Sometimes the Bible surprises us by explaining things differently than how our natural instincts would like. In the case of Psalm 119:75, there are two words that we might not think of together:
“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”
How often do we associate God’s faithfulness with affliction? Don’t we usually associate it with our blessings? Yet there it is: “in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”
Earlier, in verse 71, David wrote:
“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”
Then he says the benefit he gets from learning this is more than “thousands of gold and silver pieces”. Since we benefit from discipline, would God be unfaithful if He did not discipline us? Or do we only consider Him faithful when things seem to go well?
“My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:11-12
He is faithful, always. Even in affliction. Perhaps especially.
What do you think of when you think of a conscience? For some it’s the image from old cartoons of a person with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each giving competing moral advice. That image is funny partly because it might not be far from the truth.
For some, a conscience is a “moral compass” – that internal voice that helps us distinguish right from wrong. While this is another good image for a conscience, we have new technology now. We use GPS now, and when I think of a conscience, the voice of my GPS comes to mind. Let me explain.
A compass is too simple a metaphor. The voice of our conscience is not usually like a clear sign or bright, flashing lights pointing the way (although God can use whatever means He chooses). In my experience, a conscience is more like a broken GPS system, that has many voices, not just one, like a real GPS. Not that we’re all “hearing voices,” but since our conscience is giving us directions, a voice seems a good metaphor. You could call it an influence or something else. Anyway, some of the voices tell us to go places we shouldn’t and not to go places we should, and some of them lead us the right way. We find ourselves weighing the pros and cons of these multiple voices. For every decision we make, there’s a reason we make it, and often we don’t explicitly think about why. It could be something we learned from our culture, our family, our education, or from anything we’ve experienced. It might come from something we saw or listened to recently, or many years ago. It could also be something we just invented ourselves. But it’s there, trying to influence us.
Now not everyone has the same voices in their conscience. For someone who isn’t a Christian, their GPS considers all the factors it has, and they make decisions as they see fit by prioritizing among the influences. But for a Christian, salvation requires realizing our GPS is fundamentally broken, trusting someone who knows how to fix it, and then striving to follow the new instructions. When this happens, a Christian gets an added feature in their internal GPS – a new voice. This voice is the Holy Spirit, but it doesn’t become the only voice, it just adds one more competing voice to the cacophony. However, the Spirit is the only voice that can be trusted to guide us to the right destination 100% of the time.
As we make decisions in the world, each of us try to follow the advice of our conscience, but we must remember that our consciences are broken until we reach heaven. Many voices work hard to influence us, and any voice that we follow into disobedience from God can be considered an idol for us. Only the Holy Spirit speaks with the wisdom needed for us to fulfill our purpose as individuals made in God’s image.
However you think of what a conscience is, let Him rule it, and “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” – 1 Peter 3:15a
Then you can have a clean conscience, whatever you do.
When comparing Genesis and Revelation, we find similarities between the Paradise man lost and the Paradise to come. Consider these verses about each:
Genesis 2:8-9: “And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.” Revelation 22:1-2: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
A stream in Llanberis, Wales.
In each description is the tree of life, and also a river. Rivers are greatly beneficial to the growth of cities and civilizations, providing benefits for agriculture, trade, travel, etc. Even today, most large cities that don’t border a large body of water have a navigable river nearby or flowing through it. A big city without one is rare: in the United States, Dallas, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina, may be the only major cities not located near a significant river.
Rivers are mentioned a lot in the Bible, including in this Psalm about God being our refuge and fortress. An unnamed river in the “city of God” is mentioned:
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” (Psalm 46:4)
However, Jerusalem, the place Jews in the Old Testament period would have considered the “city of God” does not have a river. The Psalmist certainly knew this, so their point is about something else, that the “city of God” has, well, it has God, as described in the next verses:
“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” (Psalm 46:5-7)
Jerusalem may not have a river, but it has God who provides all it needs and more. No river required. Even though the literal, ancient Jerusalem was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians, and later by the Romans, the eternal City of God will never be moved. All other nations “rage” and “totter,” but God’s kingdom is forever secured by the One whose voice melts the earth. Hebrews 1:10-12 (quoting from Psalm 102:25-27):
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Do you worry that you lack things others have? Things that would provide benefits for your business, spare time, or other pursuits? With God as our fortress and refuge, we don’t need a river, but in Paradise He will provide one anyway.
If you asked a random non-Christian to cite a Bible verse, not quote, but just cite a chapter and verse, there’s a good chance they’d say John 3:16. It’s as good a summary of the gospel as one verse can provide, and it’s one of the verses I’ve quoted the most on this blog. In response to a reader suggestion, I’ve figured out what Bible verses I’ve used the most and am writing a series about those verses. Today’s post is #3 of the series, covering the verse quoted the 3rd least out of the 10 most quoted:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Reading back over the posts where this verse has appeared, I see three ideas I tried to share: what God’s love means for us, what love has to do with “eternal life”, and what “world” God loves.
The first idea is that we would all be eternally lost if not for God’s love. Since we all fall short of God’s standards, what we deserve is to be banished from God’s presence forever. In His holiness, He can’t be near us, and in His justice, He must judge our sins. However, Romans 5:8 tells us: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Without God’s love we would always be sinners, but because of His love, we have a way back to a right relationship with our God. In one post here, I wrote “Christianity is not judgement, but the only way of escape from it.”
Second, what is this “eternal life” that we can have because God loves us? I’ve written that “If man had not rejected love, Christianity wouldn’t be necessary; but also, if Christianity does not restore mankind to agape love, it’s pointless.” When we are brought back into a right relationship with God, it puts us on an inevitable course toward a new world where we will all love perfectly, as Jesus loved perfectly. Unless heaven is going to be full of loving people, it’s not going to be the perfect place that God is preparing for us. So, “eternal life”, given to us because of God’s love, is our future, perfect selves living with God for eternity. The possibility of this is so amazing that God decided it was worth dying for!
Last, I’ve also written that “when I’m struggling to face the world as I see it, I ask about [John] 3:16, ‘Exactly which world did Jesus love enough to die for?’ The answer is this one. The world He died for is the one where sex, anger, bitter tribalism, and political partisanship sells. The one with a lot of sarcastic, angry, and bitter people. The one with a lot of people who are more like us than we’d usually like to admit.” God didn’t love a world full of His people because without His love, He would have no people. He loved a world full of sinners, as Romans 5:8 told us. If God had decided that this world was hopelessly lost, He wouldn’t have bothered to send Jesus to give it hope.
This is the same world that God calls us to love, and to bring hope in the name of Jesus. While we are in this world, God is already making us like Him, more loving, and in sharing that love with others we share a hope in a world where love is all there is.
So, remember, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Do you ever clap for God? Maybe we’ve clapped during a worship song or after a speech or sermon, but do we just clap for God because He’s God and we’re joyful about it? Psalm 47:1 tells us to:
“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”
Ok, but should we, really? After verse 1 above, verse 2 begins with “For…”, a transition which usually means the writer is about to give us reasons for the thing previously mentioned, which is that we should praise God with clapping and shouts of joy. So, seeing the “For…” we should ask “Why should we praise God?” and expect an answer in the next verses, which say:
“For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah”
Each of the 3 verses gives us reasons to clap our hands and shout in praise. First, these verses remind us He is “king over all the earth.” There are many authorities in the world, and many authorities we follow. We have governments that rule us, cultures that influence us, and even spiritual forces that strive to pull us away from God. But, however high and mighty these other authorities may be, only the Lord is “Most High”, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. While every other authority is flawed and can lead us astray, He is not and does not. This is a cause for a clap of praise!
The next verse reminds us that He has overcome many opposing people and nations in the past:
“He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.”
To its original audience, this probably referred to God’s victory over Egypt at the Red Sea, or the conquest of Canaan, however it can be read more broadly as God’s victory over any nation that seeks to rival Him. Consider the Roman Empire, which to many at that time seemed like it ruled the entire world. Roman emperors such as Nero and Diocletian tried to stamp out Christianity forcefully and violently, but in 410 AD, Germanic tribes would sack the city of Rome and eventually overthrow the empire. No nation will outlast or overrule the reign of God. This also is a cause for praise!
Lastly, verse 4 reminds us that however our circumstances might look to us, He loves us, provides for us, and will give us eternal refuge:
“He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah”
Being chosen by God is infinitely better than winning the lottery or anything else we might hope for in this world. We might say we’ve won the spiritual lottery, only it was not won by chance, but by the favor of the Lord. Our inheritance, our heritage, is guaranteed by Him. Another reason to praise Him! So…
“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 