God is happy

The first time I ever heard John Piper preach, probably in 1987, Shawn and I walked into his church, Bethlehem Baptist, with no idea of what to expect. We had heard that he was good, but beyond that, we knew nothing.

It was just as his book, Desiring God, was being published. The sermon was about Christian hedonism. By Christian hedonism, what Dr. Piper means is that humans were created for happiness: we crave it, we miss it, there is a void inside each of us that longs for it.

Because we are sinful beings living in a fallen world, we seek happiness in all the wrong places. But in truth, happiness is within our grasp: our joy is in the Lord. And the best thing about it is, unlike any other pleasure we may pursue, the pleasure that we find in God is--get this--good for us!

You can be addicted to God and never run short of your supply of Him, because He is limitless, and it is His joy to fill us and overflow from us in glory and grace. (see Isaiah 55:1-2, John 10:10, John 15:11)

The point is that God is the source of all that is good, and He loves us and shares His goodness with us to the glory of His name and for the good it does us to be filled with joy.

It brings God great joy to bring us great joy.

Inherent in all this is a fundamental fact that is missed all the time. All the time...

God is happy. God is joyous. God is filled with pleasure and delight.

I had never thought about this before that day when I sat in a lovingly cared for old church building in Minneapolis, listening to John Piper preach his heart out.

God is happy.

Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him."

As I sat there, I was stunned, completely and utterly stunned. God is happy.

God is not worried. God is not in despair. God does not look down at the sins of man and wonder, "Oh whatever shall I do now?"

God is completely and utterly in control. He is sovereign. He is in charge of all history. And on top of that, He is omnipotent and omniscient. That means He is all mighty and all knowing.

Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases."

Psalm 33:10-11 "The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations."

Psalm 139:1-4 "O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord."

Ephesians 1:4-10 "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will--to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."

1 Peter 1:20 "He [Jesus] was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

Perhaps I will take these scriptures individually over the next few days and write about them in more depth.

But I just have to share my wonder at this, my wonder and excitement and joy and relief. God is not up in heaven wringing His hands and worrying that we will mess things up. He knew we were going to mess things up before He ever created the world... that's why He chose Jesus and planned our redemption before He even made us.

God is not worried, so we do not have to worry... we can trust Him fully and believe that, as He promises, His purposes will all be accomplished!

God is happy, so we can be happy. We can serve Him with joy and confidence because He is in control, because He is our sovereign Lord, and He does indeed have the whole world in His hands.

Does this mean that things will always go the way we want them to go, that we can expect Him to give us fulfilling relationships, nice houses, plenty of food and clean water, and no illnesses?

Heavens no! Not here. God knows what is best for us, and it isn't always what we think is best for us. We need to humble ourselves and trust Him, even when it doesn't make sense, and never lose our expectant hope for eternal redemption.

Grace

The really amazing thing about this flower: it's blooming outside my window, and it is November. November. In New York.

God is so gracious and merciful. I was bracing myself for February today, thinking about the upcoming sleet, snow and frigid weather. But today it is November 12, the sun is almost shining, and there is a white rose blooming outside my window.

Sometimes God is gracious in up-front, out-right kinds of ways... like in giving me a rose blossom in November.

Other times, His grace comes in stranger packages.

The other day I was reading in Isaiah, and I came across this verse:

"The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death." (Isaiah 57:1-2)

It reminded me of the story where wicked King Jeroboam's son became very ill, and Jeroboam sent his wife, in disguise, to ask the Lord's prophet whether her son would live or die. God was planning to send judgment on Jeroboam, a terrible judgment that would be awful to behold. Regarding the king's son, God gave his mother this message: "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good." (1 Kings 14:12-13)

We always assume that earthly health, wealth and prosperity are the blessings of God, but sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes God takes a person out of this life to spare him earthly pain. And sometimes God strikes a man into disaster in order to break down his mistaken belief that he is fine on his own and has no need of a Savior. This looks harsh from our point of view, but in truth it is a mercy, because it takes a man headed for eternal disaster and points him toward heaven instead. Sometimes God uses discomfort in this life to help us prepare and look forward to the next life, the real one, the one without an end.

We should not fear death the way we do. We need to remind ourselves that God is sovereign, and everything is part of His plan. This is hard; it goes against every natural fiber of our being. It requires super-human faith, the faith and trust that come only from God.

For those of us with faith, we should remind ourselves every day:

"...to live is Christ and to die is gain."

(Philippians 1:21)

Because, believe it or not, in heaven, God has much greater wonders for us than even a white rose blooming in November.

Faith and faithfulness

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Hebrews 11:8

However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Romans 4:5

Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Romans 4:9b

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
Romans 4:16

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:29

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:6b

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8

...from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15

These scriptures all highlight the role of faith. Faith is the means by which we are saved. In fact, to say that a person has faith is the same thing as saying that a person is saved. Faith in Jesus Christ equals salvation.

Where does faith come from? Faith comes from God. Faith is what was lost at the the Fall in Genesis 3, and it is what we regain in Christ when we are reunited in a relationship with God.

Apart from God, our spirits are dead within us. When He reaches down and touches our spirits with His Spirit, the life of His Spirit vitalizes our spirits, sparks faith, and brings spiritual life where none existed. This is a supernatural miracle.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:1-10

Grace is God's favor towards us. The term that is commonly applied here is unmerited favor, which basically means undeserved favor. God did not favor us with salvation because we deserved it. He does not choose the good people, the smart people, the strong people or the rich people. He chooses whomever He wants to choose, and upon those undeserving people, by grace, He bestows the gift of faith, which we have seen is tantamount to the gift of salvation.

How do you get faith if you want it? There is only one source of faith: God. There is only one way to get it from Him, and that is to humbly ask Him for it. Ironically, you won't even want to ask for faith unless He has already touched your spirit and breathed into it. It takes faith to desire faith. Only God can break into the cycle of a dead spirit and bring out life.

Faith is the essence of salvation. It is believing that God exists, and it is believing His promises. It is the kind of belief that translates into action; it affects what you do because it permeates and shapes your entire mind. That is what faith is. It's a wonderful thing to think about.

Faithfulness is something different.

You might think that faithfulness is the quality of being full of faith. After all, it is "faith" plus "full," two words put together. When the Bible speaks of "the faithful" as a group of people (for example, in Psalm 31:23), then it does mean that we are talking about a group of people who are full of faith.

However, even here, we need to draw a line. "The faithful" is not the same term as "faithfulness."

So what is faithfulness? To begin to understand it, we need to look at it first as an attribute of God Himself. When we say that God is faithful we mean something quite different from when we call people "the faithful." The simplest way to understand is to break it down into two simple sentences:

1. Faithful followers of God exhibit faith in God by trusting and obeying Him.
2. Our faithful God always keeps His promises and is completely trustworthy.

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 7:9

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.
Psalm 145:13

So when Galatians 5:22 says, "The fruit of the Spirit is... faithfulness..." it is not talking about basic faith. Basic faith is what brings salvation, which brings the indwelling of God's Spirit in the first place. Faith, salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are all the same thing, or aspects of the same thing. This is the root from whence all the fruits of the Spirit are able to grow.

So when Galatians 5:22 says, "The fruit of the Spirit is... faithfulness..." it is talking about how the Spirit of God in us enables us to reflect God's quality of faithfulness. This means that we keep our promises. We are true to our word. We are completely trustworthy, even to the point where God can trust us to keep our covenant with Him, not because of what we are like, but because of what He has done in us... He can trust His own work.

A faithful husband stands by his wife through good and bad, and keeps his marriage vows.

A faithful friend is there when you need her.

A faithful dog camps out by your bedside when you are sick.

These are everyday examples of faithfulness, not hard to understand.

Faithfulness has less to do with the faith of the person who is faithful, and more to do with the fact that others can be safe putting their faith in such a person.

When the Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness, it means that we are learning to keep our promises as God keeps His.

I just felt the need to explain this difference, and I hope I have been more clarifying than confusing.

Apology

I'm sorry I have not been writing here.

I struggled with my devotional times this summer. After awhile, I joined a Beth Moore study on the fruit of the spirit, but I didn't even finish that. I got hung up the week we were to study faithfulness, because she kept talking about faith rather than faithfulness. It is very important to study and and learn and understand what faith is. Without faith, you can't be saved, so it is absolutely critical. However, the fruit of the spirit is faithfulness, not faith, and faithfulness is different from faith. Which is why there are two different (albeit related) words.

Anyway, I didn't know where to go with my consternation, so I stopped doing the study and I stopped going to it.

I started reading 1 John with my daughters.

I am also, finally, reading my brother's book on Revelation and taking notes (which makes all the difference).

Last night I got to discuss Habakkuk with my older son. That is an opportunity you don't get very often.

I feel dry, but I do keep going back to Psalm 63.

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

I have felt dry, but maybe it was more that I was not in control of my devotional times this summer. And maybe I am not supposed to control them. Maybe it is OK.

Obedience

This plant is called obedient plant. It pretty much stays where you plant it and does not overtake your garden. This puts me in mind of spiritual obedience.

We used to sing a hymn, Trust and Obey:

When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His word,
What a glory He sheds on our way.
As we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey,
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey.

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command..."
(John 14:15)

He also said, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and and that your joy may be complete.
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
(John 15:9-12)

Beauty

July 25



July 26



July 27



July 28




Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Philippians 4:8

We need to do this, not out of pleasure so much as out of desperation. Our desperation should lead us to heights previously unknown, in the presence of God.

Still alive

I am doing a graduation party and will not be posting until after July 18.