Responding to COVID-19

We have been monitoring the spread of COVID-19, especially during the last few days as the numbers infected change hourly and officials cancel events and make recommendations.

Scripture has much to say about our response to danger:

  • When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. (Psalm 56:3-4)
  • Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. (Isaiah. 8:12-13)
  • “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…. seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow (Matthew 6:25, 33, 34)
  • Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. 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 4:4-7)

So, first of all, we must respond not with fear or panic but with faith in God, encouragement for one another, and service to those in need.

Furthermore, over the millennia, our brothers and sisters in Christ have experienced plagues that ravaged entire continents (around half of the population of Europe died in the Black Plague in the 14th century) as well as persecutions – up to the present day – that kill thousands. What we are experiencing is a cause of concern – but comparatively minor in the history of Christ’s church.

So what steps should we take to be wise, to be careful, and to faithfully serve the vulnerable among us, while continuing to live lives of worship, thankfulness, witness, and love?

  • Corporate worship is central to the Christian life. Unless the situation changes dramatically, we will continue to hold Sunday services. Any change will be sent out via email and posted on the “What’s New” section of the church website.
  • We encourage small groups to continue to meet also, though each group can make its own decision.
  • We will suspend Sunday morning breakfast indefinitely.
  • It may be wise to spread out a bit more in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings.
  • If a cough or fever has started recently, do not attend our gatherings.
  • Should you need to sneeze or cough while at a gathering, try to move away from others, and cover your mouth – preferably with a tissue you can throw away. Leave the group promptly and wash your hands before returning.
  • It is best to avoid shaking hands or getting close to each other’s faces during this season.
  • Avoid touching your own face when in a group. If you forget, leave and wash your hands.
  • Parents, as far as possible teach your children to follow these guidelines.
  • Anticipate that we will serve the Lord’s Supper in a different way on March 22.
  • If you would like to assist in disinfecting surfaces and handles at the church, contact Daniel.
  • Pray, pray, pray – for God’s mercy, for wisdom for public officials and for ourselves, for healing, and for God to use this danger and disease for His glory.
  • The elderly are particularly vulnerable to this virus. Look for ways to serve your elderly neighbors and friends – perhaps buying groceries or providing for their other needs if they are not going out. If they invite you in, protect them by washing your hands ahead of time and sitting several feet away from them.

Remember these truths we read this Sunday:

The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid?” (Isaiah 51:11-12)

Our God is fulfilling His grand design, bringing this creation to its ultimate culmination in Jesus. May we have confidence in this final outcome, and so display His character, live out His love, and share His Gospel as we respond to COVID-19.

In Him,

Coty, Daniel, and Karl

[This article, answering a series of questions about COVID-19 with answers updated daily, is an excellent resource for the latest information on the virus.]

God’s Regret and Ours

On Sunday June 2, we considered the seemingly contradictory statements that God is not a man that He should have regret (1 Samuel 15:29) and that He regretted making Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11). In the sermon (available soon at this link) I highlighted three reasons that we humans regret our past actions:

  1. First, we make sinful decisions. Sometimes we make the decision knowing it is wrong; other times we do not realize the decision is sinful until later. In either case, we may come to regret the decision itself.
  2. Second: We make unwise decisions. Given the information we have at the time, we should have made a different decision.
  3. Third: We make decisions that, given the information available at the time, are right and wise, but then unexpected events occur that make us wish we had made different decisions. A trivial example: Driving home recently from an evening bike ride in Concord, I checked Google Maps, which told me the quickest way home was via I-85 and I-485. But on the way home I discovered that the Harrisburg exit on I-485 was closed for repaving, so going on that route took much more time than the alternative. I regretted making that decision – though given the information available, it was the right decision.

God is not a man, and thus He does not regret in any of those three ways. He never does wrong. He is all-wise. And He knows all things, even the end from the beginning, so nothing surprises Him (Isaiah 46:9-10 among many other verses).

But what about the case of Saul? This first king of Israel played a role in God’s great plan of redemption. Saul’s sin was no surprise to God, no new information. For it was always God’s plan for the Messiah’s kingly ancestors to be from the tribe of Judah, David’s tribe, not from the tribe of Benjamin, Saul’s tribe (Genesis 49:10). In the event, all events happened according to God’s plan. In that sense, God did not regret making Saul king.

So in what sense does God regret? What does the statement in 1 Samuel 15:11 mean?

God hates sin. He hates the sin itself, as well as the pain the sin inflicts on those around the sinner. So God hates Saul’s rebellion against Him. God hates Saul’s fearing the people instead of fearing Him. God hates the impact these sins had on the nation in that day. In that sense, He regrets making Saul king.

And yet, Saul is part of God’s perfect plan – as Judas and his betrayal of Jesus is part of God’s perfect plan. God uses even the sinful acts of sinful men to accomplish His righteous purposes (Acts 4:27-28, Revelation 17:17). God did not sin, He did not make an unwise decision, He was not surprised by what happened. He was always working out His perfect plan.

Consider the following analogy, which I think comes as close as possible in human experience to this type of regret:

Imagine that you and your spouse have a daughter, whom you raise in the faith. You are diligent, loving, grace-filled parents. When the time is right, you teach her about God’s good plan for sexuality and how it is for His glory and our joy to delay sexual relations until marriage.

And yet when she is in her late teens she comes to you, confessing her sin and telling you she is pregnant.

You love her. You weep with her. You pray with her. You meet with the young man. After prayer and further counsel from others, they decide to marry. Your daughter gives birth to a baby girl.

Though there are struggles in the marriage, in the end by God’s grace it is solid and strong. They are good parents. Your granddaughter is a delightful young girl who brings great joy to her parents and to you.

Do you regret the pre-marital sex?

Yes. Your regret of the pre-marital sex is similar to God’s regret for Saul’s kingship. The act was sinful, as the couple harmed themselves and were rebellious against their Creator and Savior.

And yet God used this sin for good for all involved. You can rejoice in God’s plan, in His superintending of all events, even while you regret the sin that initiated those events.

God does not change His mind. He does not look back and see how He could have managed events better. He is all wise. So trust Him, and be confident that in His sovereign reign He is working all events together – even sinful acts that in some sense He regrets – for His glory and His people’s good.

(Thanks to Bill Teal for helping me to think of this illustration during our service discussion and prayer time Tuesday morning. We’d be delighted if you would join us and participate in the discussion: 6:30am Tuesdays, Panera Bread, J.W. Clay Blvd, University City. )

The God of Reversals

In the book of Esther, Haman plots to kill Mordecai and then wipe out the Jews; God turns that plan on its head, as the king has Haman hung on the gallows prepared for Mordecai, and the Jews win a great victory over their foes. Even more importantly in the storyline of Scripture, God saves the line of Jesus, the Messiah by destroying those who would kill His ancestors.

But when Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman, and when Esther approached the king without being summoned, neither knew what would happen. Both took dangerous actions that could have led to their imprisonment or death.

The Apostle Paul assures us that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). All things. He causes our efforts to work for good; He causes the evil acts of evil men like Haman to work for good. He causes your struggles and trials to work for good – sometimes in ways you can see in retrospect, oftentimes in ways you will not see until eternity.

God informs us of that truth – and He graciously gives us examples in Scripture to show us what that looks like. Here are a few more of the many reversals in Scripture:

  • Joseph’s jealous brothers sell him into slavery, but God raises him to a position of power over those brothers – and Joseph’s leadership saves those very brothers, the entire line of the promise to Abraham, from dying in the famine (Genesis 37-50).
  • Pharaoh refuses to comply with God’s command through Moses and Aaron to let the Israelites go to worship Him; God sends plagues and so works in Pharaoh’s heart that the Israelites end up leaving with abundant silver and gold, the Egyptian army is destroyed, and God’s Name is proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 5-14; see especially Exodus 9:13-16).
  • A young shepherd boy armed with a sling and a few stones has no chance in single combat with a giant, experienced warrior, but God gives the giant into David’s hand so that “all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel … [and that] the battle is the Lord’s.” (1 Samuel 17:46-47).
  • The most powerful army in the world comes to attack the Kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem. King Hezekiah acknowledges that he cannot defeat them, but prays that God would save them “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone” (2 Kings 19:19). God kills 180,000 soldiers in their sleep and the Assyrians retreat.
  • After centuries of warnings and prophecies about what will happen if the Israelites continue to rebel against Him, God sends the Babylonians to destroy the Kingdom of Judah and the very temple that pictures God’s presence with His people. The siege and its aftermath are horrible – read the poetic accounts in the book of Lamentations. Yet, as God assures Habakkuk after telling the prophet ahead of time that this will happen, the end result will be that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
  • Or think of the Fall itself: Adam and Eve reject God, choosing to trust in their own senses and to believe Satan’s lie instead of relying on the one who created them, who loved them, who provided everything for them (Genesis 3). Many millennia of tragedy follow, to the present day. Yet a time is coming when there will be “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages … crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).
  • And all this comes about because of the greatest reversal of them all: Jesus – the only man ever to live a sinless life – is tried in a kangaroo court, sentenced to death, mocked, beaten, and hung on a cross where He dies. Evil and cowardly men bring this about. Yet God through that death pays the penalty for the sins of all those who trust in Him, and raises Him from the dead, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Add to this list others you can think of in Scripture. Meditate on these reversals – and on the God who brings them about. Think of the ways God has effected similar reversals in your life, and in the lives of those you know. And consider your own present trials, difficulties, pressures, and sorrows – knowing that God is working in ways you cannot fathom to bring about obvious or subtle reversals, so that every pain becomes a means of bringing glory to His Name and good to His people.

To Fear God Rightly

[This devotion is a shortened and edited version of a sermon preached July 24, 2016 from Job 38:1-42:6. These ideas are especially relevant as we have a hurricane bearing down on us today. You can listen to the audio of that 2016 sermon via this link.]

Do you fear God? Should you fear God? If so: How should you fear God? What does a right fear of God look like?

The closing chapters of the book of Job help answer these questions. Recall that Job was a wealthy man who – according to God Himself – was righteous an upright. Furthermore, God tells us Job fears Him (job 1:1). But then in a matter of minutes, Job loses all his possessions and all his children. A short time later he loses his health. And his pain just continues, day after day. Friends arrive and initially are silent, mourning with him. But at long last Job speaks, cursing the day he was born. His friends begin to argue that Job is suffering because of sinfulness. Job knows that is not right – but he wrongly accuses God of being his enemy, tormenting him. He calls on God to give him the opportunity to present his case, to show that God is not right to make him suffer like this.

But in the midst of his anguish, Job does express confidence that God will vindicate him after his death. And he rightly sees that God’s ways are hidden; furthermore, he sees that wisdom requires us to fear God. Nevertheless, he still longs to present his case before God.

Elihu then appears on the scene (Job 32:1). This young man rebukes both Job and his friends. He makes three points:

  • God is not Job’s enemy, but sends affliction for his good. Indeed, God speaks to use through pain.
  • God always does what is just and right.
  • We must be overwhelmed by the greatness of God’s wondrous works.

In Job 38-42, God Himself speaks, picking up and elaborating on Elihu’s third point, while effectively building on Elihu’s first two points.

These chapters show us that while Job knew he was to fear God, and while God commended Job for fearing Him, Job did not yet fear God rightly. Through God’s speaking, however, he comes to see God for who He is – and thus fears Him rightly and trusts Him fully. We too can learn of a right fear of God through this text.

See God for Who He Is – and So Rightly Fear Him

As Elihu concludes his speech in Job 37, a storm is rolling in. Elihu comments, “God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:5).

He then concludes:

The Almighty–we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” (Job 37:23-24)

Then beginning in chapter 38, God speaks – to display His great power, His justice, His wisdom, and His righteousness, all of which should prompt a right fear in us.

In Job 38:2-3, God effectively says, “If you’re so wise, Job, if you’re so righteous, if you’re so powerful, then answer a few questions for me.”

Job has desired a mediator, so he can present his case and show that God has unjustly sent all this suffering. He wants God to be judged. But we cannot put God on trial. That’s like a two year old putting his parents on trial. God does not answer to us. We answer to Him. God is the one who rightly asks the questions. And this is what God does for most of chapters 38-41.

God’s purpose in these chapters is to show Himself to Job, so that Job might rightly see Him. We know this in part from Job’s response in 42:5: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” Seeing God for Who He is enables Job to realize that he is a dependent creature. Like a little child, he must trust, love, and delight in this great God – not put Him on trial.

What does God say to help Job see Him? He tells Job to see Him in His creative acts; then He tells him to see Him in creation itself – both in the heavens, and in the animals.

See God in His Creative Acts: Job 38:4-21

God asks, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding” (Job 37:4). Echoing Genesis 1, God asks Job questions about separating light from darkness, the waters from the dry land, and day from night. He concludes this section by stating mockingly that Job should know all this, “for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!” (Job 37:21)

The point is that we can’t even begin to comprehend God’s creation – and we’re much too young to have seen it. For we’re part of it! We are His creatures, we are dependent creatures. So how can we stand in judgment over Him?

See God in His Creation: The Heavens Job 38:22-38

God knows how to control snow, wind, rain, lightning, ice, and stars. He understands what they are, where they come from; He uses each for His good and wise purposes. We can do none of that.

See God in His Creation: The Animals Job 38:39-39:30, 40:15-41:34

God speaks much of various animals for Job to look at. With one exception, all the animals mentioned are wild: Lions, ravens, mountain goats, wild donkeys, wild oxen, ostriches, the war horse, the hawk, the eagle, Behemoth, and Leviathan. God asks if Job provides food or homes for these, if he can even see all that they do. He asks if Job can make them serve him  – for they do serve God! He asks if Job can make these animals fast, or wise.

Even the war horse – the one “tame” animal – is not ours by right or even under our complete control. God asks in Job 39:19-25: Did you give the war horse his might? Did you give him his mane? Do you make him leap? The war horse was the most powerful weapon available to armies in Job’s day – but it was not created by humans, and was barely controlled by them.

The last two creatures God mentions are Behemoth and Leviathan. We’re not sure what particular animals God is talking about, but that’s really immaterial. These are powerful creatures, created by Him for His delight. They were not created by us or for us; they are not controllable by us. Indeed, God emphasizes this: “Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you” (Job 40:15). Similarly, we have no hope of controlling or subduing Leviathan, a creature without fear (Job 41:33).

So God asks Job questions, pointing out His creative powers, His rights over His creation, His wise governing of creation, and our smallness. What point is God making through these illustrations?

The Point of Creation

God’s point is not, “I’m mighty so do whatever I say!” In the midst of enabling Job to see Him for Who He is, God does emphasize His power – for it is great! Indeed, He makes clear:

“All is Mine to Do with as I Please”

God created everything; He created us. We don’t exist apart from Him. We are dependent creatures, contingent creatures. God’s delight in His creation is evident in this text. All creation, including these creatures man cannot control, is doing what He planned – except the humans in the story. And God intervenes in order to get them in alignment with His purposes.

And what are His purposes?

“I Please to Display My Glory”

Clearly God’s glory is displayed in the heavens and in the animals He has described. But God also speaks of how His glory is displayed among mankind. He does this in part by humbling the proud and bringing down the wicked. Note what God tells Job to do if he can:

Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you. (Job 40:11-14)

God says: The world needs a ruler. Mankind needs a ruler – or the proud, the wicked will dominate, harm, destroy, and thrive. So God is not only saying He is mighty; He is also saying that He is the moral authority in the universe. He is the ruler mankind needs. For He destroys the pride of men – and pride before God is our fundamental sin.

So in this section God destroys Job’s pride – to his good.

But He does more than destroy pride. He also leads His people to delight in Him and in His works.

God doesn’t humble us just to bring us low. He humbles us so we can delight in what is truly the source of joy – Himself! When we are so impressed with ourselves, we can’t delight in our dependence on God; we can’t stare in wonder and joy at the greatness of Who He is and what He has done. Job does finally have such wonder and joy in the end:

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)

So Job is not simply humiliated. Rather, he sees God and delights in Him, saying, “Wow! Here is majestic joy! Here is overwhelming beauty! Here is overpowering magnificence. I now see You, Lord, for Who You are – why would I rejoice in anything else?”

The Right Fear of God

Look at Job’s responses more fully:

“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.” (Job 40:4-5)

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:2-3)

Do you see how Job’s fear of God has changed? Previously, he saw God as his enemy, his adversary, harming him. He feared an arbitrary, capricious God. While he knew that was a wrong understanding of God, his inability to understand what God was doing led him to fear what that mysterious God might do next.

But now he sees God for Who He is: In his glory, in his majesty, in his purposes. God is exalting what should be exalted – Himself! God is humbling what should be humbled – proud men! And so this new fear, this right fear, is not the result of Job anticipating harm from God, but rather an overwhelming sense of God’s grandeur combined with a confidence that God, in His mysterious ways, is working for good purposes.

This is what a right fear of God brings about: A humbling of self, and a deep delight and trust in God.

Furthermore, in consequence we fear nothing else. Indeed, this is why the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is seeing who God is, seeing how He rules world, seeing who we are, and responding rightly. Job now has that wisdom. He has seen God. He has seen Himself. He repents. And He trusts God.

What about you?

Does your suffering seem pointless, harsh, far beyond what you deserve – like Job’s?

  • Do you want to put God on trial?
  • Do you think God needs to explain Himself?
  • Do you think you have a good case against God?
  • Do you question His wisdom, His power, His authority, His love?

God tells you what He told Job: “See Me for Who I am!”

See Him in His revelation in His Word – in Job

See Him as the Creator – and thus as the One who can do what He likes with what is His

See Him as the One who sees all, sustains all, controls all, and delights in all His works

See Him in the heavens, in hurricanes, in the animals

And today see Him most clearly in Jesus Himself – with all authority, all compassion, all power, all humility; see Him risen and reigning, and see Him suffering and dying; see Him overcoming all powers, and see Him washing His disciples feet;  see Him riding on the white horse to conquer, and see Him holding children in His arms.

This majestic, all-powerful God became man, lived in humble circumstances, and died horribly so that you might be reconciled to God, so that you, fearing God, might be embraced by God.

See God for Who He is, and so come to fear God rightly. And having feared God rightly, trust God fully.

Jesus the Perfect King

This Sunday Christians around the world celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Remember the scene: The crowds are excited, seeing this event as the fulfillment of prophecy (Mark 11:7-11). Finally, at long last, the promised descendant of David has come to reign!

What do the people expect Jesus to do? Why are they so excited?

Undoubtedly most are thinking about Jesus overthrowing their Roman oppressors. Some also may want him to do away with the present religious establishment (see Mark 12:35-37). Few if any see Satan and indwelling sin as the great enemy whom Jesus has come to destroy. But this is the battle Jesus fights: by dying Himself to redeem His people from sin and death; to open the eyes of the spiritually blind; to shed light on those who are walking in darkness; to proclaim salvation to Gentile and Jew alike – to complete and make possible the good news of the gospel of God that He has been preaching (Mark 1:14).

But the crowds do not understand Jesus’ purpose. They are focused so completely on the relatively minor problem of political oppression that they cannot see the spiritual forces of darkness that control almost the entire world. So although the crowd praises Jesus, although they even praise him by using words of Scripture, they, like crowds throughout His ministry, have not comprehended the nature of the gospel He preaches. And because they are blind to the truth, they are fickle; only a few days later, the crowds of Jerusalem will be clamoring for Jesus’ crucifixion, with nary a word of protest.

Recall that much earlier, after the first feeding of a multitude, a crowd wanted to make Jesus king (John 6). They wanted relief from the Romans. They wanted free, delicious bread every day. The crowds did not repent of their sins and seek spiritual healing; they focused on meeting present material needs. So Jesus refuses their offer of kingship, even though He really is their king.

Yes, He really is their king. The crowds are right to say, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David (Mark 11:10);” Jesus is indeed the heir to David’s throne (Luke 1:33).

“But surely,” you say, “Roman oppression was wrong. Surely it wasn’t wrong for the crowds to desire freedom from political slavery.”

The desire for an end to political oppression is not wrong. We are to pray for God’s kingdom to come; and in God’s kingdom, there is no oppression. God promises that He will right all wrongs, including the wrong of political oppression.

But when will that kingdom come? In one sense, God’s kingdom has already come; Jesus reigns today. But His enemies have not yet been made into a “footstool for his feet,” the promise in Psalm 110. In the future, God will destroy all evil, throwing Satan and his allies into the lake of fire. That total destruction of evil is yet to come, as is all too obvious to every one of us every day. In the interim, however, Jesus exercises sovereignty over evil prior to destroying it.

But what does His sovereignty mean when evil still exists? In what sense is Jesus the perfect king?

Jesus is the perfect king in the sense that He fulfills four key purposes of government – four purposes, indeed, that are outlined in the preamble to the US constitution. Let’s consider each of these in turn:

1) “To form a more perfect union:”

Jesus makes a perfect union, a perfect unity out of those who are divided.

In Jesus’ kingdom, there are no racial distinctions, no ethnic distinctions, no class distinctions, no sexual distinctions in how we approach God (Colossians 3:28). Every Christian comes before God by grace through faith. All these areas that divide us in the world are insignificant compared to the unity we have in Jesus.

Through His rule, we are free to love across all the barriers that separate us.

2) “To establish justice and insure domestic tranquility:”

Jesus establishes justice, righting all wrongs; no evil will go unpunished

Those who have never received Jesus will suffer eternal punishment for their sins. Justice will be done.

For those who do receive Jesus, His sufferings cover our sins. He pays the penalty. Jesus bore all the suffering and pain that we deserve for every sin we commit. Justice once again is done.

This frees us to refrain from taking vengeance ourselves (Romans 12:19). We can trust King Jesus with implementing justice. In the present time, He may use the state to implement temporal justice; He will always exercise perfect justice Himself in eternity.

3) “To promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity:”

The US constitution envisages a government that provides public goods – that is, goods which benefit everyone but no one pays to use. Jesus our King goes further; he guarantees that all things that happen work together for God’s glory and our good (Romans 8:28). No matter what happens, God is in control. He will turn around the evil intentions of men and use them for our good. We are thus free from worry, free from concern. We are free to be bold, to take chances, to follow God wherever he leads. For He supports us. He will never let us go. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

4) “To provide for the common defense:”

Jesus, our perfect king, is in control of all opposing forces. For all authority in heaven and on earth belong to Him (Matthew 28:18). Even God’s enemies end up accomplishing His purposes (Revelation 17:17, Acts 4:27-28).

In His good and wise purposes, God allows evil to appear to flourish for a time. But the time is limited, and God will work together all things – even evil, even suffering, even disease, even pain, even oppression – so that in the end He is most glorified and we become like Him, reigning with Him in glory for all eternity.

So praise God that He has promised us a new heavens and a new earth, when the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ (Revelation 11:15).

And praise Him for his present reign, delivering us from the domain of darkness, transferring us to Jesus’ kingdom (Colossians 1:13).

May we then live in the freedom that comes from King Jesus’ perfect rule: Free to step out in faith; free to love with His love; free to give of ourselves and our resources; free from worry about the future; free from vengeance and hate; free to trust Him with all our hearts, today and tomorrow and forever.

[This devotion is an edited excerpt from a sermon preached April 30, 2000. You can read the entire sermon at this link.]

 

Is Anything Too Hard for God?

Is anything too hard for God?

God tells the prophet Jeremiah that He is going to punish the people for their rebellion against Him. Indeed, He promises to destroy Jerusalem and the very temple that pictures His dwelling in their midst. But He also promises that decades later He will gather the people from where they are scattered and show them His redeeming love; they will be His people, and He will be their God. It is in this context that He says: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).

If God can do that – if He can punish and He can redeem, if He can scatter and He can unite, if He can use human empires both to destroy according to His plan and to build up according to His plan – is there anything He cannot do?

No. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Consider a few of the many Scriptures that make similar claims:

  • [When God promises that a 90 year old woman who has been barren her entire life will bear a son fathered by her 99 year old husband] “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14a)
  • [Similarly, when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she, a virgin, will give birth to a son, and that her elderly, barren cousin Elizabeth is already pregnant] “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
  • [Job speaks after God has displayed and spoken of His power, glory and wisdom] “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)
  • [When there are hundreds of thousands of Israelites in the wilderness and God has promised them meat. Moses is skeptical]  And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” (Numbers 11:23)
  • Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num 23:19b)
  • Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)
  • Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. (Psalm 135:6)
  • For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)
  • Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. (Isaiah 40:28-29)
  • “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’ . . .. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (From Isaiah 46:9-11)
  • All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)
  • [When a man asks Jesus for healing for his son, after Jesus’ disciples were unable to heal him]  “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22-24)
  • [When the disciples wonder if anyone can be saved if it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom] Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

So the claim of Scripture is all-encompassing: God has authority over conception, over illness, over sin, over rebellion, over repentance, over faith. We need His help always, in all areas – including our faith!

But God is not our all-powerful genie in the bottle, at our beck and call, who grants us any wishes that we might ask. He has already declared the end; He will accomplish His purpose. Our purpose will not stand; God’s will.

And so consider the way that Jesus Himself prays as He notes the Father’s unstoppable power:

“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Jesus shrank back from the horror of the cross. He knew that protecting Him from the Jewish leaders and the Roman governor was simple for the Father. God could thwart their plans; that was possible for Him. But Jesus also knew that God’s plan, God’s will, included His going to the cross. He knew that the end God had stated from the beginning – blessing all nations through the seed of Abraham, covering the sin of rebels by the sacrifice of His Son, ushering in an eternal Kingdom of righteousness and peace ruled by a descendant of David – Jesus knew that this glorious end required that He go to the cross. And so He went.

So God is more powerful than the illness you face, than the sin that tempts you, than hardness of anyone’s heart; God is well able to comfort every sorrow, to grant wisdom to the foolish, to bring rebels to repentance. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Therefore, trust this almighty God! He works all things together to fulfill His great plan. Whatever trials you are facing, however weak you are in yourself, look to Him! Delight in His sovereign power, which He wields for the good of His people and the glory of his Name.

 

Silence in Afflictions

[In pain because of God’s discipline for his sin, David prays, “I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it” (Psalm 39:9). While we will consider this verse in the context of the entire psalm on Sunday, the English Puritan pastor Thomas Brooks wrote an entire book based on David’s statement, The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod (1659). Here are some excerpts and the first part of his outline in updated language for your consideration and meditation. You can read the entire book via this link. To distinguish between my words and Brooks’, my paraphrases are in italics – Coty]

Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an execution, that every correction is not a damnation.

There is a PRUDENT silence, a HOLY, a GRACIOUS silence; a silence that springs from prudent principles, from holy principles, and from gracious causes and considerations; and this is the silence here meant.

I: What does this silence include?

It includes and takes in these eight things:

First, acknowledging that God is the author of all our afflictions

There is no sickness so little—but God has a finger in it; though it be but the aching of the little finger.

Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions, will, with David, lay their hands upon their mouths, when the rod of God is upon their backs, 2 Sam. 16:11, 12. If God’s hand be not seen in the affliction, the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.

Secondly, acknowledging God’s majesty, sovereignty, might, and authority over us.

A man never comes to humble himself, nor to be silent under the hand of God, until he comes to see the hand of God to be a mighty hand. . . . When men look upon the hand of God as a weak hand, a feeble hand, a low hand, a mean hand—their hearts rise against his hand.

Thirdly, this silence springs from a quiet and calm mind and spirit

Aaron, Eli, and Job. . . saw that it was a Father that put those bitter cups in their hands, and love that laid those heavy crosses upon their shoulders, and grace that put those yokes about their necks; and this caused much quietness and calmness in their spirits.

Some men . . . hide and conceal their grief and trouble; but could you but look into their hearts, you will find all in an uproar, all out of order, all in a flame; and however they may seem to be cold without, yet they are all in a hot burning fever within. Such a feverish fit David was once in, Psalm 39:3. But certainly a holy silence allays all tumults in the mind, and makes a man ‘in patience to possess his own soul.’

Fourthly, this silence springs from acquitting God of all blame or injustice in bringing the affliction on us.

God’s afflictions are always just; he never afflicts but in faithfulness. His will is the rule of justice; and therefore a gracious soul dares not cavil nor question his proceedings. The afflicted soul knows that a righteous God can do nothing but that which is righteous; it knows that God is uncontrollable, and therefore the afflicted man puts his mouth in the dust, and keeps silence before him.

Fifthly, this silence springs from five conclusions about the eventual impact of the afflictions on us.

Five conclusions based on Lamentations 3:27-33

a) The afflictions shall work for their good

Surely these afflictions are but the Lord’s pruning-knives, by which he will bleed my sins, and prune my heart, and make it more fertile and fruitful; they are but the Lord’s potion, by which he will clear me, and rid me of those spiritual diseases and maladies, which are most deadly and dangerous to my soul!

b) Afflictions shall keep them humble and low

c) The rod shall not always lie upon the back of the righteous.

d) God will he have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies

The life of a Christian is filled up with interchanges of sickness and health, weakness and strength, want and wealth, disgrace and honor, crosses and comforts, miseries and mercies, joys and sorrows, mirth and mourning. All honey would harm us; all wormwood would undo us—a composition of both is the best way in the world to keep our souls in a healthy constitution. It is best and most for the health of the soul that the warm south wind of mercy, and the cold north wind of adversity—do both blow upon it.

e) God’s heart was not in their afflictions, though his hand was.

He takes no delight to afflict his children; it goes against his heart. It is a grief to him to be grievous to them, a pain to him to be punishing of them, a sorrow to him to be striking them.

Sixthly, this silence springs from a conviction from our own conscience to be quiet and still before God

I charge you, O my soul—not to mutter, nor to murmur; I command you, O my soul, to be dumb and silent under the afflicting hand of God.

Peace, O my soul! be still, leave your muttering, leave your murmuring, leave your complaining, leave your chafing, and vexing—and lay your hand upon your mouth, and be silent.

Seventhly, this silence includes a surrendering of ourselves to God while being afflicted.

The silent soul gives himself up to God. The secret language of the soul is this—’Lord, here am I; do with me what you please, write upon me as you please—I give up myself to be at your disposal.’

Eighthly and lastly, this silence comes from a hopeful patience while waiting upon the Lord to work His deliverance.

II: What does this patient silence NOT EXCLUDE

Eight things:

First, this silence does not exclude our feeling the pain of our afflictions

Psalm 39:10-11: [David] is sensible of his pain as well as of his sin; and having prayed off his sin in the former verses, he labors here to pray off his pain.

God allows his people to groan, though not to grumble.

Secondly, this silence does not exclude praying for the end of our afflictions

Thirdly, this silence does not exclude sorrow for our sin that led to the affliction, as well as efforts to crush that sin.

A holy, a prudent silence does not exclude men’s being kindly affected and afflicted with their sins, as the meritorious cause of all their sorrows and sufferings,

In all our sorrows we should read our sins! When God’s hand is upon our backs, our hands should be upon our sins.

Fourthly, such a silence does not exclude teaching others the lessons from our afflictions.

Fifthly, such a silence does not exclude some mourning and weeping

Sixthly, such a silence does not even exclude sighing and groaning

A man may sigh, and groan and roar under the hand of God, and yet be silent. It is not sighing—but muttering; it is not groaning—but grumbling; it is not roaring—but murmuring—which is opposite to a holy silence.

Sometimes the sighs and groans of a saint do in some manner, tell that which his tongue can in no manner utter.

Seventhly, such a silence does not exclude the use of means to end the affliction

We may neglect God as well by neglecting of means, as by trusting in means. It is best to use them, and in the use of them, to live above them.

Eighthly, and lastly, such a silence does not exclude speaking against those humans who have been the earthly cause of our afflictions.

III:  Why must Christians exercise this kind of silence under even the greatest afflictions and trials?

Eight Reasons:

Reason 1. That they may the better hear and understand the voice of the rod.

Reason 2. That they may . . . distinguish themselves from the men of the world, who usually fret and fling, mutter or murmur, curse and swagger, when they are under the afflicting hand of God.

Reason 3, that they may be conformable to Christ their head, who was dumb and silent under his sorest trials.

Reason 4. it is ten thousand times a greater judgment and affliction, to be given to a fretful spirit, a froward spirit, a muttering spirit under an affliction, then it is to be afflicted.

Reason 5: a holy, a prudent silence under afflictions, under miseries, doth best . . . fit the afflicted for the receipt of mercies.

Reason 6: it is fruitless . . . to strive, to contest or contend with God.

Reason 7: [these afflictions] shall cross and frustrate Satan’s great design and expectation.

Reason 8: That we may be like our forefathers in the faith who were patient and silent under such afflictions.

Last sentence in the book:

Thy life is but short, therefore thy troubles cannot be long; hold up and hold out quietly and patiently a little longer, and heaven shall make amends for all.

 

The Disobedient, Reluctant Ambassador and the Sovereign, Merciful God

The Apostle Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ as God makes His appeal to others through us (2 Corinthians 5:20).

What happens when we fail to fulfill that role? What happens when we are disobedient and don’t speak of Him? What does God do in that case?

The book of Jonah tells us of a man called by God to be His ambassador to a people group that he hates. He is disobedient to the command. What does God do?

Let’s first of all look at four different ways that Jonah disobeys God, one way from each of the four chapters of the book.

God’s Disobedient, Reluctant Ambassador

God gives Jonah three commands in Jonah 1:2-3: Arise! Go! Cry out!

But how does Jonah respond in the next few verses? He does arise, but instead of going to Ninevah, he goes down again and again: down to Joppa in verse 3, down into the ship in verse 5, down into the hold of the ship in verse 5 – and then down into the sea in verse 15.  God tells Jonah to go one direction, to engage in cross-cultural ministry, and Jonah goes completely in the opposite direction.

It is easy for us to laugh at Jonah, and to judge him for failing to obey God. But who were the Assyrians? A cruel, ruthless, and powerful people – the major threat to Jonah’s country at this time. Less than 50 years after the time of Jonah this same Assyria will come and destroy the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Think hard now: What group of people do you dislike the most? What people frighten you, annoy you? What people would you least like to go stay with for several weeks? They are your Ninevites.

So how might we characterize Jonah’s disobedience in chapter 1? This is direct, defiant disobedience. God tells him to do one thing; he does exactly the opposite.

So now God gets the attention of His disobedient prophet by sending a storm and having the sailors throw him into the sea. Jonah thinks this is the end – but God appoints a great fish to come and swallow him. Jonah knows that God has spared his life miraculously.

So in chapter 2 Jonah prays. But does he repent? Read Jonah’s prayer (Jonah 2:1-9). What do you think? Does Jonah repent?

Amazingly, after God has performed miracles both to punish him for his disobedience and to save him, Jonah says not one word about repentance. He thanks God for saving his life, and he ends with the great cry, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” – but he never acknowledges that he was in the sea needing God to save him because of his own disobedience. Furthermore, while salvation does indeed belong to the Lord, the Lord is interested in the salvation of all people groups. Jonah is interested only in the people of Israel.

So Jonah’s disobedience in chapter 2 is a failure to repent.

Chapter 3 provides further evidence that Jonah has had no change of heart. He now comes up with a new way to express his disobedience.

Do you remember the three commands God gives Jonah in 1:2? “Arise, go, call out.” Note that in Jonah 3:2 God repeats those three commands. Does Jonah obey these commands this time? In chapter 1, he arises, but he does not go where God commands and never calls out. This time he obeys the second command: He arises and goes to Ninevah. And he does eventually call out. But  what does he say? Does he say, “Ninevah has defied the Lord God. Now repent! Or God will overthrow you!” No, that is not what he says. He gives no reason for God’s anger and he provides no opportunity for repentance. Indeed, he does not even mention the Name of the Lord! (Jonah 3:3-4)

Is this what God told Jonah to say? The next chapter clearly shows that God intended for the Ninevites to repent at the preaching of Jonah. That being the case, wouldn’t God have instructed Jonah to hold out the possibility of not being destroyed upon their repentance? Indeed, although the Old Testament is full of proclamations of judgment on disobedient nations, in every case there is a clear reason given for God’s judgment. Jonah’s preaching stands in stark contrast to that heritage. We must conclude that Jonah is preaching only part of the message God gave him.

In chapter 3, therefore, Jonah is displaying perfunctory obedience. Perfunctory obedience is when you obey in a grudging manner – you don’t want to obey and you don’t obey from your heart. Instead, you just go through the motions and, in actuality, are disobeying.

So Jonah has disobeyed God directly, he has failed to repent, and he has subsequently obeyed only in a perfunctory manner. Chapter 4 highlights one more way that Jonah disobeys God. In Jonah 4:1-3, Jonah is angry because God grants repentance to the Ninevites and does not destroy the city. Indeed, Jonah accuses God of being “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2).

So Jonah is saying that God is too merciful! He is angry at God for forgiving the sins of the Ninevites. He did not want to come to Ninevah and be the source of blessing for these people. And he always thought that God might grant them repentance – that is why he didn’t want to come.

So Jonah is angry at God for fulfilling His character and displaying mercy to the Ninevites. But remember: in chapter 2 Jonah praises God for being merciful! He cries out, “Salvation is from the Lord!” So Jonah wants God to be merciful to him and to his people – he just doesn’t want God to be merciful to others. He fails to see God’s heart for ALL nations.

So we can summarize Jonah’s sin in chapter 4 as a lack of faith in God’s Word. God’s Word says that He has a heart for all nations – indeed, God’s command to Jonah was further revelation on this topic.

Thus, God uses Jonah as His ambassador, even though he is reluctant and even though he sins again and again and again.

The Sovereign, Merciful God

But although Jonah is prominent throughout the book, the main character is God, not Jonah. This book shows God’s loving persistence in bringing the lost people of Ninevah to Himself – and also His loving persistence in bringing the reluctant prophet to Himself.

What does God do in order to bring the Ninevites to repentance?

  • He calls Jonah.
  • He sends the storm.
  • He sends the great fish to save Jonah.
  • He causes the fist to vomit Jonah on the shore – and not on any shore, but on a shore from which he can walk to Ninevah.
  • He calls Jonah again.
  • He changes the hearts of the Ninevites.

What is the lesson in all this? Psalm 67:3-4 provides it: “The peoples must praise you, O God; all the peoples must praise you! The nations must be glad and sing for joy.”

God will bring the nations to Himself – despite their hardness of heart, despite the inadequacies of His ambassadors. God has begun a good work in this world and He will, He must complete it. Why? Because of His passion for His glory. Habakkuk 2:14: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

God’s desire to glorify Himself is at the root of His bringing the nations to Himself. He has stated that this must come about, and just as He performed miracle after miracle to bring about the repentance of the Ninevites, just as He brought about that repentance despite the sin and attempted sabotage of His chosen ambassador, God will one day bring those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation to Himself. It must happen.

Do you see how this is a great comfort? God gives us the privilege of being His agents in this great task – He chooses to work through us – but the outcome is certain. We cannot fail. Whatever our weaknesses, whatever our failings, God will break down all opposition and will bring the nations to Himself.

But God is just as intent upon bringing His errant ambassadors to Himself! Consider how He treats Jonah in chapter four. Jonah has just stated how disappointed he is that God has not destroyed Ninevah. Now, in the midst of his pity party, he says, “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3).

Despite all his best efforts, Jonah has accomplished the task God set before him. God could have responded, “OK, Jonah, if that’s how you feel, ZAP!” And Jonah would be dead.

But God doesn’t do that. Instead He exerts the same loving persistence, the same sovereign mercy in bringing His prophet to Himself as He exerted for the Ninevites. Consider all He does just in chapter 4:

  • He sends a plant to sprout up and give Jonah shade.
  • He sends a worm to destroy the plant.
  • He sends a scorching east wind.

This leads Jonah to become even angrier, as he is upset about the death of the plant.

God then confronts Jonah with impeccable logic in Jonah 4:9-11: Jonah had nothing to do with bringing the plant into existence, and such a plant at most lives only a few days. But because it served a purpose for him, Jonah “pities” it, being sorry that it dies. But God created the Ninevites and had dealt with this city for hundreds and hundreds of years. Now at last the city is fulfilling the purpose for which He created it: to glorify God. Should He not pity them? If Jonah has any reason to pity the plant, God’s reasons for pitying the Ninevites are much greater.

So God pursues Jonah as He pursues the Ninevites: relentlessly, persistently, sovereignly, mercifully, until all opposition fails. God cares about us as individuals and pursues us until we come to Him; and God cares about us as peoples, and pursues peoples until all the peoples praise Him.

Jonah had no love for the Ninevites. Jonah had no desire to see God glorified through the praises of the Ninevites. So Jonah’s heart was not united with God’s heart.

What about you? Is your heart more like Jonah’s or God’s?

Don’t be disobedient. Don’t be reluctant. Don’t just give God perfunctory obedience. He is gracious and merciful to every type of person – even to those you intensely dislike, even to those who frighten you.

But know: Our God is sovereign. And He is merciful. In that sovereign mercy He sent His Son. And through that Son, He will bring all the nations to Himself. And He will bring to repentance all His reluctant ambassadors.

That is our hope. And that is our joy. Praise His Name!

(Much of this is taken and edited from a sermon preached March 16, 2003 – the first sermon I preached on a Sunday morning service at DGCC. You can read that sermon in its entirety at this link.)

Cancer Cannot Separate Us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus

After preaching Sunday on Romans 8:35-39, I learned via Facebook that Anjel French has melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. Anjel is married to Jason French, former worship leader at one of the campuses of Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis and the author of some of the songs we sing at DGCC. In Jason’s post on Sunday evening, he discusses how the very truths we sang about and heard about that morning are life-giving and spirit-feeding in the midst of such serious trials. An excerpt:

Cancer is not God. It is created. It is creation. It is not self-existing. It is not autonomous. It does not have a will of its own such that it can live and move, expand or shrink, or even die apart from the will of the Creator of the entire Cosmos whom we are so privileged to call “Father,” because we have been adopted into his family through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of his beloved Son, Jesus, and are now sealed with the promise of and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

So, cancer does not have the final say. Cancer must obey God. God has the final say and for his children, this will is always for us. It can never, ever be against us. If God commands the cancer to go, it will and must go. If God in Christ commands the cancer to remain, or grow, or shrink, or stay the same, it bends to the will of him who holds as things together—even cancer—by the word of his power. And if he wills the cancer stays, we know and believe he hides a smile behind the frowning providence, for he has written down all of our days in his book when as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:14). Our days will not be cut short, nor prolonged. This is not fatalism. This is faith in our Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

Do pray for Anjel and Jason. And do read the whole post.

Manasseh, Trump, and Clinton

Which king of Israel or Judah had the longest reign?

Not David. Not Solomon. Neither Jehoshaphat nor Hezekiah.

The longest reigning king was Manasseh. He reigned for 55 years – the equivalent of 1961 until today. And yet he was a wicked, evil king:

Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: . . .  I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies (from 2 Kings 21:11-14).

Why did God leave His people for such a long time under the authority of a bad man – such a bad man that, according to Jewish tradition, he had the prophet Isaiah sawn in two? Why did the people have to suffer? Why did God subject His people to injustice, to being led even further astray from Him?

The passage tells us. It is not only Manasseh who is evil. The people also are guilty. The king influences them, but they are responsible for “sin with his idols.” And so they must bear with an evil king for all these decades.

And make no mistake: God is the one who allows Manasseh to remain in power. For “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:17, 25, 32).

God’s final judgment is yet to come, but is fully determined: He will send His people into exile. He will use the Babylonians to destroy the very temple dedicated to His Name. As 2 Kings 21 makes clear, Manasseh’s sins, and the sins of the people under him, lead to this horrible judgment of God (see especially Lamentations 2 for a description of some of the horrors).

But the judgment of God does not fall during Manasseh’s reign, nor during the reign of evil Amon, his son, nor during the reign of good Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson. Why the delay?

Perhaps in part because in his old age, near the end of his reign, Manasseh repents:

[The Assyrians] captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.   And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.  He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.   (2 Chronicles 33:11-13)

As the Apostle Paul states in another context: “Note then the kindness and the severity of God” (Romans 11:22). Kindness and mercy toward one of the most evil of all the Judean kings; severity toward the rebellious people; kindness and mercy to their descendants, in bringing them back from exile.

We can continue the thought: Kindness and mercy to all those today from every tribe and tongue and nation who repent, who turn, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved; severity to those from every tribe and tongue and nation who continue in rebellion, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18), who reject their rightful King and only possible Savior.

Like the people of Judah, we the people of the United States do not deserve even a modicum of God’s mercy, and so we do not deserve an honest, good, principled leader of our government. At this point, it certainly does not look like we will get one this year. But if God could bring Manasseh to repentance, He can bring to repentance any American president; if God could destroy His own temple and bring down the kingdom called by His Name, He can bring down in judgment the United States of America; and if God could restore His people, showing mercy that they did not deserve, and raise up from a descendant of this very Manasseh the Savior of the world, then God can bring a sinful and rebellious nation today to repentance, and use it for His good and wise purposes to bring about the final culmination of His great  plan.

Father, in Your mercy, would you would grant such repentance?