Category: Bible (Page 17 of 395)

I find it challenging that one of the most hopeful sentences in the Bible lies in the middle of a lament about destruction. With a city in ruins, a culture in shambles, and formerly free people shuffling off as slaves, the author set down this line:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The writer described the plight facing the people of Jerusalem using phrases like the rod of God’s wrath, skin wasting away, and darkness without light. I’m astounded that even in the thick of carnage someone could perceive the tender-heartedness of God.

I usually experience these words as a praise chorus, in a setting surrounded by like-minded seekers. I’m standing there fed, clothed, clean and unhurried. I’ve left my well-furnished home and driven to church in my comfortable car. It’s a crime if I fail to recognize the mercies of God surrounding me. Yet I take them for granted.

Caught in a nightmare like few of us will ever experience, Jeremiah (traditionally held as the author of Lamentations) unearthed the grace and compassion of God. I pray I might find the same within the brighter circumstances surrounding me.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Photo by Aaron Burden

When suffering from a headache I want relief fast. I go look for some fast-acting pain pills in the medicine cabinet. But I don’t often equate compassion with speed.

The Israelite community suffered during the fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent expulsion to Babylon. They wanted relief fast, and so prayed: Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

These hurting people asked for the Lord’s care to arrive quickly, asap, without delay. Weren’t they the sheep of God’s pasture? Perhaps they felt some relief as they sustained the shame of exile and the loss of face, but a return to their former status was off the table.

Compassion rarely entails returning everything to its previous setting. These exiles, many of whom rejected the Lord during years of freedom, turned back to the Lord during years of exile. God’s long acting empathy emerged from the ashes of Jerusalem. Faith kindled once again into flame.

Difficult circumstances turned hearts back to God. The sheep looked once again to their shepherd. Maybe not as speedy as hoped, but that’s compassion at work.

Psalm 79:8

Photo by Dan Dennis

I’ve heard stories of people infected with flesh-eating bacteria, a rare infection that destroys skin, muscle and fat tissues. I’ve known many who deal with cancer of some type, much more common but no less deadly. People suffered from cancer in ancient times as well, but without our modern treatments. In medieval times some folks referred to cancer as the wolf due to its aggressive and destructive nature.

Perhaps this type of disease is what James had in mind when he blasted those who got rich off the backs of others: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

These wealthy individuals amassed their fortunes by cheating those in their employee: Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

A business owner who provides jobs with good wages and solid benefits blesses the community. Families flourish and towns develop into wonderful places to live. Such a man or woman earns the wealth they accumulate, and turns around and invests even more in their church and neighborhood. Good employers benefit us all.

James, however, went after those who accumulated wealth by defrauding and cheating others. They withheld pay after others harvested their fields, ensuring fathers walked home penniless and children went to bed hungry. It’s not clear why these rich landowners got away with their crimes, but they won’t escape judgement. Their ill-gotten riches will consume them like flesh-eating bacteria.

There’s something both hopeful and sobering in knowing that the cries of the mistreated reach the ears of the Lord. It reminds me to gratefully pay a generous wage to those who take on jobs for me, and gives me hope that in the end, despite the unfairness of our world, God eventually sets all things right.

James 5:1-6

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh

In a traumatic psalm describing the invasion of Jerusalem, Asaph laments the terrible suffering. With the temple defiled, blood poured out like water and bodies in the streets, he asks How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?

Asaph receives no answer. Yet he maintains his faith in the midst of horrible circumstances, and begs the Lord to remember the surviving outcasts. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!

Remarkably, Asaph neither wallows in despair or rejects God outright. He clings to the Lord, showing gratitude and reminding his nation of their standing before God. But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

The sheep of your pasture. Even as the Lord disciplined Israel for their rejection, Asaph turned to the only place for hope. Apart from the Lord all is lost, but with Him lies a future, even if it takes a generation or two before it’s realized. Remain in the Lord’s pasture, and eventually all things will work out for good. While we may suffer, our children and grandchildren and their children will benefit.

Which makes me ask, in whose pasture am I wandering? It’s easy to stray, and to quote the old phrase, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But while the grass may be tastier, it turns bitter in the stomach. The Lord puts boundaries in my life to keep me grazing in his meadow, the one sure hope for generation after generation.

Psalm 79

Photo by Michał Robak