What’s Your Problem?

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What’s Your Problem?

John 2:1-11

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: We should give our needs to Jesus as Mary did—

in simple faith and obedience

In the summer of 1994 the Associated Press reported a robbery which ended in a very unusual way. In Conway, Arkansas, Cindy Hartman was awakened by the telephone. As she started to answer it, she was stopped by a burglar. The burglar tore the phone cord from the wall and told her to get in the closet.

Cindy dropped to her knees to pray. She then turned to the robber and asked if she could pray for him. She told him that God loved him and so did she. She told the man that she forgave him for what he was doing.

How did this hardened criminal react? He fell to his knees beside her in prayer, and asked her forgiveness. He told the other burglar with him that they could not steal from a Christian family, so they unloaded everything they had taken He borrowed a shirt from Cindy and removed his fingerprints. He then removed the bullets from his gun and gave it to Cindy. Not that she wanted it—she had all the protection she needed.

Webster defines a “miracle” as “an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws and is hence thought to be due to supernatural causes, especially to an act of God.” Cindy Hartman would agree. How can we receive such help in our lives?

We begin a study of the miracles of Jesus as found in the Gospel of John. Our purpose will not be a theoretical investigation of the miraculous, but a practical study of ways people like us experienced the miraculous power of God in their daily lives. We all need the help Cindy Hartman found. Perhaps, for you or someone in your class, the burglar is in your house right now.

Where do you need the miraculous power of God in your life today? Keep that problem or burden in mind as we study together. It may be that at the end of our story, it will include you.

Invite Jesus to your home

The first miracle performed by the Son of God began in a most inauspicious place: “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee” (John 2:1). Cana was a village so insignificant that its location has not been determined with absolute certainty. Most archaeologists identify it as Kefr Kenna, 3.5 miles from Nazareth, though other locations are also possible (Robertson 33). It is mentioned twice more in John’s Gospel: Jesus performed a second miracle there (4:46, the event we’ll study next); and the disciple Nathaniel is identified as being from this tiny village (21:2). Cana of Galilee is found nowhere else in the word of God. If Jesus would begin his ministry there, he will continue it where you live today.

Our story unfolds on a Wednesday afternoon, the fourth day of the Jewish week, at a wedding. This was the day for the marriage of virgins, as prescribed in the Jewish law (Morris 178; Brown 98; Robertson 33).

When we trace the events of the week leading to the wedding, we learn that Jesus has been busy. He called James and John to be his first followers on the previous Sabbath (our Saturday) in John 1:39. Andrew and Simon joined him the following day (John 1:40-42). On Monday he called Philip and Nathaniel to discipleship, and “decided to leave for Galilee” (John 1:43). His fledgling group traveled on Tuesday, arriving late that evening or Wednesday morning (cf. Brown 98). This chronology will become important to our story momentarily.

Jesus’ group has come to a wedding, “one of the supreme occasions” of common life in ancient Palestine (Barclay 97). The marriage ceremony was celebrated late Wednesday evening, following an all-day feast. Then the couple was led to their new home under the light of flaming torches, with a canopy held over their heads. For a week they wore crowns, dressed in bridal robes, and were treated and even addressed as a king and queen. In lives filled with poverty and hard work, this was a joyous celebration for the entire village (Barclay 96-7).

Why did Jesus come? Later in our study we will explore the wonderful spiritual lessons found in the fact that Jesus chose to begin his public ministry at such a party. For now, let’s focus on the practical: “Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding” (John 2:1b-2). Our Lord came because he was invited.

So, why was he invited? We have no knowledge of any previous relationship between Jesus and this village. Cana was likely close to Nazareth, so Jesus could simply have known the wedding party or their friends and thus been included in their party. But Mary was already at the wedding, acting in a somewhat official capacity, when her Son arrived. As we will observe in a moment, she felt responsibility for the fact that the wedding wine had run out, had the authority to order the servants to obey Jesus’ instructions, and assumed that he would give them. Not a typical role for a typical guest.

So twenty centuries of commentators have speculated as to Mary’s purpose at this wedding, and have connected Jesus’ invitation to her role there. Her husband Joseph is not mentioned in the story, and was apparently already dead. And so it is possible that Mary was serving the wedding in some professional capacity, as a means to self-support; we might call her the “caterer” today. But it is much more likely that she was a relative of someone in the wedding party (David Brown 1085; Barnes 191).

The text gives us nothing beyond this possibility. But legend proceeds where biblical exposition will not go. Some ancient traditions suggested that Simon the Zealot, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, was the bridegroom in question, and even that he was the son of Mary’s sister. Others made the bridegroom none other than John himself, the author of this Gospel, and claimed that he was the son of Mary’s sister (cf. Barclay 96). No one can, or should, say.

All we need to know is that Jesus chose to attend a wedding with his mother. Perhaps this is the very reason he chose to leave for Galilee (John 1:43). He could have begun his public ministry in any way he chose. If you possessed his miraculous, divine powers, how would you first tell the world? Would you raise a Lazarus from his grave? Would you feed a multitude of 5,000 with a small boy’s lunch? Would you walk on the sea? Would you open blind eyes? Would you reveal your powers to Herod in Caesarea or Caesar in Rome? Jesus began in an obscure, rural village, by blessing a peasant wedding.

One commentator notes: “His work awaited him, a work full of intense strife, hazard, and pain; yet in a mind occupied with these things the marriage joy of a country couple finds a fit home” (Bruce 706). Barclay adds: “When John told this story he was remembering what life with Jesus was like; and he said, ‘Wherever Jesus went and whenever he came into life it was like water turning into wine'” (105). Jesus cared about the simple problems of simple people. He thrilled to fill their lives with his joy. He still does.

Call to mind that place where you need the touch of God for your life, your work, your family, your marriage today. Then make this simple decision: invite Jesus into your home. Ask him to join you at that place of need. He is waiting to come. In fact, he’s already standing at the door (Revelation 3.20).

Ask Jesus for help

Hospitality in the Middle and Far East was and is a sacred duty. When serving as a missionary in East Malaysia I was often privileged to be welcomed into the simplest of village huts. The mother would always set food before me. It might be goat’s milk or bean curd, but it was her best and I was obligated to eat it. (Fish eyes were the greatest test of faith I encountered.) No one in the Palestine of Jesus’ day would think of inviting a guest to their home without providing them a meal. And if the wine or food ran out, such would be a social catastrophe.

Nowhere was such hospitality more mandatory than at one’s wedding. The entire village was there. Families saved for years to provide for the occasion. To run out of wine would be a nightmare beyond contemplation. It simply wasn’t done. Such a failure could not be tolerated. If you invited friends and family to Christmas dinner but ran out of food to feed them, you would be embarrassed. If you were a bride or groom in Jesus’ day and ran out of wine, you would be humiliated for the rest of your life.

But this is precisely the catastrophe that occurred: during the feast preceding the marriage ceremony, “the wine was gone” (John 2:3a). Who failed? What could have gone wrong? We find a clue: “Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine'” (John 2:3b). Given that she was perhaps related to the wedding party, we understand her concern. But why would she involve Jesus? The more proper and expected action would have been to alert the groom’s family, or to ask others living in Cana for help (Lenski 187). Why go to her Son?

It is of course possible that she was simply calling on his divine powers. She had witnessed the statements made about her Son when he was a newborn infant (Luke 2:25-38), and had “treasured all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51). But Jesus has performed no miracle to this point in his recorded life. And he had no obligation to work one here.

That is, unless the shortage of wine was somewhat his fault. Remember that Jesus left Judea for Galilee only four days earlier, with six new disciples as part of his procession. Mary and her Son had likely been invited much earlier. While verse 2 specifies that his disciples had been invited as well, it is possible that the wedding planners did not know that six adults would be joining him. If so, their presence could explain the shortage of wine. And make the pending social tragedy in a way his concern as well as hers (cf. Robertson 34, Bruce 703).

We have no way of knowing whether or not the shortage of wine was related to the presence of Jesus’ six disciples at the wedding. But we do know that he cared about the problem these peasants faced. As he does yours and mine. He was extremely clear on this subject: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:31-34).

Mary somehow knew that her Son would help. And so she asked, with the simplest prayer in all the Bible: “They have no more wine.” She quietly and simply put this problem into Jesus’ hands. As we should: “”We all have a tendency to use prayer to dictate to God. Our part is to lay the need before him, and then trust him to respond as he wills” (Milne 63). Mary’s recorded words in Scripture are few; these guide us as we use our own to speak to her Son (cf. Carson 173). We can give him our every need, with the assurance that he wants to hear and help.

But Jesus’ response didn’t seem to agree: “‘Dear woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My time has not yet come'” (John 2:4). His words seem harsh until we step behind the English into the Greek used by John, and then the light comes on.

“Woman” is the literal translation of Jesus’ Greek word. Most translations carry it just this way; the NIV tries to soften it by adding “Dear,” a word not found in the original text. But such an attempt is well founded. For Jesus’ word was a great title of respect and courtesy. Augustus used it to address Cleopatra (Bruce 703), and Odysseus used it for Penelope, his much-loved wife (Barclay 98). Jesus made it his typical way of addressing women (Matthew 15:28; Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 20:13). His title for her conveyed his respect.

As did his reply. “Why do you involve me?” was a Jewish figure of speech (Brown 99) and meant here something like, “We are looking at this problem in different ways” or “we stand on different grounds” (cf. Bruce 703). It can be rendered so positively as to say, “The problem is taken care of” (Rienecker 222).

This phrase makes even more sense when combined with what follows: “My time has not yet come.” Jesus’ “time” refers here to the hour for public manifestation of his Messiahship (Robertson 35). Later it will relate to his death and resurrection (John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 17:1). In this setting Jesus means something like, “The time has not yet come for me to show the world my power, but I will solve this problem another way.” Barclay catches the meaning best: “Don’t worry; you don’t quite understand what is going on; leave things to me, and I will settle them in my own way” (98). And he would.

Answering questions about the Christian faith and word of God is one of my favorite things to do in ministry. Over the years, Sunday school classes and other groups have often invited me to such sessions. A staff member once termed these events “stump the chump,” and now the title is official. At such gatherings, I am often asked the question: why doesn’t God still work miracles today? We read of remarkable events in the Bible, but not in the newspaper. Why don’t we see his power at work more in our lives?

James has the answer: “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3). When did you last ask Jesus to change your “water” into “wine” for his glory? When did you last trust him as fully as Mary did in our story? She didn’t tell her Son what to do or how to do it—she simply stated her problem and trusted him to solve it. And he did.

Jesus always gives us what we ask, or something better. He meets our need, in his own time and way. His answers may not come when we want them, or in the way we expect them. But our Father promises to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Here’s the simple condition: we must ask. Define that place where you need the help of God most. Are you waiting on God, or is he waiting on you?

Then do as he says

Mary is the overlooked hero of this story. It is appropriate that she is called “Jesus’ mother” (v. 1) or “his mother” (v. 5) and never by her given name, for such was the way people in Jesus’ world spoke of a mother with reverent respect. To refer to her as the mother of God’s Son reminded the reader of her crucial role in world history and human salvation. Thus John never uses her name in his Gospel (Morris 177, Brown 98).

We have seen already her vital role in her Son’s first miracle. Mary was apparently the first to recognize the problem at hand, or at least the first to do something about it. She came to the right Person, in the right way. Now she responded to her prayer with the right action: “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). Mary had authority to order the servants, but none to order her Son. And she knew it.

So should we. Hers is exactly the right kind of faith: do whatever Jesus says. For he will always give us something to do. Our Lord has created a kind of divine-human partnership with his creation. As we work, he works. Our partnership began at the beginning: God created the Garden of Eden, but expected man to till and work it. If our Creator made the fields, he could certainly have made them produce. But he did what only he could do, and called mankind to do what we could do.

See this partnership at the parting of the Red Sea: Moses raised his rod, and God raised the waters. Find it at the crossing of the Jordan River: the priests stepped into the raging flood, and God stopped its flow. Watch it with the feeding of 5,000: a boy gave his lunch, and Jesus made lunch for them all. At the raising of Lazarus: the servants removed the stone, and Jesus removed the chains of death. Then he instructed Mary and Martha to unwrap the corpse he had returned to life.

When we act in faith first, our Father responds in power. Our faith does not earn his power—it positions us to receive what God already wants to give. But no one can put a gift into a clenched fist, not even the Almighty Lord of the universe. We must trust him enough to be willing to receive the grace he wants to give. Such faith does not earn but receive the miracle of God.

So it is here: Jesus will turn their water to wine, but they must fill the jars first. “Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons” (John 2:6). “Ceremonial washing” was vitally important to the Jews of Jesus’ day (see 2 Kings 3:11; Mark 7:3; John 13:4-10; John 3:25). It was the physical means by which they ensured that they were spiritually clean while living in this fallen world.

Before eating or entering into religious activity, they would wash their hands as carefully as any surgeon today: the hand was held upright, the water poured over it so that it ran down to the wrist. Then the hand was pointed down and water poured so that it ran from the wrist to the fingertips. Each hand was washed in this way, then each palm cleansed by rubbing it with the fist of the other hand (Barclay 98-9). No Jew would think of eating without this ritual; thus the water-pots at the wedding feast.

The pots themselves were made of stone, which was used because it could not contract “uncleanness” (Rienecker 222). The Law specified that if an unclean animal died and fell into a clay pot, the pot must be broken (Leviticus 11:29-39). But stone jars were considered immune from such possibility (Brown 100, citing Mishnah Betsah 2.3). Such water-pots are still used in Israel today, and are a common sight to tourists.

The water-pots each held two or three “measures,” an amount approximating nine gallons (Howard 492; Josephus, Antiq. 8.2.9). Each pot thus contained about 20 gallons. By transforming this much water, Jesus created 2,000 four-ounce glasses of wine (Tenney 42). Using the customary dilution of two parts wine with three parts water (Barclay 97), Jesus provided enough wine to last the entire wedding week.

How did he do it? “Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet’. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine” (John 2:7-9a). When they worked, he worked. They did what they could do, and he did what only he could do.

To experience the touch and power of God, first we invite him to join us at the place of our need. Next, we give that need to him in simple faith. Now we listen for his instructions. He will guide us into the next step we are to take. He will lead us as we study his word, worship him, pray to him, and experience daily life. He will show us what we are to do, so that he can then do what only he can do.

His instructions may make no sense to us at the time. Providing wine for a wedding feast by filling ceremonial pots with water would not have been logical for anyone watching these servants or their Master. Faith is required to experience the power of God. Will you trust your greatest need to Jesus, and allow him to ask anything of you in obedience? Until we come to that place, we may not see his power. When we do, we will.

Expect the best

The servants took their water made into wine to the “master of the banquet,” the superintendent whose duty it was to arrange the tables and food (Rienecker 222); we might call him the head waiter (Barclay 99). His official title was “triclinarch,” so named from the “triclina,” couches for three persons each which were placed around low tables for the guests to use (Lenski 195-6). This position is found only here in all the New Testament (Morris 183), but it is crucial to the miracle.

This wine taster “did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now'” (John 2:9b-10). And both men were astonished.

Now we are in position to assemble the facts which prove our story a miracle:

Jesus used ordinary pots of water which were in clear view of all. He or his disciples could not have exchanged the water for wine before this miracle, as would have been possible if the pots were in a closed and hidden room.

The pots were large and six in number, so that they could not have been brought to the wedding by the disciples without the notice of the crowd.

The pots were filled to the brim with water, so that no wine could have been added later.

Jesus never touched the water turned into wine, but only the servants.

The servants took this water directly to the master of the feast, not to an intermediary who could have switched it for wine.

The master of the feast, the resident expert on wine, pronounced it excellent.

Neither he nor the groom were drunk, and thus would know the quality of the wine.

Jesus did what his mother asked, and even more. She would have been happy with enough wine of normal quality to continue the wedding feast. He gave the wedding party enough wine for the entire week, and of excellent quality as well. When we give our need to Jesus, we must expect him to give us his very best, always.

What is that place of need in your life today? Know that God knows your hurt, and is working to help. Do as he asks, then expect him to do what only he can. According to his purpose, in his time, and for his glory, he will.

A side note

I cannot conclude these notes without stating that Jesus’ miracle should not be construed as condoning alcohol abuse or alcoholism. In his day water, wine, and a kind of beer were the only beverages available. Wine, with its fermentation, was typically the healthiest drink. It was commonly diluted, as we have seen, so that alcoholism occurred very seldom. And drunkenness was strongly condemned by the culture of the day: “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). The Bible warned: “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper” (Proverbs 23:31-32).

Alcohol abuse in the first century could not lead to drug abuse, or to the death of innocents. Drunk driving was of course impossible. Alcoholism was far less common, and much less disastrous for society at large. Teenage drinking was not allowed. And so Jesus’ creation of wine is in no way parallel to the alcohol industry or alcohol use in our day.

Believe in the power of God

Here is how John summarized Jesus’ first miracle: “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11). We have witnessed “the inaugural event of Jesus’ ministry” (O’Day 536).

This was a “sign,” an act or miracle “designed to lead to belief in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God” (Rienecker 222). Each time John shows us such a “sign,” he also describes the spiritual results it produced (cf. 2:18, 2:23, 3:2, 6:2, 7:31-32, 12:37-38). This statement summarizes: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:30-31).

Here his first “sign” helped his disciples “put their faith in him.” He came to Cana of Galilee “to bring about conversion: water to wine, sinners to saints” (Tenney 43). With this result: “This particular miracle signifies that there is a transforming power associated with Jesus. He changes the water of Judaism into the wine of Christianity, the water of Christlessness into the wine of the richness and the fullness of eternal life in Christ, the water of the law into the wine of the gospel” (Morris 176).

One day he will do the same miracle for us all, for “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son” (Matthew 22:1; cf. 25:1, Luke 12:36-37). The Old Testament consistently pictured the final kingdom of God as a banquet with abundant wine (Amos 9:13-14; Hosea 14:7; Jeremiah 31:12). (Interestingly, the non-biblical book of 2 Baruch, written almost at the same time as John’s Gospel, predicted that God’s final kingdom would produce such grape vines that each grape would make 120 gallons of water, the exact amount Jesus produced in our miracle; cf. Boring 249-50; Brown 105, quoting Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. v 33.3-4).

One day God will turn all water into spiritual joy: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. / I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21.1-2, emphasis added). On that day we will drink from that cup which is “the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20; cf. v. 17). On that day we will receive the Lord’s Supper from the Lord himself, as the bride of our Groom. And that day will be joy indeed.

Meanwhile, we can trust God to turn our water into the “wine” we need, whenever we need it. Jesus “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). What he did for the peasant wedding at Cana of Galilee, he waits to do for you and for me.

When next you have trouble believing that it is so, remember the words of St. Augustine: “I never have any difficulty believing in miracles, since I experienced the miracle of a change in my own heart.” If he could turn your sinful heart into his Spirit’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16) and save your soul from hell for heaven, what can’t he do?

Our Father created the entire universe. Imagine yourself on a rocket ship, preparing to travel across this spectrum of existence. Thanks to a remarkable technological breakthrough, you’ll travel at the speed of light, 186,282 miles per second. You blast off. One second later, the earth drops away to the size of a balloon. In two seconds you shoot past the moon. Eight and one-half minutes later, you pass the sun. Earth is a tiny speck, 93 million miles behind you.

Five hours later you leave our solar system. For four years you travel at the speed of light, until you reach Alpha Centauri, the star nearest to Earth. You continue for 100,000 years until you leave the Milky Way, our galaxy. How far must you travel at the speed of light to reach the edge of the universe we cannot see today with our telescopes? 4,500,000,000 years. And who knows what lies beyond?

Yet our God measures all this with the palm of his hand (Isaiah 40:12). Now, what’s your problem?

When A Child Dies

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When a Child Dies

2 Samuel 12:13-25

Dr. Jim Denison

A little girl noticed some gray hair on her mother’s head and asked, “Why are some of your hairs white?” Her mother replied, “Every time you do something wrong, one of my hairs turns white.” The little girl thought about her answer for a moment and then asked, “Mom, how come all of grandma’s hairs are white?”

A teacher was teaching her class about the circulation of blood and said, “If I stood on my head, the blood would run into it and I would turn red in the face.” “Yes,” the class said. “Then why is it that while I am standing in the ordinary position, the blood doesn’t run into my feet?” A little boy in the back of the room shouted, “‘Cause your feet ain’t empty.”

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Christian school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of applies. A teacher made a note: “Take only one—God is watching.” Further along the lunch line was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note: “Take all you want—God is watching the apples.”

Despite the challenge they can be, children are our greatest joy and privilege. Our church loves children, making Vacation Bible School (which starts Monday) one of our favorite weeks of the year.

We love our children, and we assume that God does also. So the issue we must face today is the hardest question parents ask: why do children die? What do we do when we lose a child? Where is God then? How are we to trust a God who allows or even causes such a tragedy?

We’ll discuss David’s child first, then look at what Scripture says about our children and their heavenly Father today.

Why did David’s child die?

Remember the tragic, adulterous sin of David and Bathsheba. Now the Lord, speaking through his prophet Nathan, tells David that the child of their sexual union will die.

David will not die, even though the sin was his—”The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die” (v. 13).

Why? Because David confessed his sin in repentance (cf. Psalm 51:3-4, 10). And God forgave him for it, a gift David celebrated for the rest of his life (cf. Psalm 32:1-2).

But what of the innocent child of their sinful union?

I’d like to be able to tell you that their baby’s death was a simple coincidence, that the Lord had nothing to do with it. But the text won’t allow me to teach this interpretation.

The Lord knows that their unborn child is a boy, though there were no sonograms to discover this fact. And he knows that the child will soon die. Note that Nathan does not say God will kill the child, but that it will die as a consequence of David’s sin. Perhaps the child was born with a terminal condition which the Lord would not heal. Perhaps the Lord’s role was more direct and causal. Either way, clearly God could have prevented the death of this innocent baby, but he did not.

Why? Why did David’s son die? Here is the data supplied by our text.

David’s sin was larger than he knew: “by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt” (v. 14). Apparently his “private” sin would be private no longer. And the pagan enemies of the Lord and his people would be able to show contempt for Jehovah God.

If this God permits his king to commit such atrocity, he’s no different from Molech, the god to whom the Canaanites offered child sacrifices, or Baal and Ashtoreth, worshiped with adulterous sexual sin. One of the abiding tragedies of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal is the way it has made America look in the eyes of the Muslim world. So it was with David and his sin.

The Lord could simply punish David with death, and so vindicate his righteousness before the watching world. But David has responded to his sin with confession and repentance, and the God of grace has promised to forgive every sin we confess to him.

So the Lord cannot kill David for his sin, but must redeem his righteousness before the world. The death of the child of David’s sin will do just that—it will show the watching world that Israel’s Lord is indeed a God of righteousness—that sins have consequences with him. And I would imagine that David considered the death of his son a worse consequence than his own death, by far. I would. So would you.

What does God think of children?

So, is the text saying that the Lord permitted or even caused the death of David’s son in order to redeem his own name among the nations? Before we finalize our answer, let’s ask a second question: what does God think of children? How does his word view them?

The great miracle of the Incarnation is not that God would enter the world he made. As Creator, he had every right to visit his creation. The great miracle was that he would do so as a baby. Rather than appear among us in his heavenly status, the Lord Jesus chose to become a fetus, then a newborn, helpless infant. The hands that held the stars were sheltered in a mother’s arms. Christmas tells us what God thinks of children.

Jesus made clear his feelings on the subject in two separate incidents.

The first was his response to his disciples’ question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1). He knew they needed to see the answer more than hear it, so “He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'” (vs. 2-3). The “greatest” in God’s kingdom is the one who is most like a child.

Later some mothers brought their children to Jesus, seeking his blessing (a typical custom with a visiting, famous rabbi). His disciples “rebuked those who brought them” (Matthew 19:13), so Jesus rebuked them: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (v. 14).

Why does God allow children to die?

Why, then, does this God allow our children to die?

The Bible explains why God allows death itself in these simple words: “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). In the Garden of Eden there was no disease or death. But now God permits physical death so we can step from our earthly bodies into heavenly ones. As much as we despise death, can you imagine living forever in your fallen, diseased, sin-plagued body?

This biblical concept makes sense to us when the one who dies is elderly, having lived a full earthly life. Or when his death is the direct result of his own decisions, as when a person chooses to drink and drive, and dies in an accident. But why does God allow death for children? They are innocent of any wrongdoing, and have not yet lived long enough to justify their homegoing.

If the only text we had in Scripture on our question was the passage before us, we might conclude that children die for the sins of their parents. I’ll admit that this text troubles me more than any other in Scripture. I understand that God had to redeem his name among the nations. But I don’t understand why he had to use an innocent baby to do it. I wish he’d found another way. I don’t like what this text says, or understand it.

But I am glad to say quickly that this is the only place in God’s Word where such a tragic event occurs. And that its circumstances are unrepeatable today. There can be no king of the Jews today, the leader of God’s only people, a man whose sins could bring disrepute on the Kingdom of God across the pagan world. This event cannot happen again.

Note that the text nowhere states that God deals with other children as he did with David’s son. This text is descriptive, not prescriptive.

Here we judge the difficult in light of the clear. And the Bible clearly states, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4; cf. 2 Kings 14:6). For our sins, not those of anyone else. Today children die from diseases which are part of this fallen world. Or they die in tragic accidents which occur in this fallen world. Or as victims of tragically misused free will, a common occurrence in this fallen world. But not because God ends their lives.

And when a child dies, it is clear that he or she is with the Father in heaven.

The Bible does teach that we inherit Adam’s fallen nature, so that we all possess an inherent tendency toward sin (Romans 5:19).

So then, if a child dies before reaching an age when he or she can understand the gospel and respond to it by faith, what happens? To claim that inherited original sin places a child outside the possibility of eternal life is to reject Jesus’ clear affirmation of the children brought to him.

Our Lord made children his best example of faith and the Kingdom of God. It is clear that a child who has not yet rejected the gospel will not be judged by God as though he has. Instead, he will be with his Father in heaven.

Even as the Father is with those who lose such a precious child. In heaven there is no such thing as “time,” so it will be only a moment for children before they see their parents again. They know nothing of the pain, the separation, the sorrow we feel. They know only the joy of paradise with God. As will we, with them, for eternity.

Conclusion

So, what are we to do when a child dies? David chose to trust God with his son. We have wrestled with the most difficult sentence in the life of David. Let’s close by claiming the most hopeful sentence he uttered. Speaking of his deceased newborn son, the king said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (v. 23). David knew that his son was safe with God. He knew that he would see him again one day. He knew he could trust his child into his Father’s arms, and himself as well.

David chose to serve God, to continue life in the call and will of his Lord.

He had spent seven days fasting for his son, praying that his life would be spared. He spent the evenings in prayer outside the palace, lying prostrate on the ground. But when his son was taken home, “David got up from the ground.” Then “he washed, put on lotions, and changed his clothes” (v. 20). He could have spent the rest of his life in grief. Instead, he moved forward with hope.

His life would never be the same again. Losing a child is not a broken bone which heals and leaves no scar. The rest of his story would forever be different from that which had gone before. But his life could still be good. There would be Solomon, not to replace the son who died, but to continue life. There would be a nation to lead, people to defend, a legacy to continue. A life of service to offer.

And David chose to worship God. He went into the tent where he had located the Ark of the Covenant, where he “worshiped” (v. 20). Where he honored God despite his questions, his pain, his grief. He didn’t turn from the One he most needed, when he most needed him.

When my father died, the book which helped me most was John Claypool’s now-classic Tracks of a Fellow Struggler. He was a Baptist pastor in Louisville, Kentucky, when his eight-year-old daughter, Laura Lue, was diagnosed with leukemia. The book reprints the sermons he preached around her diagnosis and eventual death. His first sermon was delivered eleven days after the diagnosis came. Here’s how it ends:

“I was deeply moved this week by an observation of Dr. George Buttrick concerning the Dead Sea in Palestine. Again and again as a sermon illustration I have heard the Dead Sea compared unfavorably to the Sea of Galilee, which is fresh and sparkling and full of fish, while the Dead Sea is salty and no fish can live in it. The usual point is that the Jordan River flows through the Sea of Galilee, but only flows into the Dead Sea because there is no outlet.

“Dr. Buttrick concedes the truth of this point about life through giving but then goes on to identify another truth of which I had never thought. He claims the Dead Sea does have an outlet—the upward one, toward the sky. Across the centuries as it has surrendered itself to the sun, a residue of potash has built up and remains along its shores. Potash…is a main ingredient of fertilizer. Engineers have estimated that if the potash around the Dead Sea could be mixed and distributed, there would be enough there to fertilize the whole surface of the earth for at least five years. The point is, life never comes to a complete dead end. When no outlet is open except surrender to the sky in helplessness, even this response is not without its positive residue, for out of it can come the miracle of new life.

“So this is my intention: I will do all I can, stay open and hopeful at every point, and finally surrender my burden to the sky.”

Let’s join him.

When God Goes To Church

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When God Goes to Church

John 12:2-8

Dr. Jim Denison

Pride and humility have been much in the news lately.

We’re all aware of Enron’s fall from 7th largest corporation in America to bankruptcy. You may remember Olga Korbut, the three-time gold medalist in the 1972 Olympics, recently arrested for shoplifting $19. Actress Winona Ryder’s arrest for shoplifting is still in legal process. And basketball giant Shaquille O’Neal has been sidelined for much of the NBA season by an arthritic toe.

But our hubris goes on. This week’s Fortune magazine tells us that for $200,000 you can buy your own biographical documentary. You’ll get two cameramen, three producers, and two-time Emmy winner Bill McGowan. He’ll write the script for your biography, conduct interviews over ten to 15 days, select sound bites, and edit the finished product.

But when you receive your documentary, don’t be too impressed. You’ll have spent one-fifth of what each cast member in the TV show Friends now makes. Per week.

Pride and humility have been issues long before Kenneth Lay took the fifth. On Tuesday of Holy Week, God went to church. On this day, in the Temple, Jesus confronted religious pride and commended spiritual humility. He taught us that God accepts and loves us, no matter who we are or what we’ve done. You’re worthy to know God personally and intimately—unless you think you are. Let’s explore that fact and its relevance for your life.

Refuse religious pride

It’s now Tuesday morning of Holy Week, and Jesus and his disciples return to the Temple he cleansed the day before. This is politically and even physically unsafe. His enemies have had the night to get ready for him. They fear that the crowds will crown him their king, a rival to Caesar, and that Rome will have their heads. They must stop him. Jesus is walking into a trap, and he knows it.

His enemies confront our Lord in four orchestrated groups. Here are their attacks, as briefly as I can describe them.

First comes the legal challenge of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of ancient Israel. They question Jesus’ legal authority to drive out the moneychangers and do his ministry. He asks them by what authority John the Baptist did his ministry. They’re afraid of John’s continuing popularity and won’t answer. So Jesus doesn’t have to answer, and they are defeated.

Next comes a political challenge: should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? If Jesus says yes, the crowds will desert him; if he says no, Rome will arrest him. He holds up a coin and makes the famous declaration, “Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and to God the things which are God’s.” Luke 20:26 says, “Astonished by his answer, they became silent.”

The third attack is theological. It comes from the Sadducees, who deny the resurrection. They ask Jesus about a wife with seven husbands—whose wife will she be in the afterlife? Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6 to prove the reality of the resurrection, and they are defeated.

Last comes a scholar with a biblical challenge: “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” His fellow Pharisees recognized 613 such laws; any Jesus omits he can be accused of rejecting. Our Lord responds with the two great commandments: Love God, and love your neighbor. Even the scholar is impressed: “Well said, teacher” (Mark 12:32). With this result: “From then on no one dared ask him any more questions” (Mark 12:34).

Here’s the point Tuesday morning proves: religious pride rejects Jesus, and is rejected by him. If we want to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we must refuse such spiritual, religious pride. We are worthy to give God our worship and lives, unless we think we are.

How do we refuse religious pride? We admit our need for God.

Religion tempts us to believe that we merit God’s love and help. After all, we believe in Jesus and go to church. We try to live good lives and obey the Bible. Of course God will hear our prayers and receive our worship.

But God’s word says that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the just payment for our sin is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus promised us, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).

We have no status before God except his Son’s death for our sins. The Bible is clear: “By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). So we come to God in humility, in gratitude for his grace and love for us, loving him because he first loved us. And when we do that every day, we find his arms open to us all.

One of the most moving experiences of Holy Land travels for me is always visiting the Church of the Nativity. Built over the cave where Jesus was born, it is probably the oldest church building in Christendom. In the twelfth century, riders on horseback often broke into the church and pillaged its possessions. So the members made the door into the church so small that those who enter must do so on their knees. It is called the Door of Humiliation.

Anyone can come to the birthplace of Christ to worship him. Anyone. But only on our knees.

Give your best gifts

Now the scene shifts to two more dramatic events. One at the Temple, the other at a home in Bethany.

Our Lord, exhausted by his confrontation with the religious authorities, sits down in the Temple by the treasury where worshipers bring their offerings. Here he watches the rich giving their large gifts. What comes next is one of the most famous scenes in Scripture.

Mark 12:42 says, “a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.” These were the “lepta,” the smallest coins then in circulation. Two pennies to us. But not to our Lord.

This is his comment: “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on” (vs. 43-44). Because it is her best, given in humble worship, the God of the universe receives her pennies with delight.

That night Jesus and his disciples return to Bethany. Here they are guests at a dinner.

After the meal, our text tells us that “Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair” (v. 3). “Pint” here was a Roman pound, 12 ounces to us. The “nard” she used was a very fragrant oil imported from the mountains of northern India.

It was extremely expensive; in fact Judas complains, “It was worth a year’s wages” (v. 5). Imagine spending a year of your salary on a jar of perfume. Most likely this had been handed down to Mary as an heirloom from previous generations. It was undoubtedly the most costly and precious possession she owned.

Matthew and Mark tell us that Mary poured the perfume on Jesus’ head; John adds that she also anointed his feet.

Then she let down her hair, something a proper woman never did in public, and used her hair to dry his feet. This is the most extravagant expression of love for Jesus to be found in all the word of God. Like the widow, this is her best.

On Tuesday of Holy Week, our Lord received the smallest gift ever recorded in the gospels, and the most expensive. He welcomed each with delight, for they were their best, given in humble love.

Now he has come to our church, to see what we will give to him. He is worthy of our best gifts, our highest sacrifice, our most passionate worship, our most devoted service. He died for our sins, purchased our eternal life in heaven, and loves each of us without condition. He waits to see if we love him in the same way.

All he wants is your best, whatever it is. Widow’s mite or pure nard—both are welcome. So long as they are your best worship. So long as they come from a grateful heart.

Conclusion

So God went to church on Tuesday, and found every one of us there. Some of us are tempted to join the religious leaders. Sure of our biblical knowledge, secure in our spiritual attainments and status, we think we deserve to be in the Temple today. We think we have earned the right to have our prayers heard and our worship received.

But we haven’t. We can’t. Watch the religious leaders. Learn that we must come to God in humility and gratitude for his forgiving grace, or we cannot come to him at all.

Conversely, some of us are the widow with her mite. We don’t think we have much to give, or that we really deserve to know God or be used by him.

We know our sins and failures, so we know that God knows them. We wonder if he could ever really accept us again, if he likes us at all.

When bad things happen to us, we wonder if God is punishing us. When he seems distant, we wonder if he has turned his back on us. We think we’ll live on God’s Plan B for the rest of our lives, never achieving all we could have been, never fully significant in his will and purpose.

So watch the widow bring her mite to Jesus. Hear his words of delighted commendation. Bring your best to God, whatever it is. And know that he welcomes your gifts, your service, your worship and love, with joy.

And some are Mary with her ointment. God has blessed you wonderfully with spiritual gifts, abilities, finances, opportunities for service. We have all been given spiritual gifts for ministry, as today’s Bible study makes clear. Have you given your best to your Lord, or kept something in reserve? Is your life “broken and spilled out” for him?

We are all worthy of our Lord, except those who believe that we are.

The three greatest preachers of the last three generations are probably Charles Spurgeon, Dwight Moody, and Billy Graham. What do they have in common?

Here is what Spurgeon said of himself, recorded in the preface to his collected sermons: “Recollect who I am, and what I am—a child, having little education, little learning, ability, or …Without the Spirit of God I feel I am utterly unable to speak to you. I have not those gifts and talents which qualify me to speak; I need an afflatus from on high; otherwise, I stand like other men, and have naught to say. May that be given me, for without it I am dumb!” And God used him to preach to 10 million across his ministry.

D. L. Moody was the son of an alcoholic who died when Moody was four years old. He completed seven grades of school. He said of himself: “I know that other men can preach better than I can. All I can say is that when I preach, God uses me.” And he did—more than a million came to Christ through him.

Here is what Billy Graham says of himself: “I have often said that the first thing I am going to do when I get to Heaven is to ask, ‘Why me, Lord? Why did You choose a farm boy from North Carolina to preach to so many people, to have such a wonderful team of associates, and to have a part in what You were doing in the latter half of the twentieth century?’ I have thought about that question a great deal, but I know also that only God knows the answer.” And he has preached to more people than anyone in Christian history.

Why did God use them so? Because they gave their best in humility. Who will be next?

When God Lets You Down

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When God Lets You Down

Matthew 8:1-17

Dr. Jim Denison

Ed Diener, a University of Illinois psychologist, has news which may be bad or good, depending on your point of view. He compared the overall happiness and well-being of the billionaires and millionaires on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, and the Maasai herdsmen in East Africa, and found no significant difference. It seems that $40,000 a year is the threshold. Once you’re making that amount, no increase in income will increase your happiness. Life is more than green paper.

By any standard, our congregation and community would be considered affluent. But let me ask you: where has life disappointed you recently? Where was money not enough? Where are you dealing with unhappiness, discouragement, frustration and pain today? Why has God allowed you to hurt?

Our text tells us that God heals and helps his people. Our problem is, why doesn’t he always? What do we do when he lets us down? You’re Terry Schiavo’s parents keeping vigil outside her hospice, praying for intervention which does not come. Why not? I think of my father’s death; dear friends in our church who were not healed; difficulties and pain along the way. I prayed, but God didn’t work as I wanted him to. Why not? What do we do then? Why be committed daily to a God who lets us down?

Wrong answers

Limit God’s power.

The first character in today’s story is a leper. There were several skin diseases classified as “leprosy” in the ancient world. The most common was Hansen’s disease, a disorder which affects the skin and nervous system. Over time the person loses the ability to feel his fingers or toes. He wears them off, bloodies them, infects them. And they simply rot and die.

The disease was incurable until the late 1940s, certainly an impossible disease to treat in the first century. At least, for everyone but Jesus. He touched this untouchable man and healed him. If he could heal leprosy, he can heal any disease, anybody, any problem. The wrong answer is to limit God’s power.

Limit God’s love.

Our second character in the story is an even more unlikely candidate for a miracle from a Jewish rabbi. He was a Gentile, considered by the Jews to exist only so there would be firewood in hell. And he was a “centurion,” a Roman military officer in charge of 100 soldiers. Part of the force occupying and enslaving their land. Part of the army which forced them to pay exorbitant taxes to Rome, and subjected them to pagan, idolatrous oppression.

Imagine an impoverished Jewish rabbi helping a Gestapo officer, and you’ll have the picture. But Jesus answers his prayer and heals his servant, to the shock of the incredulous crowd of hostile Jews. The wrong answer is to limit God’s love.

Blame the person suffering.

Now a third person enters the story. Peter’s mother-in-law is so sick that she cannot get out of bed. But Jesus heals her so fully that her strength is instantly restored and she makes them all a meal.

There is no indication of any sin on her part, anything wrong which she has done. We live in a fallen world, where disease and disaster are inevitable. Some suffering is our fault, as with an alcoholic with liver disease. But the wrong answer is always to blame the persons suffering. We often make their pain worse.

Blame the will of God.

Now the demoniacs take their places in the story. As best we can tell, Satan and his demons are fallen angels. They steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), seeking to devour (1 Peter 5:8). They are looking for people they can control and malice they can cause.

And we have the freedom to let them. God created us to love him; love is a choice before it is anything else; if we misuse our choice, sin and suffering result. These demoniacs in some way participated in their plight, gave control of themselves to evil. And now they are paying a horrible price.

So we discover a fourth wrong answer to suffering: it is always the perfect will of God. The Lord is sovereign, so everything that happens must occur by his will. It is therefore his will, his choice, his fault that you must endure this pain, heartbreak, setback. It must be part of his will for this to occur. We blame the coach when he calls the wrong play and our team loses. We blame the boss when his business plan fails. So we’re entitled to blame God whenever bad things come our way.

But not everything that happens occurs by the perfect will of God. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9); he wants all of us to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). And yet not all are saved. Some misuse their freedom and choose to reject the saving love of the Father. When this occurs, they experience not his perfect will but his permissive will. All that happens comes by his permission, but not all by his perfect plan. We are fallen people in this fallen world. It is a wrong solution to blame always the will of God.

Right approaches

So what are we to do when it doesn’t seem that God has answered the prayer we prayed, that he didn’t heal when we asked his help, when our leprosy did not get better, the servant did not recover, the mother-in-law died, the demoniacs were not healed?

Judge the dark by the light.

The leper and the centurion both called Jesus “Lord,” as they should. The word translates “kurios,” and was used of Caesar, kings, owners, those in control. Jesus is Lord. And he didn’t change when my father died, or my friend committed suicide, or my hero was fired. He is still on his throne. He is still Lord.

What do we know about God? He is love; he is the creator of the universe; he does not want any of us to perish; he gave his Son to die for us. Remember what Jesus has already done for you. Think about the ways he has already proven his love for you. His Son endured crucifixion, a form of execution so horrific it is outlawed all over the world today, just for you. He has forgiven every failure you have ever confessed to him, and will continue to do so. He knows every sin you’ve ever committed, and what’s more, he sees every sin you will ever commit in the future. But he loves you anyway. He likes you. He finds joy in you even as you read these words.

Think of all the ways he has already blessed you. Does your family love you? So many are trapped in loveless, abusive homes. Has he provided for your material needs through physical abilities and vocational opportunities? So many are trapped in endless poverty. Has he given you the privilege of life in America’s freedom? Who of us earned the right to be born in this country and not in Iraq or North Korea?

Remember his grace in your life, and judge the dark by the light. I’ll never forget a seminary student of mine named Walter. The year his wife and several children died, his pastor called every day to say, “Walter, God is still on his throne.” Then Walter told our class, “God is still on his throne.” Judge the dark by the light.

Understand that his ways are higher than ours.

The leper has it right: “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” But God’s will and ways are not always clear to us: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9).

Joseph didn’t understand why he was enslaved in Egypt. Moses didn’t understand why he had to spend 40 years in the desert. Joshua didn’t understand the flooded Jordan River and fortified city of Jericho; Daniel didn’t understand the lion’s den, or Paul his thorn in the flesh, or John his Patmos prison. But we do.

Trust God to give you what you ask or something better.

Here we come to one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. When we prayed for something God did not grant, we can know that it was best that he acted as he did. Even when we do not understand why. The person did not get well. The house burned down; the divorce became final; the car wreck happened. It’s not a question of timing, for the worst has already occurred. And we do not understand why God did not grant us our prayer.

A very dear friend in our congregation suffered from cancer for many months. I prayed every day for her healing. When she died at a young age, I was deeply distraught. Her healing would have brought such glory to God and good to her family. I didn’t understand, and still don’t.

Dr. E. K. Bailey was the Senior Pastor of Concord Missionary Baptist Church here in Dallas, and one of the finest ministers of the gospel I have ever known. Our friendship was priceless to my soul. His preaching at Park Cities will be remembered always. Several times, God healed my dear friend of cancer. Then he did not. I still don’t understand why.

I must assume that it was not best for them to be healed. They are both with the Father in glory, in a paradise we cannot begin to imagine. One second on the other side of death, they were glad they were in glory. In the providence of God, their contribution to his Kingdom on earth must have been completed, their reward prepared, their eternity made ready. Even though I don’t understand or like it.

That’s the faith assumption I must make when God does not grant what I ask–he is doing something even better. Though my finite, fallen mind cannot begin to imagine how that could be so, I must trust his love and compassion enough to accept it by faith. Not until I became a father did I understand some of the things my father said and did. Not until we are in glory will we understand completely our Father’s will and ways (1 Corinthians 13:12). When we cannot see his hand, we can trust his heart.

Conclusion

Sometimes Jesus heals us physically. But sometimes he works an even greater miracle–he heals us spiritually. He gives us the strength and spirit and courage to bear up under life’s sufferings. Sometimes he removes the pain, and sometimes he does the even greater work of giving us the strength to endure it. Either is a miracle of the Lord.

In such times, God’s greater miracle is to enable us to withstand such horrific pain and loss. He can heal our bodies, and what’s more, he can heal our souls. Which do you need him to do for you today?

Consider the example of Larry Nixon, a veteran Baptist pastor who suffered from chronic heart disease. He finally died from his illness in October of 1996. Larry struggled to reconcile his call to ministry with the limitations placed on him by his damaged heart. He trusted the will of God, even when he did not understand it. He trusted the promises and protection of God, even when they seemed to fail him. And he found the answer to his dilemma in a poem he often quoted:

When God wants to drill a man,

And thrill a man,

And skill a man,

When God wants to mold a man

To play the noblest part;

When he yearns with all His heart

To create so great and bold a man

That all the world shall be amazed,

Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!

How He hammers him and hurts him

And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay

Which only God understands;

While his tortured heart is crying

And he lifts beseeching hands!

How he bends but never breaks

When His good he undertakes.

How He uses whom He chooses,

And with every purpose fuses him;

By every act induces him

To try His splendor out.

God knows what He is about.

And that is enough.

When God Needs To Pray

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When God Needs to Pray

Matthew 26:31-35

Dr. Jim Denison

Botox is all the rage these days. Botulinum toxin is an injection which removes lines and wrinkles from the face. At $300 to $1,000 a shot, it is the most popular cosmetic procedure in America. A “face-life in a bottle,” one doctor calls it. We will apparently do anything to look better than we really do.

Physically, and spiritually. I’m good at hiding the wrinkles on my soul, and so are you. What secret are you glad we don’t know? What secret shame or pain in your past still bothers you? What sin or failure do you constantly battle and wish you could defeat? What wrinkles on your soul are you trying to hide today?

This Easter season, we’re seeking ways to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. On Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus showed us the key to victory over spiritual failure, frustration and defeat. On Thursday his disciples showed us that we each need that key today.

Let’s learn how to defeat temptation and failure before they come, and when they arrive.

Expect the crisis of faith

We’re now to Wednesday and Thursday of Holy Week.

On Wednesday Jesus did nothing which is recorded in the Scriptures. In a moment we’ll discover why that’s so, and why we each need Silent Wednesdays for our souls.

On Thursday Jesus gathered with his close friends for one last meal together, the Lord’s Supper as we know it. This night, Judas left the band to betray our Lord. Jesus and his disciples retreated to the Mount of Olives, and from there to the Garden of Gethsemane. Along the way the events of our text occurred.

“Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me'” (v. 31).

“You will all”—plural, every disciple. From Jesus’ best friend to his weakest disciple. We will all face crisis in life.

“Fall away” in the Greek means to be caught in a trap. The world is waiting to trap us. Satan is a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). And lions only roar when they’re attacking.

“This very night”—the trap is always closer than you think. The lion is in the bushes just behind you.

“Because of me”—the enemy hates Jesus, so he hates us. He will tempt us and trap us because we belong to Jesus. Don’t think that your Christian faith will keep you from temptation. It’s the reason you are tempted.

“But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee” (v. 32).

“After I have risen”—Jesus is still in charge of life and death, of this world and the next.

“I will go ahead of you into Galilee”—even though you forsake me, I will not forsake you. My love for you is unconditional and absolute. No matter what failures you have committed or will commit, I will never fail you.

Now comes Peter’s proud reply: “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (v. 33).

“If all fall away” is a first class conditional in the Greek, expressing the reality of the situation. In other words, Peter is saying, “They will all fall away on account of you.” But “I never will.” “I” is emphatic in the Greek: “I myself, I especially will never fail you.”

So Jesus must warn him: “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” (v. 34). Peter promised that he would die before doing so. All the other disciples said the same. All were wrong.

Expect the crisis of faith. If it came to Jesus’ followers then, it will come to us today. No one is immune. Not Jesus. Not us.

Seek God privately, before the crisis comes

But when the crisis came, Jesus did not fail. Even though it meant the horrors of crucifixion. And even worse: his first separation from his Father since eternity began and time was created. Yet he did not falter or fail.

Why not? What was his key to success over temptation, fear, and defeat?

The answer is Silent Wednesday, and all the Silent Wednesdays before it. On Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus did nothing which is recorded in God’s word. So what occupied his day? From his known activities across the week, we can assume these facts.

Jesus was resting with friends in Bethany: Mary, Martha, Lazarus, his disciples. He needed friends to support him before the crisis came, as we do.

Before the crisis comes, get with those you trust. Pray for each other, support each other, hold each other accountable to God’s will and purpose for your lives. Redwood trees stand for centuries because their roots are intertwined. A coal left alone goes out. So does a soul.

Jesus was together with his friends, and he was alone with his Father. As he regularly was. Watch his pattern: Mark 1:35: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed;” Mark 6:46: “After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray;” Luke 5:16: “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed;” Luke 6:12: “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God;” Luke 9:18: “Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him;” Luke 22:41: “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed.”

Before the crisis of Thursday came the preparations of Wednesday. We must seek God before we think we need him. There will not be less wind in our sails, so we need more sails for the wind. If we wait until the temptation comes, the crisis hits, the world tumbles in, it may be too late.

So, how long since you’ve spent a Silent Wednesday? Are you ready for Temptation Thursday? Are you praying for your friends, and they for you? Is your soul right with your Father?

How do you spend a Silent Wednesday? Fast from certain foods or activities so you can concentrate on God. Turn off the television, the cell phone, the computer. Read the Scriptures, in depth. Listen to their words; imagine their scenes. Meditate on their truths. Take a walk with God in his creation. Feel his presence, his love for you , his delight in you.

Pray specifically about the future as you know it, its problems and temptations. Give tomorrow to God, today. If the Lord of the universe needed a Silent Wednesday, don’t we?

An elderly woman began showing up in a church’s sanctuary. She sat alone in a pew, for a long time, each morning. After several days, the pastor asked her what she was doing in those hours of silence. She smiled and said, “I look at him and he looks at me. And we tell each other that we love each other.”

When was your last Silent Wednesday? When will be your next?

Seek God honestly, when the crisis comes

So we learn to seek God privately before the crisis comes. And we seek him honestly, when it comes. When Silent Wednesday becomes Temptation Thursday.

Peter was convinced that he could not fail his Lord. The other disciples were just as sure of themselves. They were wrong. That night Peter denied he had ever met his Savior, before a serving girl in the outer court of the high priest’s home. The others didn’t even follow Jesus that far. The crisis is inevitable. Seeking God when it comes is not.

Sometimes we think that the problem doesn’t really matter, that it’s not worth seeking God about. But we’re wrong. Jesus was clear: an adulterous thought is adultery; a murderous thought is murder. There are no “small” sins with God.

My friend John Haggai, in his January diary, quoted Bishop A. M. Fairbairn: “Every time we engage in a thought or action that falls short of our highest values, we weaken our character, no matter how seemingly miniscule the decline.” He’s exactly right.

Go to God honestly, the moment the temptation appears. Because it is cancer. And there’s no such thing as a minor malignancy.

Sometimes we think we don’t need his help, that we can go it alone. We can handle the serving girls of life. But we’re wrong.

Over the years I have learned this spiritual fact: Satan will bring no temptation against us which we can conquer without God’s help. He knows our natural strengths, and will not bring against us temptations, sins, and stress he knows we can defeat. So whatever you’re facing today can only be conquered with God’s help. Satan hopes you’ll do what Peter did, that you’ll try to win on your own. Because then you’ll fail.

Conclusion

For every one of us, today is either Wednesday or Thursday of Holy Week. You’re either in a crisis, or about to enter one. There is no third option.

If it’s Wednesday, would you make it a Silent Wednesday? Set an appointment with the Father right now. Before the weekend is over, spend an extended time alone with him. If you have spring break this week, use some of it to break from the world and get alone with God. Build solitude with the Father into your weekly pattern. Because your soul needs a Silent Wednesday. If you’re too busy to make one, you of all people need one the most.

If it’s Thursday, would you seek God honestly and humbly? Don’t be deceived: any problem large enough to trouble your heart today is too large to face alone. If you’re facing a test or temptation, know that you’ll fail without God’s help. Give this issue to him, specifically and humbly. Ask for his strength and power. Don’t be Peter, before the rooster crows over your soul.

What Jesus did in defeating the crisis of life, we can do in his strength. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. His Spirit will empower us to do what feels impossible right now.

A Christian leader named Dietrich Bonhoeffer proved that it was so. He was teaching theology in New York in 1939, but felt compelled to return to his German homeland to join the resistance against Hitler. His friends did all they could to dissuade him, but he knew he was called to this crisis.

In 1943 he was arrested. From his prison cell his greatest work was accomplished, including his classic The Cost of Discipleship. The guards were impressed with him and helped smuggle his letters out to the larger world. They also secretly took him to the cells of despairing prisoners so he could minister to them.

And so one imprisoned English officer met him and later said about him: “Bonhoeffer always seemed to me to spread an atmosphere of happiness and joy over the least incident and profound gratitude for the mere fact that he was alive… He was one of the very few persons I have ever met for whom God was real and always near…On Sunday, April 8, 1945, Pastor Bonhoeffer conducted a little service of worship and spoke to us in a way that went to the heart of all of us. He had hardly ended his last prayer when the door opened and two civilians entered. They said, ‘Prisoner Bonhoeffer, come with us.’ That had only one meaning for all prisoners—the gallows.

“We said good-by to him. He took me aside: ‘This is the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.’ The next day he was hanged in Flossburg… The text on which he spoke that last day was, ‘By his stripes we are healed.'”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life of communion with his Father gave him strength for the crisis. His humble reliance on the help of God sustained him in it. What Jesus did for him, he will do for every one of us.

Which day of the week is it, for you?

When God Rides A Donkey

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When God Rides a Donkey

Matthew 21:1-11

Dr. Jim Denison

In February of 1996 a limousine driving down the New Jersey expressway got a flat tire. The limo driver got out to change the tire, only to discover that the spare was also flat. Before he could call for roadside assistance, a man in a pickup truck and an air tank stopped to help.

When the man and the driver finished the repair, the car window slid down and the man was shocked to see Donald Trump sitting inside. “That was very nice of you to stop and help,” Trump said. “What can I do to thank you?” The man thought for a moment and said, “Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. My wife would really get a kick out of receiving a dozen roses from you.” Trump agreed and drove off.

The next day a messenger arrived with a box. Inside were two dozen roses and a note: “Happy Valentine’s Day from a friend of your husband. (signed) Donald Trump. P.S. Thanks for helping us out. By the way, I paid off your mortgage.”

While that’s a great story, I found out it’s not true. You never know where help is coming from. It may be driving a truck. It may be riding in a limousine. It may even be riding a donkey…and that’s a true story which withstands close examination..

Let’s see why God did, and why that fact is so important to our lives today.

Why did God ride a donkey?

On Sunday, April 12, in the year AD 29, Jesus of Nazareth entered Jerusalem for the last week of his earthly life and the most monumental week in all of human history. The next day he would drive the moneychangers from the Temple. On Tuesday he would confront the religious authorities, and be anointed by Mary. He spent Wednesday in solitude and in spiritual preparation for the cross. Thursday led to his Last Supper, his betrayal, and his arrest and night of trials. On Friday he was crucified at 9:00 a.m., and died at 3:00 p.m.. On Sunday he rose from the grave.

And he chose to begin all of that on a donkey. Why? He has just walked fifteen miles from Jericho to Jerusalem, up an elevation of some 3,000 feet, through some of the most barren and dangerous landscape to be found anywhere in the world. I’ve been over this road twice in an air-conditioned bus, and wouldn’t want to walk it even today. If Jesus could walk this distance, he could walk into the city itself. But he rode on a donkey instead. Why?

It was a most unusual choice.

Roman conquerors rode into their cities in a parade procession, riding in a chariot drawn by four horses, with a slave holding his crown above his head.

But when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords came into his Holy City, he chose to ride a donkey. In fact, he arranged the whole thing. He sent his disciples to a certain house in a certain village, to bring a particular donkey back to him. Either he had made these preparations earlier, or his divine omniscience knew that this donkey would be available to him. Either way, riding that donkey that day was his explicit and deliberate choice.

It was something like the American President riding to his inauguration in my 1974 Chevy Vega. An odd choice at best.

Why did he make it? Matthew gives us part of the answer: “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet” (v. 4). And Matthew proceeds to quote from Zechariah 9:9-10. But why did God tell the prophet to make this prediction, 567 years before it was fulfilled?

Zechariah answers our question:

The donkey was a beast of suffering. He was used to carry burdens that no other animal would. And he would endure a great deal of suffering and pain. So would his rider: “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey” (v. 9). “Gentle” means to be humbled before God. “Having salvation” means that he is our Savior. The One who would suffer for us to purchase our salvation. The donkey symbolized the suffering his rider would endure.

The donkey was a symbol of peace as well. Horses were ridden in Jesus’ day almost exclusively for war purposes, but a donkey was used during peacetime and for peaceful purposes. In the same way, his rider “will proclaim peace to the nations” (v. 10a). Peace between us and God, and between each other. The peace found only in Jesus.

And the donkey was paradoxically a promise of glory. Solomon rode to his coronation on David’s donkey; Mephibosheth, grandson of King Saul, rode a donkey as well. And so the prophet promised, “His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (v. 10b). One day every knee will bow before this rider. Pilate will bow before the Lord he condemned; the religious leaders before the Messiah they crucified; this crowd before the Savior they mocked; these soldiers before the Creator they beat and pierced. All will worship him. We can start now.

So God rode a donkey on Palm Sunday, to show us what his coming crucifixion and resurrection would mean: our salvation, our peace, his glory.

Why did he ride a donkey into Jerusalem?

A second question: why did he ride this donkey into Jerusalem, during Passover? He could not possibly have chosen a more dangerous time to enter a more dangerous city.

Nearly three million people were crowded into Jerusalem for the Passover week. Many of them thought he was the military Messiah who would overthrow the Romans and set their nation free. “Hosanna to the Son of David!” meant, “The Messiah has come to set us free!”

This was a powder keg, and he was the match. The religious authorities would do anything to put down revolt, and the Romans would punish rebellion instantly. An American entering Afghanistan just as our war against the Taliban began would fare no better than he would that week.

And yet he chose to ride his donkey into Jerusalem at just the time when his entrance would most assuredly lead to his crucifixion. Why?

On May 21, 1946, at Los Alamos, New Mexico, a young scientist named Louis Slotin was conducting a uranium experiment, seeking to determine the precise amount of U-235 necessary for a chain reaction. He conducted the experiment many times. He would put two containers of uranium together and, just as the mass became critical and the chain reaction began, he would push the containers apart with a long screwdriver.

On this day, however, the screwdriver slipped from Slotin’s hand. The containers came together, the chain reaction began, and the room was filled with a dazzling blue light. Instead of trying to save himself, Slotin tore the containers apart with his bare hands and interrupted the reaction, saving the lives of seven other people in the room. Louis Slotin died in agony nine days later.

How would you feel if you had been in the room with him?

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear plant suffered the worst nuclear accident in history. Millions of people were immediately in danger of radiation sickness and death. The authorities decided their best response was to dump hundreds of tons of sand and concrete into the live reactor to seal it.

One helicopter pilot was decorated for his heroism in making many dozens of passes over the hot reactor to dump huge cargoes of sand and concrete. The pilot knew that each pass increased the danger to himself, but he put the lives of millions of people before his own. He later died of radiation sickness.

How would you feel if you and your family had been living in Chernobyl?

Nicolas Berdyaev, who abandoned Marxism for Christianity, says it was not theology which brought him to the Christian faith, but a simple woman named Mother Maria. Berdyaev was present at a concentration camp when the Nazis were murdering Jews in gas chambers. One distraught mother refused to part with her baby. When Maria saw that the officer was only interested in correct numbers, without a word she pushed the mother aside and quickly took her place. Her action explained the true meaning of the Christian faith.

It still does.

Why does it all matter today?

What does it all mean, that Jesus chose to ride a donkey into Jerusalem for Passover on April 12, in the year AD 29? That he chose a symbol of suffering, peace, and glory? That he chose to die to give us that suffering, peace, and glory? That he paid the penalty for our sins, died in our place, purchased our eternal salvation and righteousness with the God of heaven? That he was our Louis Slotin, our pilot, our Mother Maria?

In my hand is a $20 bill, a piece of paper worth twenty dollars of American currency. I can wad it up, but it’s still worth $20. I can step on it, but it’s still worth $20. I can wash it and dry it and write on it, but it’s still worth $20. No matter where it is or how I treat it, it’s worth $20. Why? Not because of its appearance, or its circumstances. Not because of the way it is treated. Because of its identity, its inherent value. Because the United States Treasury says this green piece of paper is worth $20.

On Palm Sunday, God rode a donkey to tell you that you are worth his Son’s life. You are worth his Son’s suffering and humiliation and crucifixion. Not because of your appearance or circumstances, the way you look or the way you’re treated. Because the Lord of the universe says you are.

What’s the worst sin you’ve ever committed? Unless you’ve driven spikes into the wrists of the Son of God, you’ve done nothing worse than these soldiers did to him. But from the cross he asked his Father to forgive them. And if they asked him as well, he did.

What’s the worst way you’ve ever denied Christ? Unless you’ve shouted “Crucify” in a bloodthirsty crowd, you’ve done nothing worse than this crowd did to him. But from the cross he asked his Father to forgive them. And if they asked him as well, he did.

What’s the worst sin you’ve ever committed? The worst failure and shame you’ve ever experienced? The God who rode a donkey loves you anyway, accepts you anyway, values you anyway. If he would use a donkey, he’ll use your life, failures and all. If you’ll carry him and his love to someone you know, he’ll ride your gifts and abilities, your sins and mistakes. Palm Sunday proves it. He’s waiting to prove it again today.

Conclusion

I want to tell you a story I’ve not told in sixteen years, since Ryan was born. You’ve perhaps heard it from someone else, as I have. It concerns a drawbridge engineer, a man who operated the gigantic railroad drawbridge which spanned a mighty river. He would pull the lever to raise the bridge so ships could pass beneath, and lower it so the train could pass over.

One day he brought his young son with him to work. They walked around the bridge as he showed him the gears and levers. Then he heard a train’s whistle. As the bridge was up, he rushed back to his control room to lower it. Just as he pulled the lever, he realized his son was not with him. Looking out the control room window, he saw him. To his horror, he was playing in the massive gears and shafts which controlled the bridge.

There was no time to get him. There was only time to pull the lever and save the hundreds riding in the train hurtling toward him. He had only a moment to choose. He pulled the lever.

I haven’t told that story since Ryan’s birth, because as a father I cannot imagine it. But it really happened. Not just at a drawbridge. Twenty centuries earlier, at a cross as well.

That’s how much the God of heaven loves you. You’re worth the life of his Son. Would you welcome his Son and his love into your life? Would you dedicate your life, gifts, abilities, and time to carrying his Son and his love to others?

Karl Barth, the greatest theologian of the twentieth century, was lecturing to an American university near the end of his life. During the questions period following the lecture, a doctoral student asked Dr. Barth for the most profound theological insight he had ever experienced. Everyone held his or her pen, ready to write.

Dr. Barth took off his glasses, smiled, stepped around the podium, and in English said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

He was right.

When God Seems Silent

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When God Seems Silent

Matthew 7:7-11

Dr. Jim Denison

A friend sent me this essay. See if it is as true to your life as it is mine.

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil demons, he said, “We can’t keep the Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, continual experience with Christ.

“If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can’t gain that experience with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day.”

“How shall we do this?” asked his demons. “Keep them busy with the nonessentials of life and invest unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince them to work six or seven hours a day, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work.

“Overstimulate their minds so they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or CD player wherever they drive, to keep the TV, the DVD player, and their CDs going constantly in their homes. Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes and e-mail with junk, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotion.

“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their holidays exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. And when they gather for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so they leave with souls unfulfilled.

“Let them be involved in evangelism. But crowd their lives with so many good causes that they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause.”

It was quite a convention. And the demons went eagerly to their assignments.

Has the devil been successful in his scheme? You be the judge. A recent poll reveals that while nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they pray to God, only one in four is “completely satisfied” with his or her prayer life. Only 60% of Protestants who pray are “absolutely certain” that prayer makes a difference in their lives. Most say they are too distracted to pray regularly.

They are the people I want to address today. The three in four who are not satisfied with your prayer lives; the 40% of you who are not certain that prayer makes a difference in your lives; those of you who are praying but not receiving; those who are so busy that praying is a struggle; those who are listening, but God seems silent.

We’ve all been there, and we’ll all be there. Some of you are there right now.

How to pray

So what do we do? Ask, seek, and knock, Jesus says.

Note the ascent. A child asks for his mother’s help. But he cannot find her, so he seeks her. He still cannot find her, but there is a closed door. And so he knocks at the door, hoping to find the one he seeks so he can ask for the need she can answer.

So with us. We ask, but it seems he does not hear. We seek, but it seems he is not to be found. We knock, but it seems the door is closed. But it is not. Your Father will always open to you.

But you must pray. How? First, with urgency. Jesus’ words are imperatives, commands. Clearly praying means something to God. And it must mean something to us.

Charles Spurgeon: “He who prays without fervency does not pray at all. We cannot commune with God, who is a consuming fire, if there is no fire in our prayers.”

Maltbie Babcock: “Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God.”

Spurgeon again: “The sacred promises, though in themselves most sure and precious, are of no avail for the comfort and sustenance of the soul unless you grasp them by faith, plead them in prayer, expect them by hope, and receive them with gratitude.”

And again he said: “Do not reckon you have prayed unless you have pleaded, for pleading is the very marrow of prayer.”

Pray with urgency, and continually. Jesus’ words are in the present tense: pray and keep on praying.

Jesus prayed before light, after dark, all night long, continually.

His word commands the same of us: “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

George Mueller, the great minister and man of faith, prayed patiently for five personal friends who did not know the Lord. After five years, one came to Christ. In ten more years, two more were saved. After 25 years, the fourth friend came to Christ. He kept praying for the last friend for 52 years, then died. The fifth friend came to know Jesus a few months afterward. Keep praying.

In Atlanta I met a non-Christian who came to our church with his believing wife. We spent several breakfasts together talking about his issues with the faith. When we moved to Dallas, I kept him on my prayer list for unsaved people. I have prayed for him daily across these years. Last week I received news that he has trusted in Christ. Now when I pray through that list, I rejoice. As do the angels in glory.

How do we pray with continual urgency?

Begin. Make an appointment to meet with God. I read this week about a man who put on his calendar each day, 7-7:30, prayer. But he kept missing it. Then he changed it to say 7-7:30, God. That’s harder to neglect.

In Jesus’ name: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:13-14). Do you believe that you deserve to be heard, or do you pray on the basis of Jesus’ death for you?

According to God’s will: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). He will give us what we ask, or something better.

For God’s glory: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John14:13). Do you seek your glory or his?

With a clean heart: “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my prayer” (Psalm 66:18-19).

If God seems silent, check yourself by these biblical standards. But know that your Father wants to hear you even more than you want to be heard. And pray. Let nothing stop you. Do it today.

Why to pray

Now we come to the hard question: why? Why pray with continual urgency, especially when it seems God is silent? Because your Father always hears you.

Jesus promises: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. No exceptions.

God has an “open door” policy with the universe. Billions of people pray in thousands of languages, all at the same time, and God hears each one. You included.

God always hears you—Jesus’ parable proves it. Stones along the Sea of Galilee were small limestone balls, in appearance much like the bread of the day. Fish-like snakes grew in the Sea; they were without scales and thus forbidden to the Jews as food (Leviticus 11:12). Now, if you were a father in those days and your hungry child asked for bread, would you trick him with a stone? If he asked for a fish, would you give him a snake? Of course not. And compared to God, we are “evil.” Our perfect Father who is love always hears us. This is the promise of God.

Second, pray with continual urgency because your heart needs to pray.

Frederick Buechner: We are to pray continually “not, one assumes, because you have to beat a path to God’s door before he’ll open it, but because until you beat the path maybe there’s no way of getting to your door.”

Blaise Pascal: “All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms.”

Gordon MacDonald: “I have begun to see that worship and intercession are far more the business of aligning myself with God’s purposes than asking him to align with mine.”

Oswald Chambers: “Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible’s idea of prayer is that we may get to know God himself.”

When we pray with continual urgency, God always gives us what we ask or something better. But what do we do when it seems he has not?

The Greeks told a story about Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, who fell in love with Tithonus a mortal youth. Zeus offered her any gift she might choose for her mortal lover. She naturally chose that Tithonus might live forever; but she had forgotten to ask that he might remain forever young. And so Tithonus grew older and older and older, and could never die, and the gift became a curse.

Our God is no Zeus. He loves us so much he watched his Son die in our place, on our cross, for our sins. Do you know anyone who loves you enough to send their child to die for you? One did.

But he cannot give us everything we ask. A farmer prays for rain; a baseball fan prays for sunshine that same day, for that same county. And God loves us too much to give us all that we ask for. When one of our boys was very small, he watched me use a razor blade to scrape paint from a window and wanted to play with this new, shiny toy. He was incensed that I refused.

When God seems silent:

Perhaps he’s still preparing you for his answer; you need more time in prayer to be able to hear him and obey.

Perhaps he’s still preparing your circumstances. You’re praying for a job, for instance; God must move the person in your job to the next place so you can take his. He’s not done with what he must do to answer you.

Perhaps you’re not obedient to what he is saying; maybe sin clouds your eyes and ears, and you need more time in prayer to be right with him.

Often he has a better answer than the one for which we are asking. He has already answered us, but we must keep praying until we see that he has.

Conclusion

Now, where does this message come home to you?

Do you pray much at all? Continually? With urgency?

Is there a need you’ve abandoned, a request on which you’ve given up? A place in your life where God seems silent?

Perhaps this man’s experience will help. An anonymous Confederate soldier wrote,

I asked God for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak, that I might learn to serve. I asked for health, that I might do great things; I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for wealth, that I might be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might earn the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life; I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing I asked for, but all I hoped for. Despite myself, my prayers were answered. And I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

So can we be. This is the promise of God.

When God Shows Up

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When God Shows Up

Isaiah 6:1-8

Dr. Jim Denison

Karl Barth, the eminent theologian, claimed that “Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life.”

All of creation worships its Creator: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of their hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, the words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4). All we see worships the One we cannot see.

But we alone have a choice in the matter. We can worship our Creator or his creation. This fall, we will learn how to choose wisely. As we seek to put God first, to make him not just our Savior, but our King, we will focus each week on an attribute of our heavenly Father and ask what that characteristic means to our worship and our lives.

We begin this morning with the most foundational statement in all of Scripture regarding the King we have come to honor today. When we get this right, our Lord will show up in our worship and our lives. This is the promise of God.

Who is the God we worship?

Hebrew is a strange language to Americans. It reads right to left; the original had no vowels; their poetry never rhymed. And they made an adjective superlative by repeating it; we would say, “good, better, best”—they would say “good, good, good.”

Only once does Scripture say something three times about God: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:3). Quoting the “four living creatures” of heaven, Revelation says: “Day and night they never stop saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come'” (Revelation 4:8).

Over and over the Bible proclaims this fact about our King.

God calls himself holy: “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy” (Leveticus 11:44).

Scripture agrees: “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11).

“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2).

“Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” (1 Samuel 6:20).

“The Lord our God is holy” (Psalm 99:9).

“You alone are holy” (Revelation 15:4).

What does it mean for God to be “holy”?

The Hebrew word is qadosh, to be clean, hallowed, pure, sacred, different from all else.

Such a being is the superlative of every good. Think of the universe, 13.7 billion light years across—this God measures it in the palm of his hand (Isaiah 40:12). Think of the nanotechnologies now being developed, using particles which are no larger than one 75th of a millimeter. This God designed the atoms and molecules they use, and tracks each one. Think of the most loving, gracious, godly person you know—this God is such character to infinity.

The Jewish scribes, men who devoted their lives to copying the word of God, knew something of his holiness. They would not even speak his name, so that today we don’t know how it was originally pronounced. They would not write it, so that today it is common to see Jews write G-d so as not to spell his full name. Typically, when a scribe came to the name of God he would bathe, put on new clothes, grasp a new quill, write the name; then discard the quill and burn his clothes, bathe again, put on his old clothes, take up his old quill, and continue.

By contrast, think of the ways our culture takes his name in vain; of the ways we take his blessings, his grace, his forbearance, his worship for granted. Of the ways we come to worship when it suits us, pray when we need something, read Scripture when it’s convenient.

Why do we worship him?

What does our King expect us to do in response to his holiness?

Here is his command: “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy” (Psalm 99:9).

Our first response to our holy God is worship. The word in Hebrew is shachah, “to bow down, to do homage;” in Greek it is proskuneo, “to kiss toward,” to reverence. Why do we pay such homage to this King?

First, because he deserves our worship.

It was “the year that King Uzziah died” (v. 1a). Uzziah had been the greatest king the nation had known since Solomon. He had ruled for 52 years, modernizing their army, conquering the Philistines, extending commerce, bringing peace and prosperity such as the nation had not known since Solomon.

Now their great king lay in his grave. However, their greatest King was not: “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (v. 1b). In the ancient world, the higher a king’s throne, the greater his power. This King’s throne stands above Uzziah’s, or any other’s. The longer the train of his robe, the greater his royalty; this King’s robe filled the Holy of Holies, some 40,500 square feet, 30 by 30 by 45 feet high.

This is the creator of the universe, the ruler of all that is, the One who gives us life and life eternal. He deserves our worship.

Second, we honor our King because he demands our worship.

Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord.” “Lord” is Adonai, used over 300 times in the Bible. It means owner, ruler, one who reigns over all, the King. And the King expects the worship of his subjects.

King Uzziah died because he failed this very demand. He had entered the Temple himself, with a golden censer to burn incense, a job only the priest could perform. The priests cautioned him, and he flew into a fit of rage against them. Immediately he was smitten with leprosy, banished from the kingdom, and lived alone to the day he died.

Our God cannot share his glory. For us to worship anyone or anything but him is idolatry. Worshiping God is the purpose for which we exist. Our Creator knows that such a lifestyle is the most fulfilling way for us to live. And so he demands our worship, for his glory and for our good.

Third, we reverence our King because he empowers our worship. When we connect with our God in heart-felt, genuine commitment, walking on our knees, we enable him to empower us for his purposes.

John Wesley was saved from a burning building when he was a child. The experience of being saved by a loving God who deserved his worship never left him. In serving that God he traveled 250,000 miles on horseback, averaging 20 miles a day for 40 years; he preached 4,000 sermons, produced 400 books, and learned to use 10 languages. At the age of 83 he was annoyed that he could not write more than 15 hours a day without hurting his eyes, and at 86 was ashamed that he could not preach more than twice a day. He complained in his diary that there was an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.

Such is the way our King “adds everything else to us” (Matthew 6:33), when we give him the worship which is his due. When we walk on our knees, living a life of worship, he shows up.

How do we worship him?

So we close with the practical question: how do we worship this King? What do we do so that he can show up in our church and our lives? Each Sunday this fall, we will follow Isaiah’s example. His experience began with adoration.

The prophet was granted a vision of the God we worship today in his Holy of Holies. Surrounding him were the “seraphs.” This is the only time they are found in all God’s word. Their name means “burning ones,” as they were burning with the glory and worship of their Lord.

“With two wings they covered their faces,” indicative of humility in the presence of One greater. “With two they covered their feet,” recognizing the holiness of the One they worshiped, as when Moses removed his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. “With two they were flying” around the throne of their God.

Worship begins with adoration. We admit that he is the great I Am, and we are the I Am Not. He is worthy of all praise and honor and glory. We enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise (Psalm 100:4). All this fall we will seek ways to begin worship with the adoration of our King.

Next comes revelation.

“They were calling to one another”—the Hebrew indicates that one called out to another, who then called out to another, who then called out to another. One cried “Holy”; the second then cried “Holy”; the third then cried “Holy.” And on and on and on.

Such proclamation indicated not only God’s character, but his essence. Heaven proclaimed that he was, is, and ever shall be the “Holy One of Israel.”

When we step into the presence of God through adoration, we then hear his word revealed to us. Not by a preacher, but by the Lord Himself by his Spirit. All this fall we will seek to hear the word and will of God.

Third, biblical worship creates transformation.

Isaiah saw the Lord, and then he saw himself: “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (v. 5). “I am doomed!” is a more literal translation. The Hebrews knew that they words revealed their hearts, so that “unclean lips” means an unclean soul.

Then one of the seraphs took a live coal from the burning altar, to show that what was about to transpire was at the cost of sacrifice. With it he purged Isaiah’s lips and his soul. He was forgiven, cleansed, transformed.

We have not worshiped God until the same has happened to us. Each week this fall, we will seek times of confession, cleansing, transformation as we worship God.

Last, biblical worship leads to service.

Now came a call Isaiah could not have heard or heeded when this chapter began: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Now Isaiah could answer, “Here am I. Send me!” (v. 8).

His lips had been unclean; now he is willing to use them to answer the call of God. Worship leads to commission. Each week we will seek the way God would have us serve the King we worship.

Conclusion

Let’s begin today. We have adored our God in worship, and we have heard the proclamation of his truth. Will you be transformed by what you have experienced?

First, will you confess your sin and claim God’s cleansing forgiveness?

Then, will you ask the Lord to use you this week, to show you how to serve his Kingdom and make him your King?

This past summer, Ryan and I were privileged to join Dale Jones, one of our lay leaders, and some 25,000 college students on a farm outside of Sherman, Texas for an event called OneDay03. It was one of the most powerful worship experiences of my life. The weekend before the event began, however, a horrific thunderstorm swept through the area. Lightning hit some of the students, though none were seriously injured. Wind swept away dozens of tents, so that students slept on gym floors. Many lost clothes, food, everything.

When Louie Giglio, the organizer of the event, stood to welcome the students the next day, he recounted all they had endured—the storms, the rain, the sleepless nights. I thought he was going to thank them for their sacrifice and patience. Instead he said, “And our God is worth all that.”

He was right.

When God Stands Trial

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When God Stands Trial

Luke 23:13-25

Dr. Jim Denison

A pastor tells how one ingenious mother handled her fidgety seven-year-old son in church: about halfway through the sermon, she leaned over and whispered, “If you don’t be quiet, the pastor is going to lose his place and he’ll have to start his sermon all over again!” It worked.

When we journey to the cross during the Easter season, we start the same sermon all over again. The same event you learned about as a small child, and remember every year during this season. We start the sermon over each year because we need to. Our souls need to remember what happened on the Friday we call Good. What happened to Jesus. What happened to us.

Today we’ll come to the cross through the eyes of Barabbas. Because we are all Barabbas. Let me explain.

Who is guilty?

“Barabbas” most likely means “Son of the Rabbi,” a famous religious leader and teacher in the land. In addition, Matthew’s account (26:16-17) includes in some of the oldest Greek versions the first name, “Jesus Barabbas.” The majority of scholars accept this addition today. So we have “Jesus Christ” and “Jesus Barabbas.” One the Son of God, the other the Son of the Rabbi. Which one deserved to die?

Consider Barabbas first.

This man was a robber and rebel who had committed murder during a political insurrection (Mark 15:7, Luke 23:19, John 18:40). He was a terrorist, joined to the bands then seeking the violent overthrow of Rome. He was willing to do anything to advance his political cause, and his personal fortunes as well.

For his crimes, Rome had convicted him and was holding him for crucifixion until that day when the crowd chose him over Jesus. Jesus Barabbas was a convicted political insurrectionist and terrorist.

Ironically, this was exactly the accusation the authorities leveled against Jesus Christ. Theirs was one of the most illegal trials in recorded history: no formal charge, no defense, bribed witnesses, self-incrimination, and a pre-dawn meeting which violated their statutes. Nonetheless, seven times Jesus was found innocent of all charges.

First comes the Jewish phase of Jesus’ trial.

After his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord is taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest (John 18:12-24). Here they wait for the Sanhedrin, their Supreme Court, to assemble. But Annas can find nothing with which to charge Jesus. Acquittal number one.

Next he is brought to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, to stand trial before the Sanhedrin. Matthew 26:59 says, “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.” But with this result: “But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward” (v. 60). They can find no guilt. Acquittal number two. Had Jesus remained silent, he would have been freed. So he admits that he is the Messiah, and they convict him of blasphemy (Matthew 26:66).

When Judas sees that Jesus has been condemned, he returns the silver coins of his bribery with the admission, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4). They don’t care, and he hangs himself. His words are the third proclamation of Jesus’ innocence.

Next comes the Roman phase, and four more such declarations of his innocence.

The Jews need Rome to inflict the death penalty. So they parade Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of their province. They know he won’t convict on their theological charge of blasphemy, any more than our civil courts would convict you or me of such a charge. So they change their accusation to political subversion, a charge for which they have absolutely no proof. Pilate sees Jesus’ innocence and says, “I find no basis for a charge against this man” (Luke 23:4). Acquittal number four.

But Pilate learns that Jesus is from Galilee, the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. Seeking a way out of his dilemma, he sends our Lord to Herod. But Herod can find no charge to make against him, and sends him back to Pilate (Luke. 23:6-12). Acquittal number five.

Now Pilate utters the sixth acquittal: “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death” (Luke 23:13-15).

The religious authorities are desperate. Pilate offers the crowd Jesus Barabbas or Jesus Christ, and they incite the people to choose Barabbas and condemn Christ. Still Pilate wants to release Jesus, so the authorities play their trump card: “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12). In other words, if you don’t condemn Jesus, we’ll tell Rome, and they’ll condemn you.

Pilate calls for water. He washes his hands in front of the crowd. He shouts, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your responsibility” (Matthew 27:24). Acquittal number seven. But Pilate must choose between Jesus and himself. And you know his choice.

Who was guilty—Jesus Barabbas or Jesus Christ? Who is guilty—us or Jesus? Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” What was the first sin you remember committing? What was your most recent?

Who died?

Romans 6:23 adds, “The wages for sin is death.” The just punishment by a holy God for our sins is death. So who died for our sins?

Now Jesus is handed over to the governor’s soldiers in the Praetorium.

They strip him and flog him, using a whip of leather strips in which is embedded pieces of lead and sharp shells. The flogging splits his skin and lays his back open—many men died under it.

Now Jesus has been up all night, paraded around Jerusalem in chains. Flogged, suffering from exhaustion, shock, and blood loss, he is led down the “via dolorosa,” the way of suffering.

The soldiers make him carry his own crossbeam, and endure the mocking of the crowds along the way. The same people who had cried “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday now shout “Crucify.” Their palm branches are replaced with curses and taunts.

He falls under absolute exhaustion and physical shock, and a man named Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry the crossbeam the rest of the way.

They make their way to Golgotha, which means “the place of the skull.” So named because so many crucifixions occurred here, and because the hill looks so much like a skull. The soldiers drove their spikes through his wrists into the crossbeam. They secured it to the upright beam and nailed his heels to it. Now he must use his pierced wrists to support his weight and to breathe.

From the cross Jesus utters his famous “seven last words.” Seven acquittals—seven replies. At 9:00 a.m., “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Two hours later, to the thief at his side, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Twenty minutes later he said to Mary and John, “Dear woman, here is your son;” “Here is your mother” (John 19:26-27).

At 1:30 p.m. comes the moment of separation from his Father, as he bore the sins of all of humanity in his innocent holiness: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 27:46). At 1:45 p.m., “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). An hour later, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). At 3:00 p.m., “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

A Mayo Clinic pathologist has determined that our Lord died from blood loss, exhaustion, exposure, shock, and suffocation. Joseph of Arimathea claims his corpse; he and Nicodemus pay for his burial in Joseph’s tomb. The Romans place a rock over it, and a wax seal upon the rock. They set their guards on duty.

And Good Friday ends. For Jesus, for Barabbas, for us.

Conclusion

Who was guilty of sin—Jesus Barabbas or Jesus Christ? Who died for that sin—Jesus Barabbas or Jesus Christ? Who is guilty of sin—you or Jesus? Who died for that sin—you or Jesus?

I found recently a story which moved me. The unnamed author of the story says:

“In 1967, while taking a class in photography at the University of Cincinnati, I became acquainted with a young man named Charles Murray who also was a student at the school and training for the Olympics of 1968 as a high diver.

“Charles was very patient with me as I would speak to him for hours about Jesus Christ and how he had saved me. He was not raised in a home that attended any kind of church, so all that I had to tell him was a fascination to him. He even began to ask questions about forgiveness of sin.

“Finally the day came that I put a question to him. I asked if he realized his need of a Redeemer and if he was ready to trust Christ as his own Savior. I saw his countenance fall and the guilt in his face. But his reply was a strong ‘No.’

“In the days that followed he was quiet and often I felt that he was avoiding me, until I got a phone call from him. He wanted to know where to look in the New Testament for some verses I had given him about salvation. I gave him the references to several passages and asked if I could meet with him. He declined my offer and thanked me for the scripture. I could tell that he was greatly troubled, but I did not know where he was or how to help him.

“Because he was training for the Olympic Games, Charles had special privileges at the University pool facilities. Some time between 10:30 and 11:00 that evening he decided to go swim and practice a few dives.

“It was a clear night in October and the moon was big and bright. The University pool was housed under a ceiling of glass panes so the moon shone bright across the top of the wall in the pool area.

“Charles climbed to the highest platform to take his first dive. At that moment the Spirit of God began to convict him of his sins. All the scripture he had read, all the occasions of witnessing to him about Christ flooded his mind.

“He stood on the platform backwards to make his dive, spread his arms to gather his balance, looked up to the wall and saw his own shadow caused by the light of the moon. It was the shape of a cross. He could bear the burden of his sin no longer. His heart broke and he sat down on the platform and asked God to forgive him and save him. He trusted Jesus Christ some twenty feet in the air.

“Suddenly, the lights in the pool area came on. The attendant had come in to check the area. As Charles looked down from his platform he saw an empty pool which had been drained for repairs. He had almost plummeted to his death, but the cross had saved him.”

And Barabbas, and you, and me. Are you grateful?

When God Waits Until The Last Minute

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When God Waits Until the Last Minute

Esther 5

Dr. Jim Denison

Thesis: God’s timing is always perfect

Persuade: to stay obedient to God’s word, even when you don’t see the results

“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” has a scene which illustrates the theme of this study. The swashbuckling archaeologist in his quest for the lost Ark of the Covenant is standing on a cliff overlooking a large chasm before him. There is a bridge he knows is there, but cannot see, which could take him across the chasm, or lead to his death if he misses. He faces the decision of taking a leap of faith or retreating. He decides to leap out, trusting a bridge he can’t see will hold him and lead to the Holy Grail.

When the chasm comes for you and me, what will happen to us? Will there be a bridge to catch us? An objective, absolutely real bridge? Our culture says, no, that there’s no such thing as absolute truth, or an absolute bridge. Only your bridge and mine. No objective reality, no absolutes at all

But God’s word says otherwise.

One of my favorite faith statements is this song lyric: “When you can’t see God’s hand, trust his heart.” So often we can’t see his hand, and must simply trust that he is there. And when we trust his heart, we see his hand.

Maybe you’re at a place where it seems God’s hand is not with you. You’ve prayed without apparent answers. You’re hurting or lonely, without apparent relief. Your health is in decline; or your job is ending; or your marriage is struggling; or your children or grandchildren are in trouble. It seems that the heavens are silent, that God is asleep. What do you do then? How do we encourage people who are hurting in just these ways?

Let’s learn from Esther 5.

Obey the last word you heard from God (1-2)

Remember the situation: Queen Esther’s uncle/guardian Mordecai has refused to give Haman the idolatrous respect he craves, so he has arranged for the massacre of the entire Jewish population of 5th century B.C. Persia.

Esther is a Jew, though neither King Xerxes nor Haman yet know this fact. She, her maids, Mordecai, and all the Jews in the capital city of Susa have been in prayer and fasting three days, seeking God’s direction and protection.

Now God has clearly led Esther to go to the king uninvited. Unless he holds out to her the golden scepter in his hand, she will be instantly killed for such insubordinate disobedience. Her life, and the future of her people in Persia, hangs in the balance.

But she knows that God has led her to do this. She is stepping off the cliff, trusting God somehow to catch her. And he does.

When you’re up against it and it seems that there’s no answer or future, stay obedient to the last word you heard from God. The last time the Father clearly spoke to you or led you. Step out by such faith, and you enable your Father to answer in power.

In the Scriptures, we find other examples of such faith: Noah built the ark before it had ever rained; the Jews stepped into the Jordan before it stopped; Daniel prayed from within the lion’s den.

Why does God require such obedience of us? It’s not to merit his blessing, or to prove our faith. He wants us to receive what he wants to give, but cannot without our trust.

Indiana Jones couldn’t see the bridge until he stepped onto it. What’s the last word you heard from God? Stay faithful to it—there’s a bridge across the chasm just beneath your feet.

Never get ahead of God (3-8)

Now Esther has her audience with the king. If I had been Esther, I would immediately have blurted out the problem and my request for the salvation of my people. But, Esther knows better.

The king, who hardly knows Esther, must choose her over his most trusted advisor. He must choose a woman over a man. Remember the problem he had with Queen Vashti, and his resolve to “rule” the women of the nation.

Here’s the story:

“Then the king asked, ‘What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.’

“‘If it pleases the king,’ replied Esther, ‘let the king together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.’

“‘Bring Haman at once, the king said, ‘so that we may do what Esther asks.’ So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, ‘Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.’

“Esther replied, ‘My petition and my request is this: If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.'”

Because she waits, preparing the way, the king cannot wait to hear her request and to grant it to her.

In Christian theology, we would say that Esther refused to get ahead of God. Somehow she knew what to do and the timing in which to do it. So will we. It’s not enough to know what to do in the crisis—we must also know when to do it. The Holy Spirit will guide our feet and their speed.

God’s timing is different from ours. Consider these biblical examples: Joseph in Egypt, so he could be 2nd in the nation; Moses for 40 years in the desert wilderness, so he could shepherd his people; Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, so God could save the jailer; John on Patmos, so he could receive the Revelation.

Where is God “late” in your life today? Don’t get ahead of him—he may not follow.

Never give up on God (9-14)

Now, to heighten the tension even more, we learn of Haman’s further plot against Mordecai himself. Earlier he would not bow before Haman; now he will not rise in his presence (9). The will to power is the basic drive in human nature—seen in Haman as much as any person in literature.

Haman complains to his family; his wife Zeresh and all his friends: They tell him: “Have a gallows guilt, seventy-five feet high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the dinner and be happy. This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the gallows built.”

75 feet high—perhaps off the city wall, thus this distance to the ground. Whatever the circumstances, everyone would see the gallows being built, and the man who would be hanged there.

So now, it’s the night before Mordecai is to die, and the chapter ends. It’s time to give up on God, except that it’s always too soon to give up on God.

The last minute is never too late for God. The angels freed Peter the night before he was to be executed by Herod. When we work, we work; when we pray, God works. It’s always too soon to give up on him.

Conclusion

Obey the last word you heard from God; never get ahead of God; never give up on God. These principles still work today. They are God’s answers to our problems, our hard times, our black nights, when he seems silent and the world tumbles in.

All require faith. In fact, all relationships require more faith than evidence can prove. Can you prove to me that your marriage is good, and that your spouse loves you? Can you prove that you’re my friend, or that I’m yours? We have to have faith to go through surgery, to start our car, to sit in a chair.

You’ll never get to the Holy Grail without the leap of faith. Where is yours today?