Tag: faithfulness

A New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this:

I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.” (Good News Translation)

It’s important to pass on the faith to future generations of believers. The key to embracing a life of faith is obeying God’s commands and decrees.

Yet, both within the Old Testament and within our own contemporary religious milieu, God’s people persist in going through significant times of unfaithfulness, infidelity, and disobedience.., Oftentimes, people cannot seem to keep their eyes off the glittering gods that surround them, as if they had some sort of spiritual A.D.H.D.

Also persistent is the God who possesses a faithful remnant of people devoted to observing the covenant and living into the divine promises given to them. Yet, the kingdom of Judah in the prophet Jeremiah’s day, floundered in their commitments and broke faith with the teaching provided for them.

Since God’s grace has the last word, the sins and shortcomings of backslidden people who failed to pass on the covenant teachings to their progeny will have a better ending than that of divine judgment. God’s answer to repeated human failings is to establish a new covenant, unprecedented in its audacious mercy.

Rather than rewriting commands on stone tablets (as with Moses on Mount Sinai) and having a remedial class on the divine covenant and promises for the people, God will instead do the extraordinary, by writing the law on human hearts. That way, people will know the Lord in a direct and immediate way.

And on top of that, it will be for everybody; it won’t only be for the remnant, nor for just the spiritual elite. From the least to the greatest, from young to old, even from Jew to Gentile, God will forgive sins and shortcoming, guilt and shame, once and for all with the new covenant.

If that’s not the most gracious act ever decreed, I’m not sure what is. This is a radical move of spiritual amnesty. It’s completely undeserved. And it’s definitely not something any other god from any other nation would ever do. It’s unthinkable – completely off everyone’s radar. Yet, that is exactly what grace does. Grace provides a way where there seems to be none.

From a New Testament (New Covenant) perspective, Jesus is the fulfillment of all God’s good covenant promises to the people. Furthermore, God’s Holy Spirit serves as the continuing presence of Jesus within us, teaching us and guiding us in the ways of God. 

Our only task, then, is to live into those promises – to know them, claim them, and bank on them. We are most obedient when we believe the promises of God and throw all our hope in them.

The implications of the divine decree of a new covenant are enormous. It means:

  • I cannot do a darn thing to earn God’s acceptance, because I already have it! (John 6:37; Colossians 1:21-22; Romans 8:33-39, 15:7-12)
  • I don’t need to be afraid of judgment because Jesus has already taken care of the sin issue, once for all! (Romans 6:5-10; Hebrews 7:27-28, 10:5-10; 1 John 4:17-18)
  • I lack nothing, because God has already given me everything I need for life and godliness in this present evil age! (Philippians 4:19; 2 Peter 1:3-4)
  • I can know God, right now, without jumping through spiritual hoops or over imposed hurdles, because Jesus leveled the way and made it clear! (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 2:9-18)
  • I can enjoy forgiveness and a clean heart because God has decreed it to be so! (Psalm 103:8-12; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:7-13, 10:14-18)

If this were not enough, Jesus has sent the Spirit to be with us forever, to guide us and lead us into realizing the law written on our hearts. We are never alone. God is with us.

Jesus said, “The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Do not be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:26-27, CEB)

In this world of trepidation, fear, uncertainty, and unrest, there is peace, grace, and love because the Father, Son, and Spirit, the one true God, the Blessed Holy Trinity, the Divine Warrior who fights our battles, the Lord of Hosts, has our backs. Yes, this God, and no other god, has the chutzpah to make promises to us and the power to back them up.

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes! Yes! Amen!

Remember and Listen to History (Deuteronomy 32:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Listen, heaven, and I will speak.

Earth, hear the words from my mouth.

Let my teachings come down like raindrops.
Let my words drip like dew,
like gentle rain on grass,
like showers on green plants.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Give our God the greatness he deserves!
He is a rock.
What he does is perfect.
All his ways are fair.
He is a faithful God, who does no wrong.
He is honorable and reliable.

He recognizes that his people are corrupt.
To their shame they are no longer his children.
They are devious and scheming.
Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and silly people?
Isn’t he your Father and Owner,
who made you and formed you?

Remember a time long ago.
Think about all the past generations.
Ask your fathers to remind you,
and your leaders to tell you.
When the Most High gave nations their land,
when he divided the descendants of Adam,
he set up borders for the tribes
corresponding to the number of the sons of Israel.

But the Lord’s people were his property.
Jacob was his own possession.
He found his people in a desert land,
in a barren place where animals howl.
He guarded them, took care of them,
and protected them because they were helpless. (God’s Word Translation)

In addition to being a church pastor and a hospital chaplain, I hold two academic history degrees. I firmly believe the past is important. Having an historical perspective on just about everything is helpful in order to negotiate present circumstances.

Another way of saying this is that it’s imperative that we remember times from long ago, and think about all the past generations – what they faced, why they faced it, and how they dealt with it – because it all influences us right now, whether we are aware of it, or not.

Listening to others is important. Hearing and responding to the voice of God is necessary. And listening to voices of the past is just as crucial. After all, Holy Scripture is ancient, containing the voices of hundreds of people, as well as the voice of the Lord. The faithful throughout the ages have encountered all sorts of situations related to their religious tradition; and they remain as a great cloud of witnesses testifying to us and encouraging us in the way we ought to go.

In today’s Old Testament lesson, the Lord exhorted the people to remember, simply because they had forgotten. And whenever a people forget where they have come from, they forget who they are; and if they forget who they are, their very identity is in jeopardy of being hijacked by corruption, guilt, and shame.

Israel needed to recall their own history, because they were in danger of failing to tell their stories to the next generation, who in turn, would not then have anything to remember.

The great redemptive events of God in calling their father, Abraham, out of Chaldea, promising divine presence and property to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the miraculous deliverance from Egyptian slavery; and the wandering in the wilderness had to be lifted up and recognized, not forgotten.

In fact, every generation of believers needs to not only affirm their faith, but also restate that faith for the next generation.

And that is precisely what Moses did for the people. He restated Israel’s history and the giving of God’s Law for a new generation about to enter the Promised Land. Only with this collective memory of divine help and revelation would the people be able to make it in in the place they were going.

There is, I believe, a great collective ignorance of history. Many Westerners know very little of their own genealogy beyond a generation or two. Folks have little to no recollection of seminal events which have shaped the places where they live and work. It’s as if there is no foundation under their feet from which to stand firm.

For example, this is one reason why so many people of color get treated as if they do not belong – because the white folk in the room don’t even know their own history, let alone the background and challenges of those who look different than them.

“Every true history must force us to remember that the past was once as real as the present and as uncertain as the future.”

George Macaulay Trevelyan, Professor of History, Cambridge University, 1898-1943

History is about people, and not so much about dates and facts. And so, to be indifferent about history is to be disinterested, even calloused, toward other people. Conversely, to engage history and learn from it is to be transformed by it.

Historians are people tasked with describing and interpreting the past. They take the many historical facts and responsibly interpret those facts and events in a coherent narrative for the benefit of those in the present. That’s exactly what Moses did. He told Israel’s story.

Moses recalled the past, then retold it and revised it for his contemporary generation. All history is revisionist – and that’s a good thing. It just means that we faithfully tell the story of our past by clearly understanding that history within the historical actors own time and terms, as well as possessing an equally discerning grasp of the people who hear it.

An attention to history can guide us, and help heal us of our narcissistic ways. It can help dethrone us from the misguided belief that we are the center of the universe. History provides us with the tools necessary to hear and understand the other, enabling us to reconcile with one another. 

As we learn from reading and listening to historical narratives, we find resources that can bring transformation of our own lives and the communities in which we live. So, what are you waiting for? Read the Bible. Read history. Read the contemporary culture. Perhaps you will have a compelling, challenging, and coherent voice that will rise above all the other competing contemporary voices of contempt and corruption.

Great God of all history, thank you for the many faithful people who, through the centuries, have made a positive impact in this world.

Thank you for the godly men and women who, by your grace, have rewritten history books by their actions; who have heard your call to go into the world. We praise you for the good example they have shown and the difference they have made.

May you enable each of us to leave an imprint and legacy of your love and mercy in our spheres of influence, so that those who come after us will look back one day and say, “They made a difference.” Amen.

What Is Your View of God? (Psalm 86:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
God’s Love… by Hope G. Smith

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
    save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,
    for to you do I cry all day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
    for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
    listen to my cry of supplication.
In the day of my trouble I call on you,
    for you will answer me.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
    and bow down before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God. (New Revised Standard Version)

What is your view of God? 

For some, God is up there, somewhere, like some white-bearded old guy who is aloof to what is going on down here – there is neither anything personal nor personable about him, at all. If he gets involved, at all, it’s just to get out his divine BB gun and shoot a few sinners in the backside.

For others, God is a force which binds all things together; God is there, but you’re never quite sure how to get in touch with him – it’s like a crap shoot trying to connect with God. So, you might do all sorts of things to get God’s attention, like be especially good – and if that doesn’t work, maybe you’ll go the other way and be especially bad, just to get any sort of attention.

For yet others, God is perpetually perturbed about something; he’s got a bee in his divine bonnet and it’s our job to figure out what he’s sullen and upset about all the time, that we might appease God in some way. So, you might double-down on being self-sacrificial, try not to swear in front of the Pastor, and help others so that God will, in turn, help you.

The psalmist David, however, sees God in a very different way than all the aforementioned. God is not aloof and distant, nor angry. Instead, David understands and views God as personal, knowable, and reachable.

What characterizes God?

Reading today’s psalm tells us a great deal of how David thought and felt about God. Notice what we learn about God from David’s description: good and forgiving; abounding in steadfast love; listens and answers; and, does great and wondrous things.

Now this is a God you can sink your teeth into. This God is attentive, engaged, and is anything but upset all the time – which is why David has no problem asking God to listen and answer his prayer.

David put his trust in God to save him and make his heart glad. With this kind of God, David can willingly affirm his devotion. With a God of steadfast love and support, the worshiping and praying person’s heart forever belongs to the Lord.

If your view of God cannot support and bear the weight of your life’s hardest circumstances, then you need a different view of God!

Rather than God being the problem, it could be that your understanding of God is off. And if your understanding of God is off, then it’s likely that your own understanding of yourself is skewed – which is why many persons who have darker views of God are down on themselves and possess little self-worth.

I invite you to see the God of David. This God has both the ability and the willingness to satisfy your life’s greatest needs.

What will you do with your view of God?

In humility and brokenness, we call out in our misery. God responds in steadfast love and abundant mercy. With God, we can move from trouble to confidence.

And sometimes, we discover that our troubles and our circumstances change very little. But we ourselves have changed a great deal. Our compulsions for solid answers to our questions give way to a settled confidence in divine mystery. And our obsessions with a pain-free and problem-free life are replaced with a curiosity for what the hard situations in our lives will teach us.

The poor and needy cry out to God, knowing that grace and mercy characterizes the Lord. Life on this earth may not treat us well, but God gives us much more than we deserve.

The faithful trust in the Lord, fully confident that their preservation and protection are in God’s hands – and not in political leaders or padded bank accounts.

The miserable pray, constantly persevering in prayer, because their hope is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. They have learned to pray expectantly, understanding that sometimes the greatest miracle of all is being delivered from the need to have a miracle.

Those who lift their faces to heaven, looking for the bright sunshine of grace, will know joy, down deep in their soul – and not simply a fleeting happiness from temporary reprieve of trouble.

The ones calling on the name of the Lord, banking their lives on God’s love, discover forgiveness and a good peaceful life of peace – rather than the anxiety of constantly worrying about tomorrow.

The spiritually devoted are confident that God will answer in their day of trouble – and they are patient, knowing full well that God’s sense of timing is much better than their own. So, they learn to hold all things loosely, knowing that God gives and God takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

All those taking the time and effort to find the God who is truly characterized by kindness and compassion know in their gut, without a shadow of a doubt, that there is no one like the Lord – a God who does wondrous things and is attentive to justice and righteousness.

What is your view of God? Listen closely to the psalmist, and he will tell you what the Lord has done for him because of God’s basic nature of love and goodness.

Great God of David, you are above all things and beside all things and with all things. You are uniquely positioned and powerful to walk with me through all the situations of my life. Thank you for sending the Son of David to make your promises real to me. Amen.

Speak Up In Faith (Acts 7:1-16)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Statue of St. Stephen, by Joseph Marius Ramus (1805–1888) at the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont Church in Paris

Then the Chief Priest said, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Stephen replied, “Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I’ll show you.’

“So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,’ God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.’

“Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham’s flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,’ each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.

“But then those ‘fathers,’ burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.

“Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That’s how the Jacob family got to Egypt.

“Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor. (The Message)

“What do you have to say for yourself?” conjures up for me women in a church basement with hands on hips, fingers pointing, staring at my 4-year-old self, after I ran through a bunch of old clothes at their annual rummage sale. And it wouldn’t be the last time I’d be asked that question throughout my life.

It’s a question that wants an accounting of something we’ve said or done. It’s not a polite question – more rhetorical than anything else.

Stephen was asked the question – and displayed a non-plussed presence that used the opportunity to turn it around back on his accusers and, indeed, of all humanity and human history.

Throughout Jewish history (and everyone else’s history, too!) there are human movements of good, inspired by divine initiatives; and alongside the good, there also are streams of resistant humanity who seek to thwart the good.

St. Stephen delivered a speech to the religious leaders, highlighting these two developments of human activity in the lives of two major figures in Jewish history.

Abraham

The patriarch of the Jewish people, Abraham, demonstrated faith by listening to the call of God to go to a country he knew nothing about. The Lord’s promises included both blessing and hardship. Although Abraham would be faithful to God’s covenant, his descendants would still find themselves as slaves in Egypt for four-hundred years.

Opposition to faith is always hanging in the shadows, ready to spring when there is an opportunity. Even though Abraham was a devoted follower of God, there were faithless people around him who had a different agenda than the Lord’s. His name continued into the New Testament with the faithless using it.

But invoking the ancient name of Abraham isn’t a protective amulet that makes everything okay. Doing the will of God is what really matters; and exhibiting faith like Abraham is the real issue.

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (John the Baptist, Luke 3:8-9, NIV)

A good and right life comes through faith, and not by willpower nor in lifting up oneself by the bootstraps.

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:2-3, NIV)

Joseph

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the original pillars of Judaism. Jacob had twelve sons, known as the twelve patriarchs, from whom all Jews come from. The history of the brothers, like many families, is complicated. Joseph, next to the youngest of the brothers, was intensely disliked by several of the others.

Joseph found himself in Egypt because his brothers sold him into slavery. Like Abraham, Joseph had a robust faith, yet this did not inoculate him from trouble. Eventually, however, through a round-about turn of events, Joseph became in charge of the very empirical power that originally received him as a slave.

Through the eyes of faith, Joseph was not bitter, but understood why he needed to go through such terrible adversity. As administrator over all of Egypt, Joseph was able to handle severe years of drought with wisdom and confidence, thus saving many lives from hunger and starvation. And so, he was able to say to his brothers, many years later:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. “

(Genesis 50:20, NIV)

So, what do you have to say for yourself? Let you and I have the ability to say that we have been people of faith and patience. Let us be those who tenaciously hold to God, and steadfastly do good, speaking up in faith, no matter the situation, and regardless of faithless people who oppose us.

Because, in the end, the words of Jesus are true:

“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:26-31, NIV)

Just and right God, when we are faithless, you are faithful, because your very character is faithfulness. Help us to be faithful – not fearful – to the end, exhibiting the same commitment as your martyr Stephen, who fully entrusted himself to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we are bold to pray. Amen.