Tag: Righteousness

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Waiting for final justice.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name. In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭7‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Isaiah, in telling the true tale of two cities, one of Babylon and the other of Jerusalem, describes the citizens of each. Even though the walk up the hill to Jerusalem is steep – from the valley below to the top of the mount is 2,500ft. Yet, Isaiah writes, “for the righteous, it’s not steep and rough.” Most of the stories of people coming to Jerusalem, or even returning to Jerusalem after years of captivity, write about it being a joyous journey. They come up to the city with excitement.

Isaiah tells us, yet another reason, this is true. Of course, it has always been depicted as the “city of God,” but in this passage he writes about its citizens. The citizens of God’s city, who are righteous, will not even break a sweat because it is God who smooths out their path. Imagine for a moment the true wonder of a city that is known for doing right, filled with justice and held accountable by God himself. Think of the cities we have now! We’ve got cities that are not safe and are filled with poverty, violence, and powerful gangs (in the streets and in the government 😳). Have you noticed our driving habits on the freeways lately? High speed, reckless drivers, racing as though there were no CHP to stop them. Businesses have practically given up trying to stop shoplifting and smash-n-grab mobs. Many have just closed stores rather than deal with the massive financial loss. There is a certain brazen behavior when there are no apparent consequences. The laws are there, but there is no enforcement. Isaiah challenges me when he writes, “we show our trust in you by obeying your laws.” It is both God’s laws and His justice that make this future, great city safe! The final word is hopeful and disturbing at the same time, it is “only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right.” That finality of accountability to what is right, will for many, be too late. Our behaviors testify that people do not believe God exists nor will He be perfect in His justice and judgment.

Prayer

Dad,
I thought everyone wanted to live and possibly raise a family in a safe city. Apparently, this is not true for all. The wicked, those who race to do wrong, preying on the weak and innocent; disregarding the law and peace, they just want the freedom to do whatever they want, to whomever they want to do it to! It’s no wonder our cities are full of pain and brokenness. Those who want to just live their lives and enjoy their neighborhoods will have to wait until you bring justice to the whole earth. Even though Isaiah was Your spokesperson, it did not protect him from the violence in his own time and from his own people. May your peace and mercy go before us as we wait for the fulfillment of your promises.

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Voice of God.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭29‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David reflecting over his entire life, remembering the peaceful times in the pasture while tending his father’s sheep. The early entry into the limelight, becoming the giantkiller. Through the rapid rise to fame and possibility as the heir apparent to the throne of Israel. Running and hiding from Saul, Israel’s first king. To the forty years of being king. A circuitous life to notoriety, writing 73 out of the 150 Psalms. Having 8 wives and 18+ children. He lived to 70 years old.

David writes about the powerful voice of God. The voice that created all that exists. God’s voice louder than the roar of the sea. His voice making the earth itself shake and dance. And finally, God speaking in the temple, where the people respond GLORY! What a theme to think about as he reviews his own life.

When we look back on a year, or three or thirty, what do we reflect on? What memories fill our mind? Is it on our own life, family or kids? Is it on career choices or the ups and downs of decisions made in our past? Or, is it on local and global events we’ve experienced and remember the “good-ol-days” even though we know they had their own troubles? David reflected on God and His powerful voice directing the earth and human affairs. Maybe we should consider the same as we look back or better yet, look forward. May The Lord reign as king forever and give his people strength. And, may the Lord bless them with peace.

Prayer

Dad,
Every human will eventually, clearly hear your voice and either be shaken and convicted because they ignored your grace and mocked your love and mercy. Or, they will be overjoyed, comforted by the sweet and familiar sound of being welcomed home. I love your hearing your voice in the quiet sound of correction or the calm sound of peace to my soul. I want your voice to heard as you speak justice, righteousness and truth over the nations of the world. Speak Oh Lord, we need you now.

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Everything is good when God is at home.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established fairness. You have acted with justice and righteousness throughout Israel. Exalt the Lord our God! Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!” Psalms‬ ‭99‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This Psalm is one of the expressions of the Ark of the Covenant being moved back into the tabernacle – God’s mobile home. In other words, coming home. God set this system up where he had Israel’s top craftsmen make a beautiful, gold covered box, filled with a few powerful reminders of God keeping his promises. Hebrews 9:4 says the ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. The manna was added later, after the contract and budding staff. Why the ark? It was a representation, filled with memory-reminders, that God makes and keeps his promises. He also shows up to come through for his people. A few Psalms, 97-100, are the celebrated passages of God not just “coming home,” but also gives a sense that everything is right and in its proper place. These two verses capture the essence or feelings of Israel’s leadership and the people of this now great nation. I must remember this Psalm is just a snapshot, a moment in place and time, but it’s these moments that are highlights of how things should be, could be when God’s people simply follow his ways.

The Psalmist boldly repeats this theme – God loves justice! God established both “shaphat” – good judgement or government and “yashar” – fairness, to be straight or equitable. God created humans and the rules of how all life should be lived. When those rules were broken by US, there were consequences. God would not be just or fair if he just flippantly let go of even one infraction. If, even once, God were to wink at it or just pretend he didn’t see it, he would not be just at all. God is either right, just, fair and true or he is not! The first humans broke the one rule God gave “Don’t eat,” and there were eternal consequences. He made several contracts with Israel, his own beloved people group (then and now). They broke the rules (chasing other loves) and there were consequences. God delivered discipline, correction and forgiveness over and over again with Israelites.

These verses acknowledge what every human soul introspectively understands, if they will just quit making excuses and get super quiet to listen to their God-given conscience! God always acts with justice and righteousness. Our lack of perspective and complete knowledge and wisdom of how everything works is no excuse to judge God’s character or intentions. It would be more honest for me to say, “I know God is always right, just and true, I just don’t LIKE it!”

This is what the Psalmist helps us with… fixing our perspective and our posture. He declares to us, still today – EXALT God, for He is always good! And bow low before his feet, for He is always holy (pure, sacred and beyond our complete understanding). When we don’t know or understand something (or truly know and understand so little), get this… God is trustworthy and right every time, all the time! Welcome your own amazing box of memory-promises into your home, your heart to remind you as well.

Prayer

Dad,
We may not have a beautifully crafted box of memories like the ark of the covenant, but we do have plenty symbols and memories of our own to regularly remember your goodness and mercy in our lives. I not only want to bring those memories into my heart, my home, but I also want to keep my heart open and clean for your Holy Spirit to reside there.

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Suffering is a great teacher, I just don’t like her.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus faced down the same crummy situations that we do. The idea that Jesus had temptations is hard to process. The best glimpse is Satan tempting him in the desert. Jesus was tempted to make his own will happen over God’s will. Test the limits of who he is and what his mission would be. Get and gain everything a human would want by taking shortcuts and believing a con-angel. I forget about the deep pain and suffering that occurred in many of his interactions with religious people as well as those who were suffering physically or broken emotionally – oftentimes both.

Jesus was deemed a fake, a liar, a rebel and a power hungry conspirator from his own religious leaders. He IS God, but the guys who supposedly worked for God couldn’t recognize one characteristic of God in Jesus! It is extremely painful to be misunderstood, or worse, categorized as a contrarian. Then there is the pain of empathizing with those who had been marginalized and beat up by the religious culture of perfection all while they profited and maintained power. The strong got stronger at the expense of the weak getting weaker. This environment decimated faith and distorted people’s view of God – both religious and sinner.

It is painful to watch others suffer and then be told they deserve it. The author of Hebrews delivers the truth in the conversation of Jesus being the final High Priest – it wasn’t an easy calling. Hebrews writes, “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Vs 5‬:‭8‬. My idea of learning obedience was simply doing what God says to do. Haven’t we learned that being obedient, doing what’s right and following God PREVENTS suffering? It’s not just that God disciplines us when we are disobedient, but now there’s the problem of suffering when doing RIGHT.

In my thinking, I should NOT suffer when doing right! Making right decisions and following God in obedience should get me a pass on suffering, right? That’s the whole carrot/stick scenario. Do right, get the carrot. Do wrong get the stick. Which is more motivating? Carrot please. Jesus did right and got the stick! He continued to do right and got the cross. Where’s the motivation? Where’s the reward? Hebrews has the audacity to tell us that suffering for righteousness sake yields obedience. Suffering can help us learn to obey God no matter the circumstances. If, for one moment I may think, “well, that’s for Jesus, and I am not him.” We both know that’s dodging the truth.

Obey God. Trust God. Suffer if we must, but do not confuse resistance, grief, mockery, gossip or mistreatment as an indication that we are doing something wrong. If we are being obedient to God, then suffering will come along with it.

Prayer

Dad,
Of course I confuse suffering with doing wrong and sinning! I am full of sin and just figured that suffering is what I deserve. I never thought of suffering for righteousness or suffering as a means to learn obedience. I want to avoid suffering! It is just not a good feeling. Help me to see the lesson, the value of suffering as Your Word shows me to be humble and to learn. I can’t tell you I like it, but I do know how much I love you and want to do what is right. Pour out your mercy and peace so that I can handle suffering appropriately.

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Hebrews hall of famers!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.”Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭32‬-‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Chapter 11 is filled with the famous faithful, and here the author just summarizes the more known stories that we still tell today. All of this was because of faith, their faith. Faith is extraordinarily critical in the life of Christ followers. It was then, before details of the plan was revealed, and it is now. Notice how small this list is when compared to the thousands of years it represents – it is just a few.

When Hebrews mentions “and all the prophets,” he was writing about the many unnamed major and minor prophets, spokespersons for God. And, because most of those prophets were warning Israel, begging them to turn from sin, as God was already setting the stage for their discipline, those folks were the ones mentioned towards the end. These were tortured, not just for their faith, but their words delivered to the leaders, and the people of God. No one wanted to listen to those words, so they killed them. Hebrews goes on to mention a few of those we know about. “Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.” Isaiah was the one stuffed in a hollowed log and cut in half!

Faith, as glorious as it may seem in the results and endings of these stories, was very costly and frightening to trust and obey God. Faith always includes huge risks. There is just no other way to do it. All of it, for the folks who believed long before the plans of God became reality in the son of man, son of God, was “credited to them as righteousness.” The phrase, shows up often in the Bible; in Genesis 15:36, Psalms 106:31 and Romans 4:22-23. Faith is still required and still effective to “credit” any of us with righteousness. It wasn’t just for them “pre-messiah,” the Apostle Paul says, “for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” The new spin on this faith is revealed as not just credit towards our salvation but also the best way to please God – 11:6. Our names may not go down in history, but in and with faith they will be recorded in God’s book of life!

Prayer

Dad,
This faith that pleases you has always seemed to come with great risk. Oddly enough, it always looked so glamorous when reading and reflecting on the stories of old. Yet, in the moments when I face faith and the decisions to trust and obey you – well it has never felt all that appealing. It felt like hard work, like swimming in mud, like groping forward in the dark. Faith does not come natural to me at all. When faith is talked about it always sounds so fun and exciting. But in reality it’s pushing against all the senses telling me not to do it. It’s odd that it’s so hard to believe. Maybe that’s just me?

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Dinner with perfection.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table.” Luke‬ ‭11:37‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Can you smell the whiffs of fresh baked bread, the roasted herbs and see the deliciously colorful vegetables and fruits. Not with Luke’s account of Jesus going to the home of “perfection.” Do you know what Jesus smelled? A setup. Have you attended a meal where you knew the host was, you know, uh, let’s just say they are very fastidious about detail? If you have you know the feeling of nervousness and uneasiness and learn that the night will not be about the meal at all. And, neither will the meal be relaxing with lots of laughter and stories that make you feel part of the family. Meals at homes about perfection are all about performance and elite edicate, watching your “p’s” and “q’s.”

“But he started it!” This might have been the reason Jesus lit into the host from the git-go. Luke tells us that Jesus KNEW what the host was thinking. “His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom.” Was it the host’s open gaped mouth or the lowered eye brows with a tight-lipped side frown? We don’t know, but Jesus did! Wait, Jesus didn’t wash his hands before dinner? No, no, no, come on – Jesus wasn’t born in a barn, er, without manners. This was a highly detailed, cultural, ceremonial cleansing purely for a religious show of “insider” rules practiced by pure-bred, wicked-smart elites.

The poor, the common would have had a VERY simplified version of this ritual. Jesus, just purposely skipped it altogether. He may have decided, “let’s just get right to the heart” of why he’d been invited in the first place. This host’s meal wasn’t about making peace at the table, it would be a failed lesson about righteousness and holiness!

Jesus spoke the first volley, serving up a spiked, fast comment right away. Jesus answered the grimaced, chagrined face of his host. “Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.” Yikes! Ouch! Boom! Bam! Jesus goes for the religious jugular. Not so subtlety saying, “just STOP it!” You can’t “pull the wool” over the eyes of God. You can’t deceive or fake or have any pretense before the real standard of perfection.

Wow. Jesus admonished this “never been corrected” religious leader. And, if you look hard you’ll see God’s grace and mercy. Oh, you’ll find brutal, unvarnished TRUTH, but you’ll also see hope.

Truth: INSIDE you filthy, greedy and wicked, and no amount of ceremonial hand washing is going to fix that! Hope: Stop the pretense and give to the poor. That’s the hosts antidote, his potion to rid the poison of his soul. Give to the poor! Now, lest you think that giving to the poor will clean or save you, save me – it won’t. Unless you are living the “religious” purity scam, while being a greedy miser, living high on frugal principles while others suffer around you. Giving to the poor is not your antidote. Let the Holy Spirit point out your poison and then listen carefully for God to prescribe the perfect recipe to save your life! What a dinner that was, right? I wonder if Jesus shook off the dust on his sandals as he left that house?

Prayer

Dad,
Please remind me to NEVER try to fake perfection around you! And, to never try to impress you or anyone else with some kind of religious ritual as a performance. I’ll just remember to come before you naked and humbled by my station in life.