The God of Second Chances

Movies sometimes end weirdly. You think you know where it’s going and suddenly there’s a ninety degree turn you never saw coming. “No Country for Old Men” was such a movie. At the end, the bad guy doesn’t get what’s coming and everything sort of just melts away.

Jonah 4 is like that. The story ends abruptly and weirdly. One thing we do get at the end of Jonah’s story is exactly who God is. Jonah uses wonderful descriptors of the kind of God we serve.

Jonah says God is compassionate. You’ve offered compassion before to a friend or relative who was going through a rough spot in the story. We have all put an arm around someone who just lost a parent to death or found out they were suddenly unemployed. We talked for hours with a parent whose child has made bone-head choices or sat and cried with a friend who just discovered their spouse had been stepping out on them.

Compassion is gently offering sympathy and empathizing with those who are having a difficult time. Jonah says our God is compassionate. And we see that all through the story of the Bible. And the end of Jonah in chapter 4, God says, “Should not I feel sorry for such a great city?” That phrase, “I feel sorry” in Hebrew language has beautiful imaginary. Literally translated, it means, “the eye flows on account of”. Which means God is crying, weeping because of your situation. We serve a God of compassion.

Jonah also describes God as being merciful. We tend to think about leniency, almost as if in a courtroom situation. And there is some truth to that idea. But mercy can be translated differently. The Hebrew word used here is “rehem”. It gives us the idea of a mother who is gently giving womb-care and protection to her unborn baby.

If you are a woman, you understand this. It is more difficult to understand as a male. I can only imagine a pregnant mom eating the right foods, taking the prenatal vitamins, and getting the right amount of rest. A pregnant mom doesn’t run any races or ride horses. She cares for and protects her child with the utmost care. Our God is a merciful God.

Jonah uses the Hebrew word, “hesed”. It describes a love that endures, an unfailing love. The best way to understand this kind of love is to become a parent. Once you have children, you can get a glimpse of what the love of God is for each of us. Parents love their kids no matter what. It’s a constant love that never diminishes. While the love is constant, there will be times of disciple but that never means the love is gone. Quite the opposite. As parents, we discipline our children because we love them and want what is best for them.

No matter what our kids do, they will always be our children. There is nothing they can do to make us love them less. So, Jonah says that God’s love is hesed. God will always love us. He’ll never leave. There may be discipline along the way but in no way does it mean his love is any less for us. Our God has a love that endures.

Finally, Jonah says God is slow to be angry. And aren’t we glad about that. Jonah seems to be just the opposite of that descriptor. Jonah wants the entire country of Assyria to be punished and wiped out. He wants God’s judgement on them. Jonah has no room for forgiveness or compassion when it comes to the Assyrians.

But our God is slow when it comes to anger. It’s as if the description helps us see that God doesn’t let frustration get in the way of being our God. And we can be a frustrating group of folks. Think about our Jonah story. Jonah rebels and runs away. Jonah goes to preach in Nineveh but preaches just a couple of sentences, almost as if he hopes they don’t hear him. Jonah sits outside the city and waits for God’s destruction. Jonah is an angry man, who has lost the heart of God for a lost people. Jonah is angry because God chooses to give life to a city that turned toward God. And God doesn’t get angry with Jonah. God is the exact opposite of Jonah. We serve a God who is slow to get angry.

So I ask, “where in your life are you rationalizing sin and running from God?” Jonah had issues just like you and me but even so, Jonah never changed God’s character. No matter the fits, the anger, the questioning, God never changed. You see, our God is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Love is who He is, not what He does. My hope for you is that you’ll live into the character of God. Each of us who follow Jesus have been commissioned to look more like Jesus each day of our walk. So pick one to work on today: love, compassion, mercy, slow to anger. With the help of the Holy Spirit, you’ll get there. Blessings on the journey.

God is Here and is Personal.

I loved playing football in junior high and high school. As a running back, it was nice to have the fullback or a tight end leading the way around on the sweep to clear defenders out of the way. I love what God says to his people in Deuteronomy 31. He says, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Did you hear that? He will personally go before us. That’s comforting in a world that is full of chaos and misdirection. God KNOWS you and is for you.

The first time the word, “know”, is used in Scripture is Genesis 4:1. It’s the spot where Adam knows Eve. In other words, they are intimate and sleep together. There was nothing in the way. Nothing was covered. Everything was exposed.

The word of “know” in the original Hebrew language is “yada”. It means to know intimately. As you read through the Old Testament, it describes the relationship God wants to have with us. The word tells us that God knows you completely. That can be so very comforting or absolutely terrifying depending on your relationship with God.

King David knew how deeply God cared for us and knew us when he wrote Psalms 139. Reading the first four verses, you see how deeply God knows us. We are beautifully made. Did you know God knew you even before you were born? Jesus says in Matthew 10 that God knows how many hairs are on your head. That’s how intimately God is close to you.

In the Old Testament, Job is the story of a man who is asking if God knows him and what he’s going through. We each may be asking that same question right now. But at the end of Job’s story, he seems to land on the idea that God does know him and that thought does two things for Job. Job is comforted that God knows and Job is confident that God will redeem him.

Right in the middle of Job’s story in Job 19:25, he exclaims I know that my Redeemer lives and one day will make all things right. He’s proclaiming that everything going on in his life is temporary but God is eternal.

Because God is powerful and tender and personal, we too can proclaim that our Redeemer lives. So the challenge is to live like it. Let the world know by your words, your actions, your life you believe God knows you and is for you. He sees you and you are his. Blessings on your journey.

God is Here and Powerful.

Our current situation seems chaotic. A massive hurricane hitting the Gulf coast this week; Delta variant overwhelming hospitals again; Evacuations in Afghanistan; Christians being hunted down and killed around the world; Racial tension still evident; State and Federal government strong-arming one another; Rising flood waters in Tennessee killing innocent people. We look around and wonder where is God?

While we as believers know God has not left us, our human side wonders, “Is He in control?” “Does He even care about my situation, my anxiety, my story?” These past several months have revealed we are more fragile and vulnerable than we care to admit.

Job is a story about a man who worshiped the Living God. His story is found in the Old Testament. He’s living the American dream one day and the next, he’s lost everything: his business, his livestock, his children, his health. However, he never loses his faith but he does have some questions for God.

Job begins to ask God about his current state, wondering where God is in his story. By chapter 38, God has had enough and answers Job’s questions, not with answers but with more questions. God asks beginning in Job 38, ““Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?Tell me, if you know so much.

Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?

For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths?

Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!”

King David also knew that just be looking around us in nature and the cosmos, God’s presence is revealed. David says in Psalms 19:1-4 that if you and I would just slow down, go outside and look up, we’d see that God is with us. Nature itself screams the glory and presence of God.

As Christ-followers, we worship a God who is so much bigger than we are! He knows and sees what we do not. There’s something comforting about worshipping a God that big.

My prayer is we’d realize we are not in control but He is. At the end of Job’s story in Job 42:5, Job says, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Job went from hearing about God to seeing God; from knowing about God to knowing God. May you truly know God is with you during these difficult times. May you feel the peace in your life that only He can provide. Blessings on the journey.

The Death of Death

Death: the topic of conversation we are taught to avoid. Labels like ‘glum’ or ‘morbid’ or ‘dark’ are dismissively applied to someone who even brings up the topic. Nevertheless, through the plethora of these labels, I can hear the stifling of a revelation.

My curiosity with our greatest enemy has led me to at least one conclusion: the depths of God can only be approached when we are comfortable with the fragility of our own existence.

Death is a massive creature that swallows young and old, rich and poor, powerful and weak. The more I read God’s Word and other non-canonical writings, the mystery of our indescribable God renders death nothing more than ordinary.

Through my story death has surfaced with varying intensity: when I was 16, my grandfather died of a massive heart attack; when I was 21, my friend died in a motorcycle accident; when I was 26, my mom received her first diagnosis of breast cancer and the scare of the unthinkable but she conquered it.

In different ways and with varying intensity, death has made an appearance in my life. And you have experienced it as well. It seems like death has been a central piece of all of us.

In our fallen state, ‘Time’ is accurately defined by the master we submit ourselves to: but if death is our master, then time is merely a measurement of death’s invasion into our individual lives; However, if God is our master, then time and indeed eternal life, is a miraculous gift by which we receive him and influence others around us.

So, who is our God?

Our God…is a God who weeps. Incredibly, our God is a God who weeps. At the tomb of Lazarus in John 11, as Jesus stares into the eyes of death, he reveals to us a God who weeps.

He already knew what was about to happen; he already knew that he would call Lazarus’s name, the stone would be rolled away, and the dead would raise to life. He already knew how the story would end, and yet, we see Jesus, God in the flesh, confronting our brokenness with tears. For our God is a God who weeps.

We serve a God who is not satisfied with the pain that we feel; He is not satisfied with the sting of death; he is not satisfied with the taste of what is. Our God is a God who sobs over broken creation, who mourns over lives cut too short, who cries when we, his beloved children, cry. Our God is a God who weeps…but our God is not a God who sits idly by.

He does not sit and allow death to claim the ultimate victory. For even now his Spirit is moving, even now his love is growing, and even as the enemy is raging, our God gives life. Our God gives hope. Our God is a God of resurrection. Our God is a God who keeps hope tucked into our hearts.

For the sole desire of our king is to destroy the victories of our enemy and to embrace us in his arms for all eternity. As Revelation 21:4-5 promises: “He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”

Indeed, Our God is a God who will set all of the wrongs right. This moment included. For our God is a good father. And good Fathers do not allow wrongs to go unaddressed, good Fathers instill hope in the most difficult of times, good Fathers stop at nothing to provide for their children. Rejoice that we have a good Father…one who will make all things new!

Blessings on your journey.