God Comforts Us In His Discipline Of Us! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9,

"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."

In the pages of Scripture we find that those whom God loves, he takes through hardships. "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." Proverbs 3:11-12. Jesus Christ said, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." Revelation 3:19.

And as the writer of Hebrews says, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11.

The hardships the Lord takes us through are designed for our benefit, for our growth. As the Hebrews passage says, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." In our passage in 2 Corinthians, we see the Apostle Paul's team was not without need of this process. He acknowledges the purpose of the hardships they encountered in Asia, the discipline of the Lord they endured, was that they might not rely on themselves but on God.

The discipline of the Lord comes not without its reward. We learn from it, we grow from it, we mature from it, and we are shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ through it. And there is something else here in this passage. Paul speaks of special comfort that comes from God accompanying his discipline. As a loving responsible parent ensures a disciplined child receives comfort and encouragement along with discipline, so our God does with us. Paul and his companions suffered hardships in the province of Asia to learn reliance on God and together with that they received comfort from God in their troubles. He says God "comforts us in all our troubles", calling God the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort!

Today I worship our "Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles" as we read in verses 3b-4a.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Our God Of All Comfort - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4,

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
 
One of the many wonderful aspects of our God is that he is a God of comfort!

Comfort is such a wonderful word in that it refers to the kind, gentle, warm hand of God reaching out to us in times of suffering, in times of trouble - bringing relief, healing and a sense of well-being.

In his kindness God seeks to comfort us. When it is time to stretch us, our God takes us through painful and difficult experiences (Hebrews 12:7-11). Because we live in a fallen world we suffer difficulty. Because we are sinful and struggle with poor decisions and allow ourselves to be drawn to the enticement of sin, we suffer. Because we take our hearts and minds off of the Lord at times we struggle and suffer.

But… our loving Heavenly Father is there for us faithfully, to provide us comfort in his excellent timing. And look who he often provides that comfort through! Those who have suffered and struggled themselves and experienced God's comfort. Now comforted, now equipped, they are used by the hand of our loving God to comfort us in our struggles, in our sufferings!
 
What kind of God does that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Decisions - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Titus 3:12,

"As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there."

In some personal notes to Titus, as Paul brings his letter to a close, he mentions something that catches my eye. It is a comment that is at odds with the perception of many folks within the church today. That comment is his cause for wintering in Nicopolis: not because God told him to, but that Paul himself decided to. I'm certain Paul made his choice based on factors that had to do with what would be best for pursuing his ministry to the Gentiles together with the specific circumstances he found himself in. I'm certain if God told Paul to winter in Nicopolis he would have done so, but he would have also said so.

I have run into many in the church that have an odd notion that God wants to make all our choices for us, that our every move must be directed by God. "God has told me to go to this school", or "God has told me this is where I need to live...", etc. followed with some kind of comment that they are waiting to see from God what their next move is.

To their credit, I'm certain the underlying motivation for many is a pursuit of being "directed by God" - ensuring they are smack in the middle of his will. Many, sad to say, seem to be playing the "holier than thou" card in an effort to show all around just how tight they are with God. Worse yet are those who hide behind "being directed by God" as an excuse for irresponsibility. I've had more than one man's wife tell me that God called her to another state to do so-and-so as she leaves her husband behind. I've seen many examples of folks making irresponsible financial decisions, claiming God has "told them" to buy this or that, leaving everyone else around them without ground to question. I'll bet you have seen this yourself.

For whatever reason, there are those who feel God should make all our decisions: which house or car to buy, what career and school to go to, who to date and marry, etc. Where do folks get the notion that God has taken upon himself such a thing? He has given us a mind and he has given us a free will. While there certainly are many occasions I read of in my Bible where God tells certain individuals to do certain things, as, say, Nathan being sent by God to confront David in his sin with Bathsheba, the Scriptures never present God as making our decisions for us as a general rule. On the contrary, what I read of is God telling us what pleases him, usually in a general sense, and then asking us to make our own decisions.

An example of this is where Paul discusses whether one should marry or not in 1 Corinthians 7:36-37, "If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing." Paul says he should do as "he wants".

The question is not whether we should be making our own decisions but whether those decisions we make are wise and consistent with the Scriptures, what God has indeed told us.

I'm not sure life would be the same if all of our choices were prescripted by God. What kind of a life would that look like?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Don't Allow the Gospel to be Impeded! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Titus 3:10-11,

"Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned."

Paul tells Titus to avoid people he has warned a couple of times about being divisive within the fellowship. Some people argue about a lot of things, and if it isn't one thing, then it is another. I'm sure you have encountered just such people. Hopefully that does not describe you or me!

The reason they will argue about one thing or another constantly is due to what Paul tells Titus in verse 11, "You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned." They are just going to argue and can use up the energy and efforts of those who are engaged in promoting God's plan of redemption, rendering them less effective for the kingdom of God. I think they are Satan's "plants" he has put in place for his purposes of stopping or slowing the spread of the gospel message. Consequently, Paul tells Titus to have nothing to do with them.

Paul's last words in the previous chapter are, "Do not let anyone despise you." It is evident that when you decide to have nothing to do with someone who wants to always argue, there's going to be some despising going on, on the part of the divisive person. It would seem to me what Paul has in mind is that Titus is to comport himself in such a way there is no legitimate accusation that can be brought against him as he teaches God's truth to the fellowship, which could, likewise, hamper the spread of the gospel.

The whole of it is the concern that the gospel message not be impeded by our own actions or the actions of others.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God's Magnanimous Mercy! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Titus 3:4-5a,

"When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."

There is one reason, and one reason alone that anyone is heaven-bound: God's mercy. It certainly is not due to "righteous things we had done". Anything we have done will not bring us eternal life, only God's mercy can. It is not because we have been selected by any particular church, or tapped by some priest, pastor or elder, only God's mercy. It is not due to following spiritual disciplines, good church attendance, regular offerings placed in the plate, only God's mercy. We can study religious books (not speaking of the Bible here), we can attend spiritual convocations, we can sit at the feet of the most famous swami - anyone who is heaven-bound is headed that way solely because of God's mercy.

Why is it only by God's mercy? Simple: none of us deserve heaven, none of us deserve God's presence in our lives. We have all sinned, including you and me. What we all deserve is God's judgment. And he has a judgment for those who have sinned - a fiery lake of burning sulfur. We can read about it in Revelation 21:8. God has a keen sense of justice and that justice is clear and straightforward. With this keen sense of justice and an unfathomable love in his heart for each and every one of us, he provided payment for all the sins anyone might ever commit. God the Father sent his Son to die on that cross to pay for our sins to satisfy his own justice. This made a way for us and this is why it is said that God saved us out of his mercy. His mercy will be extended to all who will embrace him in faith.

Merriam-Webster defines mercy as, "compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power." Certainly God's mercy flows from his love for us. So fascinating is this aspect of God's character, we are told even the angels long to look into the unfolding of God's redemption on earth, "Even angels long to look into these things." 1 Peter 1:12.

Why does God have mercy on us? I don't know. Why does he love us? I don't know. I do know that our God tells us there are two attributes that drive him in his affairs with mankind: his justice and his love, "Let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness [his love], justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight." Jeremiah 9:24. Likewise, John tells us that God's love is so consuming, he defines God as "God is love." 1 John 4:8,16.

As I say, I have no idea why God loves us, particularly when I consider what mankind has become in the exercise of his own devices, compelled by a sinful nature born of his rebellion against God. Nevertheless, he does. He tells us so: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...", and he has demonstrated so by Jesus' horrific death on that cross.

God's mercy is a mystery to me. The resolution to that mystery certainly resides in the breath-taking, awe-inspiring, and overwhelming heart of our merciful God. As I await the day I might gain better insight into it, I simply celebrate it today.

How wonderful the mercy of God! How wonderful the heart of our God!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Our God Has Made Us Heirs! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Titus 3:3-7,

"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
 
The kindness, love and mercy of our God reached out to us: we - who were foolish, disobedient, deceived (by our own minds and hearts) and enslaved to our sin natures.

What kind of a heart does our God have that reaches out to a people like us? In addition to saving us he has poured out his Holy Spirit on us, renewing us!
 
We are told here that we are "heirs having the hope of eternal life." I'm not sure of what all that being an heir brings to us. But I know it must be incredible. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:17, we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ!

As I think of these things this morning I am awestruck at the wonderful things we have at the hand of our God of boundless love for us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.