Beginning a study...

Daniel 1

We often ask ourselves the unrelenting question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” And we just as often walk away from the question knowing no more than we did when we asked it. We become perplexed and anxious, even doubting, because surely this is a question that the Lord would want us to have an answer to. Isn’t it?

In the opening words of Daniel Chapter 1 we have a similar and equally perplexing situation unfolding. We know and accept that God has chosen a people for Himself and these people are the Jewish nation or race. At the time of Daniel 1, the Jewish nation was divided into two kingdoms, north and south, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieges Jerusalem and God gives His people into the hands of a conquering (enemy) king. That’s right, in verse 2 the Scriptures say that “the Lord delivered [them] into his hand…”

If such a thing occurred today, we would immediately ask whether God does indeed love us at all. After all, if He chose us and made us His own, why would he not defend and protect us from all our enemies? But here, the question does not appear to have been asked and the answer certainly was not given. In fact, the insult went further and apparently with God’s permission. Some of the articles from God’s temple were also allowed to be taken back to Babylon by their king and his men. When he got home with these articles, he immediately put them “in the treasure house of his god.” What an offense to God and His people; and yet, God permitted it without so much as an argument with or from His chosen people.

Having set the tone for this fascinating book, we might expect that the story can’t get any worse. Stick with me because it certainly does at times. And while we are looking for answers to our everyday problems and issues, we may not find that God is ready to reveal them to us. After all, are we better than His chosen people?

Thought: God always does what is best. He does whatever serves his purposes best. He does not ask our permission nor does He need to. He permits us to bring our requests to Him but that is more than we deserve. We certainly have no innate right to expect that he will give us what we ask. It is all about Him, and not about us at all.

Whatever our circumstances may be today, let’s remember to give Him thanks, as He has commanded. Let us not question His authority, His judgment, or His wisdom. Rather, in a humble spirit of thanksgiving, let’s meekly follow Him with a heart full of gratitude for His faithfulness and His gracious gifts of love and mercy to us.

By His grace, there is more to come…

Are we all basically good?

Brought up the son of an Evangelical Pastor, I heard and learned the words of Romans 3:23 from a very early age ("For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." - KJV) I believed, as the passage speaks, that all people fall short of God’s glory, fall short of the lofty goals that He has for us, and concluded that this was not only true of one small segment of society but of the entire human race. However, I was faced with an alternative thought pattern as I progressed through life, one that I had a difficult time discerning and an even more difficult time refuting. The statement that sets forth this thought pattern and philosophy is the idea that all humans are basically good, even from birth (those innocent little babies), along with its counterpart: Humans are not really sinners.

It is an attractive notion indeed that all human beings are basically good. The proponents of this position often illustrate their perspective in a very “Christian” way by claiming that we are all made in the image of God and He doesn’t make any junk. This makes the idea seem much more scripturally appealing and less offensive than the more exclusive, more radical approach of describing us all as sinners. Thus, I fell into the spell of this anti-Biblical philosophy while thinking that I was remaining true to the character and nature of God.

Sin is such an ugly word! Such is the nature of that which is false by reason of being something other than the truth, without necessarily being an obvious falsehood on its face. In other words, this is a logical falsehood. A statement which is logically false is a statement that fails the logic test. In this case, it is logically improbable that one who is basically good would do any evil, yet there is obviously evil in the world. Also, one who is basically good should not need a Savior to deliver him from himself. If this were true, then Jesus died in vain.

One of the problems with this approach to defining the nature and character of man is that it sets man up for failure. A person who believes that he starts out as a basically good individual must ask honestly why Christ would have died. It is this view of man that necessitates either that Jesus’ death for all was unnecessary or that His death was only for some, not for all. Jesus said it best when he said that He did not “come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:12-13; KJV) This arose out of His statement to the Pharisees about those who are well not having any need for a doctor. If some need a Savior and some need a Deliverer, then some may not need either; they may be good enough on their own.

I did not truly find freedom in Christ until I dealt with this reality in my own life. I could not know liberty or have true peace until I grappled with the truth of Jeremiah’s statement that “the heart (of man) is deceitful, and desperately wicked. Who can understand it?” He did not limit this condition to some men; nor did he limit it to men, leaving the women in some more advanced spiritual condition. Nor did he assign this condition to the adults, leaving the children to some glorious fate (which they must lose when they attain to some level of age or maturity). He included all of us, from the beginning of creation until the end, male and female, all colors, cultures, and ages, in this most terrible of conditions. Calvin referred to this idea as “Total Depravity”, a term which offends many of us. It sounds too much like we couldn’t possibly be worse than we are. A better understanding of the concept is that we could not be more deserving of God’s wrath than we are; because, we are totally worthy of his condemnation and totally unworthy of his mercy.

It was only when I began to understand this truth about the human condition and the simultaneous truth that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that I found how to be truly free and to have the peace that passes understanding. It is only when realized that I bring nothing to the table, am able to do nothing and offer nothing for my atonement, that Jesus' death on Calvary truly takes on the miraculous side of the God who made us, the God who loves us, the God who made a way for us to be reconciled to Him. (Ephesians 2:8,9) It was at this point that I found it necessary to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge that it truly is all about Him and not about me at all. Praise His holy name, He saved me!

Lost time, lost opportunity, or God's gracious timing?

To think that I could have written so much, especially in light of the many months that have passed since I last penned an entry. The reader might assume, given that I have written nothing, that nothing has happened in my life or that God has ceased to be in control during that time (since His control is what I seek to assert here). Neither is true.

God has permitted some wonderful things to take place in my life in this past year. I have found a new place to live, made new friends, enjoyed warm sunshine more than most years in my life, and renewed my friendship with the most wonderful woman that God ever created. What an awesome year; and, what an awesome way for God to show clearly that He truly is in control! Although there is much about the past year which I could elaborate on, I will finish this entry by simply stating that I am thankful to my Lord and my God for His faithfulness and for His goodness.

I will take on other issues at a later date, by his grace and according to His will.