Why Is God Doing This to Me?

We think God disciplines us because he is mad at us. When he rebukes us, perhaps taking something away or frustrating a plan, we think he is saying, “You’ve had your fun, now you’re done.” That makes sense to us because that’s how we are. But he is different:

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

-Proverbs 3:11–12

In reality, our tender Heavenly Father is training us not to go in the ways of sin that will bring much worse upon us. It is his way of getting our attention. So when it happens, let’s learn the lesson well and thank him for it.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

-Psalm 84:11

The Reformed Doctrine of Pleasant Words

Since God rules all things, his word is supreme. As supreme, that word is not only powerful, but utterly delightful. It is pleasant to the human soul (though it is offensive to our sin and terrifying to God’s enemies). But the believer understands the pleasures of God’s word. Our dear brother Solomon had the privilege of enjoying this pleasure as he pondered and penned the very words:

The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

-Ecclesiastes 12:10

If God’s word was not pleasant it would not be God’s word, for he is the source of all pleasure. Let’s steward our taste for God’s word and treasure it always, for truth, and for enjoyment. As the catechism says, our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. For now, we do this mainly through the sweet, sweet delights of Scripture.

Quiz Some

I quiz some with my wisdom.

What a legendary line from Killah Priest. It’s clever and it’s funny. Much like the jolly Wu affiliate himself, wisdom has the effect of making one cheerful. Consider what the wisest of all has to say about the puzzley matter of wisdom:

Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

Ecclesiastes 8:1

What makes the hard furrows in our puzzled brow but our confusion at things? We don’t understand and so we are overwhelmed. But when we understand a thing, we are eased and even cheered. For we are no longer in the dark.

To understand a thing is not to control it. Interpreting anything (an event, a circumstance, a saying, a person, or even ourselves) is simply seeing it and accepting that it is what it is. We can’t orchestrate the waves of providence, and we are fools to stand against them. We can only hang 10 and get pitted. So pitted.

Christeamanity

There’s no I in team. Well, there’s also no team in Christianity (although that one does have an I—this is falling apart rapidly), but hear me out. With a little revocalization…voila! There it is: Christeamanity. A perfectly good neologism.

The Christian life is not a solo sport. Believers are supposed to squad up in local churches. So submit yourself to a local body of believers and step into the fullness of the Christian life. Just do it.

Always Reforming

You may have heard the Latin expression semper reformanda, which means always reforming. It is a principle of the Protestant Reformation that our work of reshaping our churches and our lives is never done.

So what does it mean to reform? It means that we must go back to the Bible again and again to examine the way we do things. Why do we do what we do? Is it because that’s the way we’ve always done it? Is it because that’s what our own minds tell us to do? Or do we do what we do because it’s written in God’s Word?

The Reformed Doctrine of Scaling Walls

Yeah, we’ve pretty much got it all in the Reformed tradition. Since we can do nothing apart from our Lord, every good thing we do is by his sovereign grace. And on that note, check out this banger from King David (Psalm 18:29):

By my God I can leap over a wall.

You’ve heard of the song “Break Every Chain.” One of y’all can make a Reformed remix called “Scale Every Wall.” Our almighty God will get us over whatever stands in the way of trusting and serving him.

The Christian runs into many an obstacle in the way of following Christ. What are we to do? Scale that mug. And keep it moving to the heavenly Zion.

Open Your Word Eye

“The wise have eyes in their heads” (Ecclesiastes 2:14). So there it is, the infamous third eye, or should we say third eyes? And why wouldn’t the mind have eyes? It sees invisible realities which cannot be perceived by the physical eye. Without it the two eyes of the face can’t even make sense of what they see. Truly, “what is seen was not made out things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

But not everyone has these eyes. What makes the difference? The wise person sees things as God sees them. Their mind has been opened to understand his word and through it to understand all things. It’s a way of seeing the world through Scripture, like a great lens upon the mind’s eye. Without it we are blind to the spiritual realities around us. So let’s goggle up with the word and see the most important things more clearly.

Orbology

What have the orbs to do with Jerusalem? Apparently very much indeed. I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis on medieval cosmology and the orb presents itself as a theme.

In short, when the ancients lifted their gaze and beheld the heavens arrayed in circles and spheres, they naturally asked the question, “Why?” Their answer was simple: all created order wishes to reflect its Maker as closely as possible. In this case, the heavenly bodies exhibit not only spherical shape, but circular motion. Of all the shapes, said they, the circle most nearly epitomizes the Divine Nature. A circle (and its 3D counterpart the sphere) has no corners, no shadow of turning, no sides or parts. It is all one. And as for movement, a circular path is also the swiftest motion. Thus, for some ancient and medieval thinkers, the heavens were populated by sun, moon, planet, and star orbs that, embedded into the transparent spheres of the heavens (look it up), moved in circular love for their simple, invisible Creator, who just so happens to be the God of the Bible and the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Not bad, eh?

Knowledge God

This week I’d like to share an awesome quote from one of my good friends, Stephen Charnock:

God knows the forms and essence of things, every circumstance; nothing is so deep but he sees to the bottom. He sees the mass and sees the motes of beings. His understanding, being infinite, is not offended with a multitude of things or distracted with the variety of them. He discerns every thing infinitely more clearly and perfectly than Adam or Solomon could any one thing in the circle of their knowledge. What knowledge they had was from him; he has, therefore, infinitely a more perfect knowledge than they were capable in their natures to receive a communication of. All things are open to him (Heb. 4:13).

Let us stand in awe of this amazing God who sees us fully and put our trust in him today.

The Reformed Doctrine of Coziness

It snowed last night, so coziness is all the vibes right now. Let us ransack this theme for spiritual riches. God comforts us with gifts and graces to keep us spiritually cozy as we march through this cold wilderness of a world.

His Presents

All good things we enjoy are God’s gracious comfort for us. All the spiritual blessings and riches of the gospel keep mighty company with us as well. What friends we have in the doctrines of grace! In addition, even the difficulties we pass through are full of the sanctifying presence of God to us in Christ.

His Presence

Above and beyond (and in and through) all these cozinesses of the soul, God has given us his own special presence. The Holy Spirit lives within us, that divine Person who is called the Comforter. Let us stay warm beside the fires of his fellowship as we press forward through task and trial toward our heavenly home.