Tag: God

The Shepherd's Voice

Autonomy or Security?

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And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. (Luke 12:4)

There’s been a lot of talk over the last 50 years about “bodily autonomy.” The idea is that a person should control whatever happens to their own body. We’ve seen this most prominently, of course, in the abortion debate. At the same time, it has also appeared in large segments of the conservative church, particularly in the debate of vaccine mandates due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What’s interesting about this phrase is that one group will claim it for their issue yet deny it for the other issues. Supporters of abortion rights (with some exceptions, of course) are more likley to be in favor of vaccine mandates, thus denying the idea of “bodily autonomy” applies in that situation. Those who oppose vaccine mandates (on the principle of “my body, my choice,” and again with some exceptions) deny this principle applies to abortion.

Now, before I go any further, let me say that abortion (and by that I mean the intentional termination of pregnancy that results in the death of the unborn baby) is different from vaccine mandates, because it involves the life of another. Likewise, vaccine mandates are different in that they introduce a substance into the body that someone may or may not want in their body. But, I digress.

The common thread here is this idea of “my body, my choice.” What is the church to do with this? I have long said that it’s inappropriate and contrary to the gospel for followers of Jesus to place their idea of “rights” over the gospel. We live in a culture (at least those of us in most of the western world) that elevates individual autonomy far above the community. It’s this thinking that is behind the “my body, my choice” idea, and that idea has long been making inroads into the church. 

What the church must realize is that underneath the “my body, my choice” idea lies the deeper needs for security and significance. The deepest human need is to feel a sense of personal wholeness, and that sense comes through what we might call significance (or impact or purpose) and security (relationship, acceptance, unconditional love). Now, these needs are not the problem. They are part of how we are created. 

In fact, before the fall they were not needs but attributes of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve enjoyed a sense of personal wholeness as they knew God and walked with him. They found their security in their relationship with the Triune God, the Eternal Community. They found their significance in the fact that God created them and had given them a purpose–to take care of the garden and display his glory. When they fell into sin, however, they were cut off from God. Their sense of personal wholeness (expressed in significance and security) was gone. Those attributes now became needs.

All fallen humanity has these needs. The problem is that, being fallen, we seek to fulfill those needs outside God. When people can’t find security and significance in the world, the only thing left for them is control of their own body. Now, don’t get me wrong. As image-bearers of God, we have inherent dignity, and no one should be able to violate our body. I’m not suggesting otherwise.

What I’m suggesting, however, is that underneath the “bodily autonomy” talk is a deep, almost desparte, need to control our bodies so that we can have at least some shred (and it is a tiny shred) of personal wholeness. These needs are often so strong that even the human conscience will give way under the weight, causing us to do whatever we think we have to in order to have those needs met and avoid the soul-crushing pain of emptiness. And, these ideas have become so deeply ingrained in us, that most are unaware of them.

We’ve seen countless people kill others to preserve their own sense of importance (“if people find out what really happened, I’ll lose my security and significance”). Why would it be surprising that talk of abortion and vaccine mandates be any different? 

It’s not enough, then, to say, “You are not your own, you were bought with a price” (though that’s true). It’s not enough to just say, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (though that’s true). It’s also not enough to say, “Abortion is murder” (even though that’s true). It’s not enough to say, “Love your neighbor” (to the opponents of vaccine mandates). As always, it comes down to the Gospel of Jesus. We need to be teaching, preaching, and living the truth that we are fully secure and significant because of what God did for us in sending Jesus to die for us on the cross. We are secure because nothing that happens to us in this life can take that away. We are significant because he has given us a great purpose–to exalt him and spread his glory among the nations. 

We need to be helping those in the church identify and repent of those sinful patterns of thinking (of which many are consciously unaware). Only then, when we experience the truth that Jesus really is enough, and that our deepest needs really are met in him, will we see major change in the church–and our society.

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The Shepherd's Voice

What Do We Do Now?

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For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23)

The church in America recently entered a new reality. The era of Roe is over, many say. Supporters and opponents blasted away at each other on social media (including many Christians, sadly). Many other believers tried to step back, sort out their mixed feelings, and asked, “What now?” To put it another way, “What do we do now?”

Many (rightly, I believe) fear that in winning what essentially amounted to a political battle, the war for hearts, minds, and souls has been or is in danger of being lost. As usual, this is not a post about political strategies, debates, or outcomes. This is a post, rather, about the church’s role in a post-Roe era. 

For the past 40 years or so, the “pro-life” momvent in America has been largely about abortion. Increasingly over the last 20 years, abortion was seen by evangelical Christians as the only issue that mattered when deciding who to vote for or what bills to support or oppose. What’s been the result of this thinking? In large part, the church has been seen as only caring about abortion, regardless of the circumstances, while leaving other issues behind–the needy, poor, justice for other vulnerable people, etc. 

As some have opined over the years, pro-life does not stop with “anti-abortion.” Pro-life means that we are pro- ALL life. And indeed we should be. Jesus came to give us life. He had compassion on the vulnerable people of his day, and rebuked those who would hinder “the least of these” from coming to him. In fact, in Jesus’ picture of the final judgment (Matthew 25:31-46), the sheep and the goats were separated based on how they treated the most vulnerable people of the day–but that wasn’t defined by just one group. 

Those vulnerable people are still among us, church. They are the poor, homeless, needy, disabled–the list could go on. 

And those with unplanned pregnancies are often just as vulnerable.

Now that the shock has worn off, read the statement again: Those with unplanned pregnancies are often just as vulnerable as other groups of vulnerable people. They are often faced with pressures few of us know. They are often scared, intimidated, manipulated, even coerced. Now, before you rise up and check out, read the rest of what I have to say. Many have and will continue to simply say something like, “Well, they just need to do what’s right,” consider this question:

Is that what Jesus did in your case?

He could have, you know. The law was out there. Even the Gentiles, without the written law of Moses, have the revelation of nature and conscience to tell them the difference between right and wrong. God could have simply said, “Hey, just do what’s right! You know what to do, so do it.” But, thankfully (for all of us, including the self-righteous among us), he didn’t do that.

Instead, Jesus came down and entered our world. He became a servant to teach us how to take care of each other–and then he died and rose again to give us new life and the power to love others, especially those trapped in sin, as we were.

For too long, the church has forgotten the lesson of Matthew 23:23. The church has focused on the outward “big” sins, giving time, treasure, resources to the causes, while neglecting the other parts. Now, am I saying that the church should have stayed away from the issue of abortion? Of course not. I’m saying that how the church dealt with abortion was short-sighted, and now we are reaping the fruit of that short-sightedness. 
Perhaps now, with God’s grace, the church will wake up and begin to take care of all of “the least of these.” How should that look? Where should it start? I suggest it starts with repentance. Repentance for “fighting the battle” man’s way instead of God’s way. What is God’s way? The Gospel. And the Gospel is “two-handed.” Not only do we declare the grace of God, but we live it. We help. We listen. We pray. We love. We take care of “the least of these,” the vulnerable people.

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The Shepherd's Voice

Living in the New Covenant

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In the last two posts, we’ve been discussing the heart of fallen man and the New Covenant as the solution. When we look at the promises of the New Covenant against the needs of fallen humanity, we see that God has given the believer everything he or she needs to live in Christ (2 Peter 1:3-4). 

In this post, we are going to discuss some realities and implications of the New Covenant. As a fan of “theology meeting reality,” what does it mean for the believer? One of my favorite questions to ask is often, “So what?” We’ll take some of the most common and important questions about the New Covenant and see what the Scriptures say about them.

The Reality of the New Covenant

Question: Isn’t the change promised in the New Covenant just “positional” truth?

This is a common question when considering the New Covenant, and in fact, many Bible teachers teach this very idea, that the truth of the New Covenant is only “positional.” What they mean is, “This is how God sees us, since we are ‘in Christ’.” The implication is that the changes we’ve talked about didn’t really happen (as a matter of historical fact); we are to simply believe they did and live them out.

Without getting too technical, most of the debate centers around interpretation of Romans 6-7, particularly where Paul describes what happens to a person who is saved. The thrust of Romans 6 is union and identification with Christ. Because those passages don’t specifically mention the changes of the New Covenant, and because one of Paul’s favorite phrases to describe Christians is one who is “in Christ,” many conclude that this truth is only positional in nature.

Thus, many (if not the majority of) Christians today live as though the New Covenant is only a truth to be believed, not an actual reality from which to ground their life in. My question to think about is, “Did God do what He promised He would do?” The Scriptures give us the answer:

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)

The short answer, then, is “Yes! He accomplished what He promised.” In fact, the New Testament has much to say about the new Covenant. (In fact, the term Testament is the old word for Covenant, so when we read in the New Testament, we are really reading all about the New Covenant.) Jesus told His disciples that His death would usher it in, and His blood was “the New Covenant in my blood” (or “the blood of the New Covenant”). The Scriptures treat the New Covenant as a reality, not as an exercise in pretend or make-believe. (For more information, including an explanation of how this is seen in the New Testament, see the article The Nature of Salvation.)

Evidence, Please

Question: How can I know I have the new heart?

When writing to the church at Colosse, Paul said this:

Of this [hope] you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, (Colossians 1:5–6, emphasis added)

Whatever else Paul is saying in this passage, he is saying one inescapable thing: the gospel (the New Covenant) always bears fruit and increasingly so. When one is saved and given the new heart, he or she is changed. Our lives are always producing fruit, whether good or bad. Jesus had something to say about that:

For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43–45)

What does this mean for us who are saved? In short, it means that we will begin to produce fruit. Why? Because it’s now our nature to do so. Will we be perfect? No. Will we grow in love, holiness, and obedience? Absolutely. The first letter of John is all about this. The apostle John wrote this letter so that “you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). In this letter, he gives specific marks or signs of a believer. He says, “This is how you can tell a believer.” And the signs all come down to one thing: the fruit of a person’s life.

For the one saved, there will be evidence of the change–sometimes only small pieces of evidence, subtle changes at first. But they will be there.

What About This Sin?

Question: Why do I still struggle with sin?

This is another common question when learning about the New Covenant. A related question is, “Can a Christian live a perfectly sinless life?” Some teach that Christians who struggle with sin just aren’t trying hard enough or haven’t fully surrendered to God, or some variation of those things. Scripture, however, has a different perspective. We’ll start by looking at Romans 8.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:1–11)  

In this passage, Paul is talking about what he calls the flesh. What do we know about the flesh? In short, we see that the flesh is hostile to God and cannot please God (vv. 7-8). Now, do we still have the flesh? Yes. Remember, Paul is writing to believers here. Notice he makes a distinction between being in the flesh and walking according to the flesh. He pointedly says to his readers, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (v. 9, emphasis added). 

However, he also says that it’s quite possible to “walk according to the flesh.” What does this mean? It means that we live in the same manner, with the same attitudes, as we did before we were saved. He defines walking according to the flesh as setting the mind on the things of the flesh. Likewise he defines living by the Spirit as setting the mind on the things of the Spirit (v. 5). Like the Sinful Heart, the flesh desires one thing–to find life through independence, apart from God and His ways.

I like to use the analogy of a mainframe computer connected to other computers. If a virus was to be implanted in the mainframe computer, it would systematically program the rest of the computers with that virus. This is what’s happened with fallen humanity. The Sinful Heart programmed every part of us to live independently of God. When one is saved, the old heart is removed and replaced by the Spiritual Heart (Ezek. 36:26). But, the other computers are not replaced. They have to be reprogrammed. 

This is where Paul’s words about “crucifying the flesh” in Romans 6 and renewing the mind (Romans 12) come in. Theologians call this process sanctification, but it really just means we are becoming more like Christ; we are living according to our new identity more and more and less and less like our old self. This is a lifelong process, Paul told the Philippians,

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

When will this work be completed? At the day of the return of Jesus Christ. Will it be completed? Absolutely. For those of us who have surrendered to Christ, we have God’s Word on that. No matter how much we stumble or how slowly we grow, we can be sure that He is walking with us and will finish what He started.

[For a more detailed look at these questions read the 5-part blog series How Then Shall We Live?]

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The Shepherd's Voice

A Cure for the Incurable

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And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

In the last post (An Incurable Diagnosis, 2/18/2021), we saw the condition of fallen humanity. It was a grim discovery. To be blunt, the idea that humanity is basically good is a myth, which is supported by neither Scripture nor historical evidence. Humanity has, as we said in the last post, an incurably terminal disease–the disease of sin and self. Because of sin, every person is born with what we might call the Sinful Heart. 

The Sinful Heart, as we saw in the last post, is totally corrupted, and completely bent away from God. Its sole motivation is to find life apart from God and His ways. Because the heart is at the center of being, the Sinful Heart systematically programs every part of a person–mind, will, emotions, and body–in those same desires and strategies. And because every person is born with the Sinful Heart, the entire human race has been corrupted.

And this condition, according to the Lord, is terminal (leading to spiritual death) and incurable.

A Heart Transplant

It’s not enough to have a system of sacrifice in place. It’s not enough for people’s sins to be forgiven. It’s not enough to exhort people to obey the law. In order to save those doomed to separation from God, a radical solution is needed–a heart transplant. And that’s exactly what the Lord has provided. Let’s look at two passages that describe this transplant.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34)

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:25–27)

When we take these two passages together, we get a full and complete picture of how deeply the Lord responded to the plight of the human race, even beyond the needed heart transplant.

Preparation for the Surgery

The first thing the Lord says to Ezekiel in this passage is, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you” (Ezek. 36:25). To prepare us for the heart transplant, the Lord first cleanses us. As part of that, He also told Jeremiah, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34). 

This is an important statement, since sins were not fully put away under the Old Testament sacrificial system. The author of Hebrews tells us,

[The law] can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. (Hebrews 10:1–3)

Instead of putting away sin, the sacrifices actually reminded people that they were still under sin. Their sin was covered, not forgiven. Yet, the Lord says He would not only forgive sin, but would “remember it no more.” So, under the New Covenant that the Lord is making, His people are now cleansed of sin and totally forgiven. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven and cleansed.

A New Heart

After preparing for surgery, it’s time to actually do the heart transplant. The Lord told Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26). Let’s unpack this a little. If you’ll recall, the heart of fallen sinful man was compared to stone, on which sin had been written. This resulted in a heart totally corrupted, hostile to God’s ways and determined to find life apart from God. This heart could not be changed (hence the idea of sin being inscribed with iron and diamond). It must be replaced.

This new heart, according to the Lord will be a heart of flesh, instead of the heart of stone that resides within fallen humanity. What this means is that, instead of the Sinful Heart, then, His people would have the Spiritual Heart–a heart that is bent toward following the Lord and His ways, as much desiring to live in dependence on God as the Sinful Heart desired independence from Him.

But that’s not all; the Lord goes further. Not only does He replace the heart, but he says, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33). Not only will His people  have a new heart, but that new heart is inscribed with the Law of the Lord (the direct opposite of Jer. 17:1, “[their] sin . . . is engraved on the tablet of their heart”).

A New Way to Relate

In addition to changing the very nature of His people, the Lord does something else. He gives us a new way of relating with Him. Look at these statements:

I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

These promises all boil down to one thing: intimacy with God. An intimacy that was unknown before. Yes, the Lord called Moses His servant and friend, and He called David a man after His own heart, and walked and talked with Abraham. But even they did not have the intimacy that he offers His people now. As part of the New Covenant, the very Spirit of God will reside in His people! All of His people will know Him, from the least to the greatest. There will be no distinction between priest and commoner. All will be priests. 

A Long-Awaited Answer

This is really the answer to the long-before prayer of King David. In Psalm 51, He prays:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. . . . Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . . Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:1–12)

When we compare David’s prayer to the promises of the New Covenant, we find that God did fully and completely grant David’s plea. Likewise, those of us who have repented and cried out for mercy can rest assured that, as He did for David, as He promises to Israel, He will give us that same new heart and a willing spirit, in order that we will love, obey, and walk with Him. We have been made new, cleansed, and forgiven by the New Covenant sealed by Christ’s blood.

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The Shepherd's Voice

An Incurable Diagnosis

Posted on by The Shepherd's Voice

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.” 

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:1–10)

Some time ago, we looked at Jeremiah 2:12-13, exposing the root of all sin as the desire to find independence and life apart from God (see Dying of Thirst, 9/16/2019). In this post, we are going to look at another part of Jeremiah that helps us understand why we need Jesus.

Many of us in the church are probably familiar with Jer. 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” I have been for a long time. When one reads it in context, however, the reason for the problem becomes clear. We’re first going to look at that diagnosis and then look at the underlying cause.

The Diagnosis

Jeremiah diagnoses the human condition in verse 9. He writes, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” The NIV translates this as, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure,” while the NET translates it as “incurably bad.” The idea in the original language is that 1) the human heart is deceitful to the core; and 2) this condition is incurable. 

Think about those statements; the human heart (in Jewish thinking, the center of being) is rotten to the core. It is self-centered and deceitful. This is the coup de grace of all viruses, illnesses, and diseases. Even worse than that is the fact that said condition is incurable. It is what we’d call a terminal disease. In today’s modern era, we will have diseases such as cancer for which we have no cure. Some of these diseases can cause death, hence the phrase terminal disease. 

Jeremiah’s diagnosis, though, is a terminal disease of staggering proportions. The disease of sin leads to spiritual death, or what the Bible calls eternal death–being eternally separated from God. And again, there is nothing we can do about it. Our best efforts simply aren’t good enough, because we aren’t good enough. Why is this? Now we turn to the cause.

The Root of the Problem

The root of this incurable problem is found in verses 1-3. The Lord, speaking through Jeremiah, tells us:

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country. (vv:1–3)

To understand the significance of the mention of “the tablet of their heart,” we need to remember that the Law of Moses was written on tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18; cf. 20:1-17). Here the Lord is displaying irony at the fact that the hearts of His people are as hard as a stone tablet, on which not the law of God, but their sin was engraved. It was engraved with such firmness that it can never be erased. As it was with Judah and Israel, so it is with all of fallen humanity. 

Now, it’s not only that individual sins were written on the tablet of their hearts, but also that sin itself was inscribed on their hearts. This gives a picture that the heart itself has been corrupted, and this is seen in how the NET translates vv. 2-3a: “Their children are always thinking about their altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, set up beside the green trees on the high hills and on the mountains and in the fields.” Here, we see that the people always have idolatry on their mind. 

In our day, many don’t think of actual gods and goddesses; rather they simply think about themselves–how they can find life apart from the Lord. Fallen humanity either creates ‘gods’ in their own image, or (for the more intellectual who shun religion), simply make themselves the god of their own life.

Because the heart itself is corrupted, everything else about fallen humanity has been corrupted–reasoning, choosing, feeling. Even the body often does not work as it was intended. Sin has corrupted everything about us.   

The Results of the Diagnosis

In verses 3b-4, the Lord tells Judah of the judgment to come as a result of their idolatry. He promises to give both their wealth and their land to others, and make them servants of foreigners. Why? He gives a straightforward answer: For in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever (v. 4).

Then, however, the Lord makes a general statement, which we can see is the result of the incurably bad heart. The Lord first says that a certain type of person is cursed. He says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord” (v. 5). Remember what we said about the root of all sin? It’s found in the foolish desire to find life and purpose independently of God. This verse describes such a person.

When one turns his heart away from the Lord, his only recourse is to turn to himself and others. He is trusting in flesh for what he needs and wants. The problem with this is that every fallen human being is primarily concerned with his or her own well-being. The Lord says that such a person is cursed. It’s not that the Lord is placing a curse on him or her. Rather, He is simply stating what will happen to this person.

In the next verse, the Lord says, “He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land” (v. 6). The Lord has drawn a picture of the fate of a person who trusts in himself. This person, the Lord says, will always be dry and unfulfilled. Now, wait, many people seem happy with wealth, power, status, etc. Right? They seem that way, but those things can never satisfy the deepest thirst of the human soul, and so they will always strive to seek after more. Those who have wealth, power, and status want more. They are truly never satisfied. Worse, the person described by the Lord uses whatever he or she can–including others–to get what he or she thinks will bring satisfaction (only to see it too lead to emptiness).

The Blessed Person

In contrast, the Lord says the one who trusts in Him will be blessed. Notice that He says what seems to be a repeating phrase: “. . . the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” (v. 7). They really aren’t repeating phrases, though. There are two specific emphases here. The first phrase speaks of a person who “trusts in the Lord.” This is an active phrase, indicating that one intentionally places his or her trust in the Lord at specific times. The second phrase, “whose trust is the Lord,” indicates a state of being. This person has surrendered his or her life to the Lord, and so trust in the Lord is the default attitude of the heart.

This person, the Lord says, is like a tree by the river. Like the tree, the person has been rooted deeply and receives all he or she needs from the water. This is the inevitable result of trusting the Lord. Instead of constantly seeking satisfaction on his or her own terms, the blessed person has entrusted life itself to God and has found the true Satisfier. Notice that there is a further result:  Not only does this person receive all he or she needs, but is also said to “not cease to bear fruit [even in the year of drought].” In Scripture (particularly in the New Testament), the idea of fruit almost always has the idea of going forth and doing good to others. Because the blessed person has all he or she needs, attention can now be turned to others for their good.

But there’s a problem. Where do we find such a person? How can such a person exist since all have this incurable disease of sin, resulting in the foolish attempt to live independently of God? If sin itself is written on the tablet of the fallen heart, how can one be made to turn to God?

That is the beauty of the New Covenant…. which we will discuss in the next post.

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The Shepherd's Voice

On the Road with Jesus: Food, Healing, and the Sabbath

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We’ve seen so far that Jesus was not what the people of Israel expected in a Messiah. He talked about being sent to the Gentiles after all! Now, we’re going to see that Jesus wasn’t quite the “observant Jew” that the Pharisees thought He should be.

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:1-11)

Before we begin, we should clarify something. In saying Jesus wasn’t the observant Jew that the religious people thought He should be, we don’t mean that He didn’t keep God’s standards for Israel. In fact, Jesus claimed to always do what pleases the Father (John 8:29). It’s just that He wasn’t keeping the Law according to the traditions and rules of the Pharisees. As we’ll see on this journey, Jesus redefined (or defined properly) what real obedience looks like.

Food, Healing, and the Sabbath

There are two different scenes in our passage, but they revolve around a single subject: the Sabbath. In the first scene, verses 1-5, Jesus and His disciples are outside on the Sabbath plucking the heads of grain in a grain field, and “rubbing the heads in their hands.” Now, a little background. The Law of Moses permitted this. We see this in Deuteronomy 23:25:

If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

So, Jesus and His disciples were doing what was permitted in the Law. What’s the problem then? The problem is the Pharisees considered “rubbing the heads between their hands” to be work, which was not to be done on the Sabbath. But, that was added to the law much later. Jesus calls such things “traditions.” He gives two responses to the Pharisees: One about the law and the other about the Lawgiver. First, He appeals to the story of David, found in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. There we read this:

Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

We need to notice two things in this story. First, it was not a Sabbath. Second, David did something that was not lawful (under the Law of Moses). What is Jesus’ point in reminding the Pharisees of the story? By citing this instance, He implicitly approves of the action of David eating the bread. Infringement of the rule to meet a genuine human need received no condemnation. So, His point is that ceremonial rites have to give way to higher moral concerns (in this case human need).

After giving that analogy, Jesus then turns to Himself. He simply says, “The Son of Man” (His favorite term for Himself) is lord of the Sabbath.” What does this mean? As one with the Father, Jesus is the only one who can truly define what was intended by the law. And He often did re-interpret the Law, moving it away from the traditions of the religious leaders.

The second scene, in verses 6-11, takes place in a synagogue on a different Sabbath. Luke tells us that Jesus was teaching and that there was “a man there whose right hand was withered.” After the previous confrontation over the Sabbath, the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely. They wanted to find reason to discredit and accuse Him. So, we know right from the beginning their motives weren’t pure.

Notice that Jesus “knew their thoughts,” meaning the desire of the Pharisees and scribes to accuse Him. So, what does He do? He calls the man with the withered hand up front. He intends to meet the challenge head-on. Notice also the question Jesus asks of the religious leaders:

Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?

This is really a rhetorical question, the obvious answer, one would think, is “to do good; to save life.” But, the leaders have no intention of engaging in that discussion, so they remain silent. (Mark’s account, in Mark 3:1-6, tells us that Jesus “looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”) Jesus then simply tells the man, “Stretch out your hand.” There’s no suggestion that Jesus touched the man, only that He gave the man a command.

Stretch out your hand.

What happened when the man obeyed? His hand was fully restored, just like the other one. Before we get to the reaction of the Pharisees, let’s think about the implications of what just happened. Jesus gave the man a command. He didn’t say, “If you’ll just exercise your faith, your hand will be healed.” No. He gave the man a command. Stretch out your hand. What can we learn from this?

When we obey the command of Jesus, our faith is evident and we see His purpose in our lives.

The Jewish leaders’ reactions had nothing to do with faith. Luke tells us “they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” Mark is even more emphatic. He writes, “The Pharisees immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” Now, one thing we need to know is that the Pharisees did not like the Herodians. They were rivals, in fact. But they hated Jesus so much that they consulted with their political and religious rivals to get rid of Him.

The leaders considered healing on the Sabbath to be work, in violation of the Law of Moses. Again, Jesus teaches us that the Law was not meant to be a burden to man. Rules are never to be enforced to the exclusion of human need. Remember His question to the Pharisees?

Is it lawful . . . to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?

Same question, except for removing the words “on the Sabbath.” When Jesus asked that question to the Pharisees, the implication of the question is this: Not only are we to do good and save life, but to fail to do so is unlawful. And if that is true on the Sabbath, then it’s true on every other day as well.

We are to do good to others, helping preserve life and not destroy it. The law of Christ is always focused on the needs of people over rules and regulations.

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The Shepherd's Voice

Pressing Forward, Not Shrinking Back (Pt. 3)

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But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:32-39)

In this post, the last in our 3-part series on Hebrews 10:19-39, we’re going to look at the last part of our passage and learn about holding on to our confidence when times get touch. Previously, we’ve talk about the need to press forward in love, moving toward God and man. We’ve also talked about what happens when we fail to do that–when we “go on deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” Now we will apply those lessons.

Confident Baby Steps and Maturity

Let’s begin by looking at the first two verses in this passage. It starts out with “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened . . . ” This suggests first that the author is referring to when his audience was first converted to Christ, and second that the author was present during that time (or at least had knowledge of them during that time). What were those early days like? The author reminds his audience, “You endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.”

Have you ever noticed that new believers often start off that way? A great zeal for the Lord. “We’ll do anything, bear anything, for the Lord!” And, as new believers, we seem to have such great faith. We see our prayers answered. Things seem so easy and natural.

Then…. life hits. The flesh reasserts itself to remind us that we haven’t arrived yet. We grow weary. Things suddenly become harder. That’s where the believers are in this passage. Why do we often start off like that, so well-intentioned and full of faith? I believe it’s because God is helping us learn to trust Him in the easy times. When building endurance and strength, and athlete doesn’t start with the hardest things possible. He or she works up to that. It’s the same with our spiritual muscles. During those early years of faith, we learn that God is good and He is trustworthy.

This is why the author of Hebrews wants his readers to “recall the former days.” He wants them to remember how God gave them great faith and they were able to overcome so many things. Now, they are being tempted to return to keeping the law. Why? Because it’s easier to try to follow the rules than it is to walk by faith. And if they were to return to law-keeping they would be “throwing away [their] confidence” (v. 35). The confidence they had as young believers would be for nothing. Everything they had endured to this point would be for nothing. But holding onto their confidence in God has “great reward,” the author reminds them. Indeed the One who is coming (Christ) will come. And when He comes He will give them their reward.

So, we start out in life–both physically and spiritually–taking baby steps. We learn to do the easy things so that we can lean into the hard things. In order to mature, we have to lean into the harder things, and we can do so based on the confidence we gained earlier. Not confidence in ourselves, but in the One who is faithful and is coming with our eternal reward.

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The Shepherd's Voice

Pressing Forward, Not Shrinking Back (Pt. 2)

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For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31)

In the last post, we began looking at Hebrews 10:19-39. We said that now, because of God’s great love for us and the work of Christ on the cross, we can approach God with confidence and others in love and encouragement. In fact, we are told to press forward, moving toward God and others. In this post, we’re going to talk about the danger of shrinking back. This passage, Hebrews 10:26-31, has caused much debate in the church through misunderstandings of what it does and does not teach.

The Danger of Shrinking Back

The first statement of this passage may at first seem like an abrupt change of subject to the modern reader. We might be tempted to ask, “Who said anything about continuing to deliberately sin?” But, the author of Hebrews is making a contrast. He is contrasting the exhortations in the previous section (vv. 22-25) with “continuing to sin deliberately.” So, to state it simply,

Drawing near to God, holding fast to our faith, and encouraging each other
is in direct contrast to
Continuing to deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth

There is an important implication here that we need to think about. Based on these passages, we can say that those exhortations in vv. 22-25 (drawing near to God, holding fast to our faith, and encouraging/loving one another) are natural and expected behaviors for Christians. This is a section, like many of the more practical parts of Paul’s letters, that say, “This is what a Christian, one who has been washed by Christ’s blood, looks like.” If there is never any movement in those directions by a professed believer, then there is a problem.

Now, let’s look at that first statement fully. The author of Hebrews writes, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (emphasis added). We need to be careful in understanding this sentence. First, notice what the author does not say. The author does not say there will not be forgiveness, but instead that there is no more sacrifice for sin. Why is this? Because Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient for all sin. And it’s because of Christ’s sacrifice that the believer is changed and empowered to grow in Christ.

Basically, the author of Hebrews is saying, “God has done all He can. He has provided everything we need to change and live in relationship and fellowship with Him and others.” Peter echoes this thought when he writes,

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

And Paul further adds,

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14)

God has given us His grace for the specific purpose of training us in righteousness and to help us avoid unrighteousness. He has given us all we need, not the least of which is His very presence. Thus, anyone who continues to willfully live in sin after receiving His grace is spurning both the grace of God and the sacrifice of Christ. What does the author say about such an attitude? There is no more sacrifice for sins. It’s as if the offernder is saying, “That’s not enough God,” but God has done everything possible.

This is why the author writes that the only thing left is “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” Now, we need to avoid a couple of extremes here. One extreme would say, “You lost your salvation [or were never a believer at all].” The other extreme would say, “It doesn’t matter, all sins are covered by grace.” Both are contrary to the sense of the text. Notice that verse 30 says, “The Lord will judge His people.” Here, as with all the NT letters, the writer is communicating to those who at least profess the name of Christ. He sees His audience as God’s people.

To reinforce this, look at verse 29, which contains these words:”. . . . the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified” (emphasis added). Notice that the writer speaks of this one of having been sanctified by Christ’s blood. He is one of God’s people. Thus, God does judge His people. He does discipline us, to train us in righteousness (we’ll talk about that in the next post). This is why both of those extremes are in error.

Now, let’s talk about why this judgment is merited. The author of Hebrews makes an argument from the lesser to the greater. He reminds the people that those who rebelled against the law of Moses were executed without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses (v. 28). Then he asks, “How much worse punishment will be deserved “the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (v. 29) The one who continues to sin deliberately, shrinking back from what God has called him to, has (as we said above) essentially told God, “What you did was not enough, and I reject it.”

How to Live Without Shrinking Back

The problem with teaching about or reading passages such as this is that it’s too easy to focus on the judgment and fear. It, no doubt, is a warning against abusing the grace we have received from God. At the same time, as we commit our hearts to positively and actively following Christ, we need not fear that jdugment. Discipline? Yes. God disciplines all of us, to train us. Discipline is not always punishment, though.

The thing is, we have to remember that God describes Himself as patient (Exodus 34:6), and the writers of both the Old and New Testaments agree. 2 Peter 3:9 tell us that God is patient toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all reach repentance. Psalm 103:14 tells us that God remembers our frame, He nows that we are but dust. My translation of that is, “He knows He has to pick up our slack.” But He knows our hearts also. He knows who is His, and He knows the desire of our hearts. As our hearts are turned toward Him, He will grant our desires to obey and follow Him. We will press forward and not shrink back.

Go to Part 1

Go to Part 3

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The Shepherd's Voice

Jesus, the Spotless Sacrifice

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But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. . . . Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:11:14, 25–26)

In something only God would do, not only is Jesus the Great High Priest and mediator of the New Covenant, but He was also the sacrifice that sealed the covenant. In the Old Testament, covenants were often sealed with blood by means of a sacrifice. Under the Old Covenant given to Israel, many different animal sacrifices were required to be made, either for specific sins (“I sinned, therefore I must sacrifice”) or at specific times of the year (the Day of Atonement). The author of Hebrews tells us that “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).

The sacrifices always had to be unblemished, with nothing wrong with them. They had to be in perfect health. This was particularly true of the sacrifices for sin. The bulls and goats used had to be firstborn and without spot or blemish. That’s all well and good, but as we noted in a previous post, there were some weakenesses in the sacrificial system.

The sacrifices were not human. Israel used the blood of bulls and goats in their sacrifies. But in order to actually remove sin, the sacrifice would have to be human. The author of Hebrews bluntly puts it this way: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). How did this work then? Were the sacrifices pointless? Not at all. The people sacrificed in faith, and God honored their faith by accepting their sacrifices and agreeing to count their sin as atoned for or covered. Yet the sin remained, which brings us to the next problem.

The sins of the people were not done away with. Though God counted the sins of the people as covered when they sacrificed according to the law, the sin remained. It was not actually paid for. Not only that, but the very sacrifices reminded the people of their sin! The author of Hebrews says once again,

For since the law . . . it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. (Hebrews 10:1–3)

The point of a sacrifice is the put away sin. This the law did not and could not do. So, debt of sin continued to mount. This is what Paul means when he writes of the record of debt in Colossians 2:14. That record continued to accumulate until Christ came. Only by His sacrifice was that gigantic debt paid.

The Better Sacrifice

Now, let’s talk about Jesus. When John the Baptizer introduced Jesus to some disciples, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; 36). He identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. How could one man’s sacrifice take away the sin of the world? Four reasons:

Jesus was and is human. This may seem obvious, but it needs to be stated. Some deny that Jesus was fully human, but that is not the biblical record. He was 100% human, and thus His sacrifice could take the place of humans.

Jesus was spotless. Even though the animals sacrificed under the old covenant were said to be spotless, even they were stained with sin and corruption due to the fall. All of creation was impacted by the fall, including animals. Jesus, however, was born perfect. He was untainted by sin. He was the true spotless lamb. Thus, while the Old Testament sacrifices were acceptable, His was perfect.

Jesus was and is divine. As God-incarnate, Jesus remained 100% divine. He cannot cease to be who He is, the eternal Son of God, coequal with the Father. As God-incarnate, His sacrifice is an eternal sacrifice, more than sufficient for the sins of all humanity. Hebrews says, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Jesus’ sacrifice was once-for-all. As we read earlier, the sacrifices of old were offered day in and day out, year after year. They were unending because they were imperfect and unable to take away son. Jesus’ sacrifice, however, was done once for all. This is why He said from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and sat down at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 10;12). Mission accomplished, the debt was paid. Because of His sacrifice, there remains no more sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:18, 26).

For those who trust Christ, we have the Father’s word. He had forgiven us, our sins are gone, and He remembers them no more.. This thanks to Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, our sacrifice.

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The Shepherd's Voice

The God Who Sees

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Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see (2 Kings 19:16).

The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man (Psalm 11:4).

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3).

We’re going to talk about four women. They could be any four women. In fact, they could be any four people. These women have something in common. 

Meet Hagar, the Egytian maidservant of Sarai, wife of Abram. She has been faithfully working for Sarai for a long time now. One day, it’s decided that, according to custom, Sarai will give Hagar to Abram to birth a child, since Sarai is too old. By custom, the child would be considered Abram’s. Lo and behold, Hagar conceives a child. She is so excited! Perhaps she says some unkind things to her mistress Sarai. After all, she has a child and Sarai still doesn’t. We are told that Sarai went to Abram to report the situation, and Abram says, “Sarai, she’s your hadmaiden, do whatever you think is right.” 

So, Sarai “dealt harshly with her, and [Hagar] fled from her” (Genesis 16:6). Hagar is now on the run. She ran away from her mistress, probably headed back to Egypt. She is in distress. The angel of the Lord meets her and promises a blessing upon her. At the angel’s instruction, she returns and submits herself to Sarai. (See Genesis 16:1-14 for the full story.)

Now meet Hannah, the wife of Elkanah. She loves her husband and he loves her, she is sure of it. But Elkanah also has another wife, Peninnah. Peninnah has children by Elkanah but Hannah has no children, for “the Lord had closed her womb.” That was bad enough. In that culture, a wife who couldn’t bear children was seen as defective and one under the Lord’s judgment. But that wasn’t all. We are told that Peninnah often would provoke Hannah because of her childlessness. Hannah is very grieved at this treatment.

After making sacrifice to the Lord, Hannah decides to go to the tabernacle and pray. We are told, “She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly” (1 Samuel 1:10). She was crying out to the Lord not only because of her childlessness but also because of her rival’s cruelty toward her. She vowed that if the Lord would only give her a child, she would give that child back to the Lord. And the Lord, in time, remembered Hannah and her prayer. She conceived a son. (See 1 Samuel 1:1-20 for this story.)

Now meet Miriam. That’s not really her name. In fact, we don’t know her name. (But we need to call her something, right?) She is a woman from Samaria. She goes to the well in the heat of the day, not in the early morning like the other women. She is not like them, and she feels their judgment. She lives…. differently. She’s currently living with a man not her husband. In fact, we learn she has had five husbands before. We don’t know her story, but we can feel the pain in her heart. She simply wants someone to love her. Instead, what she has now is the rejection of people and a counterfeit of the love she seeks.

Until she encounters a stranger at Jacob’s well one hot day. He talks to her about water, then living water–and promises to give her some. Then he brings up that subject. This Jewish stranger was not only talking with her but doing so respectfully, even though he “told me everything I ever did!” She ran to tell the other people about this man. (See John 4:1-30 for this story.)

Finally, meet another unidentified woman. We’ll call her Esther. She had such high hopes for her life. But her life has not gone as she hoped or planned. Though married, she finds herself in the arms of another man. She seeks love, but only finds guilt now. This particular morning, the door to the man’s house was kicked open, and she was dragged out of bed. A group of men drug her through the dusty streets of Jerusalem, then basically threw her in the middle of a crowd. She has no idea what’s going on, but it’s a sure bet she is frightened. She listens and finds herself in the middle of a debate.

The Jewish leaders–she recognizes many of them–say that she must be stoned according to the Law. They are directing their questions at another man. A stranger she has never seen before. He seems to ignore them and oddly stoops down and begins writing on the ground. She can’t tell what he is writing, but at least everyone’s eyes are off her and on him now. The leaders persist in asking the man what to do with her, and finally he stands up to reply. “Let those who are without sin be the first to stone her.” The crowd is perplexed. The leaders slowly walk away, until it’s only Esther and the man she now recognizes as the one they call Jesus. He asks her, “Where are the ones who accused you? Is there no one left to condemn you?” She simply says, “No one.” He looks at her a long moment and replies, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (See John 7:53-8:11 for this story.)

What do these four women have in common? Two Jews and two foreigners. They were all in distress. Judging from their stories, they all asked the same question in their hearts: Does God even see me? Does He know what I am going through? Does He care? Hagar called the Lord “the God who sees.” In fact, she named her son (at the angel’s instruction) Ishmael, which means “God hears.” Hannah named her son Samuel, which means “asked of the Lord.” There’s no doubt that in her crying out she asked the Lord to look on her afflictions (see her). The Samaritan woman no doubt wondered where God was (“Where are we supposed to worship? Where is he?”). Her questions masked her real heartcry: Does God see me? The woman of John 8 no doubt was fearful of God (at least as represented by the Jewish leaders). She stood before their accusing eyes and wondered, “What does God think of me? Does He see and care about me?”

In some religions, God is seen as simply too big to see or worry about individuals. Thus, people are supposed to pray to angels or saints so that their prayer might be heard by God. That, however, is not the God of the Bible. God is the One who sees. He sees all, and He sees to the deepest parts of our soul. What each of these found is that God is attentive. He sees us right where we are. The woman at the well could have easily said, “He told me everything I did, and He’s still here! He still loves me!” Likewise the woman caught in adultery. She looked into the eyes of the one who saw right into her, the one who could fully and finally condemn her. Yet, He didn’t.

We live in a fallen world. We are fallen. Even those of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are still fallen and do fall. We struggle in the midst of life’s trials. And we wonder if God sees us. We can take heart that our God, the Lord, sees us. He knows everything about us, including what we are going through this very moment. He is near the weak and the brokenhearted. Psalm 139 tells us,

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. . . . Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. . . . Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:1–16)

And Hebrews 4:13 tells us that “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” While this verse often is used to strike fear into people, it is a comfort that our God sees us. He sees everything about us. He knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. Not only does He know us and see us, but also “your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me.” God not only sees us and knows us but is with us in the pain and suffering that we go through. That is the greatest truth of all.

Maybe you’re alone in the corner of an empty house
Or maybe you’re the one no one notices in the crowd

He sees you, He’s near you
He knows your face, He knows your pain
He sees you and He loves you
He knows your name, He knows your name (“Name,” Fireflight)

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