Seek Mercy from the God of Heaven

As I study the book of Daniel, I marvel at his (and his three famous friends’) faith: Daniel doesn’t simply believe God is able to do anything, Daniel is certain about God’s willingness to respond to their prayers.  Daneil is confident God will defend his own glory and his people.   Many of us would say,  “God can do anything,”  but often don’t really believe that he will.    Why is this?  Are these two different kinds of faith?  Is one genuine faith, and one not faith in God at all?  Has our understanding of  his sovereignty eclipsed our understanding of his character of mercy and steadfast love?

Isaiah 30:18 says,

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.

Justice is often thought of as the opposite of mercy.   But for God’s people, his justice insures his mercy.  It is because of God’s justice that we do not deserve to be his people;  yet, it is because of  his mercy to us in Christ, we are!  In Christ, the curse of our own sin, and the fallen world that results, become the gateway to his grace, as we call on him for mercy. He is glorified in both attributes.

Once we are his people, we deserve his help and care;  he’s our heavenly father after all!  His justice is now to our benefit.  He asks us to come to him for help.  To wait on him.  To trust in him wholeheartedly, and not try to make sense of things on our own.   He knows you and I are poor and needy; he knows we can’t help ourselves -at all.  We are helpless before him in every respect, and we need him.   It would be unjust for him to ask us to wait on him, if he were not going to mercifully respond to our trust!

The more time I spend in Daniel, the more I think God wants me to believe this: not merely that he can help, but that he will.  We can’t hold him hostage or presume upon him to follow our prescription in each situation, thats not faith.  Using God to get what you want is idolatry.  But we can trust him – his goodness and love – to do what’s good; he has a plan, and he’ll work it out, and it will be best for everyone.  He will defend his own name, and provide for his children, in a better way than we could have asked for.

Daniel’s friends show us what this heartfelt trust looks like as they refuse to bow to a statue of gold:  “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  (3:18)  They would rather burn to death than be disloyal to the God who has proven himself faithful to them.  This is the obedience that trust produces.  They did not seek out the Judean SEAL team for a rescue, they just  waited on God.  And what really happened makes a far more dramatic story.

In our varied situations we, like Daniel, Shadrach, Mechach, and Abednego, can trust God to do miracles that only he can do: change someone’s mind, change our desires, bring unity from strife, and turn hearts to him.  These are miracles of grace he does every day!  We do not have to resort to our own devices or stray from obeying him to make things work out.   Matthew Henry puts it this way: “{God} will wait, that he may do it in the best and fittest time, when it will be most for his glory, when it will come to you with the most pleasing surprise. He will continually follow you with his favours, and not let slip any opportunity of being gracious to you; He will stir up himself to deliver you, will be exalted, that he may appear for you in more than ordinary instances of power and goodness and thus he will be exalted, that is, he will glorify his own name. This is what he aims at in having mercy on his people, all those are blessed who wait for him, who not only wait on him with their prayers, but wait for him with their hopes, who will not take any course to extricate themselves out of their straits, or anticipate their deliverance, but patiently expect God’s appearances for them in his own way and time. Because God is infinitely wise, those are truly happy who refer their cause to him.”

Faith is believing that when you seek God he rewards you, (Hebrews 11:1-2) first with forgiveness of sin, and then with everything we need in this life as a child of God in a fallen world.  (Or as an exile in a foreign land.) Daniel says to his friends, “seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that we might not be destroyed.” (2:18) And God helps them.   He mercifully tells Daniel what the unreasonable king dreamed last night, and what that dream means for the whole world, even to its end.

What burden does our faithful God, because you are his child in Christ Jesus our Lord, want you to cast on him today, knowing he cares for you? (1 Peter 5:7)  He waits to be gracious to you, and exalts himself to show mercy to you.

“Thankful, thankful.”


“Thankful, thankful.”

It’s not really a sentence but it’s something my mom said often.  It stood alone.  It set a wonderful example for me.

What it meant was what it sounds like of course.  But the context defines its depth.  This was uttered after tragedies like my dad’s heart surgeries or her own elderly traumas. About six months before she went to be with the Lord she totaled her car, and someone else’s,  by running a stop sign near my house.  When I was helping her fill out the police report her analysis was “I didn’t stop because I didn’t see anyone else coming.”  But then she just volunteered all the things there were to be thankful in the situation: yes her face was black and blue, but nothing broken.  Yes the cars were totaled, but she had insurance and the other driver didn’t have a scratch.  Yes she had run a stop sign, but she was just ticketed for that, her license was not revoked. (Which you can see it should have been. She did little driving after this, though.)

You may have heard people answer “How are you?” with “better than I deserve!” to make a point, but this was my sweet mommy’s genuine attitude and mindset. She really had no expectations, and so she was literally thankful for everything.

“My blood pressure is up but my neighbor who is a doctor is coming every day to check on it for me.  Isn’t that wunnnnnerful? Thankful, thankful.”

“I can’t find my bank papers, but I know my money is safe.  If I can’t find them, no one else can either!  I have good resources for my age that are in the bank! Thankful, thankful.”

“Oh does my foot ache!  I just want the trumpet to blow it hurts so badly….and I had terrible dreams last night which Doctor Dave says is from my medicine.  But today is my last day taking it!  And when I woke up I listened to David Jeremiah and it was sooooooooooo good! When the trumpet blows I’ll be with the Lord! Thankful, thankful.”

The last three years of my life have been the hardest by far.  There has been much loss and sorrow.  But as if for the first time, listening to all the news, seeing all the problems big and small, strife everywhere….. I remembered my mother saying “thankful, thankful.”  And I just realized it’s a choice.  By Gods grace I can always be thankful, first and foremost for the cross:

“Holy God in love became

Perfect man to beat my blame

On the cross he took my sin

By his death I live again.”

And this truth enables, even in the mundane, a mindset that there is always something to be thankful for.  “In everything, give thanks: for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess 5:18

Today I am thankful for the sunset on a sweltering day in a town that yes, I have always wanted to leave for the countryside…. but which has been a lovely home for my family for 26 years!  Thankful, thankful.

Downtown Wheaton September sunset

I am thankful for my siblings (especially after the loss of both my parents) and the special surprise of a sister visit – 5 days long!!! – for my birthday!  Thankful, thankful. Yes the teen years being expressions like these below, and other challenges as well.  Yes I’m sad my babies are growing up… and the seasons change.  But the growth is the result of good health and love; they are growing into young men like their father and big brothers who work hard and play hard and follow Jesus.  Thankful, thankful.

Budding Teenagers at our hometown pizza place, a booth we have been sitting at for 20 years

Prayers Answered

Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share it’s joy. Pr 14:10

I take this to mean my experience is mine alone.  The Creator God who makes no two snowflakes the same, makes no two human hearts the same, and works with each one individually in his infinite wisdom and shepherd’s heart.  This is a window into how he does it: inward trials.  Trials unique to me, that maybe no one sees…..

These Inward Trials

By John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow,
In faith, in love, in every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that on some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His loves constraining power,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this He made me feel,
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell,
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed,
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

“Lord, why is this?” I tremblingly cried,
“Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
“Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.”

“These inward trials I employ,
From self and pride to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st seek thy all in Me.”

San Bernardino and Christmas

Its a nightmare come true, a horrific tragedy, a true act of “terror;” I have and am grieving for those who lost loved ones in SanBernardino….for them, and for those in Paris, and for a host of other human ills.  What I am about to write is from the detached perspective on a theoretical level: this event coalesces with Christmastime in my mind.  It reminds me of the truth; it makes the truth dearer to me and more important in daily life….because each day is a gift and, just like the victims of the shooting, I know not what tomorrow holds.  There are no guarantees of anything.

We live in a web of deception really.  I think its fair to say we Americans expect the norm of life to be made up of physical safety, comfort, upward mobility, good healthcare, and happiness. I know on a subconscious level I certainly have expected these things. Indeed, we founded our country on these “inalienable” rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Over time, however, we have redefined our humanity in the modern age (due to industrialization and our geopolitical location) on such a level as to think of sufferring in terms of scratchy pajamas and joys as a date with the DVR.  We have so removed things like obtaining our very food from daily life that i think we have forgotten our humble position.  We have mastered survival, or so it seems.  The concerns of a fellow human in Sierra Leone are absolutely foreign here, in the full sense of the word.   And with our success at physical flourishing, we have taken this “pursuit of happiness” to “a whole ‘nother level.”  Anything that threatens our desired feelings…feelings of acceptance, freedom from offense, freedom from fear… is as much the enemy as poverty, starvation, and physical danger.   The sobering realities of the San Bernardino shooting put all that in its place.

All threats to human happiness: disease, lack, danger, strife, and sadness — are never going to be securely defeated, by our country or any other.  Never.  Because….we are still only human.  Every person is a wild card, and we are not the masters of our own destinies.

This crime defies all assumptions about prevention: they shot their co-workers, were parents of a young child, one was a female, one was raised in America, were well off financially, were befriended, and had freedom within the United States to pursue their brand of happiness (in this case, martyrdom in Islam).  In contemporary moral thinking, shootings are carried out by bitter or poor or mentally ill people who have no friends, no money, white-male rage, took lots of psychiatric medicines, and of course were very unhappy or justifiably angry about something.  However, the perpetrators of this act were shrewd and cunning, outsmarting every law and totally using America and its values against itself.  Anyone could do that again, and many probably will.  As America scrambles to eradicate every possible threat presented by this massacre, it becomes more evident that it just can’t be done.

So why is this bracing and strangely comforting to me?  Because its a reminder of who I really am.  It is when we forget who we are that we pursue ridiculous solutions to our problems.  I wonder where we got the idea that we have the right to happiness and liberty?  Do I even have a “right” to life?  Says who?

What this shooting shows is that there is truth and there are lies.

The minute someone argues that it was wrong for this couple to shoot up their co-workers and fellow holiday party-goers, is the minute that the existence of “right” and  “wrong” becomes clear.  And who determined that?  And where can you go to be safe?

The reality is that we do not determine all we have and are.  The reality is that we are just creatures.  Our lives are a vapor and vanity.  What we have become and achieved, for ourselves and others, is out of our control.  We do not choose where we are born, our personality, our intellect, our education, whether we are loved or whether we are safe.  We do not even always choose our own desires (I would love to hate sweets!) Self-determination is largely a lie, and so is self-protection.  In short, we are not God.

So what hope then do we have for life, liberty or happiness?  Do we put our faith in the odds?  None of us knows what tomorrow brings.

SanBernardino is just a glaring reminder that we are not our own.  There is only one safe place, under the protection of the King of Kings, who made us and owns us and will shelter us for eternity if we would only acknowledge our humility and weakness before Him.

A christmas song that pulls it all together….

Who would of tho’t that long ago
So very far away
A little child would be born
And in a manger laid?
And who would have tho’t this little child
Was born the King of kings
The Son of just a carpenter
For whom the angels sing?
And who would have tho’t that as He grew
And with other children played,
This child with whom they laughed and sang
Would die for them some day?
And who would have tho’t this little child
Could make a blind man see
Feed the hungry, make rich the poor,
And set the sinner free?
Oh who would have tho’t this little child
Was who the prophets said?
Would take away the sins of man
And rise up from the dead?

O I believe! and I will always sing!
This little child, he is the King!
O I believe and I will always sing
This little child
He is the King of Kings!

Many years have come and gone,
Yet this world remains the same.
Empires have been built and fallen,
Only time has made a change.
Nation against nation,
Brother against brother,
Men so filled with hatred
Killing one another,
And over half the world is starving,
While our banner of decency is torn
Debating over disarmament,
Killing children before they’re born.
And those who march to win the right
To justify their sin,
Oh ev’ry nation that has fallen
Has fallen from within!
Yet in the midst of this darkness,
There is a hope a light that burns.
This little child the King of kings
Some day will return!

And I believe and I will always sing
This little child is the King
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child
He is the King of kings

Who would have tho’t this little child
Is who the prophets said
Will return to judge this world
The living and the dead
Oh can’t you see that long ago
So very far away
This little child our only hope
Was born a King that day
And can’t you see that here and now
As unto Him we pray
This Lord of lords who is our hope
Is still King today
He’s still the King today

song by Scott Wesley Brown

Gain and Loss

Two weeks ago I lost my dear father.  He was 85, so he lived longer than many, but I still wanted more of him. As I have been reflecting on this loss, I have been struck by God’s kindness and wisdom through it all. He always has the last word. A friend said, “In the mystery of God, loss directly contributes to the great gain that is promised to us.” This has been my experience these last two weeks, even as “sorrows like sea billows roll,” and I thought I’d share the details with you, in hopes it provides some encouragement.
too young to be pall bearers, the twins watch with sober quiet as grandpa

too young to be pall bearers, the twins watch with sober quiet as grandpa’s casket is brought into the church

Loss:
Seeing the lifeless mortality of one dearly loved, the empty figure of a man, now lying in a cardboard box.  He was strong enough, once, to carry my sleeping twelve-year-old body in from the car after late night road trips.
Gain:
God’s wisdom in turning our enemy, death, into a teacher; the eternity and value of what’s unseen, revealed by the decay of what’s visible.

 

grandsons

grandsons

Loss:
A wife without her friend and love and co-laborer for 85% of her life! It hurts like a heart-attack every time realization strikes her that he’s gone. “I just get a terrible pain in my heart” was her strained description.
Gain:
She is learning to turn to HIM more, since she can’t turn to him anymore. She is being made ready even as he is enjoying the place that was made ready for him. She is remembering there is no marriage in heaven; and yet the rejoicing that the marriage supper of the Lamb will be far greater even than this pain.
 IMG_6616
Loss:
No more calling him for advice, no more of his perspective in my life, no more bright eyes that see me and respond in genuine joyful communion.
Gain:
The One in whom he formed his perspectives, the Word on which he based his advice, the joy of oneness in Christ with those I love . . . are all still available to me, and now of greater worth. The love and joy and fellowship in Jesus we are yet to experience, for which He redeemed us, is unimaginably glorious. The blessed hope of it is tangibly, painfully, real.
is this really happening?

is this really happening?

Loss:
His birthday card, in which I poured out my heart more eloquently than ever, to encourage and uplift and express love and appreciation, got to him one day late!  He didn’t hear all I had prepared to tell him.
Gain:
He is hearing the angels singing, “Holy! Holy! Holy!”  He is hearing, “Well done!” He is hearing what I can’t even imagine!—something God has prepared for those who love him.
five grandsons staying for the final goodbye

five grandsons staying for the final goodbye

Loss:
The aching finality of this change, the passing of a season never to cycle back again, the meaninglessness now of artifacts from his life’s work, and belongings.
Gain:
The transforming portrait of life as a vapor!  As a flower fades, and its place remembers it no more, so will MY life be! My stuff, my projects, my important and urgent in this world are vanity. Indeed, “Only one life, ’twill soon be passed; only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Philippians 3:7-11
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Other Scriptures these thoughts are based on:
Psalm 103:15-16, Isaiah 40; John 14:3; Revelation 19:4-9; 2 Corinthians 4; John 15:9-13; 1 Peter 1:3; Titus 2:3; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; 1 Corinthians 3:5-15
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