Thinking Lightly

I've been slowly getting back into translating Romans from Greek to English, and recently my work in Romans 2 jumped out at me.  Here is my literal translation of Romans 2:4-

"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, being ignorant that the kindness of God leads you into repentance?"

Do you "think lightly" of God's kindness and forbearance and patience?  Is it a small thing to you, something that rests lightly on your mind and heart?  The truth of God's new-every-morning mercies in Christ is the most massive, weighty reality in the universe, a reality which should be daily, hourly crushing the sin out of our souls, taking our breath away, and bowing our hearts down before the throne of grace.

Yet too often in the church and in my experience, God's grace has been a small, light thing.  Too often I reckon "the riches of His kindness" to be more like a $5 bill and less like the inexhaustible, precious treasure that it really is.  Too many mornings, the patience of God is a small thing to me.  I rise with my alarm clock and go about my day, not stopping to realize in wonder and awe that God again caused the sun to rise this morning on millions of people-- myself included-- who deserved to die in their sleep and yet have another day of divine forbearance and mercy in front of them.  Think of it!  The sun rose this morning-- a testament to God's love for His enemies.  "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may  be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust." (Matthew 5:44-45)  And the same love for His enemies that the sunrise proclaimed this morning was also demonstrated, in an even more magnificently glorious way, on the cross.  "While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." (Romans 5:10).  Every morning, we should be staggered by the sunrise!

O, that the weight of God's kindness and forbearance and patience would fall with sin-shattering, joy-maximizing implications on His people!  By His massive mercy, may we today find His kindness to be wealth beyond compare, His forbearance to be an unending fountain of hope, and His patience to be a firm foundation of peace.

My Own Valley of Trouble

I'm still pondering the implications of the connections between the Valley of Achor in Joshua 7 and the Valley of Achor in Hosea 2 (see my previous post, "The Valley of Trouble."). I'm so grateful for seeing this glorious hope this morning. My friend Julie had simply made a remark about the sobering punishment for sin in Joshua 7, and the Holy Spirit connected it like a lightning bolt to Hosea 2 in my heart, and I've been awash in the revelation of mercy ever since.

I've been in "the valley of trouble" the last couple weeks. It's largely been an internal struggle, probably hidden from everyone except those closest to me, but it has been very hard. I'm still dealing with the fallout of my senior seminar class on the New Perspective on Paul from last semester, and feverishly working and praying to reestablish the precious truth of justification that somehow got dislodged in my heart. On top of that, as the job market has continued to deteriorate and my job prospects for next year have remained bleak, I've been struggling with doubt and fear and worry about the future. That's a very unusual struggle for me (not because of any particular godliness, but just because I'm generally a laid back dude), and it demonstrates the depth of the weakness that I'm dealing with in my heart. Those two two trials cascading through my life culminated last night with a heart-wrenching argument with my fiancee. So to put it mildly, I was really hurting this morning.

And that's why this connection has been so sweet to see. I'm right smack dab in the middle of my own valley of trouble, much of it brought about by my own sin (just like Achan), and there was not a whole lot of hope to be seen this morning. But the Holy Spirit came blasting into the darkness with this revelation this morning: God transforms the valley of trouble into the door of hope. It was precious, much needed encouragement.

And then, a few minutes after God revealed from His Word that He remakes the valley of trouble into the door of hope, He revealed that in my life. An email came from the Christian school that I had applied to work at but hadn't heard from in over a month-- saying that positions were open and that they wanted to set up an interview. Right in the middle of the Student Union, I sat at my table and cried. God had just opened a door of hope in my valley of trouble. I'm so thankful for His grace.

Such As I

This is a poem I wrote early this last summer, after reading Charles Spurgeon's Evening devotion for May 27th.  The devotion is based on 2 Samuel 9:8- "What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?"  Spurgeon writes, "If Mephibosheth was humbled by David's kindness, what shall we be in the presence of our gracious Lord?  The more grace we have, the less we shall think of ourselves, for grace, like light, reveals our impurity... At best, we are but clay, animated dust, but viewed as sinners, we are monsters indeed.  Let it be proclaimed in heaven as a wonder that the Lord Jesus should set His heart's love upon such as we are.  Dust and ashes though we be, we must and will 'magnify the exceeding greatness of His grace.'"  Pondering on that astounding and humbling truth, I wrote this poem called "Such As I."

Such as I, filthy unclean

One who cov'nants with the grave

Such as I, can You call me

Even I, condemned depraved

As one who cov'nants with the grave?

A worm and nothing more am I

And less, for I a sinner be

A rebel transgressed a thousand times

And all the curses fall on me

For I a cursed sinner be

How then can One so holy, pure

And set apart from mortal's death

Bear my curse and own my blame

Taking punishment from wrath,

Who stands apart from mortal's death?

Such as You, O Son of God

And gracious, incarnate Son of Man

Could e'er unite such great divide

And rescue me from Satan's hand

O gracious, incarnate Son of Man

Such as I, once stained with shame

Now spotless, blameless, faultless stand

Robed in white and washed in red

Before the holy Great I AM

I spotless, blameless, faultless stand