Tag: god’s grace

Divine Judgment and Human Judgmentalism (Luke 21:20-24)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Jesus Wept Over It, by Enrique Simonet, 1892

“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it, for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the times of the nations are fulfilled. (New Revised Standard Version)

Judgment is coming… and is already here…

To be more specific, God’s judgment is coming; and humanity’s judgmentalism is already here.

Because of our judgmental spirits, we ought not be surprised that the judgment of God will be here soon.

I cannot get through a day – barely an hour – without hearing judgmental statements coming from another’s mouth. And sometimes, it’s my own mouth.

Judgmentalism is rife. It’s everywhere. And there’s no way to escape it. In a “normal” day (if there is such a thing for me) I hear all sorts of statements, without even trying to hear them. And when I do, I usually have a thought about it (in the parentheses):

  • “They did it because they don’t care about anything.” (And you don’t seem to give a rat’s rear end about understanding why they did it.)
  • “They deserved all the bad stuff they received.” (And you don’t?)
  • “The only reason they got the job to begin with is because of their connections.” (I didn’t realize that you are all-seeing, like God)
  • “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” (Maybe, but neither do you.)
  • “The rain is terrible.” (That’s your assessment. But it isn’t the local farmer’s assessment of the rain. He thinks it’s wonderful.)

Judgmentalism is the tendency to make quick and excessively critical judgments of others, especially moral judgments which characterize another’s thinking or way of being as immoral, unethical, monstrous, and/or harmful.

Our human judgmentalism of one another tends to detract from the sort of judgment we ought to be paying attention to.

Ultimately, none of us sits as Judge to arbitrate what who deserves punishment, or not. That is the job of Judge Jesus. So, when the true judge speaks, it behooves us to listen and follow through with what he (Christ) says about upcoming divine judgment.

When Jesus said his words of Jerusalem’s impending destruction, he was making it clear that these would be days of God’s vengeance, of divine judgment against the people. It would not last forever, because the wrath of God never does.

Yet, judgment is imminent. God will not let times of injustice, unrighteousness, and hatred last without end.

Therefore, Jesus was warning his disciples, and all who would follow him, about how they are to live while they await the end of all things.

We are not to be led astray, and be fooled by anyone who claims the name of Christ, yet lives like a devil. Unfortunately, some will foolishly succumb to falsehood. Everyone will suffer in some way.

Believers are to be watchful and prayerful. This is not passivity on our part, but actively putting a great deal of energy into becoming wise and interceding on behalf of others.

If we cannot sit still in silence, in contemplative prayer, for even 20 minutes, then we have a problem. It will be quite difficult to discern the good, right, and just.

If we cannot go half the day without making a judgmental statement about another person, then we have an addiction which needs to be broken.

If we continue to have reasons why we cannot (and therefore will not) read or listen to Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament Gospels of Jesus, then we are likely following someone else other than Christ.

If we keep moaning about the state of the world, the problems in our families, and all the local issues of our communities, then it is imperative that we come back to examining the words and ways of Jesus and deal with our own junk, instead lamenting everyone else’s.

If you know how to prepare for a zombie apocalypse, a new movie that’s coming out, or a birthday party for someone, but don’t have any idea about how to make life preparations for a coming disaster (let alone your own eventual death) then the last thing that ought to be happening is judging another person for anything at all.

You’ve got some work to do to get ready for the coming of Christ.

“Let us be alert to the season in which we are living. It is the season of the Blessed Hope, calling for us to cut our ties with the world and build ourselves on this One who will soon appear. He is our hope—a Blessed Hope enabling us to rise above our times and fix our gaze upon Him.”

A.W. Tozer

It’s possible that you may want to judge me for saying not to be judgmental. It’s happened more than once in my life. Yet, if we can learn to distinguish between the person and the behavior, then we can deal with unjust behavior, and leave any condemnation of the person to God.

If ever we struggle to know what to do, one can never go wrong with showing grace.

Gracious God, I repent for being quick to pass judgement both in speech and thought. For every time my words or actions of judgment and condemnation have hurt someone, I repent. Lord, I pray that I will not focus on the faults or shortcomings of others. Help me to see others through the eyes of grace. Amen.

A Prayer of Confession and Contrition (Nehemiah 9:16-25)

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

But they—our own ancestors—acted arrogantly.
They became stubborn and wouldn’t obey your commands.
They refused to listen.
They forgot the miracles you performed for them.
They became stubborn and appointed a leader
to take them back to slavery in Egypt.
But you are a forgiving God,
one who is compassionate, merciful, patient,
and always ready to forgive.
You never abandoned them,
even when they made a metal statue of a calf for themselves
and said, ‘This is your god who took you out of Egypt.’
They committed outrageous sins.
But because of your endless compassion,
you didn’t abandon them in the desert.
The column of smoke didn’t leave them during the day,
but it led them on their way.
The column of fire didn’t leave them during the night,
but it gave them light to see the way they should go.
You gave them your good Spirit to teach them.
You didn’t keep your manna to yourself.
You gave them water to quench their thirst.
You provided for them in the desert for 40 years,
and they had everything they needed.
Their clothes didn’t wear out, and their feet didn’t swell.

You gave kingdoms and nations to the Israelites
and assigned them their boundaries.
So they took possession of the land of Sihon,
the land of the king of Heshbon,
and the land of King Og of Bashan.
You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky.
You brought them into the land you told their parents to enter and possess.
Their children took possession of the land.
You defeated for them the Canaanites, who lived in the land.
You handed the Canaanite kings and their people over to them
to do whatever they wanted with the Canaanites.
The Israelites captured fortified cities and a rich land.
They took possession of houses filled with all sorts of good things,
cisterns, vineyards, olive trees,
and plenty of fruit trees.
So they ate and were satisfied and grew fat.
They enjoyed the vast supply of good things you gave them. (God’s Word Translation)

The Jewish people had experienced the Babylonian Captivity. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down, and the Temple was ransacked and destroyed.

Years later, the Persians overthrew the Babylonians, and many of the Jewish captives were allowed to return to Judea. One of the returning groups was led by Nehemiah, who was a cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah engaged in an ambitious project of rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall and securing the city. It was a large undertaking. Yet, even more daunting was restoring the Jewish people’s worship of Yahweh, and following the Torah, God’s law.

Today’s Old Testament lesson takes place in the fifth century B.C.E. Nehemiah, along with the religious leader Ezra the scribe, organized a public assembly. The people listened to the Torah being read, and were fasting, confessing, and repenting of the ways they had neglected God’s law.

A group of Levites (the priests) stood up and said a long prayer of confession. Our verses for today are a part of that extended time of confession of sin and profession of faith. The people’s past history was very much a part of their present circumstances.

The Levities emphasized that it is God’s nature to be full of faithfulness and steadfast love. So, the Lord preserved the Israelites and rescued them out of Egyptian slavery through a series of miraculous wonders.

While their ancestors were out in a desert sojourn, anticipating entry into the Promised Land, God was faithful to provide for the Israelites both physical and spiritual food – Torah and manna.

And yet, despite the incredible rescue from Egypt, and miraculously escaping through the Red Sea, the people were rebellious. Their disobedience to God in the golden calf experience prevented that generation from entering into the promised rest. (Hebrews 3:16-19)

Every generation has its “sinners,” those who seem to have a bent toward selfish behavior, and refuse to see the needs of the entire group. They only serve God if it serves their own self-centered purposes. And they stubbornly refuse to bend to anyone’s wishes, including God’s.

Unfortunately, that sin of pride and arrogance gets passed down to the next generations. It’s not only, in some ways, taught; this sort of stubbornness also appears to have a genetic component, as well. Whenever our minds and hearts are rewired with injustice toward others and disobedience toward God, that wacky wiring gets passed down to the next generations.

It is quite likely that past trauma has a lot to do with skewed minds and hearts.

Epigenetics is a scientific field which investigates how environment influences our genes. Trauma does not alter our actual DNA sequence; but it does impact how that sequence is read and utilized in our body.

When an individual experiences trauma, their body may adapt by adjusting gene expression, and some of these changes can be passed on to their children. It’s like passing on genetic notes to our progeny – which means that these notes can be rewritten (and rewired) by our own life experiences and actions.

I am not a genetic scientist, yet this may be something akin to the divine warning about generational sin, arising from a generation’s trauma experience, after being enslaved and mistreated for 400 years in Egypt. In giving the Law to Moses, God then said:

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7, NIV)

Whether any of us knows anything about genetics and epigenetics, or not, there yet remains the need for a prayer of confession. It is necessary to acknowledge our own sins, as well as the sins of our ancestors.

In their prayer of confession, the Levites in Nehemiah’s time acknowledged and confessed their own guilt, and the guilt of their ancestors, of being the following:

  1. Obstinate. They stubbornly presumed God would be with them, then obstinately did whatever the heck they wanted.
  2. Stubborn. They were “stiff-necked” and refused to obey God when they didn’t want to.
  3. Forgetful. Not an accidental forgetting, but a purposeful neglect to remember what God had done for the people.
  4. Idolatrous. It was the people’s impatience with waiting for Moses on Mount Sinai that led to the golden calf idol disaster. Failing to accept God’s timetable will always lead to a bevy of bad behavior.
  5. Disobedient. The most sinister form of this is obeying halfway, and believing that you have completely done your duty for God, i.e. the sin of one person, Achan, affecting the entire community. (Joshua 7:1, 10-12, 20-26)
  6. Complaining. Murmuring and grumbling is the dissatisfying attitude and speech of ingrates. When directed at God, it is a failure of faith, replaced with a belief that God is mean and/or capricious.

Confession and repentance are the remedies to both individual and communal guilt. And that is exactly what Ezra and Nehemiah organized the post-exilic Israelites to do, publicly.

Not only did they offer a prayer of confession and repentance, but they also acknowledged and believed God’s faithfulness and mercy to forgive, renew, and restore.

Indeed, God’s grace is greater than all of our sin.

The Levites were not simply offering a mechanical liturgical formula for corporate confession. They were crying out with heartfelt confession to the God they believed was listening and would respond.

As the Levites led the people in confession and repentance, they pointed to the following attributes and activities of God which they put all of their trust in:

God forgives.

He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:7-12, NIV)

God guides.

He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3, NIV)

God provides.

He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
He provides food for those who fear him;
    he remembers his covenant forever. (Psalm 111:4-5, NIV)

God sustains.

I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. (Psalm 3:5, NIV)

When all is said and done, the centrality of God is humanity’s ballast. As we orient all of life around the Lord, this is what makes all the difference in coming to grips with our past, present, and future.

May it be so, to the glory of God.

“I Have Overcome the World” (John 16:25-33)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
All Are Alike Unto God, by Madison Wardle

“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (New International Version)

Imagine you are with Jesus in the Upper Room celebrating Passover. And your Lord tells you he is leaving – going back to the Father. After three years of a difficult, yet incredible ministry, there is palpable grief in the room. It’s as if you got sucker-punched. You want this time with Jesus to never end….

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, Savior of the world, does not forget you. The Lord is concerned and careful to provide wonderful words of assurance: Father God loves you. I give you my peace. I have overcome the world.

My friend, do you hear the words of Jesus? Do you truly understand what the Lord of all the earth has said to you? The love and peace of Christ has overcome the world. That love and that peace is given to you. You, and not just someone else, possesses the love and peace to overcome the world.

Whenever we encounter trouble; in those times when grief seems to be swallowing us whole; and when all is dark and we cannot see our hand in front of our face – it is in these moments the Lord comes alongside us and communicates a loving divine presence which grants us the peace of settled rest, even if, and especially when, our troubling situations do not change.

If you have had a life largely free of struggle, the privilege of knowing where your next meal is coming from, and the assurance of having your most basic needs met, then please understand that many people throughout the world, right this moment, know nothing of that kind of experience.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that needy persons are unhappy, discontent, or bitter. Heavens, no!

Love and peace are neither bound nor limited by adverse circumstances.

In fact, love and peace are known in a much deeper way whenever we have been hated and in conflict. That’s because love thrives and flourishes in an environment of hate; and peace takes root more surely wherever there is disharmony and misunderstanding.

If everything always goes our way, how then would we know the Lord’s great grace to us? How would we ever know God as Provider unless we were in want? How would we know Christ as the Healer unless we were broken? How could we ever know resurrection unless there was a crucifixion?

Jesus specializes in the improbable and the impossible. He comes and lands on the Island of Misfit Toys, and airlifts the discarded ones to be a gift to the world.

You see, this is precisely how we overcome the world: We love and serve, just as our Lord did. Since he overcame, we walk in his footsteps.

The acquisition and presence of peace is anything but passive. Peace has been achieved through a bloody cross and settles within the spirit through an active pursuit of harmony, wholeness, integrity, and love.

Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has brought us by faith into this experience of God’s grace, in which we now live. And so, we boast of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory! We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God’s approval, and his approval creates hope. (Romans 5:1-4, GNT)

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:17-19, NRSV)

God’s peace and love is free, but it is not cheap. It is obtained smack in the middle of worldly troubles. So, may the peace of God be with you, my friends, now and always.

Almighty and everlasting God, you are the fountain of all peace, spiritual and temporal. We humbly pray, in your great goodness grant us that peace which the world cannot give, that we may ever live in your fear, obedient to your commandments, to the end that you may deliver us from all our enemies, through your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Pillow Thoughts (Psalm 132:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
King David, by Marc Chagall, 1962

O Lord, remember in David’s favor
    all the hardships he endured;
how he swore to the Lord
    and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
“I will not enter my house
    or get into my bed;
I will not give sleep to my eyes
    or slumber to my eyelids,
until I find a place for the Lord,
    a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

We heard of it in Ephrathah;
    we found it in the fields of Jaar.
“Let us go to his dwelling place;
    let us worship at his footstool.”

Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
    and let your faithful shout for joy.
For your servant David’s sake
    do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

The Lord swore to David a sure oath
    from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
    I will set on your throne.
If your sons keep my covenant
    and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, forevermore,
    shall sit on your throne.” (New Revised Standard Version)

King David took great pains in providing for the house of the Lord; and was very concerned about the worship of Yahweh. He went well out of his way to ensure that a temple would be built for his God.

David made as many preparations as he possibly could before his death, so that his son Solomon could follow through and build the temple. The editor of the Book of Chronicles commented on this:

David gave orders to gather together the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God. David also provided great stores of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing, and cedar logs without number—for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David. 

For David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorified throughout all lands; I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death. (1 Chronicles 22:2-5, NRSV)

The king did all of this because God came to David and let him know that he would not be the one to build the temple; that job would fall to his son Solomon. (2 Samuel 7:4-13)

David’s final instruction to Solomon and the people had to do with the construction of a house for the Lord his God:

“Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Go and build the sanctuary of the Lord God so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into the house built for the name of the Lord.” (1 Chronicles 22:19, NRSV)

The worship of God, for David, was to be the central feature of the Jewish people. All Israel and Judah were to encourage one another in worship at God’s house, the Lord’s Temple, in Jerusalem.

The priests of God wore special clothing, and handled the holy implements and the Ark of the Covenant of God. Yet, they were to be also clothed with righteousness, making sure that their outward ceremonial rituals reflected an inner moral purity and holiness before God.

David was bound and determined to not only worship the Lord himself, but to see that the entire nation of Israel had the opportunity to worship together in a central place.

Maybe a question arises for you about why David was so driven to construct a house for God. What is it that motivated King David to spend so much of his planning and energy on making sure that a temple would be constructed for the Lord?

Now when the king was settled in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.” (2 Samuel 7:1-3, NRSV)

A lot of events had transpired for David to be in the position of king, with peace all around him. The Lord had been with David, and brought him through the sort of adversities most of us will never know.

Once King David was at the pinnacle of peace and success, his thought were not about how to hold onto power, or to get more of it. He would lay his head on his pillow at night and wonder how he could give back to God for being so faithful.

And considering all that God had accomplished for him and for Israel, it seemed a travesty that he was luxuriating in a fine house, while the Ark of the Covenant – the objective presence of God among the people – was sitting in an old tent. So, David became determined to change that situation, because he could.

I wonder if when you and I are at a place in our lives where we feel safe and secure, prosperous and happy, our thoughts and dreams turn toward how we might give back to God in a worshipful way which will honor the Lord, as well as bless all the people of God.

I am curious what sort of things occupy your mind at night while your head is on your pillow, when you are feeling good about how your life is going.

Many, if not most, people will think about themselves, and what to do with what they have gained and/or accomplished. But what about you?

How will you respond to God’s grace, goodness, deliverance, and protection in your own life? What sort of ideas arise in your mind? What is in your heart to do for God and God’s people?

What are your pillow thoughts at night?

Presence itself is a great gift. The presence of God is incredibly gracious, good, and miraculous. And human presence, with each individual stamped with the image and likeness of God upon them, is also a wonderful gift from the Creator. And very much needed.

David enjoyed the presence of God, and longed for all the people to experience that divine presence. Although the Lord needed no temple to live in, David had in mind to provide one.

I imagine that King David understood that each person is a luminous icon of presence, reflecting God’s image, and needing the presence of God and others in order to have a nation who worships God as commanded in the Mosaic law.

Through communal worship at a designated site in Jerusalem, the Israelites could enjoy the beauty of God’s presence together, as well as the encouragement of one another.

Wherever there is presence and the acknowledgement of God and each other, there is freedom to offer affection, understanding, and respect.

It seems to me that these were the sort of thoughts that ran through King David’s mind, which made him determined to build a house for the Lord his God.

So, what will you do with your thoughts and your life?

Almighty God of all hope, of our thoughts and dreams: In humility, we give you thanks for all of creation; and for everything you give us. We praise you for forgiving us of our guilt and shame, even before we ask. You raise us from our broken state and make us whole. You give us the peace we yearn for.

Blessed God, fill us, your people, with your divine Spirit. Be our light in the darkness. Envelop us with your presence. Orient our hearts toward your justice; and help us always praise you. Let us ever be mindful of your power and grace in the world. Let us live as one with you in grace and in truth. Amen.