The Word


24
Apr 11

From Grief to Grace…

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.”
(Psalm 22:1-3 ESV)

Jesus cried out from the cross.  Flesh torn bear and sticking to the dry rough wooden cross.  Lungs barely able to gasp for air.  The wrath of God poured out upon him for the iniquities of those who would be saved.

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?…My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

But even as Jesus cried the words of the Psalm 22 I believe there was a hope and trust in God.  Quoting the Psalm, his cry of only one line doesn’t tell the whole story of the Psalm or of Christ’s emotions.  As we read the Psalm, we watch as David lays out his pleas before God for deliverance.  Raw emotions pour forth from the hand of the song writer but it ends in a surprising place.

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19
Apr 11

Falling Into a Greater Love…

As I lay in bed wide awake after only about three hours of sleep tonight I began to talk with God.  Nights have become a frustrating time for me.  Tonight, as I was praying, my frustrations threatened to overtake me.  I began to feel like this ordeal was meant to punish me in some way rather than serve to purify me and Glorify God and show him as worthy above all things.  I began to plead with God that he would turn from bringing this affliction on me.  I prayed and prayed for sleepiness to return to my body.  I only became more alert.  Disheartened I felt the Lord calling me out of bed to be with Him.  So I rose and here I am.

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12
Apr 11

Desiring God’s John Piper answers my question…

John Piper and the Bethlehem Baptist Seminary are hosting live webcasts of class discussions over Piper’s book Desiring God.  During these live webcasts, Piper takes questions from his students and also questions submitted via Twitter.

I asked Pastor John the following question stemming from the recent trials with my health:

“How does a Christian Hedonist worship joyfully in the midst of suffering & affliction brought by God? Is it possible?”

I found his response  incredibly helpful.  First, by illustrating that not only can we worship with joy in the midst of affliction brought by God, but that its actually a command: “we rejoice in our sufferings…” (Rom 5:3).  Listen to his response via the video which begins at minute 6 with my question being read followed by his response and explanation of Romans 5:1-5:

click here


15
Feb 11

The Good News

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation…For in it the righteous of God is revealed.” (Romans 1:16-17)

It seems that the “gospel” is first and foremost an event, or news about an event.  It is the telling of something that took place in time, in history that revealed the Love and Righteousness of God.  As one of the early church fathers wisely quipped, “God became what we are that we might become what he is.”  Too often this gets lost–God became man (Phil 2: 6-11), bore our condemnation, died, and was raised–and the resurrection becomes a general philosophy or idea.  We who believe would of course never say that explicitly, but I fear it is implicitly expressed in our struggle with sin and applying the work of Christ on the cross to our specific sins in repentance.

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