SOAP Journal – 26 February 2019 (Psalm 6)

O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger,

Nor chasten me in Your wrath.

Psalm 6:1

This psalm is broken into four stanzas.

The first stanza (vv. 1-3) amounts to a plea for mercy and grace. David asks that God not rebuke him (David) while He (God) is angry, but instead that He (God) would heal him (David). We have all had the experience of knowing that someone was angry with us and had every right to be angry. This seems to be where things stand between David and God. David does not, in this stanza, contest whether or not God ought to be angry, only pleads for grace.

The second stanza (vv. 4-5) asks God to rescue David, giving the reason that there is neither remembrance nor mention of God in Sheol, which is roughly equivalent to the Greek Hades. This reveals a bit about what David thinks happens after death. He seems to believe that there is some place to which souls go. He also seems to think that those souls do not remember what has happened in life.

The third stanza (vv. 6-7) is David’s description of his state. He has been grieving; weeping; agonizing over his adversaries. And this makes me wonder when in his life this psalm was written. There were many times in David’s life that he faced enemies and a fair few wherein the adversary was someone dear to him or related to someone dear to him.

In the final stanza (vv. 8-10), David issues one command and makes two statements. The command is that those who do iniquity would depart from him. Another way to render the phrase might be that David wants the troublemakers to get lost. And the reason for this is that God has heard his prayer and that David’s enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed.

The encouragement for me is this: even when God has every reason to be angry with me, I can call out to Him for mercy and grace and help in my need and He will hear me and be merciful and gracious. This is not a license to do things that will anger God. That would be presumptuous. Rather, this is an invitation to seek God even when I fear He might not want to hear from me. When I have done something foolish and want His mercy and grace, but fear that I will be met with His righteous wrath instead, this psalm is an encouragement that God will hear and will be gracious.

Thank You, Father, for this encouragement; for this invitation to come to You and be heard, even when You have every right to be angry with me. Even then, You will love me and want to restore me. Thank You for loving in a way that I cannot fathom and may not ever be able to emulate this side of eternity.

SOAP Journal – 11 February 2019 (Job 25)

How then can a man be just with God?

Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?

Job 25:4

The last words uttered by Job’s friends also happen to be the briefest they have uttered. Bildad says, in essence, rule and glory belong to God and asks, rhetorically, how a person can be right with God. Bildad obviously thinks that rightness with God is unobtainable and leaves the matter there.

There are two major problems with leaving the matter there.

First, this statement leaves anyone who actually believes it without hope or comfort of any kind. Of all the useless things that Job’s “friends” have said in their efforts to “comfort” him, this may be the least comforting and most useless. If there is no way to be right with God, then what is the point of even trying? If the only thing I can actually expect from God is punishment for my inability to be right before Him, then I should leave off trying to please Him and just enjoy what little pleasure life brings to me. But this entire thought process is wrong. God will punish those who are not right with Him, but that punishment may not arrive this side of the grave. God will reward those who are right with Him and that reward is very likely to be amassed in Heaven. Jesus told His disciples to store up treasure where moth does not destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal it. The reward for those who are right with God is rightness with God and the peace and comfort that brings. Everything else is decoration on the icing on the cake.

Second, if there is no way for a man to be right with God, then all of the claptrap that Job’s friends have blathered on about God rewarding those who do right in His sight was something that he (Bildad) did not believe was even possible. His words contradict one another. If there is no way for a man to be right with God and God rewards those who are right with Him and punishes those who are not, then it follows that everyone should always be punished and that no one should ever be rewarded. From the standpoint of pure, unadulterated justice, this is true. God is righteous in a way that human beings can never be and unadulterated justice would demand that we all be punished for willfully violating His Law. But God does not work on the basis of justice alone. God tempers justice with mercy and grace. And He does so through Christ and His work on the cross.

I was reminded of how tilted the scales seem to be this weekend. I received credit cards for which I had not applied and made phone calls to sort out the issue, learning that someone had opened them in my name and successfully charged a large sum to one of the cards. I have read more than a couple articles online about how people have dealt with identity theft and gone so far as to essentially hand the culprits over to law enforcement on a silver platter only to have the officers refuse to arrest the perpetrator. It is disheartening. Then I read this and God reminds me that His justice is sure and that the treasures He wants me to store up are in a place where they cannot be stolen and no one can do anything in my name, because my identity is securely bound up in Christ and only The Father knows my true name.

And He wants to do the same thing for the people whom I allowed to ruin a portion of my weekend. I could have taken the news gracefully and made the necessary calls and arrangements and gone on about my day without thinking about it, but I allowed what had been done to get to me and was angry and wanting justice to be done. While I still want the person to stop stealing and ruining others’ reputations (or credit, at least), I am not longer on my momentary hellfire and brimstone warpath. But God (my favorite phrase in all of scripture) does not want them to face His justice, He wants them to receive His mercy and grace.

Father, I confess that I was not compassionate or forgiving or merciful. I am grateful that You are all of those things and more. Please forgive both me and those who have wronged me. They need You. Just as I do. Please break through both of us, me to conform me better to the image of Your Son and them to repentance. May we both be right with You.

SOAP Journal – 27 November 2017 (2 Samuel 14)

Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart [was inclined] toward Absalom.

2 Samuel 14:1

After Absalom murdered his half-brother, he fled the country. His father, King David, longed to go out to Absalom (13:39), but he did not. Joab perceives the king’s heart and decides that Absalom needed to come home. So Joab convinces a wise woman to come to King David and present a fiction like the one that the prophet Nathan had presented, designed to evoke a response from David. So the woman presents the fiction and David offers her the protection that she ostensibly sought, but when she persists, David sees through things and realizes that Joab is behind the whole thing. The king gives Joab what he asks for — Absalom is brought back to Jerusalem — but the king does not see Absalom. Eventually, Absalom goes so far as to set a part of Joab’s field on fire to get his attention and get an audience with David. Absalom says something that, were David a man inclined more toward justice and less toward mercy, would have been the end of Absalom: Now therefore, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death (14:32). There was, in fact, iniquity in Absalom and he should have been put to death. But he was not.

Joab’s non-battlefield judgment was poor. I have already read of his murder of another general during peace talks in retribution for a killing that happened in war time. I continued reading and saw that Absalom stages a coup some years after being brought back to Jerusalem. Joab saw that David’s heart wanted something and Joab thought that David’s heart was good. What Joab did not stop to consider is whether or not David’s mind had a reason for leaving Absalom in his self-imposed exile. There is nothing in the text that says that David said or even implied that Absalom could not come back. Perhaps David, who knew a thing or two about living in a state of non-repentance, wanted to give God time to work on his son’s heart. Perhaps David just wanted to give Absalom some time and space to sort things out. Whatever the reason, David had not gone and gotten his son, despite longing to see him, and Joab missed the mark entirely.

David, for his part, allowed himself to be swayed by Joab’s charade. David saw through the smokescreen and yet still gave Joab what he was after. It is interesting that the text tells me that David did what Joab asked, not what David thought wise or prudent or even that David sought God’s counsel and acted accordingly. David gave Joab what he wanted. There may be people in my life who are able to sway me to do things that I know are imprudent or outright wrong — there have been in times past. It seems that Joab is such a person in the life of David.

Absalom, far from appreciating the mercy involved in his situation, flaunts it and demands to see the king or be put to death for any iniquity in himself. Absalom had plenty of iniquity within him and plenty of reason why he should have been put to death.

In Joab, I see for too much of myself with God. I understand a portion of God’s heart, but I do not know His mind. So I pray and ask Him to do things that may have terribly ramifications. As Paul writes, I do not know how to pray as I ought. So, like Peter, I keep talking despite not knowing what to say. Israel would probably have been better served if Joab had left Absalom in his self-imposed exile. My prayer life would be better if I could come to God knowing that I do not know how to pray as I ought and if I would rely on the Holy Spirit to intercede and speak the words I cannot speak.

In David, I see something of myself. I have been, in times past, unduly influenced by people that I cared about and with whom I had been through much. I am still wont to be thus influenced, I think, but the number of people who are close enough to me and have endured as much beside me is few.

In Absalom, I see a tendency that is sadly common to all people. I see a lack of appreciation of the mercy shown us and a blindness to our own transgressions.

Father, I do not know how to pray as I ought — if Paul didn’t, then I most certainly do not — and so ask that Your Spirit would help my weakness and intercede with groanings too deep for words. I know that the tendency exists in me both to allow myself to be influenced — especially when the direction of that influence agrees with my desires — and to take for granted the mercy shown me. Please work in me so that I am influenced by You and by counsel that comes from You through trustworthy friends. Please give me eyes that see just how much Your mercy has extended to me and how far down Your grace has to descend to reach me.

SOAP Journal – 22 Aug 2016 (1 Peter 1:13)

Therefore, gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, fix your hope completely on the grace which is announced to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:13

Any verse that begins with therefore begins with a callback to what has just been said. Peter has, immediately preceding this verse, written that our salvation was spoken of by prophets who wanted to more fully understand the prophecy given them by God and into which angels long to look. So, the instruction given in this morning’s verse is given in light of our salvation.

Because I have been saved, I should gird up the loins of [my] mind. The phrase gird up your loins is often repeated in The Bible, but what does it mean? I once encountered a pictorial reference on how an individual would gird up his loins. It was not only instructive in the event I should ever be wearing a long tunic or robe and need to do some heavy labor, but it also shed some light on what the biblical instruction is all about. To do any sort of hard work in a robe, you must gird up your loins or the robe will get in the way. Girding actually consisted of wrapping and tucking and then securing all of the loose material. Which is a great way to understand what Peter is saying here. In light of my salvation, I should wrap up, tuck away, and secure all the loose thoughts in my mind. I have an abundance of errant thoughts, and this instruction tells me that I need to get those thoughts under control. Paul said the same thing to the Corinthian believers when he told them to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Because I have been saved, I should be sober. This thought comprises more than merely not being drunk. If that were the full extent of sobriety, then many of us would have this down. But sobriety in the biblical sense meant something more akin to not behaving in the manner of a drunken person. A drunk stumbles around, knocking things over, causing disruption, and generally making a nuisance of himself. He is objectionable to be around by his behavior as well as by his hygiene (or lack thereof) and his emotional instability. To be sober, as The Bible understands it, is to be careful of myself with regard to my behavior and emotional stability. The first instruction was to get my mind under control. This is instruction to get my emotions and my behavior under control as well.

Because I have been saved, I should fix [my] hope completely on the grace which is announced to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is a song that says, “My hope is built on nothing less / than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”. That is precisely correct. In light of my salvation — Who saves me and how He does it — I should fix my hope completely on His grace. This is, I think, the natural progression forward from the previous two instructions. I must discipline my mind and my emotions and my behavior and I must remember that there is grace for the times when I fail. And Peter, the man who penned these words, knew a thing or two about God’s grace.

Father, thank You for Your grace that covers my failures. Please help me to discipline my mind and to have control over my emotions and actions, that I might, as the later verses instruct, be holy as You are holy.

Proof (Galatians 2:18)

For if I rebuild what I have [once] destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

Galatians 2:18

This verse caught my attention this morning.

It is part of Paul’s opposition of Peter. In front of it is the truth that we are justified by faith, not works, and the rhetorical question of whether or not Jesus is a minister of sin if we are found to be sinners. Behind this verse is some pretty heady stuff about having been crucified with Christ and now living by faith. Paul’s writing can be densely packed and this passage is one of those places.

Sandwiched between justification by faith and walking by faith in grace is this comment that my sin does not change Who and What Jesus is. My transgressions; my willful rebellions do not make Him any less my Savior or any less the payment for my sins. In fact, God’s revelation of Himself to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7) includes the statement that He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin (v7). Even transgression is forgivable if I repent. So my transgression only proves one thing: I am a transgressor.

Why did this catch my attention? Because I, like everyone else, am guilty of knowing that something is wrong and doing it anyway; transgressing. Transgress is a great word, it comes from two roots: (1) “trans-“, which means “across” and “-gress” which means “step”. Put simply, transgressing is stepping across a known boundary. When God says “This far and no further.” and I keep on walking is when transgression happens.

Father, teach me repentance for those things in which I transgress. I know that transgression is present in me and that it does not nullify Your grace, but does reaffirm my need of a Savior and to repent.

Grace, Love, Fellowship (2 Corinthians 13:14)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:14

I love this verse.

I love it because it is an establishing verse for the doctrine of the trinity. Herein are the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit all mentioned individually though we know with certainty that Paul taught that there is only one God. I do not want to spend too much time on this, but I love how casually Paul tosses the doctrine of the trinity out there and expects that his audience knows what he is on about.

I love it because it is a list of things I should experience as a believer and the list is in order.

First, I should experience the grace of Christ. Grace is getting what I do not deserve. If I deserve punishment and Hell and eternal damnation — and everyone does — then not getting that is mercy. But God does more, He restores my relationship with Him and permits me entrance into Heaven; He blesses me and works to not only wipe away the punishment for what I have done wrong but to expunge the presence of wrong-doing in me at all. He goes far beyond mere mercy and gives so much more than I could ever hope to deserve. That is grace.

Second, grace permits me to experience the Love of God. Not just to experience it as a recipient, but to begin to walk in it. God Loves every man, woman, and child on the planet. He made us. As a creator of things (art, music, story), I can state pretty conclusively that I love the things I create. Even — sometimes especially — the things that frustrate me the most. That is not, I think, what Paul has in min. Everyone experiences that Love, though they may not be cognizant of it. Not everyone is able to walk in the Love of God. In point of plain fact, no one is able to walk in the Love of God until they have met with the grace of God. There are loving people in the world, but their love does not get anywhere near the level of God’s Love. And God works that love into those who are His. There are those who claim to be His and do not evidence this Love increasing within them. I would question whether or not those individuals are truly God’s — including myself, if His Love is not increasing in me.

Third and final, God’s Love manifests in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The idea is that grace brings me to God Who begins to work His Love into and through me and this brings me into fellowship; intimate connection with God and with other believers who are also in God.

I have met with God’s grace and I have seen the moments when He works His Love into and through me — may those moments become more regular until they are the mainstay of my existence — and I have experienced those moments of being close to God and my fellow believers — may this increase, as well.

Father, let these things not only be with me, but also in me and through me. May Your grace and Love define me so that I may be close to You.

Agree with The Law (Romans 7:16)

But if I do the very thing I do not want [to do], I agree with the Law, [confessing] that the Law is good.

Romans 7:16

There is this paradoxical element to the Christian walk. We see the commands of God — to love Him with everything we are and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves — and we cheerfully agree that it is the right and proper thing to do. We want to do it; we ache to do it; we step out our door with every intention of doing precisely what our God has commanded. Then someone cuts in front of us in the line at the coffee shop and we are ready to put a beat down on them.

It is one example and not even a very good one, but it illustrates just how fickle I sometimes feel as a believer. I determine that I will do as God bids me and look around only to find that I have done precisely what He told me not to do. I facepalm at my failure (usually accompanied by a groan at how fickle I am), agree with God that I have messed up (confess), and determine to do what I have been commanded to do (repent). Sometimes … sometimes it goes well and God is given His way in me and I actually do the thing I determined to do: I obey Him. More often I find myself back in the cycle of facepalm-confess-repent.

I am grateful that God included this part of Paul’s letter to the Roman believers, as I know I have company in that cycle. And august company, at that. What I take away from Paul’s statement in this morning’s verse is simply this: The cycle of facepalm-confess-repent is a constant reminder that The Law is good and perfect and holy and that I agree with that, because face and palm would never meet due to my actions if I did not feel I had come short in some fashion. This does not excuse me from working out my salvation or permit me to exit the cycle if I feel like it, but reminds me that The Law is inflexible and the standard of perfection will not move one iota on my behalf. I am reminded that I am in desperate need of grace.

Old and New (Romans 7:6)

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Romans 7:6

God often brings me back to the question of Law versus grace. My human tendency is to lean on The Law; to try to obey the Thou Shalts and the Thou Shalt Nots. But I am unable to obey The Law. The Law, as Paul writes later in Romans 7, is holy and righteous and good. The fault lies not in the commandment, but in me.

Paul boils the whole thing down to two things: old and new. The oldness of the letter, i.e. the old covenant of The Law, and the newness of the Spirit, i.e. the new covenant of grace. Under which of these do I want to live?

Paul notes that the believer has been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). Here in Romans, that crucifixion with Christ means that I have died. The Law only has jurisdiction over the living — despite modern inventions like Death Tax … who knew I could be taxed for doing what I have no choice but to do? — so The Law has no hold over those who have died with Christ. However, Paul’s parallel does not end there. The believer does not simply die to The Law and now live as may please him, but is rather subjected now to Christ’s rule. Rather than being subject to The Law, we are subject to The Lawgiver; rather than being subjected to the letter, we are subject to The Word made flesh. I am not longer subject to a dead code, but to a living Christ.

That, in a nutshell, is the breakdown of it all. While I may be tempted to stray back into trying to be “good enough,” whatever that means, I am not bound by The Law but by the edict of the Lawgiver Who tells me that the whole of His Law can be summed up in the commands to love Him and to love my neighbor. Does He expect me to do these perfectly? Absolutely not. He knows how little I am capable of (Psalm 103:14). What He expects is for me to subject myself to Him more and more until I am so utterly His that He says “Go.” and I go and He says “Come here.” and I go there  and He says “Do this.” and I do it (Luke 7:8). I do not count myself to have apprehended, but I press on toward that high call (Philippians 3:13-14): the call to live in the newness of the Spirit; the new covenant; the new life and relationship with Him.

Grace (Romans 6:14)

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14

This verse sounds like a call back to Genesis and God speaking with Cain. God tells Cain that sin is at his door and its desire is for him, but Cain must be master over it (Genesis 4:7). Paul seems to be echoing that statement. In the original, God presents Cain with the instruction: If you do well, surely you will be accepted. Paul is saying much the same thing when he says for you are not under law but under grace. Paul is pointing out that the believer lives under a different standard and covenant and in a whole new relationship with God than has been available since Eden.

What follows is, I fear, muddled due to me still parsing the ideas.

Lately, I have been wrestling with the concomitants of a particular decision. As I am unsure how to speak of it in general terms, I will simply state that the decision brings along with it a measure of fear. Until recently, I had thought the fear might be an indicator that the decision needed more prayer and consideration. As I was thinking on it and speaking with God of my concerns, He reminded me that the fear of Him is the beginning of wisdom and I felt encouraged to reconsider the fear. The fear in question is such as would, if embraced, act as a deterrent to sin. More, I realized that the fear is not of committing the sin, but of potentially “getting away with it.” If I were to sin without being disciplined, that would be terrifying and I would question whether or not I had ever truly trusted in Christ to save me. How does this relate to Paul’s statement that sin shall not be master over me or that I am not under law but under grace? Quite well, as it turns out.

The fear of “getting away with” something was always present with my parents. I would do something against their rules and be afraid that I would get caught, but more afraid that I would not. To not get caught meant a lapse; a break in their watch over me. I did not want that with them and I want it still less with my God.

Likewise, a fear that leads to repentance — which is, at its core, a turning away from sin and turning to God — is exactly the kind of fear that leads to wisdom. It is the healthy, proper fear of the LORD. The fear that leads to a renunciation of sin, even in the hypothetical, is good and right and pure. It is akin to the fear that tells me not to get too close to the edge of a cliff or the fear that tells me I should not taunt the bear. Neither is a good idea. Neither is likely to end well for me (though the bear might be happier in the aftermath).

Let me live in the covenant of grace; a relationship with God that allows me to be rightly afraid of damaging the relationship.

Legalism (Acts 15:10)

Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

Acts 15:10

It seems that legalistic people are often those who are least able to keep the laws they want to subject others to. Peter points this out plainly when he says that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear the yoke of The Law. The Law is good, let there be no mistake about that, but it cannot save me. It has no power to do so. Law can only inform me what the standard is. Meeting that standard is on me.

And that is what Peter is getting at, I think. No one except God Himself can meet the requirements of The Law. We can only look at it and shake our heads in disappointment. We fall so very short of that goal. Which begs the question: Why do we want to subject others to The Law when we know very well that we ourselves cannot fulfill it?

There is very little point in telling someone that lying is wrong and against God’s Law without following that up with the Good News (gospel) that God has, in His mercy, made provision for the times we fall short (forgiveness) and wants to enable us to obey out of love and by His empowering. The Bible tells me that it is God at work in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure. If I want to obey God’s Law so that I might please Him, that is God working in me. If I am then able to follow through, that is God working in me still more.

All of this boils down to some very practical things for me to consider and do. Let me consider that neither I nor anyone I know (Christ excepted) has ever been able to fulfill The Law. Let me further consider that God has paid the punishment of The Law so that I am free to attempt to obey The Law in order that I might please Him. It is no longer out of fear of punishment that I seek to obey, but out of gratitude for what He has done for me and from a heart that loves Him. And when I fail to meet the standard, as I inevitably will, there is grace and forgiveness to stand me back up and let me keep pursuing. With those things in mind, let me not subject others to The Law that I cannot keep, but let others know that for all those times when we fail to keep The Law (which we can all secretly admit is right and good, even if we decry it openly), God has made provision in His Son. There is Good News to spread and I cannot spread both the messages of Grace and Law.