Seeing God Behind the Headlines

I read about pain and suffering and tragedy, all in the comforts of a typical suburban American home, while scrolling through the Wall Street Journal on my Macbook, feet resting on plushy cushions, chips near at hand. I can walk across the room to a fridge packed with food or open my closet to a myriad of different outfits. 

Suddenly I look at everything, and I cannot believe that I live among the lucky few, while millions are living in pain and suffering and hardship. It seems hypocritical to read about India's caste system, where untouchables earn less than $4 a month cleaning out latrines and shoveling out human excrement, and then later spend $4 on a Starbucks drink. It saddens me to contemplate the raping and killing and brutality carried on by Boko Haram or the Islamic State. Such brutal murder and anger and fear throughout the world, such trauma as people are beheaded and killed for their faith, as families flee from all they know, all they hold dear.

And here I am. Typing on my Macbook, indecisive over today's outfit or lunch, worrying about PSATs and subject tests and getting all my schoolwork done. 

In times like this, when I feel so useless and hypocritical and monstrous in this safety and comfort and wealth, when I ask the whys and I cannot understand the seeming contradiction, I pray. The only comfort I can rely on on this earth comes from above. And in dark times like this, I am led to the Rock that is higher than this storm of havoc and destruction, and I am comforted by God's attributes. In this pain, in these horrific circumstances of death and suffering, He is sovereign and He is good. 

He is sovereign.

And I stare at those three words until they can penetrate into this thick skull of mine, until they form a picture of God wielding the conductor's wand, holding the painter's paintbrush, molding the clay. The earth is His footstool. He is in perfect control. All this pain, all this destruction is part of His plan. Nothing happens outside of His control, not even all this.

In fact, I know how this story ends. It ends in a fantastic display of God's goodness and holiness and justice, where all tongues from all nations will bow down in worship and recognition of who God is. Just like the cliche action novel, before the author concludes his tale, things seem dark and unreasonable. It seems impossible that the hero or heroine will ultimately escape from all this madness and things will be made right. Yet, at the end of the novel, all is well and everyone lives happily ever after. In the same way, we already know this story has a good ending. This evil in the world will pass and fall away, but my God will reign forever on high where there is no pain, death, or sorrow. 

And so I trust Him. I delight in His sovereignty and supremacy and control.

Even though news headlines are hard to reconcile, even though I cannot understand why these awful things are occurring, I know and believe and recognize God's hand above it all. There is a reason for this madness. And because this is all part of His plan, because I can see the magnificent conclusion of this story, I trust Him.

God is just.

My heart cries out for justice when I look at pictures of murdered civilians, when I see the faces of families fleeing their hometowns, or when I see the corruption in the world and how the rich thrive on top of the bones and blood of the oppressed. In these moments, when my passion spurts out in red flames and I cannot hold within me the anger directed at these men with guns and knives, I recognize that God is just, and justice will be delivered to each individual. 

Justice.

That word brings me to terms with my past. For I deserved death. I deserved a living, eternal, forever kind of death. I was no different than these murderers. My heart was just as black as these killers and the people they murdered. I was once one of them, and only by God's grace did Jesus regenerate my broken heart. I have received grace. Yet who am I to hate other sinners when I was once like them? 

I demand justice. Yet, do I truly know what I'm asking for? Because justice would require an extermination of all unbelieving human life, including my agnostic or atheist friends alongside Islamic terrorists. Which leads me to a recognition of the importance of God's patience and timing, as well as His justice. Not only do we serve a just God, but we serve a patient God, who desires that people come to know Him. 

Justice will come. In the meantime, I wait with Him, for the predestined to repent, for His children to believe, and for all to bow one day before His throne.

God is good.

This sin and death and misery is because of us. We fell into depravity. Our hearts became desperately sick. We rebelled against our Creator, and because of our rebellion, pain and death and suffering came into the world. The evil in this world is a result of sin, not a creation of our Heavenly Father.

In fact, He sent His one and only Son, so that those who believe in His Name and surrender their lives to Him may have life. Instead of passively allowing us to remain trapped in this dark world, Christ unlocked the cage. All we have to do is to simply accept the cage is open and jump out. When we acknowledge and worship Jesus as Lord, when we repent and turn from our sins, we can be truly free. Because of God's free gift, because Christ died so we have a way out of this dark world, we can live life here on earth with rich spiritual blessings and the hope of an eternal life with the King.

And so, though headlines and newspapers may shake my emotions, I know and believe and delight in the fact that my God is sovereign and just and good. Even though I don't understand, though I may never understand the height and depth and width of God's ways, I trust Him. He is faithful. The best is yet to come.

Understanding the Culture: Noah - Heresy Played in Theaters

Noah was a direct, heretical mockery of Noah, Scripture, and God. 

And here's why.

1. The plot *spoilers alert*

The whole film was painful. The Watchers, fallen angels who were banished from heaven because they helped Adam and Eve, beings who looked like a cross between Transformers and ents. Because fallen angels aren't demons by any chance, but nice little rock giants who helped Noah's family build the ark. 

Also, how the animals were innocent and the ark was built to save them, not mankind. How those who ate meat were portrayed as living devils, while Noah and his family were commended because of their vegetarian, subsistence living, only taking what they needed to the point of not even picking wildflowers. How there were only 6 of Noah's family on the ark, plus one evil man who snuck in to kill Noah. How Noah decided God wanted him to kill everyone for their sin, to the point of almost murdering his own granddaughters to prohibit new life.

Two psycho guys with knives on the ark. Great. Now where was that in the Bible? Where was Ila and the miraculous healing of her barrenness? Or drugging the animals so they slept peacefully on the ark? Really. One needs only to turn to Genesis 5-9 and read the true historical account found right there in God's Holy Word. 

The plot bothers me. It bothers me when a producer, a mere man, would choose to interpret and change and twist the Word of God into some sort of fantastical story, a myth of fire and healing powers. Nothing more than a mere story. Is that how the Word of the Living God should be portrayed? As a book of fairytales? Not only does Noah mock Scripture, but it mocks God. It derides the power and goodness of God when the story of Noah is portrayed as an illogical fairytale, instead of the historical account of God's faithfulness to a righteous man.

2. Noah

God didn't pick Noah because he was good. God chose him because he was mass-murderer material, a man who could destroy all of mankind, including his own family. Or so it goes in the film. Because according to Noah, Shem had a wife named Ila who was barren. When she was magically healed by Methuselah and became pregnant (show me that in Scripture), Noah threatened to kill her babies if they were girls, so the human race would end. He believed in original sin so strongly that he wanted to carry out justice for God. Yet he looked down on those babies and he couldn't kill them. To quote Ila, he "saw the goodness in man." He chose to have mercy and love, rather than "obey God."

Actually, as a side note, for those who are pro-abortion, would they agree with Noah's decision to murder the babies? Would they remain consistent with what they believe and simply accept the murder of the innocent? I wonder...

Anyway, I have three problems here. 

The first: Noah was not chosen because he could complete the task of destroying mankind and saving innocent animals. According to Scripture, God chose Noah because he was righteous and feared God. Scripture says he was righteous and blameless, and he walked with the Lord and found favor in His eyes (Gen 6). Truth is, God hates evil, and though Noah was still born sinful, Noah feared God. Noah followed after Him. And that separated him and his family from the rest of the world. 

The second: The film teaches that the goodness in man outweighs the evil within us. And that is heresy, pure lies. We deserve hell. We have rejected God. There is no one good, no, not even one, and our hearts are desperately sick. When we die, we will go to hell because God's standard is perfection. We all have sinned. And no matter how many good things we do, God will judge us because of that sin. We cannot be good enough on our own. Our good deeds are like filthy rags in God's eyes, and the little good we do cannot even compare with our wicked hearts.

The third: Obeying God is more important than "love". Let me first go back and point out that God never commanded Noah to kill his own family. This part was strictly never in the Bible but added in by the producer. Also, God will never call us to go against His commandments and murder someone and take justice in our own hands. Let that stand as a warning to us to correctly interpret what we think is God's will in the light of God's Word. However, this movie reminds me of Abraham and Isaac. There, God did command Abraham to sacrifice his only son. At the last second, God stopped Abraham and provided a ram as a replacement for Isaac, both to test Abraham's faith and provide an example of what Christ would do for us on the cross. We see here that Abraham chose to obey God and was rewarded for his faith. Obedience to God should come before everything and anything. 

3. Testimony

After I watched this movie, I wondered to myself what an unbeliever would think of such a illogical, strange, and mythological work of fantasy. After seeing Noah, would it cause a hunger to know God, this powerful Creator who designed everything and who loves justice, yet has mercy? Would it produce a desire to talk about the things of God and ask other Christians more about what they believe? It's doubtful, but perhaps.

And even for Christians, is this movie beneficial? Does it cause a praise and adoration of God or an appreciation for Noah's faith and righteousness? Does it make us admire his trust in God and his steadfastness and perseverance? I think not. I think not. 

-

Noah was a disappointment. I had heard negative things about it, but never had I dreamed Noah would be portrayed as someone who thirsted for murder or the animals pictured as the main point of building the ark. I never dreamed that such a strong pro-vegetarianism and environmentalist mentality would pervade the entire film. And that saddens me. I wonder what God thinks when He looks down on this film. I wonder what He feels when He sees Himself portrayed as a fantastical being or his servant Noah as a person who refuses to pick wildflowers.

Yet at the same time, I pray that God would use this film, even in its brokenness. That coworkers and friends and family would ask about the Truth, that conversations would blossom, that the Gospel would be proclaimed and the truth shared. God can use even the weak and broken and diseased and secular as Areopaguses to display His glory.

When 490 Seems Too Big

70 times 7. 

1. 

And I stare at that number one. I stare, until that single digit is tattooed onto my brain. I stare, hoping if I stare enough and grasp the simplicity of the digit, forgiveness will become easier in the process, and my bitter heart will be able to open up and truly love those I despise. 

But some days, forgiving even once seems impossible. For when there is so much anger and hurt and bitterness, how can I simply embrace someone who caused me so much pain and regret? How can I forgive mistakes and inconsiderations and words?

Lord, how can I forgive? 

How can I forgive the simplest of mistakes, the slightest of inconsiderations, the shortest of words? And if I cannot even forgive the little things, how can I pardon the big things? The thick scars upon my heart that prevent me from forgiveness. The words said to me that I've never shared with anyone, words that still cause tears, and with them, anger. 

Yet, in my bitterness, I cannot justify myself entirely. I think upon the words I've said, the deeds I've done. Those words are inscribed upon my heart too, words that hurt many and still bring me the deepest shame. My actions fall short also, actions full of insensitivity and blunt cruelty. 

My finger strokes the surface of my heart and comes away grimy. 

But in this depressing pit of anger and hatred, my thoughts move beyond me to Christ. He never wronged anyone, yet the world wronged Him. And though we acted towards Him in hostility, bitterness, and hatred, He dealt with us in unconditional love, leading ultimately to His death on the cross. Despite the pain we caused Him, Christ died for us. And because Christ died for us, so we must also forgive, for the entirety of our debt has been paid in full. 

So 490. A huge number. 

But say we've sinned 10 times a day. 
10 times 365 times about 17 years. 
That equals 62,050.
I've sinned a minimum of 62,050 times in my lifetime. 

If Christ has forgiven me more than sixty-thousand times, how can I withhold my forgiveness from anyone? How can we demand pennies from our neighbors when Christ has cancelled our trillion dollar debt? How can we stand in hypocrisy, condemning those who inflict our hearts with paper cuts, while we ourselves crucified our Savior on the cross of our sin?

I am utterly self-righteous.

Christ's example puts me to shame when I examine the bitterness of my heart, as I see how willingly and sacrificially He loved His enemies. Enemies who deserved eternal judgement and everlasting death and His righteous hatred but yet received agape love, adoption into the kingdom, and spiritual regeneration.

Forgiveness is a battle for me. It's hard to disregard the scars upon my heart and welcome those who hurt me with open arms. It's hard to show them Christ's love. And some days, it's a continual process of a renewed hatred remolded into love. But it's a process of sanctification, where our hearts are continually fashioned to become more like our Savior.

Lord, teach me forgiveness. Reveal to me the extent of my sin and the enormity of Your love. Let my self-righteousness wither away at the sight of Your grace and mercy. It is hard to forgive. It is hard to love, Lord. But when I finally come to terms with what You've done for me, forgiving once seems a little less impossible. I recognize that I cannot forgive on my own, but it's because of You that I can love and forgive others. Give me a heart of love and compassion, that I may love others as You love them, unselfishly, unconditionally. I am weak, and often I fail. But You are strong and You delight in using those who are weak. So use me as a channel of love and grace, even to my enemies. I thank You for You are an awesome God, who has forgiven us beyond reason. May You would enlarge my heart to the same proportions as Yours.

To Love Missions is To Love Worship

Missions exists because worship doesn't.

Because people bow down before wooden idols in self-love and pride, recognizing and seeing only lies and an exaggeration of self, denying the glory due the One who deserves all praise.

And because there is this lack of worship and people fail to bow down before their rightful Creator, missions exists. A call to the peoples to know and obey and love their Creator God, to bow down and give Him the praise and honor He deserves. To worship. 

And to love missions, to love the salvation of souls, to love evangelism and discipleship is to love worship and desire God's glory. 

The true heart of a missionary is that God be praised and honored above all things.

God is most honored when He is worshipped. Missions exists because He is not completely glorified among His creation. 

Yet, a lingering question still remains unanswered. How is God glorified? How is God most honored and most praised? 

To quote Piper directly, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. 

In order for God to be glorified, we must be satisfied with who He is and what He's done for us. We must be content in His power and majesty and sovereignty. We must find fulfillment in His plan for our lives and His control over every circumstance. We must rejoice and find completion in Calvary's blood shed for our sins and delight in the resurrection of Christ. 

We must realize that God is enough. Enough to conquer our sin and give us love, joy, peace, and strength for each day. Enough to sanctify us until we are made perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, one day in heaven.

And when we find that God is enough, when God completely satisfies our desires, God is glorified and He is worshipped. 

But that leads us back in a full circle to missions.

In order for people to be satisfied in God, they have to hear of Him first. They have to grasp the enormity of the Gospel and Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. They have to confess their sins and acknowledge Him as Lord of their life. And only then they can worship and glorify their Creator in full satisfaction in the knowledge of Him.

Missions exists because worship doesn't. Missions exists because we are not completely satisfied in God and fail to bring Him honor and praise.

Yet missions also exists because of our thirst to see God glorified and honored and praised in the world, from every tongue, tribe, and nation. 

Mission exists because our satisfaction in Christ causes us to worship. 

As a believer, how can we not desire that God be glorified? How can we not desire others to find true satisfaction in Christ? How can we not pursue and delight in the pursuit of missions, whether through praying, giving, sending, or going? 

Missions is a command. A command for us as believers to seek God's glorification that all people might come to worship God for who He is.

So prioritize missions, with a heart and passion and desire for God to be exalted above the earth. God is great, and it is our privilege to honor Him as best we can.

{Inspired by John Piper's book Let the Nations be Glad}