Good Friday

From an email to my girls this evening~

Today, my scheduled Bible reading landed in Jeremiah 7 through 11. In this portion, Israel, the chosen and beloved people of God, has repeatedly forsaken him for evil pleasures, including idol worship, adultery, and child sacrifice (not so very different from our own country, hmmm?). Jeremiah is sent by God to tell the people that they have literally left God with no choice but to severely punish them and purge their sin from among them by allowing them to be brutally conquered and slaughtered by their enemies. They respond with half-hearted repentance, but their attitude is more like a shrugging-of-the-shoulders, implying that God is a meany and would punish them no mater what they do. Not true. Their persistent rebellion brought their own condemnation upon them. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap (Gal. 6:7).

This is a matter of serious consideration for us. Sin's consequences are grievous, for all sin is a terrible offense against a perfect, just, and holy God. We cannot fully comprehend what holiness is, for we are without it. Any righteousness, any goodness, any holiness, is imparted through Christ, and found only in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit after repentance and belief in Jesus' atoning death, burial, and resurrection as the substitutionary sacrifice in our guilty place--the place of dishonor, unholiness, and worthy of punishment for our sins. "The wages of sin is death." "Your sin will find you out." The Bible is very clear about the result of rebellion against God. Sin begets death, pain, misery, strife, fear, anger, jealousy, hatred, self-love, distrust, pride, lust, greed, and on and on the list goes. It is an ever-descending spiral to hell, literally. Such is our fate apart from Christ.

But, today is not called "Good Friday" for no reason. It is a good day--a most excellent, wondrous, glorious day for all mankind. Today we remember with special remembrance that God stepped into the gap between our unworthy, defiled, unlovable selves and his holy, majestic completeness--and he became like us, in a body like ours, to love us, heal us, and die for us to pay the debt we ought to have paid, a debt that deserved no less than the eternal outpouring of the wrath of God. He bridged that abyss, he loved us when we were unlovable, he called us when we hated him, and he healed us when we were beyond human healing. He saved us, literally. Do not forget this grace, this favor, this unmerited affection and kindness, this benevolence that came to us, who were so undeserving and wretched. It is his grace that saves. Repentance and belief is the appropriate response from any human who has ears to hear and eyes to see and understand the truth of such love. For those who would deny that wickedness that dwells in their own hearts, those who would stop up their ears and turn away their eyes from the light, they, like the Israelites of Jeremiah's day, have damned themselves by rejecting the grace they need so desperately.

Remember what it is you have been saved from, and always think, "But for the grace of God, there go I." Beware of pride. Remember who we are apart from Christ--despised, guilty, and worthy of all condemnation. Remember who you are in Christ Jesus--a new creation, and the beloved bride of Jesus himself. An adopted child of the Most High God, grafted into his Church by grace, sweet grace. And rejoice in such a remembrance, no matter what your present circumstances may be.

That is all, dear ones. Good night, on this Good Friday.
Love, B

But It Sounded So Good

 From my email to the girls this morning . . .

Good morning, girls!

In addition to your daily email from your sisters, I recommend signing up for either (or both) of these two devotional emails, called "Tough Questions with RC Sproul" and "Essential Truths of the Christian Faith." You can sign up for these emails here: http://www.biblegateway.com/newsletters/. There are a lot of newsletters to choose from, but I have found these to be the best. Don't sign up for too many, or you will get inundated with emails, and then you won't read them (this is the voice of experience speaking).

This morning I read from 1 Samuel chapters 6 through 10. It is an interesting account of the ark of God causing all sorts of problems for the Philistines who had captured it (the ark brought divine judgments of tumors and rodents to plague the Philistines), and how they at last sent it away, back to the Israelites to rid themselves of its curse. It's interesting; while reading this story through today's culture's mindset, it sounds like a magical fairy tale. Tumors? Mice? Curses? It sounds silly, but it was not silly at all. It was the means by which God chose to interact with the peoples of that era, in that time and place, to make manifest his power. Even the Philistines, a pagan God-hating nation, acknowledged the greatness of his power and their utter helplessness before him.

Also in these chapters is the account of the people of Israel's complaint against God, demanding a king like other nations. Last week I mentioned how God told the prophet Samuel to acknowledge the people's request, because their hearts had turned not against Samuel, but against God. Today, I read how God chose a young man from a lowly tribe and a lowly clan, a young man who was just out looking for some lost donkeys; God selected him to become the king of Israel. This whole account has a sorrowful undertone to it. What could have been  joyous occasion, the rising of a leader chosen by God, is tainted because it arises from circumstances of hardened hearts and rebellion against God as their all-sufficient Ruler.

The Bible specifically mentions that Saul was young and extraordinarily handsome in appearance, and all the people in the land only came to his shoulders in height. He was a tall, imposing figure, one who was winsome and would easily garner followers. In these early stages of forming a kingship, Saul seems to be open to the word of the Lord, accepting direction from Samuel and willing to obey the Lord's command. In fact, the Holy Spirit rushed upon him, overpowered him, and he prophesied with the prophets, thereby giving a shocking proof to stunned onlookers that the God of the Israelites had indeed chosen him and set him apart. The Bible explicitly says that Saul received a "new heart" at this time.

From the surface, it looks so promising. But in my heart, I read this account, and it's almost as if I hear a mournful violin solo in the background, sad, crying for the loss of the people's love for their God. Saul begins so well, but in a few short years, he too will forsake the God who raised him up. Soon, Israel will be swallowed up in rebellion, sin, oppression, contention . . . and the beautiful picture of a nation led by faith in their living God will be lost.

Ch 10, v. 24: And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

And so their hearts turned away from the only One who could lead them in the paths of life. It is sad. It is painful to read about. But it is placed in Scripture, an inspired account, for our instruction. It is a warning: there is no human leader incapable of falling away. There is no man who can redeem a people. There is no president, no government, no patriotic social movement, no elected or appointed official who can lift the curse that reigns in darkened hearts. There is only one Man, the Son of Man, by whose name we can be saved, the Man Jesus Christ, who is both Lord and Savior of all who believe in him by faith. "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me."

Dwell on these thoughts, dear girls, let them penetrate into your heart and lodge there, making you mindful of your own heart's attitude toward the One who rules supreme above all earthly powers, the One who raises nations up and tears nations down, the One who directs the hearts of kings like rivers of water in His hands.

Love,

~Brenna

. . . Coram Deo . . .
"Living before the face of God"