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God’s Principle for Economic Growth

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

God’s suprarational laws apply to you as much as they did to the characters in the Bible. But like them, you have to trust. When he calls you to give—even if it is your last—give, and he will prosper you. Now you can’t manipulate his economic laws for your own purposes, but when you bring your needs and desires to him and he tells you to risk trust, do it, and his favor is guaranteed. Whenever, wherever and however he calls you to step out, do it in obedience, trusting God to bless you, and he will. That is his inviolable, universal, eternal law of kingdom economics.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 4:1-6

One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.” Elisha asked, “What can I do to help you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She replied, “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil.” Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

God is not irrational. He has revealed himself so that we can understand him with our rational mind. And forever, we will be exploring the wonderful depth and breadth of God and his ways. Even into eternity, we will be pursuing the unlimited riches of who God is and how he acts within his created order. God is knowable, and for that we are and will be forever grateful.

But there is far more to God that we do not know than what we do know—and it will always be so. Even in eternity, with unlimited capacity for intellectual growth, God will be way ahead of us. By definition, we will never reach the full capacity of God’s brilliant mind. If we did, God would cease to be God and we would assume that role. And that is not going to happen. One of the things that will make eternal life so endlessly and indescribably exciting, purposeful and fulfilling is this very thing: the pursuit of the mind of God.

God is not irrational, but he is rationally knowable. Yet with the things of God that we cannot grasp, we might say that God is suprarational. That is, God is not understandable by human reason alone; he is beyond rational comprehension. And when we come into circumstances that fit into that category, we are asked to trust. And for those who put their trust in the wisdom and kindness of God in those beyond-comprehension-moments, there is a 100 percent guarantee of satisfaction and blessing:

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

That is the eternal testimony of the great heroes of our faith. Speaking for them all, the psalmist declared, “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame.” (Psalm 25:3).

Such is the lesson Elisha is teaching the desperate widow in 2 Kings 4. She had been married to a man who was a part of the school of the prophets, but his untimely death has left her and her children in dire straights. So she comes to Elisha for help with a creditor who is threatening to foreclose on her home. She will be left not only in grief over the loss of her husband, she will be destitute, evicted from her home, and at the mercies of a cruel economy.

So what does Elisha tell her to do: Take a risk and trust. She was to borrow as many jars from her neighbors as possible. Then she was to go behind closed doors and began to pour what little oil she had left into those jars. And trust!

Obviously, when she and her sons were told to go throughout the neighborhood to borrow the jars, they would have to explain this “irrational” concept to curious lenders. They would have to risk reputation; they would have to risk an investment of trust to obey God. Trust is exactly what they did, and then the miracle happened: Enough oil flowed from one small flask to fill all the jars they had borrowed. When they ran out of jars, the oil stopped flowing, but they had enough to sell at the market at a handsome profit. They risked faith, they trusted God, they acted in obedience, and in so doing, they unleashed God’s suprarational law for their economic growth—which met their need, and then some.

God’s suprarational laws apply to you as much as they did to the characters in the Bible. But like them, you have to trust. When he calls you to give—even if it is your last—give, and he will prosper you. Now you can’t manipulate his economic laws for your own purposes, but when you bring your needs and desires to him and he tells you to risk trust, do it, and his favor is guaranteed. Whenever, wherever and however he calls you to step out, do it in obedience, trusting God to bless you, and he will. That is his inviolable, universal, eternal law of kingdom economics.

That is God’s economy. And he desires for you to live within it!

Going Deeper With God: Do you have a need? Ask God for his direction, then trust him ruthlessly. Step out in obedience. Risk faith. Then wait for God to answer, because he will—and then some.

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The Umbrella of Blessing

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

Do the unbelieving people with whom you live, work and play benefit from the residual godliness that spills over from your life? They should. The fact is, your faith should be making an impact on the people around you, even if they don’t embrace it. Hopefully they will at some point, but they may never. But as long as you are there, there ought to be a sense among unbelievers that they are better off precisely because you are among them. Your job is to make the gospel of Jesus attractive.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 3:14

Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you.

Israel was circling the drain. They had lived under the successive reigns of one evil king after another, and consequently, the nation had been in a downward moral spiral for decades that had turned into centuries. So bad was their national sin that soon they would reap what they had sown: divine judgment was coming, from which they would not recover.

In this story, wicked King Ahab’s Son, Joram, was now the leader over Israel, and he was spoiling for a fight. A nation that his father had subjugated had rebelled now that Ahab was dead, and King Joram was distressed to lose this vassal state of Moab, which would not only be an embarrassment to his new leadership, it would cut off the tax revenue that subjugated nations had to pay their overlords. (2 Kings 3:3-4)

So Joram rallied his troops to rectify this disappointing development. (2 Kings 4:6) Then as he readied his army, the idea came to him that it would be wise to get help. So he asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah, Israel’s cousins, to join him in the battle. And the good and godly king of Judah agreed to go to war alongside the ungodly king of Israel—a decision he probably should have fasted and prayed over before making:

On the way, he sent this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you join me in battle against him?” And Jehoshaphat replied, “Why, of course! You and I are as one. My troops are your troops, and my horses are your horses.” Then Jehoshaphat asked, “What route will we take?”

Now this is not the first time Jehoshaphat had agreed to an alignment that he should have first prayed over (1 Kings 22:1-9) And sure enough, once the armies set out, they ran into a real problem: After days in the wilderness, there was no water to sustain neither the troops nor their animals—and the situation was dire. (2 Kings 3:9) It was at this point that the king who did not follow the God of Israel now blamed God for the mess they now faced:

“What should we do?” the king of Israel cried out. “The Lord has brought the three of us here to let the king of Moab defeat us.” (2 Kings 3:10)

At this point in the story, albeit after the fact, Jehoshaphat finally did the right thing and sought the advice of the Lord:

But King Jehoshaphat of Judah asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord with us? If there is, we can ask the Lord what to do through him.” (2 Kings 3:11)

It was here that Elisha the prophet was introduced into this story. Pushed by Jehoshaphat, King Joram reluctantly sought the counsel of the man whose predecessor, Elijah, had been the bur under King Ahab’s saddle—and if Elijah had been surely and sarcastic, then Elisha was Elijah on steroids. When he heard Joram’s request Elisha asked,

“Why are you coming to me? Go to the pagan prophets of your father and mother!” (2 Kings 3:13)

Dripping with sarcasm, Elisha rightly suggested that King Joram seek those inept false gods upon whom he and the nation had been foolishly depending on for decades. Nevertheless Elisha finally agreed to give a word from the Lord, and it was a word that resolved the water issue that threatened to decimate the armies of Israel and Judah—a miraculous resolution when overnight, God provided water in the middle of this dry wasteland,

The next day at about the time when the morning sacrifice was offered, water suddenly appeared! It was flowing from the direction of Edom, and soon there was water everywhere. (2 Kings 3:20)

That is a long contextual build up to the stunning reason Elisha was willing to go to God on wicked Israel’s and foolish Judah’s behalf: good King Jehoshaphat. The godly prophet had immense respect for the godly king, so he stepped in to help. (2 Kings 3:14)

Which leads me to this question: do the ungodly people with whom you live, work and play benefit from the residual godliness that spills over from your life? They should. Would they truly miss you if you were gone? The fact is, your faith should be making an impact on the people around you, even if they don’t embrace it. Hopefully they will at some point, but they may never. But as long as you are there, there ought to be a sense among unbelievers that they are better off precisely because you are among them.

Of course, that means you must be boldly, visibly, vocally and sacrificially living out your faith in an attractive and compelling way. You must make the gospel attractive by the way you live, as the Apostle Paul profoundly taught in Titus 2:7-13,

You must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us. Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way. For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.

Though quite flawed but organically righteous, King Jehoshaphat’s life attracted favor from God through his prophet, Elisha—and ungodly Israel reaped the results. That is your job today: through your life, make Jesus attractive.

Going Deeper With God: Examine your life—your work ethic, your language, your presence. Do you make Jesus attractive before the unsaved in your world? You should. And if you have not been, ask the Lord to help you begin today to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

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You Will Pass The Baton Someday—So Do It Well!

Set Your Successor Up For Success

SYNOPSIS: When a man or woman of God departs, nothing of God departs—it carries on. When the work of a  godly person is finished, we need to realize that the beginning of another godly man or woman will start—and hopefully carry on in even greater power and with even greater impact because of how their predecessor set them up. Instead of ending, God desires ministries to transition; to enter new phases of development and effectiveness. That’s God’s way, and Christians would do well to learn that truth. Ministers, moms and dads, and leaders of all kinds would do well to adopt the certainty of baton passing as one of their chief aims in life, and when the time comes, to passing that baton well.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 2:9-14

When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” Elijah replied, “You have asked a difficult thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.” As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress. Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.

As from the beginning of our experience with Elijah in 1 Kings 17, to now at the end of his life, the ministry of this prophet of fire has cast an impressive spiritual shadow over Israel. We have been with him through a variety of dramatic experiences, particularly in 1 Kings 18-19. We have been with him on the heights of Mt. Carmel, both literally and spiritually, to the depths of his despair beneath the broom tree in its aftermath. We have stood with him when he courageously confronted evil King Ahab then fled in fear when the king’s wicked wife, Jezebel, threatened to end his life in the same manner he had ended her false prophets’ lives. We sat with him in the silence of the Cherith Brook and saw the miraculous provision of God as ravens fed him breakfast, lunch and dinner, then felt his despair and disappointment with God when the Almighty dried up the very brook he had given him. We have seen him call down fire from heaven on sacrifices and soldiers, yet we have seen him depend on a widow just to stay alive.

And in every place, under every circumstance, God has proven himself faithful, consistent, and encouraging to Elijah. Now, appropriately, the end of his life and ministry will be just as dramatic as the rest of it was as God will again prove himself faithful to his prophet. Elijah will be taken up to heaven in a blaze of glory, something most prophets and preachers dream of but never experience. That glorious swan song belongs to one, and one alone. Elijah.

Now as we have come to know Elijah, we have also found him to be a bit temperamental. He is testy, he is fearsome most of the time, and he is radically devoted to speaking the word of the Lord to people, prophets, priests and potentates. But what we have never found him to be is warm and fuzzy. Prophets of his cut of cloth never are—and probably they shouldn’t be, given what they are called to carry out.

Yet at the end of his life, we get a glimpse at Elijah’s softer side, spending his final days on earth, knowing the Lord is bringing his chapter to a dramatic close, caring for the school of protégés he is leaving behind. (2 Kings 2:5-9) But not only is the prophet caring for his young men, he is caring for the work that God gave him to do. He wants to pass it on in the best way possible. He wants it to live on, stronger than before. He knows the work of God is not done, not by far, so he sets up his successors in the best way possible.

You see, when a man or woman of God dies or departs, nothing of God dies or departs—it carries on. When the work of a great and godly person is finished, we need to realize that the beginning of another great man or woman will start—and hopefully carry on in even greater power and with even greater impact because of how their predecessor set them up. Instead of ending, God desires ministries to transition; to enter new phases of development and effectiveness. That’s God’s way, and Christians would do well to embrace that truth. Ministers, moms and dads, and leaders of all kinds would do a God-honoring thing to adopt the certainty of baton passing as one of their chief aims in life, and when the time comes, to pass that baton well.

Now what is true in the realm of spiritual leadership is true in the realm of all leadership—parenting, mentoring, business ownership, etc. The truth is, we will all pass the baton someday, and it will likely come sooner than we were expecting. So think through how you will pass it so that those who follow in your shoes can take a double portion of your leadership.

A double portion—now that is a mysterious request Elisha asks of his mentor, Elijah. What was that all about? In reality, Elisha was asking to be the heir of Elijah’s ministry. Literally, that phrase referred to the designation as rightful heir. It is the same phrase that is used in Deuteronomy 27:17 when Moses instructs that a father must “acknowledge the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has.”

But notice how Elijah responded to the request: “You have asked a difficult thing, yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise not.” What is Elijah saying? In effect, he is saying, “I cannot grant you that, only God can. But if God permits you to see his power and his presence when I am taken, it will be a sign that he has granted your request.”

Obviously, Elijah thought Elisha was special and would make a great successor, but he knew that only God could choose the heir to his ministry. Likewise, when new leaders are chosen to replace a pastor, a chairman of the board, a teacher, or a boss, we need to be careful to allow God to designate that person. While we need to do the best baton pass we can, remember that it is God’s role to chose who takes the role, and it will then be up to that new leader to run worthy of what you have passed on, and worthy of their new calling before God.

Yes, you will pass the baton. The time for that will get here sooner than you can imagine. So start anticipating it now, then do your best when the time comes for whomever takes it from you, the race will be theirs to win or lose.

Going Deeper With God: What are you doing to prepare someone to take your spot—as a mom or dad, a business owner, the leader of a ministry, or in whatever arena over which God has given you influence? Give that some thought today, and revisit it regularly. When the times comes, I hope you will do it well.

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Grouchy Prophets and God’s Grace

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

If you don’t learn to read the Bible stories about judgment, properly and in context, you are going to miss out on the opportunity to see in each case that the tough love of God, patiently expressed in his righteous wrath, is really an invitation to live under his loving rule. Truly God’s judgment is the revelation of his grace.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 1:13-15

Once more the king sent a third captain with fifty men to fetch Elijah. But this time the captain went up the hill and fell to his knees before Elijah. He pleaded with him, “O man of God, please spare my life and the lives of these, your fifty servants. See how the fire from heaven came down and destroyed the first two groups. But now please spare my life!” Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him, and don’t be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went with him to the king.

If you read the entire story in 2 Kings 1, you might be surprised by the title of this devotional. For sure, at least half of it is right: Elijah is indeed a grouchy prophet. When the king of Israel twice sends platoons to “escort” the well-known prophet to the palace, he calls down fire from heaven. The charred bodies of 100 men are proof: Elijah was not a cleric with which to be trifled.

But the grace of God—how in the name of all that is right can I refer to God’s grace when he has equipped his spokesmen to annihilate 100 men who were just doing their job? This particular story seems to confirm the suspicions of many that the Old Testament God is unloving, unbending and unfair—and brutal, to boot.

Before I get into why I think Elijah called fire down on the soldiers, let me first address the unfair meme that slams the Old Testament God as a mean deity. First, leveling that accusation against the God who has revealed himself in the Jewish scripture simply reveals that the accuser has not read the whole story. It also exposes a bad hermeneutic. The rules of reading and interpreting literature, any kind of literature, have likely been violated six ways to Sunday—especially the rule of context. It is probable, in this particular case, that 2 Kings 1 was not read against the backdrop of what has been happening throughout 1 Kings, where one king after another, more evil than their immediate predecessor, has led Israel away from God and into the most vile, violent, dehumanizing and degrading practice of idol worship. By all accounts, if anything, we should be surprised that God has not torched the entire nation, and way sooner.

Second, we can call God what we want, but by definition, God gets to choose how he acts. And if he reveals himself as the righteous God who forgives the sins of the repentant but brings judgment upon the persistently sinful, then who are we to judge God? Who are we to say that doing what is deserved is unfair? Who are we to reinterpret righteousness as meanness? That is simply pointless, and wrong. Furthermore, it demonstrates the tendency of human beings to dumb down their version of God to a manageable deity—a softer, kinder God that can be controlled. But think about it: who wants to follow a God they can control. I don’t! I want a God to whom I must surrender, because I am not trustworthy and wise enough to set the rules for him.

Third, when you read the entire Old Testament in context, this God who often gets labeled as mean is actually painfully patient, indefatigably gracious and unceasingly loving. The God you come to know from Genesis to Malachi is truly a Being with paternalistic intent—he is a loving, caring, involved Father. And once the Old Testament concludes, he says, “Look, you still don’t see how loving I am, so let me send you the literal, physical, undeniable, exact representation of my being. Meet my Son, Jesus Christ. When you see him, you see me.”

Now, in light of that, why did God empower his prophet, Elijah, to call fire down from heaven on back-to-back occasions to take the lives of these 100 men who were simply doing what good soldiers do by following their king’s command? The truth is, they were well aware of Elijah. They knew the story of the showdown against the false prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel where Elijah had called down the fire of God. The score in that contest was a shut-out—850 to 0. Elijah came away unscathed while 850 unholy priests lay dead.

These men in the present story knew that Elijah represented a God who demanded (and deserved) total allegiance, and who was not shy about proving that point to kings and people in no uncertain terms. These men knew, or should have known, the likelihood of messing with the man of God. And this was a point in time at which they should have done what we all should do in these kinds of situation: “We must obey God rather than man,” (Acts 5:29) no matter what the penalty for going against the will of the man.

Really, if you can’t read this story, properly and in context, you are going to miss out on yet another opportunity to see that the tough love of God, patiently expressed in his righteous wrath, is really an invitation to live under his loving rule. Truly his judgment is the revelation of his grace.

And one more thing: the grace of that loving, caring Father is available for your life today.

Going Deeper With God: Reread the story in light of the context I have provided. Then offer your grateful praise to your gracious God.

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It’s Always Best To First Ask God

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

You can be a believer and forget God in your daily life. It is possible to love him but leave him out of the picture when it comes to planning your career or running your business or pursuing your goals. When you do that, in effect, you become a practical atheist. Rather, a first principle for you ought to be, “is this the Lord’s will?” Learn to ask that early and often—then wait until you have a solid answer.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Kings 22:1-5

For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. Then during the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit King Ahab of Israel. During the visit, the king of Israel said to his officials, “Do you realize that the town of Ramoth-gilead belongs to us? And yet we’ve done nothing to recapture it from the king of Aram!” Then he turned to Jehoshaphat and asked, “Will you join me in battle to recover Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “Why, of course! You and I are as one. My troops are your troops, and my horses are your horses.” Then Jehoshaphat added, “But first let’s find out what the Lord says.”

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah was a very good and godly king. Ahab, the king of Israel, was a very awful and evil king—the most immoral in Israel’s history. The king of Judah had no business entering into an alliance with the King of Israel—even a politically expedient one.

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. (2 Corinthians 6:114-16)

Jehoshaphat agreed to help Ahab militarily in a land dispute with Israel’s archenemy, Aram. Without thinking it through, without counting the cost, without looking at the motives behind Ahab’s request, without asking God first, Jehoshaphat agreed to go to war alongside an evil monarch that God had publically and roundly condemned—and it almost cost him his life.

A good and godly king made a foolish and deadly error. In fact, it is quite likely that not only was he a fool, he was a tool—Ahab was using Jehoshaphat to do his dirty work for him. How do I get that? Look at Ahab’s suggestion with how they should approach the battle: Hey, Jehoshaphat, while don’t you go out in kingly robes, ride in the golden chariot, lead the charge and take credit for the victory. I’ll sacrifice the moment, go in disguise, and hold off while you score the touchdown. I’ll back you up, man—like I’ll be way in the back.” Of course, that is my paraphrase, but read the text for yourself. That is essential what King Ahab said to the momentarily clueless King Jehoshaphat in 1 kings 22:29-33)

Jehoshaphat should have smelled a rat right away. But for whatever reason, his discernment was down and he got lured into Ahab’s scheme. Ahab buttered him up for help, and Jehoshaphat said, sure, “let’s do it.” It was only after he committed to it that he said, “by the way, shouldn’t we asked the Lord?” And when Ahab reluctantly brought in a true prophet of Yahweh, who again predicted divine judgment against the evil king, Jehoshaphat still didn’t catch on.

“Ready, fire, aim.” That was what King Jehoshaphat was guilty of, spiritually speaking. We are often guilty of that too, and that ought not to be—not ever. The first and continual response of our lives to the opportunities and challenges we face in life must be, “what does God think of this? What is the Lord’s will?” The second response ought to be to wait, until a clear indication comes. Third, when we understand the will of the Lord, then and only then should we pursue a course of action—an agreement, an open door, a partnership—with urgency and passion.

In the New Testament, James, the brother of our Lord, said it this way, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:16) He is saying that one of the big mistakes we can make in life is to do our planning without God. He describes this kind of person in verse 13: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’” Did you notice there is not a single mention of God in this person’s planning? This guy knew what he wanted and how to get there, but he didn’t bother to check it out with God first.

That’s a pretty common sin. You can be a believer and forget God in your daily life. It is possible to love him but leave him out of the picture when it comes to planning your career or running your business or pursuing your goals. And when you do that, in effect, you become a practical atheist.

Rather, James insists, “you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:15) What a practical and powerful approach to living: put everything through the “if” filter:: “If” it is the Lord’s will.

These early Christians in James’ day began to order their lives by seeking the Lord’s will first. They came up with a Latin watchword to remind each other of the importance of actively putting all of life into God’s hand—of asking God first. It was Deo Volente, which meant, “if God wills.” In fact, in many periods of history, the believers would end their letters with “D.V.”, short for Deo Volente. Then they would respond to, “If God wills” with another phrase, “Carpe Diem,” which translated is, “seize the day.”

What a great way to live: “If the Lord wills, I will seize the day!” In hindsight, my guess is Jehoshaphat wishes he would have followed that principle of first order.

Going Deeper With God: I would suggest that you include this prayer in your daily supplications: Lord, your will—no more, no less. That’s what I desire!

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Mercy!

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

How fortunate are we that as much, if not more, than any other attribute of God, his longsuffering heart and willingness to forgive is what defines our relationship with him. Not only is he willing to put up with our waywardness, but amazingly, he actually goes out of his way to show us his love. As Micah 7:18 says, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Kings 21:27-29

But when Ahab heard Elijah’s message of impending judgment, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in deep mourning. Then another message from the Lord came to Elijah: “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime…”

No one deserved judgment more than King Ahab. He raised the bar on wickedness: “No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel. His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done—the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.” (1 Kings 21:25-26).

King Ahab’s list of evil deeds was long, and growing by the day. Among the evil things we know about, we are told that he followed the evil advice of his nefarious wife, Jezebel—a foreign woman who raised the bar on bad. We also know that he threw a tantrum over a piece of property he wanted, and he murdered the property owner to get it. And if that weren’t bad enough, we know that he personally raised idolatry to an art form in Israel! God’s chosen people were worshiping idols—and doing despicable things as a part of their worship. Ahab was one bad king!

Yet when Elijah pronounced judgment on him, Ahab humbled himself to the point that God relented and withheld much deserved punishment. Now make no mistake, we should not take God’s patience with Ahab to mean that he winks at sin. As someone has said, “there is a payday, someday” for wickedness. And Ahab will get his!

But what is most interesting about this story is what it reveals about God. What a patient and merciful God we serve! And the same God who would delay much deserved judgment for evil Ahab in order to give him time to change his ways will also be patient and merciful with you and me—hallelujah—and also with a sinful world that God doesn’t want to perish. Now again, let’s not equate God’s longsuffering with tolerance for sin. There is a payday, someday—and we need to take that most seriously. This reality of a day of reckoning ought to be one of the things that prods us to a life of purity and motivates us to share the Good News with those who are bound for a Christless eternity.

Likewise, the fact that we have obtained a “redemptive pass” on Judgment Day through Christ’s substitutionary death ought to inspire us to greater gratitude to God for his grace and mercy. How fortunate are we that as much, if not more, than any other attribute of God, his longsuffering heart and willingness to forgive is what defines our relationship with him. Not only is he willing to put up with our waywardness, but amazingly, he actually goes out of his way to show us his love. Think about these words from Micah 7:18,

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

Let me suggest that you reframe this Ahab story. Try reading yourself into Ahab’s character, because in truth, you and I are the ones to whom God has extended such amazing and undeserved grace. As you do that, it would then be appropriate to take some time today to offer heartfelt thanks to God for what he has done for you…and for what he has not done to you.

And by the way, don’t make Ahab’s mistake: He didn’t recognize that God’s patience and mercy was meant to transform his character. So offer God your heart, then allow him to remold it.

Going Deeper With God: Here is a prayer you might want to join me in offering to our merciful God today: Holy Father, you are a gracious and merciful God. You have extended your patience to me well beyond what I deserve. I deserve punishment, but you offer forgiveness. I don’t deserve heaven, but you’ve given me eternal life. How I thank you for who you are—a God of grace and mercy; how I praise you for what you’ve done—you’ve pardoned all of my sins and granted salvation. I stand in awe of you, and throughout time and all the way through eternity, I will proclaim your greatness to all creation. I owe you an un-payable debt of love, and as just a small token of what I will give to you for the rest of my existence, I offer you this prayer of praise and thanksgiving. It is in your gracious and merciful name I pray, amen!

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Why Does God Bless Bad Leaders?

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

Why does God put up with bad leaders? The same reason he puts up with you and me day by day: His mercy! The Puritan preacher Tomas Watson said, “God is more willing to pardon than to punish. Mercy does more multiply in Him than sin in us. Mercy is His nature.” Thank God for that!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Kings 20:13

Then a certain prophet came to see King Ahab of Israel and told him, “This is what the Lord says: Do you see all these enemy forces? Today I will hand them all over to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Ahab was a wicked king—the most evil in a long line of evil kings in Israel. As we have previously noted in 1 Kings 16:30, “Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him.” So awful was Ahab that the Lord had already pronounced judgment upon him through the prophet Elijah. Not only was Ahab evil, so was Israel. From the time these ten northern tribes had broken away from King Rehoboam to form their own nation, they had been in rebellion against the Lord God. Likewise, the prophets had called Israel out for judgment.

Yet they were still God’s people. Ahab was still the king over a nation for which God cared deeply. And throughout their stubborn waywardness, the Lord continued to woo them back through these dire prophetic warnings. Yet neither king nor people listened to the prophets and turned from their wicked ways. As a result, they were ultimately destroyed and sent into exile. (2 Kings 24)

Incredibly, on several occasions the Lord had mercy on Israel’s wicked king, Ahab, when by all rights he should have been destroyed, beyond recovery. As Proverbs 29:1 reminds us, “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.” That would prove to be true for Ahab, yet this stiff-necked ruler was given chance after chance to recognize the Lord God as Israel’s rightful and sovereign ruler.

Such is the case in this particular story. Ahab is facing destruction at the hands of the Aramean army and their allies—a force much larger, stronger and better equipped than Israel’s army. In reality, this was a fight that Israel could not win. But on two occasions, the Lord sent prophets to Ahab to proclaim that Israel would indeed be victorious because God would be fighting on their behalf. And the reason for this divine intervention for am evil people? So that Israel and Ahab would know that their help was from the Lord:

Today I will hand them all over to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (1 Kings 20:13,20)

Unfortunately, neither Ahab nor Israel recognized the merciful hand of God and thus turned in repentance to follow him. They continued on in their sinfulness until they were indeed destroyed without remedy.

Do you ever wonder why God’s blessing seems to rest upon ungodly leaders in our day? Why does God favor godless presidents, give grace to governors who give him no regard, and move on behalf of mayors when they clearly give no thought to him, and in fact, implement policies that are in direct opposition to the Law of God? Why does the Lord withhold judgment on wayward leaders in America today?

Only God knows for sure, and he doesn’t always give us the details of his plan. And make no mistake, judgment is coming—someday. But in the meantime, the kindness of God in delaying judgment and in granting success to those who give no thought to his ways is meant to grab their attention. Like Ahab, the Lord helps in order that they, too, “will know that I am the Lord.” The Apostle Paul offered this profound truth in Romans 2:4,

Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

How patient, kind and merciful is our God! And while you may be frustrated that he doesn’t step in to call presidents and politicians to account, aren’t you glad he doesn’t, since if he did that with them, he would have to do that with you. The same mercy that he extends to rebellious sinners is the same mercy that falls on you and me day by day.

Why does God bless bad leaders? Mercy!

Going Deeper With God: If you are frustrated with your political leaders, step back and consider the kindness, tolerance and patience of God toward them. Then while you are asking God to help your leaders, ask him to help you see them through his eyes.