Give thanks for God's Divine Mercy!

I was watching an interview with Ralph Martin of Renewal Ministries this morning. I was reminded of how grateful I should be for the divine mercy of God. With this as a focus, I read again the scripture passage this morning taken from Psalms 31-32, Acts 23 (I have discovered that the biblegateway.com also has the NRSV of the Catholic Bible!).

In Psalm 31, King David was in great distress because of the enemies without and the turmoils within. This is how he described them:

• His enemies were "those who pay regard to worthless idols" (verse 6)
• They were adversaries who scorned him and abandoned him (verse 11), and who intended to harm him (verse 13)
• He felt ashamed and trapped and in need of a refuge (verses 1&4)
• His grief and sorrow were eating up his body and soul (verses 9&10)
• He felt broken and lost: "I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel." (verse 12)

 And this was his resolve:

• He chose to take refuge in the Lord (verse 1); He is the rock of refuge and a strong fortress (verse 2). I have the image of him cuddled up tightly in God's strong arms.
• He appealed to the great Name of God (His nature to protect His own) "You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me," (verse 3). God will do it - He will not share His glory with others!
• He committed himself to the faithful Redeemer: "Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God." (verse 5). God knows what is best for him. 
• Praise Him for His steadfast love! O praise HIM! "I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love," (verse 7); "O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you, and accomplished for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of everyone!" (verse 19); "Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me" (verse 21).
• Love Him and be faithful to Him! "Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily." (verse 23)
• Be strong! "Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord." (verse 24)

Psalm 32 is really a continuation of Psalm 31 in that King David resolved to:

• celebrate God's mercy (His forgiveness of his sins): "Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." (verses 1&2) 
• confess and not to keep silence (verses 3-5) and the faithful will be preserved! "You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance." (verse 7). This beautiful verse reminded me of the hymn "You are my hiding place".
• The deliverance is real! "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart." (verse 11)

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:15-20)

Here is another good hymn to listen to: Give thanks (with a grateful heart)

David and Paul and the Suffering of the Righteous

I am continuing the theme on suffering. In today's scripture reading (Psalms 13-15; Acts 19) King David poured out his heart to God when he faced his enemies who seemed to have the upper hand. Listen to his prayer:
"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall." (Psalm 13:1-4)

That's the beauty of the Psalms - such brutal honesty! If I can't be honest with my inner turmoil before Jesus, who else can I turn to? Like Simon Peter, I find these words truly precious in times of troubles:
"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”" (John 6:66-69)

Likewise Saint Paul met with resistance and death threats everywhere he traveled. Here in the great city of Ephesus after some initial success of leading both Jews and Greeks to the Lord, then a riot started. And yet, Paul remained committed to reach the lost souls. "After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.”" (Acts 19:21). Paul knew the dangers that lied ahead (see Acts 20:13-38). We know that's where Paul became a martyr.

So this is what I learned today. When I suffer, do I turn away from the Lord? Or do I all the more commit to trusting Him - "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise for he has been good to me." (Psalm 13:5-6)
Instead of wallowing in self-pity I must remain firm in obeying His command to reach out to others in His Name. The Lord is not finished with me yet. Towards the end of Paul's life, he wrote to encourage His son (in the Lord) Timothy:
"Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."
(2 Timothy 4:8)
Let me keep my eyes focused on the end goal - to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Elihu and the Suffering of the Righteous

This is the first week of my retirement! I hope to be able to spend more time on scripture reading and prayer. I have also developed an interest on the theology of suffering. Lord Jesus, help me to be prepared for what is to come! Lord, help me to offer up all my suffering for your glory!

Today's scripture reading is on Job 36-37 (the last two chapters of the 6 chapters devoted to Elihu). Elihu is the young man who came on the scene after Job's three other friends had an unsuccessful debate with Job on explaining his suffering. Elihu presented a fresh explanation and rebuked Job for his wrong perception of God through his suffering. John Piper (Desiring God) had a lovely sermon on this. He explained Elihu's view on suffering:

"At least part of Elihu's understanding of why the righteous suffer has to do with this residue of pride in the life of the righteous. We see the first explanation of his view in 33:14–19. He describes two ways God speaks to man: by his word and by suffering. These were the days before Scripture, so the word of God takes the form of visions and dreams. He says,

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men, and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn man aside from his deed, and cut off pride from man; he keeps back his soul from the Pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
Man is also chastened with pain upon his bed, and with continual strife in his bones.

So Elihu puts the pain of sickness and visions of the night side by side as two ways that God speaks to man for his good. Verse 17 describes God's purpose: "That he may turn man aside from his deed, and cut off pride from man, and keep back his soul from the Pit."

In other words God's purpose for the righteous in these dreams and in this sickness is not to punish but to save—to save from contemplated evil deeds and from pride and ultimately from death. Elihu does not picture God as an angry judge but as a Redeemer, a Savior, a Rescuer, a Doctor. The pain he causes is like the surgeon's knife, not like the executioner's whip."

"Elihu's teaching, then, is that affliction makes a righteous person sensitive to his remaining sinfulness and helps him hate it and renounce it. Suffering opens the ear of the righteous (v. 10). The psalmist said the same thing in Psalm 119:71, "It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." There are dimensions of godliness that the righteous can only learn through affliction.

So the new slant that Elihu gives is that the suffering of the righteous is not the fire of destruction but the fire that refines the gold of their goodness. For the righteous it is not punitive but curative."

"The suffering of the children of God is not the firm application of a principle of retributive justice. It is the free application of the principle of sovereign grace. Our Father in heaven has chosen us freely from before the foundation of the world, he regenerated us freely by the work of the Holy Spirit, he justified us freely through the gift of saving faith, and he is now sanctifying us freely by his grace through suffering according to his infinite wisdom."

John Piper then finished his sermon by quoting these previous verses from scripture:
"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."(1 Peter 1:6–7)

"Our Father disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:10–11)

"We were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8–9)

"Therefore, count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2–4)