Great and amazing are
your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and
glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship
you,
for your righteous acts have been
revealed.
Revelation 15:3-4
Yesterday at Bible study, we looked at the stones that the elders carried out of the Jordan River to be a memorial to the people of what God had done for them. These were to remind them that God had been to them a God of rescue and salvation from their enemies. This was a God they could trust to keep His promises faithfully and surely.
Sharon then gave us stones, and challenged us to remember ways in which God has worked in our lives in seemingly miraculous ways, so we might worship Him and trust Him with our current difficulties. And as I pondered the things God has done for me and my loved ones, I was overwhelmed by His kindness. For just as I have been flailing in the waters of fear, and sadness, and worry, much more have I been deluged by His grace, and rescue, and love. How can I indeed not fear and glorify His name? He is the God who does all things well.
Look at the stones . . . and remember.
How often do you find yourself in a tight spot, a place of irritation, possibly even a place of suffering? You can't imagine why God is allowing this (think of Job), or what good can possibly come from it. Why, in fact, does God not seem to be answering, even hearing, your prayers?
Elisabeth Elliot has some good words for us today in her daily devotion A Lamp Unto My Feet: "The Lord who loves [us] suffered and wants [us] to fellowship with Himself. The joy of thus knowing Him comes not in spite of but because of suffering, just as resurrection comes out of death." (Italics Elisabeth's)
In suffering, we meet with God on different terms: we need Him desperately and know it. Job helps us out here with words that should be often on our lips: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth" (Job 19:25).
Do you know today that your Redeemer lives, that He has redeemed you from the wrath of God and will redeem you to a future with Him in glory? He calls us to come to Him as we suffer, and to rest in Him, and to know Him. (See Matthew 11:28-30.)
Happy New Year! And, to paraphrase Pooh, many happy returns of the year!
As I begin the year meditating on the book of Revelation, two new year's resolutions come to mind:
Return to your first love
Be faithful unto death
The first God spoke through John to the church in Ephesus; while He encouraged their very good deeds (enduring hardship patiently, bearing up for His name's sake, not growing weary), He noted their abandonment of their first love and called them to repent and "do the works you did at first". When I was a new Christian, I was sharing Christ with everyone I met, eager to share Scripture with my unsaved roommate, not really caring whether she liked it or not. Okay, I hadn't yet learned the fine art of discernment and listening and speaking the truth in love. I was just excited about this God who loved me so much that He literally came to earth to take justice on my behalf. Where is that excitement? Where is that first love?
The second God spoke to the Smyrnan church, after telling them about the persecution they were about to suffer. Maybe persecution is not right around the corner for us (then again, maybe it is), but the faithfulness part still rings true. We are called to faithfulness. Can we do it? Not on your life. The good news is that God in the flesh didn't just come to take the Father's wrath against us upon Himself, but to give us the righteousness that we cannot accomplish ourselves. And to follow up with the grand gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live faithful lives. For I am the vine, you are the branches; whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).
As for resolutions, I could stand to go on another diet, call my mother more, cut back on spending, and start lifting weights again. But if my ultimate goal is the same as God's for me, which is conformity to the image of Christ, then I really ought to return to my first love, and practice a life of faithfulness.
Help me, O Lord my God! Save me according to your steadfast love! (Psalm 109:26)
