God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
- Martin Luther
Psalms in the Night…
With so many wonderful Biblical promises and powerful examples of God's interaction with mankind, see Psalms of Delight, Psalms in the Night are a way of exploring and sharing some of the difficult and challenging thoughts, feelings and experiences God's people encounter while endeavoring to fully enjoy His presence and power, protection and provision. In ever more genuine and meaningful ways. For themselves and their children, family and friends.
Psalms in the Night are written in concert with Psalms of Delight. Both series contain Modern Psalms meant to comfort and inspire those seeking the Omni-God revealed in Scripture.
Goodness Of God Summary
The existence of God can be mathematically proven by literally the simplest equation possible: 0 + 0 = 0. Thus while Pascal’s Famous Wager may be incorrect in regards to the insufficiency of reason to decide the existence of God, logic alone is inadequate to prove Omnity’s goodness. This is due to the testimony of two key witnesses. Pain and Death.
On the one hand, mental and emotional, physical and spiritual pain plagues mankind in an variety of ways. Inflicted and experienced by friend and foe, nature and even we ourselves. To one degree or another, the very gift of existence itself seems to conspire against us. On the other, from babies and puppies to the incarnation and atonement, evidence abounds as to God's goodness. So how best can we answer such a glaring disparity?
The beauty of creation testifies of the goodness of God. Through our senses we experience the kindness of our Creator. We enjoy so many blessings of nature and nurture. From a mother’s love to a puppy’s lick. From the sun's warmth, to a sea’s breeze. From the miracle of consciousness, to our ability to communicate. Technology provides additional gifts through fantastic advances, the likes of which previous generations could hardly have dreamt.
Yet, the goodness of God has never before more marginalized, and even maligned, than today.
Adding insult to injury, “Life is hard and then you die.” Denial can only manage death for so long. Though it may seem so during the best of times, there is no forestalling death’s relentless advance.
Scripture sympathizes with our grave dilemma. A compassion perhaps best expressed in the following pair of passages addressing pain and death from eternity’s vantage point:
- “For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.” Romans 8:22-23 Living Bible
- “…In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!” 1 Corinthians 15:52-57 The Message
Even so, for those suffering in the here and now, such distant promises often provide little solace. A plight exacerbated further by the apparent silence and distance of God.
So how do we address our dilemma? On the one hand life can be nothing short of awesome! Filled with such wonder and joy mankind should continually dance and praise. On the other, billions have and will continue to feel the merciless lash of pain and death. We could start by taking a page from Job, who experienced more than his share of joy and agony.
Goodness of God
Modern Psalm in the Night 23
Interesting that this morning's modern psalm regarding Your goodness should be the 23rd in this series. The Bible’s Psalms 23 is clearly a prophecy concerning the sufferings of Christ on behalf of mankind. Without question, the price Jesus paid for our atonement, by His passion and crucifixion, is enough to forever settle any question of Omnity's goodness.
Yet, nothing could be further from the case. Two millennia later billions fail to believe in, much less honor and obey You. And while Christians today number 2.5 billion, most subjectively question Your goodness on a daily basis. Sadly, only a fraction diligently seek and serve You as Scripture requires.
Your apparent silence and distance doesn’t help matters. It's hard to believe what can neither be seen or heard. Jesus Himself points out that the work of God is investing one’s life in what seems all but unbelievable. No easy task given the challenges of loneliness and depression, bitterness and loss, illness and disease, financial distress and poverty. Not to mention the inevitability of pain and death. Omniscient, You understand better than anyone that in the face of human suffering, it's hard for mankind not to take issue and be angry.
Then again, from eternity's point of view, our judgment leaves much to be desired. For example, modern wisdom relegates Your existence to mythological status. We dare to cite Your unprecedented blessings of technology as evidence we've outgrown such archaic concepts as Creator or Savior. Others feel it perfectly natural to use the wealth You've bestowed to distract themselves from investigating the overwhelming reasons to believe in, much less obey, the God of the Bible. Filling their lives with endless amusements, billions fail to deal with life's ultimate questions that only genuine faith and experience in You can hope to answer.
We exacerbate our situation by failing to use our freedom and tremendous resource to love one another as Christ so clearly demonstrated and commands. Apathy and self centeredness are rampant throughout modern society and Churchianity. As our addiction to self grows, many find fault with You. Even while heaping unnecessary suffering on ourselves and others through an endless of array of vice and violence, mankind demands answers to a thousand variations of the question why?
While combatting temptation from the influence of our fallen culture, there's also spiritual resistance to deal with. The original sin of entitlement, which the Bible reveals sparked Lucifer's Heavenly Rebellion, has engulfed the Earth. Scripture discloses such evil is personified in an Evil One.
Myriads of Bible verses identify Satan as the mastermind behind much of human misery and woe. Deceiving and harassing humanity for millennia, he manipulates the affairs of men so successfully that Your Word refers to him not only as the "prince and power of the air" but "the god of this age." With this in mind, perhaps mankind's blaming the wrong god.
Our lives are complicated. On the one hand, the Bible explains we're caught in the center of an epic yet invisible drama with eternal consequences. On the other, there's beautiful babies and puppies everywhere. If it doesn't surprise me, how much less Omniscience, that there's so much confusion and unbelief. Life's filled with goodness. Experiencing the joy and wonder of holding a newborn for the first time makes it hard to imagine there's an unseen cosmic war raging across Three Heavens. Kissing precious and tiny fingers and toes, even faulty human love makes it inconceivable that a good and Omnipotent Heavenly Father could allow a hair on His children's heads to be harmed. In time. Much less eternity.
Nevertheless, billions have, are and will continue suffering in a thousand different ways. Despite the glory and goodness of creation, distress and death cast long dark shadows on You as our Creator. To such an extent that much of humanity's given up on God. One way or another the human race seems to be tapping out, throwing in the towel or worse. Hundreds of millions are down and out for the count, their faith beaten and battered by ancient malevolent foes. Many feel life, and by extension You, have been unfair. Clearly those truly suffering seem to have just cause. Others, feeling various degrees of alienation, respond to You the way they feel You respond to them.
Humanity's caught in a downward spiral. In a kind of Catch-22 You direct "taste and see that the Lord is good" promising "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Such an invitation seems rational and even gracious from Heaven's point of view. But on Earth, tasting what you can't touch and seeking Someone invisible and inaudible seems like nonsense. Few today are willing to make a serious effort to do so. Those who do often meet with disappointment. St. Teresa of Avila, after a frustrating event was rumored to have complained, "Lord, if this is the way You treat Your friends, it's no wonder You have so few of them!”
I've studied the Bible for decades. Long enough to realize if mankind followed Your commands life would be a thousand times better. Just loving our neighbor as ourselves would transform the human race. Yet who can deny we're largely blind to Heaven's wisdom and enslaved to worldliness? We’re snared in the perfect trap. Willfully ignorant, we overlook Your conditions for salvation and answered prayer, then wonder why we feel alienated and unheard.
You must appreciate our dilemma. The decks stacked against us. The universe is filled with at least 200 billion trillion suns and perhaps a trillion trillion planets! Each beginning and ending as a consuming fire. Yet from this perfectly fine tuned place and time, they appear lit.le more than a romantic canopy of twinkling stars. From our privileged perspective, every act of beauty and goodness seems to deny the specter of judgment. From falling in love, to the fragrance a violet sheds on the heal crushing it, life's filled with tenderness. All suggesting You're too kind to be feared. Conversely, suffering and evil in the world vilify the concept of a good God. From abject poverty, to the brutality of war, mankind's continually faced with the question of how a loving Creator could allow such pain.
Your reputation too seems caught in a Catch-22.
Then there's death and eternity. While the details are a bit sketchy, Scripture paints a picture of ecstatic excitement or horrendous horror awaiting every man, woman and child. Thankfully the Bible strongly suggests all children go to Heaven. Yet, while countless passages attest to the faithfulness of Your great love and mercy for mankind, others are equally clear "People die once, and after that they are judged." Additionally You warn we'll each give account for "every idle word,” “everything we have done” and perhaps our every thought.
Happily, the New Testament promises a glorious eternal future to those pleasing You. So much so, we're assured that "our present sufferings are not worth comparing" to the unending delight awaiting those hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your lord." Such promises are better than "good." In the words of Tony the Tiger "their GREAT!" But here's the rub. In the face of human sorrow and misery, pain and death, we're forced to trust in intangibles. Many define faith in this way. Belief in what can't be experienced or quantified.
This belies the purpose and power of Christianity. To completely transform genuine believers in the here and now. As evidenced by the Damascus road conversion of Saul the persecutor, to Paul the persecuted, as well as Paul’s greatest prayer. Not to mention Scripture’s repeated assurance that transformational faith equates to the presence, rather than absence, of evidence. A transcendent experience of the Kingdom within, without which, the constraints and demands of earnest discipleship make little sense. And hold even less appeal.
The problem then becomes how can we know if our faith is genuine and justified? Is there a God? Is He the God of the Bible. Are we obeying Him? Do we have an actual relationship with You, or like billions of others, just presume we do?
Admittedly, the overwhelming majority of mankind refuses to honestly seek you. But again, what's perfectly logical from Your point of view seems as ridiculous from an earthly perspective as playing basketball without a visible backboard, net or even rim. When the only evidence is no evidence, there's bound to be disagreements. If everything's subjective, no wonder there's so many varying religious viewpoints. Up to and including none at all.
Thankfully, there's overwhelming evidence for the Divine inspiration of the Bible. Even with the Your Word to guide us, modern Christianity's entangled in an awful mess. Snarled and divided into varied sects and denominations offering various gospels and versions of Christs. Yet, as they say in the Highlander franchise, “there can be only One.”
Many of the core tenants we agree on in principle fail to be lived out in practice. Through abortion alone, Christian Nations have covered the Earth in innocent blood, aborting our prayers, the power of the sacraments and perhaps our very salvation. All while "storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath."
Tragic as it is ironic, Your recent unprecedented blessings on the modern world are daily twisted into reasons to forget God. It's unimaginable that faced with humanity's planetary needs we refuse to intelligently pursue You. It's unfathomable that the very generation able to see with their own eyes the glories of the cosmos, and the intricacies of human life, should reject our Creator. And over a billion of our own offspring.
But here we are. What could possibly account for such arrogance and foolishness? Mankind's treachery's only surpassed by Lucifer's angelic rebellion. And with our unparalleled entitlement baring the earmarks of that original sin, it's certain we too have fallen prey to Satan and his devilish cunning.
Consciously or not, every man and woman must decide for themselves the issue of Your goodness. We set on the bench of our lives, weighing the matter as both judge and jury. Our initial assessment may appear to stem from this or that event, but sorting through the mounds of evidence takes a lifetime. Oddly, few are even aware that our individual trials have the most interesting and notable of Defendants. God Himself. Since Lucifer's rebellion in Heaven and ours in Paradise, God, the angelic and human races have been plunged into litigation. Heaven's citizenry may have rendered their verdicts quickly and decisively, but humanity’s spans billions of lifetimes. At each birth another judge is born, while simultaneously an additional witness is called and new evidence introduced.
We average thousands of thoughts per day. Over time our lives overflow with millions of moments of decision, each building on and influencing others. Everything we see and hear, think and feel moves our opinion of God. From the smell of flowers blossoming on a beautiful Spring day to a video clip of starving children, our opinion of You's constantly in flux. Often, with little or no thought, we acquit or condemn, delay or rush to judgment.
Many of our live’s individual cases are in continuance. Going about our day new witnesses develop, additional evidence is entered and further arguments made. Moved by momentary thoughts and feelings, some issues are settled, others plea bargained. Litigation may be open and shut or lengthy and arduous. Some issues are sensational, the talk of the town. Most are mundane, decided for better or worse, in the private chambers of our minds and hearts.
Creation vs. Creator is simultaneously argued in both Heaven and the human heart. It must be of great significance to You, and certainly of eternal consequence to the rest of us. Satan, as chief prosecutor and Devil, ladens billions of human minds with temptation and deception, entitlement and doubt. Christ, our Council, is Chief Witness before both Heaven and Earth, as well as humanity’s most outstanding evidence of Your goodness.
Central to the prosecution is the apparent absence of the Defendant. Argued invisible, and inaudible, unjust and/or nonexistent, Satan vilifies the Creator of neglect and worse. While such accusations are not easily overruled, far worse can be said of the one leveling them. Not to mention humanity itself. Ironically, we as presiding judges are powerless, with little or no understanding, localized, deceitful, and dependent for our very existence on the Defendant. Whom alone is Eternally Self existing, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent and Immutable.
Throughout human history, ten thousand generations of judges have convened and presided over their personal courts. Consciously and subconsciously issuing judgments either for or against You. The very One “in whom we live and move and exist.” Tragically, few realize the full weight of our decision. The eternal cost to our souls when banging our gavels in error.
Patriarch of Patience
We may feel alone contemplating our verdict regarding Your goodness. But according to Scripture that's not entirely true. From the ancient who dun-nit story of Job, to the present moment, the Bible declares mankind's caught in the crosshairs of cosmic war. Each and every one of us spiritual refugees in a world under siege.
Much is made of man's free will. Yet, given the realities of our situation, You know it’s frail and fleeting at best. By comparison to the physical universe, much less the spiritual forces at work around us, the entire human race was born yesterday and dies tomorrow. We're thinking, feeling sinful reeds. Soulish spirits in bloody meatcycles on skeletal sticks. Fearfully and wonderfully made, what do we know of our true nature? Much less Yours? In spiritual blindness we grope for understanding and explanation. To this day, like Job, we are tragically unaware of the heavenly wager being played out about and in us.
Though You declared Job "honest inside and out, a man of his word, totally devoted to God, hating evil with a passion" he suffered terrible human violence and apparent “acts of God.” His family and possessions were destroyed. His health and wealth decimated. All by the hand of an unseen Adversary. Standing firm, his test continued:
- "One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan, saying, 'And what have you been up to?' Satan answered God, 'Oh, going here and there, checking things out.' Then God said to Satan, 'Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him, is there—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn't work.' Satan answered, 'A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He'd curse you to your face, that's what.' God said, 'All right. Go ahead—you can do what you like with him. But mind you, don't kill him.' Job 2:1-6 The Message
- "Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes. His wife said, 'Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!' He told her, 'You're talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?' Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God. Three of Job's friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. Each traveled from his own country—Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, Zophar from Naamath—and went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, they couldn't believe what they saw—they hardly recognized him! They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering." Job 2:7-13 The Message
Few are willing to accept the obvious cause of Job's suffering and its ramifications for today. A cosmic bet. One You instigated and pursued. You knew that giving Satan an inch he'd demand a mile. You knew an evil unseen hand would “steal, kill and destroy” Job's most precious blessings and even children. An eternity before Your glorious angels were created, You knew the faithfulness of Your servant's heart. Before anything that is was, You saw Job's courageous response and heard his articulate cry of lament echoing through the annals of human history.
You also knew this patriarch of patience and suffering would bolster the faith and hope of billions questioning Your fairness and taking issue with God. In the face of relentless tragedy and affliction, You answered his prayer that his words might be recorded forever “chiseled in stone.” You revealed Yourself in a way he'd never experienced. Grant us discernment into the insights Job's costly lesson provides before rushing to judgment when disappointment strikes in our own lives. Give us the wisdom to know our place. Carefully considering and learning from the questions You presented Job:
- "Pull yourself together, Job! Up on your feet! Stand tall! I have some questions for you, and I want some straight answers. Where were you when I created the earth? Tell me, since you know so much! Who decided on its size? Certainly you'll know that! Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?" Job 38:2-3 The Message
- "Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things, explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean? Do you know the first thing about death? Do you have one clue regarding death's dark mysteries?" Job 38:16 The Message
- "Who do you suppose carves canyons for the downpours of rain, and charts the route of thunderstorms. That bring water to unvisited fields, deserts no one ever lays eyes on, drenching the useless wastelands so they're carpeted with wildflowers and grass? And who do you think is the father of rain and dew, the mother of ice and frost? You don't for a minute imagine these marvels of weather just happen, do you? " Job 38: 21-30 The Message
- "Who do you think gave weather-wisdom to the ibis, and storm-savvy to the rooster? Does anyone know enough to number all the clouds or tip over the rain barrels of heaven when the earth is cracked and dry, the ground baked hard as a brick? Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey and satisfy the appetite of her cubs as they crouch in their den, waiting hungrily in their cave? And who sets out food for the ravens when their young cry to God, fluttering about because they have no food?" Job 38:36-38 The Message
- "God then confronted Job directly: ‘Now what do you have to say for yourself? Are you going to haul me, the Mighty One, into court and press charges?' Job answered: 'I'm speechless, in awe—words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth! I've talked too much, way too much. I'm ready to shut up and listen.'" Job 40:1-5 The Message
- "God addressed Job next from the eye of the storm, and this is what he said: 'I have some more questions for you, and I want straight answers. Do you presume to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint? Do you have an arm like my arm? Can you shout in thunder the way I can? Go ahead, show your stuff. Let's see what you're made of, what you can do. Unleash your outrage. Target the arrogant and lay them flat. Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees. Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them!" Job 40:6-12 The Message
- "Job answered God: "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans. You asked, 'Who is this muddying the water, ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?' I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head. You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.' I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise!" Job 42:1-6 The Message
A dramatic story. In the end You blessed Job even more than in the beginning. You used his experience to reveal remarkable truths. I'm thankful the Bible records the efforts, laments and complaints of patriarchs, psalmists and prophets struggling to make sense of the human condition. Groping and groaning, help us master the lost art of intercession as they did. The End Times draw nearer every day. As You warned, the Earth's becoming a spiritual wasteland. Already humanity's shell shocked. Even in this time of previously unknown wealth and unprecedented blessings, billions are morally dazed and confused. More than anyone, You appreciate how badly mankind needs You. Grant our lost and deceived generation the grace and gift of repentance. Along with a new Pentecost with an immediate global impact of a million upper rooms. Increase and empower our faith. Pour out the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit on Your own people. Open our minds, so often deceived by Satanic resistance. Let us say along with Job "I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!"
I’m sorry we constantly ignore and marginalize You. At other times our thoughts and words against You are harsh and ill conceived. All the while, billions of times a day, mankind takes You and Your blessings for granted. Worse, contrary to Your clear commands, countless millions use the very life and freedoms You provide to harm themselves and others. All this, while having the audacity to question and even cast dispersions on Your goodness.
I confess that should I be interrogated as Job, I'd fail the test. With less than a tenth his faith and undoubtedly a hundred times his sin, I've a thousand times more reason to keep quiet. Yet, for better or worse, scores of modern psalms, hundreds of articles and thousands of observations prove I'm too foolish or desperate to do so. Clearly unworthy to be compared to godly men, much less Abraham, the Father of our Faith, might I dare speak plainly as he did when interceding prior to the archetypal destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
- "Abraham confronted him, 'Are you serious? Are you planning on getting rid of the good people right along with the bad? What if there are fifty decent people left in the city; will you lump the good with the bad and get rid of the lot? Wouldn't you spare the city for the sake of those fifty innocents? I can't believe you'd do that, kill off the good and the bad alike as if there were no difference between them. Doesn't the Judge of all the Earth judge with justice?' God said, 'If I find fifty decent people in the city of Sodom, I'll spare the place just for them.' Abraham came back, 'Do I, a mere mortal made from a handful of dirt, dare open my mouth again to my Master? What if the fifty fall short by five—would you destroy the city because of those missing five?' He said, 'I won't destroy it if there are forty-five.' Abraham spoke up again, 'What if you only find forty? 'Neither will I destroy it if for forty.' He said, "Master, don't be irritated with me, but what if only thirty are found?" "No, I won't do it if I find thirty.' He pushed on, 'I know I'm trying your patience, Master, but how about for twenty?' 'I won't destroy it for twenty." He wouldn't quit, 'Don't get angry, Master—this is the last time. What if you only come up with ten?' 'For the sake of only ten, I won't destroy the city.'" Genesis 18:23-32 The Message
Nevertheless billions have, are and will perish. Particularly if, deservedly or not, we continue being deafened by Your silence and distance. Scripture's clear You need no counselors, Your wisdom’s farther above reproach than the Heaven’s are above Earth. You went way beyond the extra mile through Christ's atonement. I confess that in many ways we're the problem, and as such are getting the just treatment and eternal judgment we may deserve.
But even I can see such an ill fated match up as sin above, about and within vs. frail, fallen and foolish humanity will end badly. Of course, You'll be justified and extolled for Your holiness and Divine restraint. As in the parable of the man who comes at midnight, with You are “a great multitude, which no man could number" finding at “Your right hand pleasures forevermore." And just like in that parable I keep knocking, hoping You’ll get up and give us what we so desperately need. Over 7 billion of us. Men and women, fathers and mothers, grandpas and grandmas…
Not to put too fine a point on it but, “Master, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Thankfully, Jesus is the "Way, the Truth, and the Life." Yet even while declaring the good news You warned, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Modern Christianity believes they're exempt from such admonition, yet rather than teaching the false doctrines of easy believism and eternal security, the Bible commands us to work out our “salvation with fear and trembling."
It’s not just the wicked You warn. Take the terrible parable of the Ten Virgins. Virgins suggest purity. All ten believe in You. All ten go out to meet You. All ten have lamps as burning testimonies of genuine faith. Yet You reject half for not having taken extra oil. John’s Revelation as well records You judging Your Church harshly. And if that’s Your faithful and suffering 1st century Church, God help modern Christianity. Particularly when You warn the whole unprofitable lot of us, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the Earth?”
Your plans are perfect. Our lives are anything but. I'm thankful that while we often feel separated from God, You've not left us alone. Your Holy Spirit, with whom we so often strive, bares with us still. Grieved, if not blasphemed, billions of times a day, He abides faithful to those genuinely seeking God:
- "That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." Romans 8:18-28 The Message
Finally, I worship You for Omnity’s simple and gracious requirement of humanity. Knowing “we are but dust,” You ask nothing more from us than to love each another:
- "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.." Micah 6:8 New International Version
- "Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love." Romans 13:8-10 The Message
- "Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges...You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: 'Love others as you love yourself.'" James 2:5,6,8 The Message
- "So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you." James 2:12-13 New Living Translation
- "The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay." 1 Peter 4:7-9 New Living Translation
It's also a testament to Your goodness that even when demanding total devotion from the human race, it's our good Your thinking of. Scripture records Jesus being asked the ultimate question of how we can get to Heaven only twice. Both times, loving one another summed up the equation:
- "One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: 'Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus replied, 'What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?' The man answered, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' 'Right!' Jesus told him.'Do this and you will live!' The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' Luke 10:25-29 New Living Translation
- "One day one of the local officials asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?' Jesus said, 'Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don't you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.' He said, 'I've kept them all for as long as I can remember.' When Jesus heard that, he said, 'Then there's only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.'” Luke 18:18-22 The Message
From mankind’s perspective, Your complete identification with the needy, and singular desire that humanity love one another, should qualify as the very definition of goodness. In light of Christ's Golden Rule, pointing a finger at God and questioning Your goodness, haven't we more pointing back at us? Like the moon, we're created to reflect Omnity's goodness. Yet, as in Jesus' warning of the Rich Young Ruler, not to mention the Rich Man and Lazarus, we often refuse to do so.
Please break in on our story of our lives. Help us see with better eyes and hear with better ears, that our hearts and minds might be enlarged. Answer the Apostle Paul's greatest prayer by forgiving our sins and granting us to be filled with Your fullness! Let us take our place as Your shinning “lampstand." A gloriously transformed "city on a hill,” overflowing with such power from on high that all might "taste and see that the Lord is good."
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For a hyperlink footnoted version of this article see eBook Quantum Christianity Introduction Volume 2
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