33/53 everything sad is going to come untrue

There is something bittersweet about the sunrise. It breaks through the darkness of night and ushers in a brand new day. But then the realization hits. It's a new day, but nothing has changed, not in any significant way. Kids are still dying from hunger. People everywhere are still starving for love. Night is going to come again.

Yet this week instead of reflecting on all that is wrong and broken in our world, I couldn't help but think of Sam Gamgee asking Gandalf, "Is everything sad going to come untrue?" Not quite, but close.

Everything broken is going to be made new. And it will never be broken again. Everything will one day be as God intended it to be.

"'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'...There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever." Revelation 21:3-5a, 22:5

Last night at small group, a member shared about her falling away from faith. She painfully recalled a time in her life when she had pleaded with God to take away the pain and give her comfort, and yet received no response. God was silent and seemingly absent in her time of need. As she poured her heart out, my heart ached as I found myself at a loss for words. I can do well enough for myself by recalling Job's story or even recounting the torturous darknesss and abandonment that Mother Theresa once endured. But how, I wondered, could I answer one who had lost her faith? How do you make sense of suffering to someone that scarcely believes that there is a God anymore, much less believe that he is all good and all-loving and intimately involved in our lives?

It was then that it occurred to me that there were no words that could touch her heart, except for those blessed by God. The most elegant prose could fail to even touch her on the basest level. And yet the simplest of words, if only with God's blessing, could have brought her running back into the Father's arms. And that threw me into an even deeper turmoil than before. I didn't just begin to wonder about this one precious life, but about the multitude of lives. I wondered why the soil was so rocky, the sun so fierce, and the weeds so numerous where the gospel seed is so plentiful? And why also, where the soil good and the trees fruitful is the gospel is so rare and precious? But those questions only brought me full circle once again. I longed to learn God's marvelous purpose. I wanted to know why. But he doesn't owe that answer to me. He doesn't owe anything to me. God has proven faithful and true, even and especially when I haven't. Why should I doubt him now?

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:



"Who is this that darkens my counsel


with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,


and you shall answer me.
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?


Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!


Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,


or who laid its cornerstone-
while the morning stars sang together


and all the angels shouted for joy?
"Who shut up the sea behind doors


when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment


and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it


and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;


here is where your proud waves halt'?
"Have you ever given orders to the morning,


or shown the dawn its place,
that it might take the earth by the edges


and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;


its features stand out like those of a garment.
The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
"Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea


or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?


Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?


Tell me, if you know all this.
"What is the way to the abode of light?


And where does darkness reside?
Can you take them to their places?


Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
Surely you know, for you were already born!


You have lived so many years!
"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow


or seen the storehouses of the hail,
which I reserve for times of trouble,


for days of war and battle?


What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,


or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,


and a path for the thunderstorm,
to water a land where no man lives,


a desert with no one in it,
to satisfy a desolate wasteland


and make it sprout with grass?
Does the rain have a father?


Who fathers the drops of dew?
From whose womb comes the ice?


Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,


when the surface of the deep is frozen?


"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?


Can you loose the cords of Orion?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons


or lead out the Bear with its cubs?


Do you know the laws of the heavens?


Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?
"Can you raise your voice to the clouds


and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?


Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?
Who endowed the heart with wisdom


or gave understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?


Who can tip over the water jars of the heaven?
when the dust becomes hard


and the clods of earth stick together?
"Do you hunt the prey for the lioness


and satisfy the hunger of the lions
when they crouch in their dens


or lie in wait in a thicket?


Who provides food for the raven


when its young cry out to God


and wander about for lack of food?


-Job 38

could i sing of your love forever?

John Piper once stated that the Bible is the word of GOD ALMIGHTY himself, it can't be boring; we are the problem. I think the same applies to worship music. It can't be boring. We are the problem.

All too often I hear Christians moan, "Ugh.. I can't believe we're playing this song again." Even worship leaders condescend to say, "I don't like to play that song because it's already so overplayed." But I think this reflects a very unfortunate understanding of worship. It leads me to wonder whether or not most Christians truly long for heaven. Revelation 7:9-10 paints such a marvelous, yet small part of what paradise will be like:

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
'Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"

Does the thought of that excite you? Do you yearn for the day when John's magnificent vision becomes a reality? To be a part of that? Or does the thought of joining in the angelic chorus of "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty" bore us? If our chief desire as we enter worship is not to please God, to magnify Him, then why do we want to go to heaven?

The other week I got into a conversation with another student about religion. There was a lot of circular argument, with his central point being that because God is such a good and loving God, he will let everyone into heaven. But I think this claim stems from an incomplete idea of heaven. Yes, it is a place without pain and suffering. It is the place where we will know true joy and complete satisfaction. But, this is only true because heaven is where we will finally worship God in spirit and in truth. Worship of God results in the purest, highest enjoyment the human heart can ever experience. But our fleshly nature is so debased that most of us don't recognize this. Instead of being lovers of God, we are lovers of self. We have traded the glory of the incorruptible God for mere shadow images of His creation. The beauty of the heavens no longer captures our breath. The warm canvas of a sunrise no longer draws forth words of praise from our lips. For anyone in this state, heaven would be hell. Perfect, everlasting fellowship with God is the ultimate joy. But to a person wholly consumed with love of self, or love of anything less than God, this would seem to be as hell.

Songs with a Christian message can get old. But songs to the praise and glory of the Lord our God cannot get old. We will not be bored in heaven, even if all we do (which we probably won't) is join in the angelic chorus of "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty." It is not about us.

life is waiting for the one to lose control

I've read that there are people out there ready to accept the truth of the gospel of Christ, if only they could hear it. I hope that someone reading this blog belongs to that group of people.

Every human being, having been created in God's image, has eternity etched on his or her heart. Even the cavemen didn't believe that this life is all that we have. Although we have this basic knowledge, it's difficult to really understand what it means to be eternal. Some people have taken it to mean that we are endlessly reincarnated until we reach some golden standard of spirituality. But only the elite few ever escape. Most people fall far short of the requirements for whatever is the ultimate in eternity.

But Christianity tells of the solution to our predicament. It is in the cross of Jesus Christ. Without it, we are hopelessly lost. But God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us. As an illustration of what love and sacrifice this required, imagine if Hollywood's celebrities stepped down from their places of privilege and lived in the slums of a third world country. Or if Steve Jobs took nothing with him and lived in a remote village of Kenya. Even that doesn't come close to Jesus stepping down from a heavenly throne to dwell among us-- to be born to poor parents in a manger and to have no place to lay his head when he grew older.

I used to naively think that it wasn't necessary for Jesus to die on the cross. I thought, "If God is all powerful and all loving, then all he has to do is just forgive us. No one had to die." But God is also a holy God; he can't stand sin. Jesus Christ, by being the spotless sin sacrifice, was the only fool-proof solution. We have only to believe in Christ and have a relationship with him. And when we stand before the judgment seat of God at the end of time, instead of seeing us alone, God will see us cloaked in the righteousness of his son Jesus. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I imagine being shown an accelerated replay of my life when I die, and there are things that I won't want to see-- things that I'm ashamed of... things deserving of punishment. But because of God's grace in the sacrifice of his only son, even sinners can enter into his presence. It takes time and learning to begin to grasp how wonderful it is to be in the presence of God. It's not like all those cliche descriptions you hear of floating around on clouds and eternal bliss. And while there is lasting joy and satisfaction, it is even better than the most appealing picture you've ever seen or heard of. The invitation is free. What will you choose to do with it?

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." - John 17:3