a risk of painting a lopsided portrait of our Lord if we prove careless in our rapture. 

Here is the risk.  If everything around us, including evil, has its being so that God may display His glory to tremendous degree (as we posited with almost painful brevity in How Glorious Is Glorious?), then what does this say about the genuineness of His love for us?  If God's goal is to display His glory, does this mean that His love is just a means to that end?  Put simply, does the pre-eminence of His glory diminish the quality of His love?

Three independent lines of thought should converge to offer some certainty in this matter about our loving Father.

1.  God's character is holy.  "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you," says John in 1 John 1:5, "that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."  God is overflowing with moral purity, and, as we know that God does not change (Mal. 3:16, Jas. 1:17), that moral purity is adorned with an impregnable integrity as well.  Put simply, God is holy, and He will never, ever be anything but perfectly holy.  Thus if He has put into His Word that He is love (1 John 4:8), we know that we absolutely must trust in His unimpeachable truthfulness.  He is not something resembling love, but rather love itself! 

He who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) has disclosed Himself indelibly as a God of love, and His bedrock holiness guarantees further that this love is uncorrupted by even the smallest vein of selfishness, impatience, or pride.

2.  The linguistic nature of God's love, as described in the Bible, demonstrates its reality.  God is "abounding in lovingkindness" (Ps. 103:8b, etc.).  "Lovingkindness" here is chesed in the Hebrew, the very idea of which moves beyond mere obligation into the realm of generosity.¹  By no means may we accuse the Lord of doing only the bare minimum in relation to us His children - the very language of His book declares that He goes above and beyond.  The extra mile (or extra lightyear?) which God covers in His faithful love demonstrates that more is at work than merely pretending a loving demeanor.

The New Testament likewise affirms this.  Here, the operative word for love is, of course, agape, with which we are all no doubt familiar, but one exemplary foray into scripture will uncover some exegetical paydirt.  Christ prays to the Father, "and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26) Here Christ declares that the agape love which the Father has for Him will also be directed toward His disciples, and, by extension, the rest of His followers.  If there is weight in God's love toward His own divine Son, then there is also in His love toward us.  This thought should provoke praise from hearts astonished into greater humility; amen? 

3.  The reality of His glory is predicated upon the reality of His love.  Notice how the psalmist describes God revealing His glory (Ps. 98:2-3):
"The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God."

He demonstrates His salvation, His righteousness, His faithfulness, and yes, His lovingkindness, and so shows a generous measure of glory.  Mark this well, though:  God's glory, then, becomes reliant upon the reality of these different outpourings of divine character - His glory is not what it purports to be if, say, His righteousness is a farce, and so forth.  He has therefore tied the actuality of His glory to the truth of His love (and other wondrous things), and were His love a travesty, His glory would fall short - a gold veneer applied to a helium balloon. 


For these reasons, and others like them, we believers may rest in the certainty of divine love.  By no means does God's desire to display His glory diminish the reality of His love - in truth, the glory is seen in the reality of the love!  Our Lord has laid upon our grateful hearts a love so incalculable, so pure, so real, that we are powerless to equal it.  "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are." (1 John 3:1a)

And such we are.



1:  Vine, W.E., Merrill F. Unger, & William White, Jr.  Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996.  p. 142.

Grace and Humility: The Story of the Shepherds

It must have been strange enough from Joseph's perspective, to be standing in a stable as the father to a brand-new Child, the divine Child, laid in a manger for a crib.  But then, to hear quick footfalls and turn to see a group of breathless shepherds, who had obviously been running through the night, stop at this stable and gaze at this Child with a wide-eyed astonishment which all but announced that they had found what they so intently sought - a wholly new experience for this young carpenter, to be sure. 

But then, surely it must have been odd for the shepherds as well, as they stood there, breathing, their hands hanging empty when they had so constantly gripped the rod in careful protection of their now vulnerable flocks.  And now, before them - a family settled into a stable for the night with a newborn laid in a feeding trough.  Who knows but under different circumstances, a chuckle might have escape their lips, or a smirk pulled at their cheeks, to see such a thing? 

Certainly no bemused smiles were to be seen that night, though.  They came not listlessly, but with urgency and purpose:  they sought the Child which the angel of the Lord, blazing the lonely night with the glory of God, had proclaimed to them.  This in itself was a curiosity - the glory displayed through the angelic herald, and through the heavenly host, spoke powerfully of the greatness of the Child.  The angel's description - the promised Messiah, the needed Savior, the proclaimed Lord - would have further assured them that this was a matter of great importance, even if it was not apparent that by "Lord," "Lord of all heaven and earth" was intended.  So they hastened into town, determined to find Jesus (Luke 2:16).

In spite of the majesty and the grandeur which obviously lay within the infant Jesus, the angels did not go up to Jerusalem and proclaim these tidings.  The great kings of the world were not visited.  The religious chiefs of Israel were passed over, in favor of a handful of hardy shepherds of no consequence.  In that day and that time, shepherds were regarded as untrustworthy, unsavory characters, to the point that they were not permitted to testify in court,¹ so it is richly ironic that God should so graciously choose such as them to testify of the arrival of the Savior (Luke 2:17).  These were Christ's first earthly messengers, not clothed in pomp and regality, as befits a king, but in unwashed working clothes.

These shepherds were favored not only with a dazzling vista of divine glory and heavenly joy, but with the offer of staggering grace.  "...For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11; emphasis added) This Jesus would extend the offer of salvation specifically to these shepherds, just as He would specifically to countless others!  One cannot help but be reminded of Colossians 3:11b and its description of our renewal in Christ:  "no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all."  Our heavenly Father impartially adopts us into His family, and we are made brothers and sisters to each other just as truly as we become sons and daughters to Him.  Thus does a simple Roman jailer worship alongside a wealthy Jewish woman in Acts 16, and a prominent Pharisee-turned-apostle draw spiritual comfort from a young believer of mixed parentage in 2 Timothy 4:11.  The gospel is offered to all, and Christ, through His powerful grace, draws His people from all walks of life, to the praise of His name!

That unforgettable night, it was granted finally to the shepherds to visit the Child and gaze upon Him with seeking eyes and wondering hearts.  This brings us back to the beginning.  As they beheld Jesus, one cannot but wonder if the ordinariness of the scene might have assaulted their consciences.  Here was a masterful, anointed Savior from heaven, celebrated by the realm of holiness, and when He came to earth, there was nothing of the glory He so clearly deserved.  He rested His head on straw, and He was attended by sinful parents and sinful shepherds.  Mark this:  any personal excursion into humanity constitutes a relinquishment of indescribable and divine glory for Christ, no matter what the circumstances.  The situation in question, however, represented perhaps one of the greatest descents into humility imaginable.  He came not to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45).  He waded unflinchingly into the thick of humanity. 

Ironically, in so laying aside His glory, Jesus saw His name exalted over all others (Phil. 2:5-9).  At the same time, He also laid down for us an example of the godly attitude which we must emulate as His followers (Phil. 2:5), and herein lies the principle.  Jesus' humility is what afforded humanity His exemplary life, just as His grace is what provided us with His saving death.  How wonderfully both of these are realized through the story of these humble shepherds, crushed by glory as the great Shepherd arrived into their world!



1:  Taken from the Reformation Study Bible note on Luke 2:8 - available under "Show resources" at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%202&version=NASB. 

How Glorious Is Glorious?

God lays waste to the great city of the Antichrist, bringing it and its people to utter and eternal ruin.  His holy servants rejoice at the everlasting punishment to visited upon those wretched adherents:  "Hallelujah!  Her smoke rises up forever and ever." (Rev. 19:3b)

Christ and the disciples see a man blind from birth.  Jesus explains that this man was made blind (by God - Ex. 4:11) "so that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:3b) This long-established plan could not have happened without sin in the world to blight our race. 

God Himself declared, "I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these." (Is. 45:6b-7)

These snapshots from scripture, and many others like them, give us to believe that God is perhaps closer to everything than we might have guessed.  We begin to see, put plainly, that God's plan from eternity past willfully included a sin-soaked world.  While we absolutely cannot, and never should, suggest that God is the author of evil, or the agent of its introduction into our midst, neither can we suppose that God was taken by surprise in Genesis 3, or that He had to change His plan after sin came in.  No; what man means for evil, God means for good (Gen. 50:20).  Not a single purpose of the Lord's goes unaccomplished (Is. 46:10), so we may say that sin surely did not turn the least of His plans aside.  If God is absolutely certain to accomplish all of His intended purposes, we must acknowledge that this means He leaves nothing, absolutely nothing, to chance, so His plans necessarily include sin.

This is tremendously comforting.  If God is sovereign over evil, but is Himself holy, then He has the upper hand in all things, and we may rest securely in His promises.  If, on the other hand, we are sovereign over evil, or perhaps Satan, then this inordinate hole in God's absolute control constitutes a terrifying, and probably condemning, idea.  Evil can best us, but more frightening yet, evil can best God Himself.  Praise Him that this is not so!

But if indeed God is sovereign over evil, as is easily demonstrated by scripture, why should there be evil at all?  We cannot content ourselves with the commonly-held thought that He desires the exercise of human free will, and so evil must be suffered to exist.  We have already made mention of Isaiah 46:10 - God accomplishes all of His purposes, so He must necessarily have created this world, and everything in it, for the fulfillment of His purposes.  There is no room, then, for the preeminence of man's will alongside God's:  only one can reign supreme, and scripture declares that it is God's that does so.  And even if this were not so, if God were reluctant to allow evil into the world, He would not have orchestrated things such that a single sin devastated all things as it did.  God would not have allowed sin to propagate by default into every descendent of Adam and Eve.  He would not have cursed the entire world.  He would not have allowed Job to endure such demonic hardships for no fault of his own.  He certainly would not have chosen to direct a demon to entice Ahab to go into a losing battle in 1 Kings 22, and so forth.  The effect of sin upon the world and upon humanity were decided solely by the Creator, and His decision casts much light on His intentions.

There must be another reason besides that of man's presumed free will.  Paul reminds us of a piece of Old Testament truth:  "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.'" (Rom. 9:17) Pharaoh, that great opposer of God's purposes and God's people, was raised up, and indeed allowed to live (Ex. 9:16) expressly so that, in dealing with his treachery, God could show Himself to be mighty and so spread His fame across the world. 

This is simply astonishing.  As we reel from the implications, Paul goes further:  "What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" (Rom. 9:22)  So the display of God's wrath enters the equation, as well as that of His patience.  Yet again, and most tremendously:  " And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory." (Rom. 9:23)

Glory!  As believers, can our hearts help but quicken at the mere mention of this word in connection with our Lord?  This is the heart of the matter, friend.  How can God show His merciful disposition?  In the forgiveness of sinners; mercy has no more immediate value in a sinless world than a candle in the hot sun.  It would be admirable, but not necessary, and certainly not understood.  How can He display perfect patience?  In not destroying us inherently wicked humans where we stand!  And what of His justice?  He must hold all of this world of evil to His just standards, and pour out His just wrath for His children upon His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to see that justice satiated.  And would we know the strength of His power without His conquest of evil, even the very evil in our own hearts? 

Grace, power, justness, wrath, patience, and so on - these are mere words until we see them come alive in the glorious deeds of our great God.  We should not understand them at all, but for our fallen, wretched existence.  The working of evil, although loathsome to God in every respect, is the backdrop against which the manifold triumphs of His perfect and unchanging character are thrown into brilliant and razor-sharp relief.  The Lord has actively included evil in His all-encompassing purposes, not because He loves it, but because He hates it with a prostrating, vengeful, eternal vigor, and He desires that His creation understand Him in this way - there is immense anger and immense power, but from this fearsome understanding we survey also the vastness of His mercy and love.

In a sentence, He makes His glory the most important thing in the universe.  Being perfectly righteous, God does this because it is wholly fitting that we should cherish and worship the unimaginable perfections which reside, solely and eternally, in Him.  Who could be more worthy of our attention, our devotion, and our allegiance than He?  Thus He does great things, things that muzzle human pride and arrest human strength, because He seeks to unveil "the riches of His glory." 

Evil exists because God, in His glorious wisdom, has decided that He may work against it and so show His glory.  Some may balk at such a thought, apparent though it is in His book.  They say, "Are you telling me that all the pain and all the death and all the cruelty that have ever existed in this age have their existence simply so that God can show who He is?"  To this, a simple "Yes!" will do.

It is dangerous, friend, to question God's omniscient prerogatives.  Such an attitude as this reveals that we have already formed an opinion, altogether too low, about the importance of God's glory, and have in fact allowed this opinion to shape our philosophy.  We say, in effect, "God's glory is not great enough for this world of evil in which we live."  How sadly backwards is this thinking!  We must come at things from the opposite standpoint:  the Bible says that God has suffered evil to propagate into this world, according to His longstanding decree, in order that He might be far more strongly glorified.  Rather than looking about us and scoffing the sheer impossibility of this, we must look about us and conclude that God's glory must simply be far, far more glorious than we had ever imagined, and far, far stronger than we had ever considered.  What effect might this realization have upon our perception of the Lord, or upon our attitude toward our own lives and hardships? 


Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.  He said,

"Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."

- Job 1:20-21