Who Is Trustworthy

God is the God of righteousness, holiness, and truth.  There is nothing in the world that does more harm to human beings than unrighteousness, unholiness, and untruthfulness.  Jesus said it was "truth," when known, that would make people free (See John 8:32).  It wasn't a new thought with Jesus.  It was a thought rooted and grounded in the Old Testament.  It was a foundational thought with Moses as he prepared to die and to turn the reigns of leadership of Israel over to the next generation.

           

In his parting messages to the people Moses told them to pay attention to His prophets and to do what they called the people to do.  This raised the question of how to discern whether or not someone was really a prophet of God .  How would the people know a true prophet?  How do we know when someone is really speaking the truth of God?  It is easy to say words, but how do we know they are true words? 

           

For the people of Israel the test was somewhat simple.  If the words spoken by the so-called prophet did not come to pass, that person was determined to be a false prophet, and was not to be followed.  Sometimes it took a while to discern the truth because words were spoken and give opportunity to be fulfilled.

           

Moses said to Israel that God was going to "raise up a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; you shall listen to him" (Deut. 18:15).  We Christians believe the One God raised up is no one less than Jesus, the Messiah. In John 12:49-50 Jesus said, ^"For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

           

The beautiful thing about Jesus is that He brings to us the Word of the Father.  In John 10:30 Jesus said, "The Father and I are one."  There is no discrepancy between the Son and the Father.  A holy, righteous, and truthful God came among us in Jesus the holy, righteous, and truthful Son.  He can be trusted.  You can build your life on Him.

HOPE

 

C. S. Lewis wrote, “Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”

Hope enables us to live fully alive in the present.  When one loses hope, death is not far behind. So it is the Psalmist wrote of hope when he spoke of God saying things like, "There is forgiveness with You…In His word do I hope…With the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption" (Psalm 130).

The psalmist was in the place of pain and suffering, "the depths," he called it.  He knew he needed God, and he knew he didn't deserve God.  Still he prays, "Lord, hear my voice!"  From the depths he didn't run away from God but to God.  He didn't bail out on God, but opened his heart wide to God.  He didn't give up or give in; he simply embraced the God of his hope, and decided that the future rests with those who trust in God. 

Instead of throwing in the towel he turned to God with a dogged determination.  As a watchman late in the night waits for the morning light, the psalmist waited for God.  He may be in the depths tonight, but tonight is not Lord.  God is His Lord.  The last word hasn't yet been spoken.  "The depths," will not be the last chapter.  He will live tonight and tomorrow in the hopeful expectation that with God "is abundant redemption."  That is enough.  Rather, HE is enough.

And Word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent (I Samuel 3:1). A sobering thought, isn't it? It was a somewhat quiet time in Israel, not too much going on, for good or ill. The silence of God, however, can depict a problem on the listening end of things; not always mind you, but it can indicate slothfulness in obedience and laziness in zeal for God.

In Israel's case the silence of God indicated a time of inner rebellion and what came to be a crying out to have a king like all the other kingdoms had. God wasn't enough for them. They wanted a king and a palace and all the trappings of a monarchy. God will give them that for which they seek, but in preparation for it, He comes into the story one quiet night and speaks; speaks of all things to a young child, a boy by the name of Samuel.

Three times, Samuel heard the voice but didn't know it was God's voice. Finally, his mentor, Eli, discerned that it must be God's voice, and he counseled the child to listen carefully again and that, if the voice should call him again, he should say, "Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening" (I Sam. 3:9).

And, that's what Samuel did. He said, "Speak, for Your servant is listening." That response opened the door for God to use Samuel for the rest of his life in wonderful and astounding ways. He anointed Saul as Israel's first king. When Saul forfeited his kingship because of rebellion, Samuel was the one who saw in David the man of God's choosing to be the next king, the king through whom the Messiah would eventually come.

It was when the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord that God entered into the story and called him. May God help us to be caught up in ministering and living for God so that in our day should he choose to call our name we will hear His voice and say from our heart of hearts, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening."

A Setting-Free God

We Christians believe Jesus is the Servant-Messiah. We believe Jesus is God’s response to the deepest needs of the human heart. In Jesus the deepest needs of our lives are met; they are met with a tenderness that leaves us stunned and amazed.

Isaiah says of the Servant, "A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (3). In the Servant God doesn’t push and shove. He doesn’t demand His pound of flesh. He doesn’t bark orders like a drill sergeant. He draws near and embraces. Isaiah 40:11 says, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

As Christians we believe our God is a setting-free God, but we also know that setting-free is a difficult business because we humans are a broken and damaged people who act strong but know we really aren’t, who look great but know we really aren’t as great as we look. This makes redemption a real challenge because in telling us the truth about ourselves and holding us accountable, God must not so handle us that we get lost in despair. If His goal is redemption He must come within our fractured lives and show us the way to healing and redemption.

So Jesus comes gently, quietly, lovingly to open the prison doors and the self-dug dungeons of our lives. The past does not have to control the future. The future can be defined by what God has done for us in Christ. The past may be awful; the future can be stamped with the glory of God. God says, “Now I declare new things” (Is. 42:9).

What new thing does God want to bring to pass in your life just because He loves you? Can you accept the fact that God accepts you? Will you receive a new future, one shaped and formed by amazing grace?

“It is good,” says the ancient poet, “to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is becoming” (Psalm 147:1). Why is it the poet reaches this conclusion? He answers the question himself when he says, “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite” (vs. 5).

This would be enough but when one adds the personal concern of this God who is “Great,” it becomes amazing and magnificent. The Psalmist says of God that He “heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds….The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground” (vs. 3-6).

God is not distant and removed from our lives. He is a God who draws near in our pain and heals broken hearts and wounded lives. He is Sovereign over all, and unites His own life with our lives with divine-size strength and understanding.

We live in a dangerous world where bad things happen everyday, senseless things that leave us bewildered and perplexed. It is the fruit of living in a broken and fallen world. Still, God does not abandon us. He comes to us in the baby of Bethlehem and inundates Himself into history, so that, in time, He will take our pain and suffering, our sins and humanity, and die upon a cross “for Adam’s helpless race.”

“Amazing love! How can it be?"