The Works of God

I am using the One-Year Tract Bible Reading Plan to help me read through the Bible this year.  

For March 9, there was this stunning, breathtaking reality right next to each other in the readings from Luke 23 and Job 38:

Luke 23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 

Job 38: Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.”

We are as nothing before God.  How did we ever conceive of the idea that we could question God or his motives or his authority?  We were not there when he created all things, and we didn’t (and don’t) have the power to do what God can do.

But Jesus was there.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Father gave us Jesus.  He who knew no sin became sin so that his righteousness could be given to us.  And that Jesus, knowing what he would experience in obedience to the Father, shouted at the most critical moment of all, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”  Jesus knew he could trust his Father.

This is overwhelming.

We cannot compare to God on any level.  ‘I do not do the good I want’ (Romans 7:19), while God “has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever” (2 Corinthians 9:9). 

And this God with that power to create out of nothing who grants us a savior we don’t deserve and a righteousness we could never, ever earn – this is the God we are ready to judge because he creates some who will live with a disability?  

The One who has infinite knowledge, wisdom, power, authority, righteousness, holiness and justice should somehow subordinate himself to us because our puny, finite, limited sense of fairness says that God should only behave a certain way regarding disability?  

We think we have that right to judge this God?  Based exactly on what?

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I’ve been operating on even thinner margins than usual. Because, of course, I’m so very, very important.

This morning I realized I’m now four days behind in my plan to read through the Bible in a year.  And that has all happened, I think, in the last two weeks.

Which means I’m actually really, really foolish.

My Paul’s disability never goes away, and never will.  It isn’t part of a ‘season of life’ that I just need to grit my teeth and get through.  That is also true of my marriage, my work, my parenting of the other children, my volunteering and everything else.

So when I let circumstances start to interfere with things that are really good for me, interest me, feed me and help me – like my time in the Word, I’m really saying that word isn’t  so important after all.

So, I’m going to be impudent and ask God to help me as many times as I need help staying tethered to his word (which is always) because Jesus said we should ask for what we need:

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Luke 11:5-10

And I need God’s word.

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If you were to have asked me “what do you think the combination of autism, blindness, failure to thrive and mental retardation would be like” back in February 1994, I’m not sure how I would have answered.  But I’m sure I would have described it as unpleasant, maybe even horrifying, and certainly sad.

Fast forward 15 years and I live with a boy with all that stuff.  Yet he lives with more freedom than I do, personifying Jesus’ command:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”  Luke 12:22-23

Paul doesn’t even think about tomorrow, let alone worry about it.  

Of course my boy must have his mom and dad consider his needs.  He is one of the most vulnerable boys on the planet.  But what he doesn’t know (or at least cannot articulate) which I know from God’s word is that the creator of the universe, the maker and owner of everything, allows me to come to him.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5b-7

Unlike my boy, who naturally lives without anxiety about tomorrow, I have to fight anxious thoughts.  I’m grateful God answers, frequently and supernaturally, with peace that guards my heart and mind.

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Thank you to Jan Lacher for pointing me to Dr. Al Mohler’s blog for Wednesday.

Dr. Mohler provided a critique of The Shack by William Paul Young.  More than 10 million copies have been sold.

Because Pastor John just preached on the subject of Jesus and the man born blind, this paragraph from Dr. Mohler’s blog jumped out at me, particularly the sentence in bold:

While the literary device of an unconventional “trinity” of divine persons is itself sub-biblical and dangerous, the theological explanations are worse. “Papa” tells Mack of the time when the three persons of the Trinity “spoke ourself into human existence as the Son of God.” Nowhere in the Bible is the Father or the Spirit described as taking on human existence. The Christology of the book is likewise confused. “Papa” tells Mack that, though Jesus is fully God, “he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be in relationship with every human being.”  When Jesus healed the blind, “He did so only as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone.” (emphasis mine)

Please note, that sentence is from The Shack.  Dr. Mohler does not hold to that statement.

Now contrast that sentence with some familiar passages where Jesus demonstrates or claims authority to heal for himself:

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”  Mark 2:10-12

And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.  Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. Luke 7:6-10

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Luke 18:41-43

Jesus claims authority, uses his authority, and does not correct people who believe he has authority over his creation.  Most importantly:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5

Jesus is God, always has been God and always will be God.

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I was blown away, again, by God’s purposes in healing the paralytic of his disability:

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” (Mark 2:10-11)

Do you feel the earth move at that statement?  Healing this man of his disability was certainly a good and kind thing, but it was not the main thing.  Jesus’ authority to forgive sins is the main thing.  And he healed him “that you may know” that Jesus has this authority.  This knowledge is a kindness extended to everyone, not just the one man who was healed.

So, it is good to fight the temptation to make physical healing the main thing in our relationship with Jesus.

And we see another example of this authority in John 5:1-18, the healing at the pool of Bethesda.  Pastor John helpfully provided this statement in a sermon on that passage:

Jesus seeks out the man in the temple and tells him the real issue in his healing. “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.’” What’s the issue? The issue is holiness mainly, not health. “I have healed you to make you holy.”

I pray earnestly for my wife, that God would continue to hold her cancer at bay.  Praying for healing is a very good  and appropriate thing.  But it is a good thing only because it is subordinate to the main thing: Jesus Christ, my savior and my God.

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