When the Heavens are Silent

 

Monday, November 29, 2021

This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.  I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.  Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.  They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?  From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”  They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.  Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.  And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire.  They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.  But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends:  A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.  On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.  But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.  And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.  2 Peter 3:1-14

Peter, ever the blunt, no-nonsense communicator, stated his case right out of the opening gate…he wanted to stimulate wholesome thinking, and remind his flock of what’s coming (judgment), how mocking fools act towards the holy, and how people who would be godly must act.  Peter leaves little wiggle room for waffling.

Then he used that phrase that has stuck in a lot of minds:  a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day…with the LORD.  It’s clear the flock were constantly bleating about how long their suffering seemed, and questioning the Apostle why it was so.  And why it should be.  And why God was silent on the issue.

And the answer, both in heaven, and to earth, is the same – PATIENCE!  We on earth, whether suffering, or weary, or just plain eager for the coming of the LORD to clean up the mess…should be patient.  On the other hand, God IS patient; He’s long-suffering the sins of the earth, giving all who would be lost time to repent and be saved.  So, it’s not a flaw in God’s compassion – rather the fact that He is patiently withholding judgment is a demonstration of His compassionate grace. 

So Peter, virtually exploding with grace and the compassion of Jesus Christ, booms-forth the message…live godly lives…the judgment is coming, and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of history when that hits!  Accept Christ now and be saved.  There’s a life full of righteousness and joy awaiting; don’t miss it!

For You Today

If you’re human, there’s a tendency to whine to God about how tough things are here.  It’s advisable to bring your troubles to God…but remember Who is the judge, and who needs mercy. 

He’s not silent for no reason…our need of repentance is the reason.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this text see A Prayer From the Hourglass

The Road that Leads Home

 

Monday, August 24, 2020

Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you?  Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?  But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself.  For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will judge everyone according to what they have done.  He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.  But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.  Romans 2:4-8

For some people, the word “home” is not a warm and fuzzy safe kind of word; it’s more like a red flag that brings painful images, memories of abuse.  It wasn’t supposed to be that way, but the truth is all too stark to ignore, and the scars won’t let you totally forget. 

My experience is just the opposite.  My parents were not wealthy; I guess you could say we were middle class, somewhere just above the poverty line.  At times we ate a LOT of potatoes because it was easier to feed a family of four that way.  One area of the Brownworth home where wealth flowed generously was in kindness.  For me, the road leading back home was always a welcome road, a place of good memories with a strong pull towards the open door.

When I think back on that I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my mind around why I rebelled against the faith that so graciously helped form that good home and childhood.  I did exactly what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church…lived for myself, refusing to obey the truth.   

In my case this wasn’t illegal stuff, like being a bank robber or a serial killer.  Rather it was just leaving God out of my life, trying to build a little kingdom of my own.  It was my choices, my happiness, my way that mattered, not God.  I had no drive to be the next king, or president.  I just wanted to be left alone to do what I wanted to do.

What eventually turned me back to the road that leads home is also what Paul wrote, about how patiently God waits for us; it is a loving patience that doesn’t approve of willfulness, but graciously waits like the father of the prodigal son.

My goal, as a pastor, has always been to help the churches with which I’ve served create an atmosphere of gracious waiting.  What I’ve found out about that is you cannot be that unless you’re intentional about it.  It’s not easy to wait.  But, oh, how it’s worth it.  The Apostle Paul overflowed with joy and thanksgiving for the faithfulness of the people to which he’d ministered; their responding to his letters with responsible service to Christ filled Paul’s heart with grateful thanksgiving.

I think there are but two components to waiting as a loving parent:

·       Speaking Truth in Love

Paul never hesitated to tell the truth.  My parents were a study in this.  They were gracious, but never patronizing.  In the end, the road that leads back to a home worthy of wanting to go home, is never false; only truth is a worthy foundation.

·       Readiness to Welcome

Once the Apostle spoke truth, a hard truth, particularly, he was then willing to be a silent waiter – with open arms.  That waiting, hard as it is, is necessary, because, especially in my case, truth takes a while to weed-out what needs to go. 

Sometime back I bought some inferior grass and weed killer.  It made claims of being the best.  You could see some results in a few hours, but two weeks later the weeds were back.  Lesson learned!  When I paid the price of using the good stuff, it took a few days to see the results, but those weeds were evicted; they must’ve gone into witness protection, because nobody’s heard from them in a while.

For You Today

Readiness to welcome back the one who travels the road home (to God) is like using the good stuff of truth and waiting.  You want results right away, but time is required, and God is faithful. 

So, don’t be in a hurry; instead, as you wait, be in prayer.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on activating your faith, see The God of Equal Opportunity and

                                      While You’re Waiting for God to Answer Series:  Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 and Part 4 and Part 5

 

From Eternity to Eternity

 

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.  Gather the nations together!  Assemble the peoples of the world!  Which of their idols has ever foretold such things?  Which can predict what will happen tomorrow?  Where are the witnesses of such predictions?  Who can verify that they spoke the truth?  “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.  “You are my servant.  You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God.  There is no other God—there never has been, and there never will be.  I, yes I, am the Lord, and there is no other Savior.  First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world.  No foreign god has ever done this.  You are witnesses that I am the only God,” says the Lord.  “From eternity to eternity I am God.  No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.  No one can undo what I have done.”  Isaiah 43:8-13

The prophet is taking his beloved kinsman to task (as most prophets did!).  Their history was unmistakably orchestrated by the sovereign will of Jehovah, Creator of the universe and all it holds.  Yet, they had somehow forgotten that, and taken the seemingly more convenient approach of accepting their neighbors’ gods.  It was “convenient” in the sense of going along, to get along.  It is easier, in the short run, to  surrender truth to those who only believe what denies the facts.  But, in the long run, you eventually run into….God, specifically, the one, true, living God.  Everything else is an idol. 

Isaiah reminded Israel they were supposed to be faith-believing witnesses of the God Who stretches from eternity past through eternity present and future.  There is no time when God did not exist or rule the universe, and that includes forever, as well as today.

So, the question for Israel, for us, for anyone, is:

When does it ever make sense to trust in anyone but God?

Consider this picture; a 7-year-old boy was delivered from his mother’s womb.  She and the dad fed, diapered, and loved him.  They trained him to walk and talk.  They taught him to act like a human…sort of.

One day the dad took his son to work with him at the nuclear reactor energy plant.  He showed him all the dials, levers, gauges, and control panels that ran the place.  He showed the boy how, when he flipped a switch, things buzzed, moved, and either turned on or off.  He even let his son get in on the fun, allowing him to flip one switch that returned electricity to a neighborhood that had been powerless due to a storm.  The emergency crew had finished their repairs, and the boy was permitted to flip the switch, and voilà, there was light!  

Well, as 7-year-olds are wont, the young man decided he wanted more of a good thing.  If it was fun to press one switch that turned on thousands of lights, there must be plenty more where that came from!  So, in his newfound joy of turning dials, switches, handles and control panel buttons, he began running around touching everything. 

I do not need to carry this imagined scenario any further.  A seven-year-old, turned loose near the controls of a nuclear reactor is a tragedy just waiting to be written (assuming, of course, anyone lives through the day).

Imagine Israel as the little boy; favored by their Father, Jehovah, and heir to the power of the universe, far superseding anything manmade, such as a little nuclear energy plant.  This is what Isaiah saw, an heir of universal greatness, running around in juvenile playtime, instead of growing up to boldly proclaim the name of Yahweh to the nations.  Like the little boy in the imaginary tale of going to work with daddy, Israel had grown bored with just pushing buttons as instructed.  I can just hear the words:  OK, dad.  I got it from here.

That is the condition of our world today.  God is largely ignored, and we, human children are pressing as many buttons as our pudgy little fingers can reach.  Some day we will press the wrong button – not the nuclear annihilation one connected to all those bombs – but the one that crosses the line of God’s patience.

For You Today

If Yahweh was God before the beginning, and He will be God after whatever ending we humans engineer, it is safe to assume He is God right now.  What further call do we need to worship Him at this (and every) moment?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Isaiah 43 see Eyes that Do Not See; Ears that Do Not Hear and No Other God