A Boomer in the Pew

Have you Ever Been Upset With God Regarding the Way He is Handling Things?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #232 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Habakkuk 1-3.

The book of Habakkuk comes at a good time in my life.   You see, I have been doing a lot of whining in my prayer life these days.

Likewise, the Prophet Habakkuk was doing his own fair share of whining to God.

It is believed that his book takes place just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and he has two complaints to take up with God:

• Habakkuk's Complaint:  God, you're not answering my prayers!  Look at all the evil and turmoil that is going on in your Promised Land.  How long before you do something?
• • God's Answer:  I am doing something. If I told you what it was, you wouldn't believe me.  But since you asked, I am going to destroy the evil in Jerusalem by destroying Jerusalem with the evil empire of Babylon.
• Habakkuk's Second Complaint - What?  You're going to destroy evil with a greater evil?
• • God's Answer - I will punish all wickedness in my time.  I have stored up my will against Babylon as well.  But you Habakkuk, know that the righteous shall live by his faith.

ACK!  There it is again:  wait, live by faith, know that I am God.  Sometimes, in the middle of all the waiting, we grow weary.  Right?

From the InterVarsity Press New Bible Commentary:

"Many view questioning God as sinful, but Habakkuk and Job show this is not so. Rough passages in life can produce honest doubt and perplexity, and God condemns neither Job nor Habakkuk for expressing these doubts. Only in open dialogue are misunderstandings resolved and differences righted. Even today it is better to express vexation than to let it fester, erupting into bitterness. While an answer might not come immediately (2:1), or might itself cause consternation (1:12-17), God does not ban honest questioning.
   

God already knows the beginning from the end (Is. 46:10). He does not act in secrecy, but reveals himself to inquiring believers (Am. 3:7). It is important to address the great and awesome God with the respect due him (Hab. 3:16), but one may still address him. Comfort awaits the doubter, questioner or sufferer because part of what God is about involves salvation and help for his own (3:19). We also, like Habakkuk, expect his response to our questions and needs, not only because he met with Habakkuk in the first millennium before Christ (3:3-15), but also because he has already met us in our own personal past approaching the third millennium after Christ, and will do so again. Whether the problem arises from the acts of national entities, as Habakkuk’s did, or because of individual wrongdoing, God is there."

Then God lays forth 5 "woes" to Habakkuk:

• “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
  for how long?—
  and loads himself with pledges!”
• “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
  to set his nest on high,
  to be safe from the reach of harm!
• “Woe to him who builds a town with blood
  and founds a city on iniquity!
• “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—
  you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
  in order to gaze at their nakedness!
• Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
  to a silent stone, Arise!
  Can this teach?

Now, we certainly must understand that having God proclaim "woe" against you is NOT a good thing.  Furthermore, imagine what it must have been like to be Habakkuk and hear these things proclaimed by God Almighty!  Life changing, right?

By the end of Habakkuk's three chapters, he is a changed man:

"Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places." (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Oh Lord, increase my faith!

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Its 587 BC, Jerusalem is Burned to the Ground, but What of God's Promised Davidic King?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #231 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36.

What was on the mind of Noah when he witnessed God's destruction of the world?

What was on the mind of Jeremiah when he witnessed the complete destruction of Jerusalem?

More importantly, what was going on in the mind of God as the horrific day of His warned judgment eventually fell?

I suppose great judgment as he purged evil from Israel, and great mercy as his placed his remnant in exile.

Many centuries earlier, Israel cried to replace God as their king.  Although there were a few good kings, the great bulk of them were rotten to the core, and here we see before us the tragic result of sin and defiance of God's holy word.

This is a significant day in the life of Israel.  She will now live in exile for 70 years, and through God's judgment He has also announced a "new covenant".

We will begin to understand that God's salvation is to be brought and bought through his judgment.

In 587 years, we will again see God's holy anger brought to bear.  We will again see salvation through judgment.  Only this time, his judgment will fall upon Messiah, God's only Son, to bring salvation to the whole of His creation.

Oh the pain and misery that was brought upon us through our first father Adam's sin.

Now we march onward towards the King of Kings, the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel, and another gut wrenching scene of judgment, mercy, and salvation.

This is all nearly too much to bear, and how is makes one's soul long, deeply long for Messiah's return.

What are we to Learn From the Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #230 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Jeremiah 38-40, Psalms 74 & 79. 

Well, here we are.  After decades of warning, God has ordained the destruction of Jerusalem through the hands of Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar.

The city is destroyed and burnt.  King Zedekiah's family and nobles are killed before his eyes, and then Nebuchadnezzar put out his eyes and dragged him off to Babylon as a prisoner.

The whole of Judah is deported to Babylon in captivity save a very poor remnant.

And here we sit with the prophet Jeremiah, and ponder the situation with great sorrow.

God sent a great number of prophets to warn Judah of this coming disaster over a period of many decades.  They scoffed.

Therefore, as prophesied, the nation of Israel, God's wayward harlot bride, no longer exists.

I think rather than babble on, the right thing to do is assume Jeremiah's position and contemplate, lament, and pray.

This is a most historic day in God's ultimate plan of redemption, and it requires our quiet meditation.

What did you learn from this horrific scene?

Are Children Born Morally Neutral or With a Wicked, Evil Heart?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #229 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Jeremiah 35-37.

The burning of Jerusalem is so near, we can nearly feel its heat in the pages of our chronological reading of the Bible.

Over, and over, and over, Jeremiah has warned Judah of its coming peril.  Consistently he has called for a penitent heart and the turning of repentance with the hopes that God might hear their prayers and divert his judgment.

Nonetheless, Judah's heart is hard, and in this drawing we see King Jehoiakim mocking God's word by throwing it in the fire pot.

The question begs to be asked:  If a person believes in God, then how can his heart be hardened?

Well, Jeremiah gave us a stern view of the heart back in chapter 17:

"The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

One of the great misunderstandings of many contemporary thinkers is the idea that we are born with a neutral morality.  Certainly, they would contend, a child is not born evil.

However, a careful study of the scripture will reveal that as a result of "the fall" we are all born with a sick heart, and an inherited sin from our original father, Adam.  Furthermore, shockingly, when you study the Scriptures you will find that we are not in fact born as children of God. 

Jesus the Messiah made it very clear to Nicodemus:  "you must be born again".

It saddens me that post-modern America has dreamed up its own religion.  A great many in our country claim a belief in God, but yet they have never taken the time to greatly wrestle with the truths written in the Bible.

Almighty God himself destroying his beloved bride Israel?  Original inherited Sin?  You must be born again?  You mean were not all children of God?

I challenge you, put on your wrestling clothes and read the book.  Join me in the struggle to understand.

But, I implore you, don't live your life with your head in the sand on this matter.  If the words of this book are true, then this is the most important decision you could ever make.

In all your getting, get your name in the Lamb's Book of Life.

OK, put your thoughts in the comments section and let's talk dialog on this matter.  Dialog is good!

Jeremiah, The Book of Consolation, and the New Covenant

Bible in a Year Series - Day #228 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Jeremiah 32-34

As we continue our chronological journey through the Bible, I have noticed that we have many voices speaking to us during this particular time in history.

Have you noticed?

We are standing at the doorstep at one of history's most significant events, and the number of prophets that God has sent to warn his people has not escaped my notice. 

God has made it abundantly clear that he will not tolerate sin from his creation.  Furthermore, we are soon to discover that God's abhorrence to sin also applies to his bride Israel. 

We are going to see, in a few short day, a horrific display of God's holy anger, and all Judah will be destroyed save a remnant that will be deposed to live in exile under Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.

After 29 chapters of doom, Jeremiah delivers to us a most precious message from God in chapters 30-33 (the so called Book of Consolation).

These chapters offer a balm to the upcoming exiles, and furthermore, remarkably help us to look back and better understand God's plan of redemption for mankind.

One of the principles that we see clearly displayed here is that salvation comes through judgment.

Having just typed these words, I find it hard to wrap my mind around them.  However, this event is most certainly a foreshadow of the cross where God's final and ultimate salvation for mankind is offered through his judgment poured out against his only Son.

Furthermore, God has also greatly announced that he is putting forth a "new covenant":

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

"And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul." (Jeremiah 32:38-41)

Moreover, as we have learned from many of God's prophets, this newly announced eternal covenant will be fulfilled in a coming future King (the Messiah).

There are great and mighty things for us to understand here.  I feel frustrated that we, in our chronological study of the Bible, are going to blaze past these significant events. 

However, my frustration is quelled with the understanding that Jesus, and the Apostles will most certainly bring us back to this topic when we witness "the days are coming" fulfilled in Messiah.

Who can understand these things?  Who can plumb the depths of the mind of God?

Learning to Understand God as the Brokenhearted Husband of a Whorish Wife

Bible in a Year Series - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

On this coming Thursday, in our chronological reading of the Bible, Judah and Jerusalem will be no more.

I don't know about you, but I am finding these readings emotionally difficult to read.

The book of Hosea slayed me as I read about God's whorish wife (Israel), and today I again found myself in tears as I was reading of God's holy and set apart bride who has taken the part of the whore in the worship of idols.

Many are disgusted and turned away by the horrific holy anger of God, but do not find the tears of the brokenhearted Husband.

If you do not know and understand the brokenhearted Husband, then you do not know God.

I think this photograph does a fairly good job of explaining the brokenhearted Husband.

I am simply going to end my post here and encourage you to listen to the audio reading of God's heart in these early passages of the book of Jeremiah.

Evil Men and Nations may Rattle the Sword, but God is Lord of All

Bible in a Year Series - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Nahum 1-3.

I found quite a bit of historical information regarding the book of Nahum that caught my attention.  We are now, in our chronological reading of the Bible, in a period where there is quite a bit of archaeological evidences supporting our text.

The above panel, from the British Museum, was found in ancient Nineveh during a dig in northern Iraq.

This from the British Museum:

Ashurbanipal and his Queen enjoying a banquet

This panel was the focal point of a decorative scheme incorporating all the triumphs in war and sport of which King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC) was most proud. The panel probably decorated one of the King's private apartments, as the carving of the scene is exceptionally fine.

The queen sits facing Ashurbanipal. Queens, like women in general, were seldom represented in Assyrian sculpture. However, women did sometimes hold power at the Assyrian court, though usually behind the scenes. Documents suggest that Ashurbanipal's grandmother, Naqia-Zakutu, was extremely influential in promoting her son Esarhaddon and then Ashurbanipal to the throne.

The scene also shows a harpist. Images of musicians are among the most important sources for understanding ancient musical instruments. The details in the carving appear to be very accurate.

On the tree in front of the harpist is a human head, that once belonged to Teumman, king of Elam, who had fought against Assyria. Consequently Ashurbanipal's army invaded Elam. The campaign was illustrated as redecoration in one of the rooms of the palace of his grandfather Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC).

The mutilation of the faces of the king and queen was probably done by an enemy soldier when the Median and Babylonian armies ransacked Nineveh in 612 BC.

To provide us with even more background for our text, here is this from the InterVarsity Press New Bible Dictionary:

    Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the most cruel and ruthless nation of the ancient world. The Assyrians terrified their intended victims because not only did they destroy and burn the cities they conquered, they also subjected the inhabitants to various kinds of suffering and humiliation.
    One king, Ashurbanipal, boasted in the following terms about some plotters that he had foiled: ‘As for those common men who had spoken derogatory things against my god Asher and had plotted against me, the prince who reveres him, I tore out their tongues and abased them. As a posthumous offering I smashed the rest of the people alive by the very figures of the protective deities between which they had smashed Sennacherib my grandfather. Their cut up flesh I fed to the dogs, swine, jackals, birds, vultures, to the birds of the sky, and to the fishes of the deep pools’.
    The Assyrians were the ones who had destroyed Samaria and with it the northern kingdom. In 2 Ki. 17:5 it says, ‘The king of Assyria... laid siege to it [Samaria] for three years’. We can imagine the people getting hungrier, more desperate and more hopeless, as they looked out on the Assyrian army, an invincible multitude. They also knew that these soldiers were completely ruthless. They would flay people alive—strip the skin off them and drag them off with hooks in their flesh. And if the people didn’t already know what their enemies were capable of, the Assyrians would have reminded them every day (cf. the speech of the Assyrian field commander to Hezekiah in Is. 26:4-10). In the British Museum there are stone carvings taken from Nineveh which show how the Assyrians dealt with conquered cities. One shows a great heap of heads. The picture of the siege of Lachish shows three men impaled on wooden stakes outside the city, a grisly visual aid to those who were still shut up inside
Captives were often mutilated by cutting off hands, feet, noses, ears or tongues. A relief from Khorsabad shows Assyrian chariots driving over mutilated bodies. Infants were often dashed in pieces (Na. 3:10; cf. Ps. 137:9). Women might be taken as spoil and pregnant women were usually disembowelled.
    Having conquered a city, the Assyrians would take steps to see that they did not have any more trouble there in future. So, when Samaria fell in 721 BC 27,000 were exiled and a comparable number of deportees from other places was brought in. This destroyed the unity and even identity of the nation and made it very difficult to organize resistance in future.
    We can see why people were (and still are) worried about the idea that God would allow Assyrians to carry out judgment on his behalf. Nevertheless, the Bible says in several places that the Assyrians were his instruments of judgment.
    Nahum comes long after the fall of Samaria. The city of Nineveh fell in 612 BC, and Nahum is to be placed shortly before this. Ninety years is a long time to wait for the judgment of an evil nation. Incidentally, Jonah carried out his ministry to Nineveh quite some time before 721. He is mentioned in 2 Ki. 14:25 (which refers to the reign of Jeroboam II, 782–753) as having prophesied previously.
    Though God’s judgment may be delayed, it is never forgotten; he cares passionately about right and wrong. The book of Nahum makes that abundantly clear.

Wow!  Imagine this scene.  Some prophet dude named Nahum confronts the king of the strongest nation in the world, whose ancestors had, as God's pawns, earlier completely destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel.  And now, here stands Nahum foretelling God's plan regarding the complete and utter destruction of Assyria.

A few thoughts:

• A brutal as the Assyrians were, Nahum must have experienced some fear to deliver this message.
• It is hard to wrap the mind around God using such brutal people as his pawn to also earlier utterly destroy the northern tribes of Israel.  Certainly these lost 10 tribes of Israel had utterly offended God for him to destroy them in such a horrific way.
• Sometimes my worldview gets mushy and needs reminding that God is creator of all, and is sovereign of all.  Evil nations may rattle the sword and speak of Jihad, but at the end of the day they will all fall in step with God's plan, and those who are not his elect will be destroyed.  And, as Isaiah foretold, someday there is to come a final judgment where all will be destroyed except God's elect.

A great many post-moderns balk at the language, and the picture of God in Nahum's book.  A jealous, avenging God in not instep with the hill-singing Coca-Cola "christian".

Nonetheless, here stands Nahum professing God's message, and history bears testimony to Nineveh's fall.

The Book of Isaiah, Goose Bumps, and a Clear Picture of God and His Plan

 Bible in a Year Series - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to take some time off from this blog as we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on a two week romantic tour of some of the Caribbean's best resorts.

In an effort to get back on track, I am going to have to cover large blocks of very precious sections of the Bible.

From the InterVarsity Press New Dictionary of Biblical Theology:

"...there is no other book in either Testament which comprehends the whole of biblical theology so completely as does Isaiah. Here the terrifying holiness of God is depicted as clearly as it is anywhere in the OT, but also the unchanging grace of God is depicted as clearly as it is anywhere in the NT. Thus in many ways the book of Isaiah offers a summary of biblical theology."

In our chronological reading, we have seen Israel destroyed, and interestingly, in the middle sections of the book of Isaiah, God is speaking to comfort the future Judaean people who will be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar 200 years hence.

As I was listening to the ESV Study Bible's audio recording of chapters 40 and beyond, where God is speaking in the first person through the prophet Isaiah, I literally had goose bumps all over my body.

Here, God makes it known, in no uncertain terms, who he is:

...I am the Lord (Yahweh); that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,... (Isaiah 42:8)

I can certainly see a detailed study of the book of Isaiah in my future. 

My wife and I are currently going through the book of Romans with Dr. John Piper.  Perhaps Isaiah will be our next jaunt.

We are Celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary

More than one of you have inquired as to my whereabouts over the past few days. 

Please forgive me.

You see, I have whisked my bride to the Caribbean Islands for a very romantic 25th wedding anniversary vacation.

I thought, silly me, that I would be able to keep up with my daily posts here, as well as my daily posts for our The Roaming Boomers on-line travel magazine.

I was wrong! 

Actually, I probably wouldn't have a 26th wedding anniversary if I sat in my room all day creating posts for our Internet properties.

So, I'll be back.  I am keeping up on my daily chronological journey through the Bible, but I will not be making my normal postings until we return.

OK?  Forgive me?