This blog compiles some notes and observations from one average guy's journey of life, faith and thought, along with some harvests from my reading (both on-line and in print). Learning to follow Jesus is a journey; come join me on the never-ending adventure!
I've often thought it was a mercy from the Lord that he does not reveal to us our futures in advance. Check out God is Merciful Not to tell Us Everything by Jon Bloom
When God chooses not to tell us everything, he shows us more mercy than we realize.
On the Mount of Olives with Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father, one of the disciples asked a question that must have been on everyone’s mind: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
It had been a long wait. Two thousand years had passed since God promised to give Abraham a seed that would bless all the families of the earth; 1,500 years had passed since God told Moses that a great prophet would arise to lead the people, and a thousand years had passed since God promised to place an eternal heir of David upon the throne.Now, after Jesus’s triumphal resurrection, they finally understood why the King had to suffer and die before the kingdom could really come. Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of God whose death would atone for all the sins of all his people for all time.
It all made glorious sense.
So the stage looked set. Having conquered death, this King was invincible. What threat was the Sanhedrin or Herod or Pilate or Caesar? Surely the time had come for the long-awaited King to assume his earthly reign, right? “It Is Not for You to Know”
Jesus’s answer: “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7–8).
In other words, “Now is not the time. And you don’t need to know when it will be. But for now, I have work for you to do.”
Can you imagine how the disciples might have felt if at that point the Lord had explained to them that he would not assume his earthly reign for another two-thousand-plus years, during which the church would face delay and struggle and sacrifice as it spread around the world? Two thousand years?
God is merciful not to tell us everything. He tells us enough to sustain us if we trust him, but often that does not feel like enough. We really think we would like to know more.
Some Knowledge Is Too Heavy for You
In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom recalled a time when, as a young girl, she was returning home on the train with her father after accompanying him to purchase parts for his watchmaking business. Having heard the term “sexsin” in a poem at school, she asked her father what it meant. After thinking for a bit, her father stood up and took down his suitcase from the rack. And this is how Corrie remembers their conversation:
“Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?” he said.
I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. “It’s too heavy,” I said.
“Yes,” he said. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.”
God is also a wise Father who knows when knowledge is too heavy for us. He is not being deceptive when he does not give us the full explanation. He is carrying our burdens (1 Peter 5:7). If we think our burdens are heavy, we should see the ones he’s carrying. The burdens he gives to us to carry are light (Matthew 11:30).
God is very patient and merciful with us. Someday, when we are older and stronger, he will let us carry more of the weight of knowledge. But until then let us trust him to carry our burdens and thank him.
“What we see at the cross is the white-hot revelation of the character of God, of his love providing the price that holiness requires. The cross was his means of redeeming lost sinners and reconciling them to himself, but it was also a profound disclosure of his mercy. It is, in Paul’s words, an ‘inexpressible gift’ that leads us to wonder and worship, to praise and adore the God who has given himself to us in this way.”
"Your Redeemer traverses the rugged path of suffering, along which He went with heaving heart and heavy footsteps, that He might pave a royal road of mercy for His enemies. "
— C. H. Spurgeon, The Power of the Cross of Christ (Lynwood, WA: Emerald Books, 1995), 30
Love this song by Dave Crowder. Love the video also (even if he is so weird looking!)
He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way
He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
I can stand a weird looking singer to get lyrics like this!
Here's a good story illustrating God's mercy to us sinners from Tullian Tchividjian:
A friend of mine recently told a silly story about a man standing at the gates of heaven waiting to be admitted. To the man’s utter shock, Peter said, “You have to have earned a thousands points to be admitted to heaven. What have you done to earn your points?”
“I’ve never heard that before: but I think I’ll do alright. I was raised in a Christian home and have always been a part of the church. I have Sunday school attendance pins that go down the floor. I went to a Christian college and graduate school and have probably led hundreds of people to Christ. I’m now an elder in my church and am quite supportive of what the people of God do. I have three children, two boys and a girl. My oldest boy is a pastor and the younger is a staff person with a ministry to the poor. My daughter and her husband are missionaries. I have always tithed and am now giving well over 30% of my income to God’s work. I’m a bank executive and work with the poor in our city trying to get low income mortgages.”
“How am I doing so far”, he asked Peter.
“That’s one point,” Peter said. “What else have you done?”
“Good Lord…have mercy!” the man said in frustration.
“That’s it!” Peter said. “Welcome home.”
My friend who used this silly illustration ended it by saying, “Teach the law. The Psalmist called it perfect. Teach it until people are sick of it and cry out for mercy…Mercy always comes running.”
(This is a re-post from January 1, 2010 and 2009 - my annual tradition)
I used to find people who spouted what I considered to be trite phrases like "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" to be very irritating - on the same level with those who plastered smiley faces on everything they owned. However, I have since had to repent of that opinion and attitude, because: (a) I realized I was sinfully proud, and (b) I realized that they were right.
For Christians, every day is New Years Day.
How else can you explain the Scripture in Lamentations 3:22-23: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;great is your faithfulness." If God's mercies to us are new each morning, then every day is the first day of the rest of my life; every day is new years day. Christ is the God of new creations, new births and new beginnings.
I buy a lot of diaries Fill them full of good intentions Each and every New Year's Eve I make myself a list All the things I'm gonna change Until January 2nd So this time I'm making one promise
Chorus: This will be my resolution Every day is New Year's Day This will be my resolution Every day is New Year's Day I believe it's possible I believe in new beginnings' Cause I believe in Christmas Day And Easter morning too And I'm convinced it's doable' Cause I believe in second chances Just the way that I believe in you
Last week I wrote that for Christians it is always Christmas. Now I am writing that it is always New Years Day. I'm sorry if this seems trite - but sometimes trite sayings really are true.Happy New Year to you all- and may each day in it be filled with new beginnings, new possibilities, new joys and new mercies.
O my God,
let me, with thanksgiving,
remember, and confess unto you
your mercies on me.
Let my bones be soaked with your love,
and let them say unto you, Who is like you, O Lord?
You have broken my chains in pieces.
I will offer unto you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
And how you have broken them, I will declare;
and all who worship you, when they hear this, will say: Blessed is the Lord in heaven and in earth!
Great and wonderful is his name!
- Augustine of Hippo
