Forgiving God?
I must learn the humility of a creature, that there are many—if not most or all—things beyond my grasp, and that God’s ways and wisdom are not my own. Scripture assures me this King is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31ff), calling me to entrust myself to him amidst the hardest providences.
Plans sputter, hopes crumble, relationships derail, or evil exposes itself. I know I did my part—but God didn’t come through. Because life is full of disappointments, modern pastors and writers inform me, it must also be full of forgiveness. Their sage advice? Loosely commandeering Psalm 142:2, they urge cultivating a lifestyle of forgiving others, forgiving myself, and forgiving God to move forward. After all, they assert, forgiveness is “for me.” Some go so far as to assert that forgiving God is required, arguing unforgiveness affects my faith, intimacy with God, and eternity.[1]
As with the error of forgiving myself,[2] this is an argument from silence—not from Scripture. Isaiah and Jeremiah faced unspeakable horrors under God’s providences toward Israel; Paul’s list of sufferings for Christ makes me wince every time I read it (2 Cor 11:16-33 and 12:5-10); but none of these men forgave God. Saint after saint in Scripture “endured as seeing him who was invisible” (Heb 11:27). There’s not a hint of charging God with wrongdoing.
But what goes unrecognized? Forgiving God is deeply theological in nature. It forges my working confession of faith: shaping my worship, framing my life, and demonstrating my operative approach to Scripture. Consider the articles implied in my “forgiveness.”
- God failed; and fundamentally, he failed me. In my disappointment, I learn God made a mistake: this means he was wrong, he erred. This instance may have been something he couldn’t handle, foresee, or accomplish…turns out he’s mostly sovereign, though perhaps not meticulously so.
- Therefore, God must be somewhat imperfect. Nobody is entirely perfect; limitations and flaws characterize all beings in a fallen world, which necessarily includes God. The Creator is more like his creatures than his word attests; even his wisdom and judgments stumble sometimes.
- Hence, I must consider God insufficient. I may cast many of my cares upon him, perhaps even most of them; he cares for me, but can’t always do anything about it. I must face facts: sometimes God loses, evil wins, and hope is deferred, awaiting “next time.”
- Because of this, God might not always be trusted. He means well in Scripture, though he can be a bit unreliable or unrealistic in what he says there. Like a kindly uncle who does his best, he’s usually good for what he promises.
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Finland Explicitly Puts the Bible on Trial
Joy Pullman of the Federalist has been covering the case and the trial. She reports that the hearing on Monday took a strange twist. Instead of focusing on the two defendants, who could be sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros and two years in prison, the prosecutors, in effect, put on trial the Bible itself. From her article, Finnish Government Puts Christianity On Trial, Calls The Bible “Hate Speech”.
On Monday the trial began in Finland for Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Member of Parliament Dr. Päivi Räsänen, charged with hate crimes for teaching what the Bible says about homosexuality.
I have blogged about these two Christians and the charges against them (here, here, here, and here). Way back in 2004, long before Finland legalized same sex marriage in 2017, Dr. Räsänen, a medical doctor and former Minister of the Interior, wrote a 24-page booklet on the Bible’s teachings about sexuality, including a section on homosexuality. Bishop Pohjola’s church, now in fellowship with the LCMS, published it. Dr. Räsänen was also charged for tweeting a Bible verse in response to the liberal state church being a sponsor of an LGBTQ parade and for participating in a 2019 debate on the subject. Three years ago, over a decade and a half after the publication of the booklet, the two were charged for inciting hatred against homosexuals. Finally, their case has been brought to trial.Read More
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6 Spiritually Profitable Things You Can Do While Holding A Baby
By meditating on His word, I can, with the Holy Spirit’s help, turn a simple everyday task of holding a baby into a sanctifying time of spiritual strengthening. You might not have time to do a full inductive Bible study every hour of your day. But I am certain if you committed yourself to meditating on Scripture, you could find time throughout your schedule to think over a precious truth or promise or command from God.
Lately, I have spent a large portion of my days and nights holding a baby. The question I have asked myself during these extended periods of holding him is “how can I redeem this time for spiritual good? Is there anything spiritually profitable I can do while holding my baby?”
The past couple weeks, I have found 6 different answers to these questions. While certainly non-exhaustive, these 6 things have helped me focus my mind on the Lord as I have been walking, standing, or sitting with a baby in my arms. What is the goal of all this? Redeeming the time in accordance to what God says:
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16, ESV emphasis added
Even if you don’t find yourself holding a baby, no doubt you have free moments throughout the day. These free moments may be short, but they are opportunities to invest in your soul and in your relationship with the Lord. Here are some ways to spend those moments.
1. Pray
Before having a baby, I often asked the Lord to give me more time to pray throughout the day. He certainly answered that request by giving me a son. The first couple sleepless nights in the hospital I sat holding my son in the dark and the silence-alone except for me, my son, and the Lord. I will never forget the sweet times of prayer in the hospital holding a baby I cared so much about and who I wanted to know Christ one day.
This taught me an important lesson:You don’t have to wait around for an opportunity to pray. You can do it now.
Communion with the Lord is made possible through Christ and that communion is possible at any moment. The key is to take the times of silence God gives you to turn our attention back to Him. Holding a baby is one of those opportunities, but so is a host of other life circumstances. Next time you find yourself having a free moment, keep your phone off. Don’t turn on music or flip on the television. Dedicate those fleeting calm moments to pray to the God who made you, knows you, and loves you.
2. Read
If I am holding my son and he is asleep, I most likely have one hand free. That means I can hold a Christian book or, better yet, the Bible. I normally can get through a chapter or two of Scripture or a couple sections of a book before my son wakes up. I personally don’t care for audio books or e-readers, but I imagine both of these are even more accessible while holding a baby.
A consistent diet of Biblical truth is what you and I need to grow. Like the Psalmist in Psalm 119, you should be longing for God’s word. This longing will manifest itself in picking up the Bible or a book on the Bible any chance you get.
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Practices in the Christian Life- Intercessory Prayer
Among the many practices of the Christian life (such as gathering for worship, meditating on God’s Word, serving the needy, forgiving, and seeking forgiveness) There are two very basic practices in the Christian life; receiving God’s Word, and then speaking with God. Receiving God’s Word of course comes through reading, or hearing the scriptures. And speaking with God occurs in prayer. As soon as the topic of prayer comes up, questions are not far behind. Questions like “If God already knows, why pray?” or “What are the outcomes of prayer?”. It is appropriate to ask questions about prayer as we learn from Jesus’ example in answering the first disciples about how to pray (Matthew 6:5-13). In today’s piece, we examine how prayer is linked to the work of Christ, and the role of the prophet.
What is Intercessory Prayer?
The Greek word is ὑπερεντυγχάνω and is a compound word. “Huper” means “on behalf of” and “entungchano”, which means, “to entreat or pray, plead” combined we get, “to entreat or pray/plead on behalf of someone else”
More often than not when we talk about intercessory prayer we think of the office of the priest. In many religions today, people come to confess their sins to a priest and he in turn prays or “intercedes” on their behalf to God (or at least he is supposed to entreat God on their behalf). However, what is striking is that in the scriptures the most wonderful intercessory prayers are found on the lips of God’s prophets, e.g. Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and our Savior and God’s ultimate Prophet, Jesus Christ. Looking further at the above examples, we see a pattern regarding intercessory prayer in each of these passages. Abraham intercedes for King Abimelech who had taken Sarai to be his wife because Abraham lied and said she was his sister. God graciously intervenes and reveals Sarai’s true identity in a dream to the king and tells him that Abraham is a prophet and will intercede on his behalf if he safely returns her to Abraham. (Genesis 20:7)
Moses twice makes intercession for the idolatrous people in Exodus 32. He prays for forgiveness and for God to remember His covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Through Moses’ humble prayer on behalf of the people, God graciously and mercifully forgives. We will look a little closer below of Moses’ intercession. Samuel in 1 Samuel 7, intercedes like Moses did for the idolatry of Israel, do you recognize a pattern? In Isaiah 63:7-64:12, Isaiah the prophet intercedes for exiled Israel for their idolatry. Similarly in Jeremiah 15:15-21, Jeremiah’s intercessory prayer is graciously heard by the LORD. Daniel, an exile, remembers Jeremiah’s prophecy and in contrite intercessory prayer to the LORD pleads for the exiles in Daniel 9.
From these texts, we see that “intercession” in regard to prayer is someone advocating or pleading on behalf of another before God. Intercession is a legal term for a witness taking the stand to plead the cause of the accused. Job 16:19,21 is helpful for us to consider at this point. The text reads, “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my advocate is on high.” In verse 21 we read, “O that a man might plead with God…”. In the context of the passage, Job has been accused in heaven by satan of having advantage and privilege and the blessing of God, and that was the reason he was committed to the LORD. Satan was permitted to persecute Job physically and materially. Materially speaking, Job lost everything, yet his faith in God’s righteous and gracious care remained steadfast despite the devastation inflicted upon him. The reason for Job’s steadfast faith is that it is in the Man in heaven pleading his cause on his behalf (vs.21). Job knows he can plead his (a man) case before God because the God/Man is interceding for him, more of this in a moment.
In the NT. we see the theme of intercession continue in the Great Prophet Jesus Christ. 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
