God of the Morning
Humans hadn’t been invented, yet, but I would love to have been there. I guess it would have been what we might call Thursday morning of God’s creation week—after he completed the work on Wednesday:
“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.” (Genesis 1:14-19)
Can you imagine it? Being there to witness the first morning with a sunrise, as the “morning stars” faded and that burning ball of fire broke over the horizon for the very first time in a brand new world untouched by sin and cynicism and short attention spans? I’d guess that witnessing such beauty would yank the praise for its Creator from the deepest parts of a person.
Again, no humans. God made that point to Job with these sarcastic questions. He also revealed just who was there that morning:
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)
I don’t know what that means, but what a sound it must have been—the morning stars singing together and all the angels shouting for joy at the beauty, craftsmanship, and wisdom of God’s incredible act of creation. They witnessed the beginning of “evening and morning,” “evening and morning,” “evening and morning” that continues to this day.
Of course, the beauty remains, but it has also faded on this sin-soaked, suffering planet. Now, all of creation groans as it waits for the redemption day. (Romans 8) The worst happens again and again and again. And on the darkest of nights, some wish they’d never had a first morning, at all. Job felt that way about his own life:
”“May the day of my birth perish. . . May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn.” (Job 3:3,9)
We can understand why someone who has lost his family would feel that way, but when God showed up to answer Job he didn’t let him get away with that wish. God made it clear (with such imaginative poetry) that all the mornings belong to Him. He will not let it be night forever. Wickedness will end.
”“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.” (Job 38:12-14)
We still praise God in the morning, even on the painful and mundane ones. We praise him because he created each day new. And we praise him because each morning is a reminder that one day night will end forever.
“Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:4-5)
PlanetWisdom Student Conference
I’m Not God
“Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”
I mentioned in the blog today a news story about a Nebraska state senator who has filed a lawsuit against God. It’s a publicity stunt, sure, but I couldn’t help but think of the book of Job. It contains one of the most bone-chilling moments in all of the Bible. After Job and his four “friends” spend most of the book making long speeches about the issues of human sin and suffering and God’s justice, God Himself shows up to answer them.
I imagine similar conversations about God being held all over the world. College students talking in dorm rooms late into the night. Flippant political conversations full of snide comments about faith. The earnest complaints of heart-broken wives and mothers and husbands and sons who have lost their loved ones to tragedy. “How could God . . .?” “Where was God when . . .?” “Why didn’t He . . .?”
Maybe someone has hit you in the face with one of those ancient questions: “If God is really loving and good and powerful, how could He possibly have allowed THIS to happen?” You can fill in the THIS with natural disasters, terrorist attacks, terminal childhood diseases, sexual abuse, or even your parents’ divorce. The list of THISes includes all the horror we try not to think about most of the time. “How could God . . .?”
I have heard meaningful and satisfying answers to these questions from great Bible teachers. They include the idea that humans make choices to rebel against God—and the natural consequence is human pain and suffering for all. They mention that God proved His love and power and goodness by sending Jesus to suffer and die for us to ultimately free us from the consequence of sin. They also point out that suffering is built into these short lives we’re given. Everyone suffers here. Even the person who lives 80 healthy years and dies quietly in his sleep experiences far more pain and far less life than we’re meant for. The real living starts in the next life. What matters in this one is that we learn to trust God through Jesus.
I agree with all those big ideas. But it’s interesting to me that God doesn’t offer them when He shows up to answer Job and His friends. Instead, He seems to make just one big point: “I am God. You are not.”
He does it by asking a series of seemingly sarcastic questions intended to overwhelm Job’s small group with how incredibly immense God is—and how incredibly small we are. By the time He gets to chapter 40, Job has already admitted he has no answers. But God keeps making the point:
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?Do you have an arm like God’s,
and can your voice thunder like his?Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at every proud man and bring him low,look at every proud man and humble him,
crush the wicked where they stand.Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.
God says, “Show me that you have all the wisdom and power of God, and I’ll acknowledge you’re ability to save your own life.” His endlessly demanding (and beautifully poetic) questions overwhelm us with the realization that we don’t. know. anything. We can’t. do. anything. He is GOD. We exist because of Him. We continue because of Him. And we will answer to Him for our actions. He owes us exactly nothing. And he gives us exactly everything.
Why does God allow . . .? Why doesn’t He . . .? I don’t know. I can’t know. He is God, and He can do as He sees best. I will trust His love, His power, and His plan to my last painful breath and wait to know even as I am known. What will you do?
PlanetWisdom Student Conference
Sin: No Joke
“A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom.”
The NIV translation of this verse makes me think of movie villains. The biggest, baddest villains in comic book movies and action films are the ones who seem to really be enjoying their nasty deeds. They like hurting people. They “find pleasure” in causing pain. It’s like they have no soul. They continue to relish their “evil conduct” until the hero stops them.
I like that way of looking at the verse, because I’m NOT a super villain. I don’t do “evil,” right? And if I do, I definitely do get it a kick out of it.
The English Standard Version offers pretty much the same translation of the Hebrew for this verse, but chooses different words. I don’t have any idea which is more precise, but the ESV take forced me to put myself back into the verse: “Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.”
Urgh. So it’s not just about people who laugh maniacally as their victims suffer. How often have I passed off my own wrongdoing as a joke? (Or a kind of a game? See the NASB version.) No matter how you translate it, the idea is that one definition for fool is someone who finds a way to enjoy his sinful choices. Have I ever really enjoyed delivering a hurtful comment, a deception, an immoral thought? Guilty on all counts. At those moments, I was a fool—a person wasting his life running in a worthless direction.
Notice the alternative:
“A man of understanding delights in wisdom.” (NIV)
“Wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.” (ESV)
“Wisdom [is sport] to a man of understanding.” (NASB)
Again, I can’t tell you the absolute best translation of the verse, but do you get the idea? Wise people learn to truly enjoy wisdom. It’s not just an academic assignment for people of understanding. It’s not just work. It’s not just being “spiritual.” It’s fun! It’s play! It’s a good time.
Proverbs urges us to search out wisdom like buried treasure. Wise people enjoy the hunt. They get a rush out of discovering a new gem of understanding, a new jewel of discernment, a new golden principal they can install in their lives to keep them on the path toward a life that truly matters right now and forever.
Don’t get me wrong. Some sin feels really good in the moment. But as we gain the wisdom to understand the painful consequences of sinful choices, hard reality will steal the fun from that “evil conduct,” “wickedness,” and just plain “doing wrong.” We’ll make a new hobby out of doing wise that won’t get old in the long run.
PlanetWisdom Student Conference
How to Be Rich
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
I hope my title for this devo didn’t mislead you. Okay, I kind of hope it did a little. But I’m not offering a new pyramid scheme for accumulating wealth. And I’m not going to reveal the secret path for turning faith in God into money in your wallet. If I ever do such a thing, you’re invited to run away screaming.
Nope, what I meant to suggest by my title was how to live with money—how to “be” rich. You may or may not think of yourself or your family as being rich, especially when you start comparing your stuff to other people’s stuff. But if we were able to somehow compare ourselves to people around the globe, most of you reading this would come out in the top 10 percent in terms of both income and material possessions.
Think about it. Most of our families have a car. Air conditioning. At least one outfit for each day of the week. Shoes. A way to get some food when we want it. Electricity. And lots of us have way more than that. By international standards, we’re nearly all loaded.
I don’t tend to think of myself that way, though. Why? Because I don’t compare myself to people around the world. I compare myself to the people in my town, church, school, and workplace. And, honestly, I’m mostly just watching the people with more and better stuff than I’ve got. That’s human nature. If we agree that we’re all pretty much rich, then we’d all like to be richer. Yes?
Okay, and that’s the problem. God’s Word warns that, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” (1 Timothy 6:9)
The Apostle Paul’s point was that living for money doesn’t lead to a life that matters. It shows a lack or wisdom. It turns us into fools. Why? Because as I recently heard someone say, at the end of the game all the money and hotels and dice go back in the box. And then what do you have? If there is a life after the game of this life, we’d better be living for that.
But getting back to our original point, what if we admit that we’re already rich—that we already have far more luxuries and good things that we really need. Should we sell them all and take a vow of poverty? Not necessarily. Read the passage up top to see what Paul said later in this chapter.
He was talking about rich Christians, and he didn’t call them evil sinners. But he did give them some very specific commands.
Don’t be arrogant. People with money should NOT think they’re any better than people who don’t have much of it. That’s a fat lie.
Don’t put your hope in wealth. Money can’t save us from death, and it can’t offer us real satisfaction in this life. And it disappears all too easily.
Hope in God. He is the only source of meaning and satisfaction on either side of life in heaven.
God gives us everything. You don’t own any good thing God did not give to you. He is the ultimate source of all your earthly possessions—not you (and not even your parents). How often do you thank Him for your good things?
God gives stuff for our enjoyment. This is the one that surprises some people. God wants us to enjoy the good things we have right now. I know some rich people who never seem to even like the all the cool stuff they have. Why? Because they’re so obsessed with getting other cool stuff. Choosing to enjoy what I have makes God happy.
Do good and share. You can use money to hurt people, and you can use money to help people. If you’ve got access to some, God commands you to do good with it. That takes work. How are you using your money (or the money you have access to from your parents) to do good and help others?
Invest money in forever. It’s always always always the next life that matters, our real life. The one that starts the moment this one ends. The one that doesn’t end. We don’t get any “carryover credits” there for dollars in the bank here. Use money to build an eternal treasure there. That’s how to be rich.