Tag Destiny

Home is Where God Is

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Only one of the 150 Psalms is written by Moses (Psalm 90), and it begins with this verse:

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

Moses lived a long life in many places, starting in Egypt, fleeing to Midian, returning to Egypt, then leading the exodus from Egypt, and spending 40 years wandering the wilderness on the Sinai Peninsula.  However, Moses died without entering the Promised Land of Canaan.

Moses had many earthly dwelling places yet was never home.  He tells us in Psalm 90:1, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”  Why?  Moses knows that the only true dwelling place of God’s people is with the Lord Himself. 

As long as we are on this earth, we are “sojourners and exiles”[1] Only in the next world are we, and His people “in all generations,” from Adam to Moses to now and into the future, finally home with Him.

[1] 1 Peter 2:11

A Better Country

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In Hebrews chapter 11 there is a list of Biblical figures who “by faith” were obedient to God, but it also says that, in this life, their faith was not fully rewarded.  Everyone mentioned in the chapter “died in faith, cnot having received the things promised”[1]  But these faithful examples knew that God wouldn’t fail them.  In this world, they would be unfulfilled, “but as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”[2]

Their obedience was motivated not by current, earthly reward, but by future rewards in a new heaven and new earth.  Although Peter tells us “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you,”[3] Paul wrote “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”[4]  In this world, we will have trials and experience persecution, which means that much of what a Christian has to be thankful for is in the future.

However, our faithful actions can be motivated by a future hope, just as those listed in Hebrews 11 were.  Because of the unchanging character of God, and His faithfulness, we can be so sure of our heavenly future that we can be thankful for it now.  God promises “a better country” and He is trustworthy.

Do we desire this “better country”?  While we wander in this world, do we believe that “a better country” is possible?  Do we believe God when He says He has promised us our place in it?  Jesus said “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”[5]

If we trust God for our future in eternity, we have much more to live for and to be thankful for than we have right now!  When you count your blessings, don’t forget the ones in the future that you can count on.

“Desire a better country.”

[1] Hebrews 11:13a
[2] Hebrews 11:16a
[3] 1 Peter 4:12
[4] Romans 8:18
[5] John 14:2

Disappointed by God?

Todd R 2 Comments

Do you ever feel disappointed by God?  Does your experience of Him sometimes not match your expectations?  We might wonder where God is in our everyday lives.  We may wonder whether we can really trust Him, and we’re probably more likely to feel this way when bad things happen.  The Bible tells us in Romans 8:28 –

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Paul (author of Romans) says he knows this, but do we always?  Do we trust that good comes from “all things”?  And when we don’t see good come, how do we react?

We might think good things are not happening to us because we don’t “love God” enough, so we might blame ourselves.  Maybe we think that some things “just happen” and have no purpose.  Maybe over time we learn to think most things are like that?  We might think Paul didn’t really mean what he wrote about God.

It’s natural to want “good” things.  We may want more money, a better job, better relationships, more possessions, and think that when bad things happen, it’s just a matter of time before some corresponding blessing comes along, because God is supposed to work through “all things” for our good. But when it seems like He doesn’t we might feel disappointed.  What are we missing?

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Could it be that the problem is with our expectations of God, not with God Himself?  For example, do we misunderstand what “good” “things work together for”?  Is our definition of “good” the same as His?

Think about what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26 “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

It is not necessarily God’s intention to make us “good” by “worldly standards.”  His standards are different, and He doesn’t want us to value the worldly wisdom, which tells us it is “good” to be “powerful” or to be “noble” or even “wise” in the world’s eyes.  God has more important things in mind.

So, what is the “good” that everything works towards?  Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, which comes right after the earlier verse about how “all things work together for good”:

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” – Romans 8:29

The “good” that God works for is our conformity to the image of Christ.  Not our pre-conceived definition of “good” based on our values, or the world’s.    He won’t use “all things” to give us more of what the world thinks is important.

What does it mean to be conformed to the image of Jesus?  In Jesus we see the perfect image of the love of God, described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 like this:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”

So, God, through “all things,” works to make us more patient and kinder.  Less envious, boastful, arrogant and rude.  He makes us less insistent on our own way, and therefore less irritable and resentful.

Therefore, we might have to change what we value.  We must modify our priorities.  Anything that happens to us, whether we consider it “good” or not, God can use to make us more like Christ.  More like the person we will be in heaven.  More like the person we should want to be.  Then God will not disappoint us.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

The Scale of Our Trials

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The apostle Paul begins 2 Corinthians with the usual greeting, followed by a section on the comfort God provides us when we suffer or are afflicted for Christ’s sake.  2 Corinthians 1:5 makes this statement: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

On that verse, Charles Spurgeon wrote this analogy: “The Ruler of Providence bears a pair of scales—in this side He puts His people’s trials, and in that He puts their consolations. When the scale of trial is nearly empty, you will always find the scale of consolation in nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials is full, you will find the scale of consolation just as heavy.”[1]

Therefore, when living for Christ brings trouble and opposition, remember also that our Father is ruler of all and fully intends to share His comfort with us through Christ eternally.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18

[1] From “February 12” of Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning commentary

“The Sea was No More”

Todd R 1 Comment

  One of my favorite places to be is the ocean.  I love the roar of the waves and the feel of the sand.  I love catching waves with a boogie board or just bodysurfing.  Being in the ocean is my “happy place.”  But will it be that for me in heaven?  Will it be like that, only better, or will it be something completely different?

The Bible doesn’t provide us with a lot of specifics about what the afterlife will be like, but the Apostle John’s vision in Revelation 21:1 says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”  Once upon a time, that last phrase – “the sea was no more” – bothered me a little bit.  How could one of my favorite things on earth not exist in heaven?

Two thoughts have gotten me over that, and I’m no longer bothered by it.

Chaos

First, that “the sea was no more” may not be literal.  What does that mean?  While the sea was part of God’s original creation and declared “very good”, later it is described as a source of chaos and evil, where Leviathan lives and the serpent emerges.  In ancient times, the sea was seen as chaotic and dangerous.  It was something to be feared and avoided.  In Canaan and other ancient societies, many believed there were gods over the sea and when the sea became stormy and unruly, it meant those gods needed to be appeased.  Therefore, when we see Moses parting the sea, or see Jesus calming the sea in a storm, or even walking on the sea, we are seeing God’s power over not only the chaos and disorder of the literal and the figurative sea, but also His power over the supposed Canaanite gods.  In that pantheon, Baal was the storm god and Asherah, the goddess of the sea, was his consort.  So, if “the sea was no more” is meant figuratively, John’s vision tells us that in heaven the sea will no longer be a fearful and dangerous symbol of chaos and death.  Whatever ‘gods’ we imagine rule the sea will be conquered.  The chaos that the sea symbolizes will not exist at all: the entire world will be ordered according to God’s perfect will and mankind’s work to make the whole earth like Eden.  “The sea was no more” is a good thing.

The second thought is that if God says a perfect world has no literal sea, I need to trust Him.  I don’t get to choose what’s in heaven and what isn’t, but God does and is infinitely more qualified to make that decision!  While the images of heaven we get in the Bible are obscure and difficult to understand, they do make it clear that heaven will be more amazing and glorious than anything we could imagine, or that we could achieve ourselves.  “The sea was no more” is a good thing again.

So, whatever your favorite things are here on earth, God has something much better in mind.  It will be the “very good” world He intended from the beginning, no matter what our expectations of it are or what we’d wish it to be.  It will the perfect “happy place” for all of God’s people.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”