When God Asks A Question

When my kids were young, they asked lots of questions. How does the car engine run? What does that street sign mean? Why do I have to use good manners? And the one I heard more often than any other: When will we get home?

Questions are an important part of communication and of learning. If we don’t ask, we don’t learn. Many a teacher has said, “there are no dumb questions.” We ask questions to learn more about something—to acquire necessary information. We even ask questions to show another person that we are interested in learning who they are and what is happening in their life.

A question implies that we lack knowledge in some area. We need directions to a location. We need to understand the correct method or steps to accomplish a task. We need data or facts about a situation. We need wisdom and understanding. We ask so that we can know.

Questions God Asks

This leads me to a question: why does God ask questions in the Bible? Consider when Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3. They ran and hid from God and the Bible says, “the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ (v.9). Did he really not know where they were? Did he need directions to find their location? Of course not. God doesn’t need to learn anything; there’s no knowledge he needs to acquire. There’s nothing that he lacks. He sees all things, knows all things, and rules over all things (Ps. 33:13; Lam. 3:37-39; Is. 40:28; Heb. 4:13). He even knows what we are thinking and feeling before we do (Ps. 139:1-3). One commentary suggests God asks them this question, not about their physical location, but their spiritual location. They are no longer united to him as they once were. There is now a barrier between them. A sin barrier. He wants them to confess their sin, to realize the full significance of what has happened. But God does so with grace. He doesn’t seem to appear immediately after they sin, for they have time to create coverings for themselves. They likely hide out all night in the cover of the trees until morning. God doesn’t come stomping his way to them. He simply walks in the garden as he always did with them each morning. They then receive the due punishment for their sin—but grace upon grace!— they learn of a promised Redeemer to come (Gen. 3:15). He covers them with a sacrificed animal skin and sends them out of the garden.

God asks another interesting question in 1 Kings 19. This is the story of what happened with Elijah after he killed the prophets of Baal in the previous chapter. Queen Jezebel learns of it and promises vengeance against him. He flees in fear into the wilderness and says, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (v. 4). An angel attends to him, feeds him, and he rests. Then he goes to meet with God on Mount Horeb. There God asks him a question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v.9). Is God surprised that Elijah has shown up at the mountain to see him? No. God sent an angel to attend to him, to strengthen him so that he could journey to the mountain to speak to him. Elijah responds by recounting all that he had done as a prophet and how God’s people continue in their worship of false gods. God then reveals himself to Elijah and not in the way he expected. He reveals himself not in wind, earthquake, or fire (ways in which he showed himself to Moses and the people on Mt. Sinai) but instead, in a gentle whisper—in silence (vv.11-12). God then asks him again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 13).

God asks so that Elijah would see what brought him to this place—his fear, not of God, but of Jezebel. Elijah believed he had failed in his job. He believed God’s people would never turn from their sins. He believed he was all alone. And he saw Jezebel as greater than the God who rules the wind, the earth, and fire. He forgot that he was never alone. God was merciful to Elijah even as he complained and despaired and forgot the truth. Even before Elijah made it to the mountain, God met Elijah in his exhaustion with food and rest. He then told Elijah his plan to destroy the house of Ahab, save a faithful remnant, and provide a prophet to replace him. Even more, Elijah had feared death by the hand of Jezebel; God made a way for him to never face death (2 Kings 2:11).

What about when God asks Jonah a question? Many are familiar of Jonah’s story where he fled from God rather than obey him. He didn’t want to bring God’s word to his enemies and see them repent and God spare their lives. So he took a ship going the opposite direction and ended up in the belly of a great fish. He eventually—and begrudgingly—went to the city of Nineveh and called them to repentance. They did repent and God did not destroy them. Jonah then responds in anger. He says, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (vv.2-3). And God responds with a question. “Do you do well to be angry?”

In many ways, this is rhetorical. As readers, we know Jonah’s anger is not righteous anger. God doesn’t ask it because he doesn’t know the answer. He doesn’t ask it because Jonah needs to explain himself or justify his response. He asks it so that Jonah would evaluate his heart and see the sin that resides there and repent. He’s offering him the same opportunity God gave to the Ninevites.

When God Asks Us a Question

These three accounts make me think that when God asks a question, it might be for our benefit rather than for his. He asks questions so that we might learn. It’s no coincidence that each of these stories show people on the run, hiding from what they fear. But they hide because their fears are disordered fears. They hide because they don’t fear God with a holy fear—he isn’t great in their eyes. Someone or something else has become greater. Adam and Eve desired to be like God and sinned against him by eating the fruit. They realized their nakedness and feared standing before God in their shame. Elijah feared Jezebel and saw only her wrath and power, forgetting that the LORD of hosts never left his side. Jonah feared the loss of what he held dear; he feared the Ninevites would receive the grace he believed belonged only to the nation of Israel.

In each of these circumstances, they turned their gaze from God. They yielded their heart to something else. They forgot who he was. They forgot who they were. So God asked a probing question—a question that gets at the heart of their problem.

What question might God be asking of you or me today? Where are we spiritually? What has brought us to this place? Is it right and good for us to think or feel the way we do? God knows the true state of our hearts. He knows where our allegiances lie. He knows the ways our hearts are tempted to seek life and hope apart from him. He knows the false loves we turn to. He knows how we worship what we fear and fear what we worship and far too often, it’s not him.

God knows. The question is, do we know?

Photo by Artur Rutkowski on Unsplash

Remember the Wilderness

“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deut. 8:2).

Think back on a time in your life when you wandered in the wilderness. Perhaps you were without a job and as the months went by without a single job offer, you wondered if you’d ever find one. Or maybe you journeyed through the wilderness of physical pain. Your doctors ran test after test and you thought you’d never find an answer or relief. Maybe you journeyed through the wilds of grief, a journey that seemed unending. Whatever the journey, would you want to remember it? I don’t know about you, but such journeys I want to keep in the past. I want to forget they ever happened. But in Deuteronomy 8, Moses calls the people of Israel to remember their desert wanderings.

God’s people had wandered in the desert for forty years and they are about the enter the Promised Land. Moses describes their years of wandering as a time of testing and of discipline (vv. 2-3,5). During all those years, God provided for their needs. He fed them manna. He kept their clothes from wearing out. Their feet didn’t swell. They were never on their own; he led them by fire and a cloud. He brought them through the wilderness and to a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 8 is a warning for Israel as they exit the wilderness. It is a warning for them to remember who God is and what he has done. Because what happens when they forget? Pride and idolatry. “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (v. 17-18). When they forget who God is—the God who rescued them from slavery, who provided for them all their needs, the One upon whom they are dependent for all things—they exalt themselves. Such forgetfulness leads to arrogance, thinking they are the reason for their success.

Idolatry is second thing that happens when they forget the wilderness. “And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish” (v.19). Once they forget the God who delivered and sustained them, they then yield their hearts to false gods. It had already happened during their time in the wilderness. When Moses was on the mountain talking with God, the people had Aaron make them a golden calf to worship. As we know, they did not heed this warning for the Old Testament is filled with accounts of God’s people worshipping false gods. And as God promised in Deuteronomy 8, they experienced the punishment for it when they were taken into captivity.

On this side of redemption history, we too need to remember the wilderness. We need to remember how the Lord has carried us through past trials and temptations, through sufferings and hardships. We need to remember his provisions of grace. Not to wallow in it. Not to get stuck in the past. But so that our hearts won’t grow prideful. So that we won’t depend upon ourselves. So that we won’t turn to counterfeit gods and look to them for help and hope, deliverance and rescue. We need to remember the faithful love of our Father, who brings us through such wanderings in order that we would know him and depend upon him (see Heb. 12). He uses the wilderness to discipline and shape us—to transform us into the image of Christ. “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him” (vv.5-6).

Moses wants the people to remember God’s grace for them. In the next chapter, Moses points out that it is entirely because of his grace and his covenantal love for them—not Israel’s righteousness—that he brought them through the wilderness and into the land he promised: “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deut. 9:6-7). So too, God brings us through the wilderness and into the land of his goodness, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of his grace for us in Christ. We too are stubborn. We too rebel against him. We too turn from God to do our own thing. Praise him for his steadfast love and faithful grace!

In Deuteronomy 9, Moses recounts to the people how he interceded for them when they sinned and worshipped the golden calf (vv.18-29). His intercession is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, the One who would come as our perfect mediator. He too wandered in the wilderness, but in his wandering he never sinned. He didn’t give in to the devil’s temptation to pride or idolatry (see Matt. 4). In fact, Jesus responded to the devil with a quote from Deuteronomy 8: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). When we are forgetful—when we forget the wilderness and what God has done for us there—Jesus remembers for us. He stands before the Father on our behalf, interceding for us. And his righteousness covers us.

Let us remember our wilderness wanderings. Let us remember how God carries and provides and sustains by his grace. But above all, let us remember our Savior, whose own wilderness wanderings is credited to us.

All is Grace

The older I get, the more I see God’s grace at work in my life. It’s like looking back at a trail you’ve hiked and seeing how far you’ve come. When I look back over the years, I see how God has carried me. I see his generous provision, his wisdom, his strength. And while I’ve long known his grace, it seems that with age comes an increased awareness of it. An increased dependence upon it. An increased wonder at its magnitude.

For all is grace upon grace.

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

All is Grace

In many ways it’s simple
and easy to understand.
Explained in just a sentence,
drawn on a napkin by hand.

A tale of love birthed and lost,
of great beauty turned to shame.
Where glory was cast aside
and death was fanned into flame.

A curse laced with a promise—
a Savior would one day come.
To claim the lost and broken,
sin and death are overcome.

There’s more beneath the story,
of a thread woven throughout,
holding the parts together,
one we cannot live without.

Grace is the primary theme,
the story of all stories.
From beginning to the end
and all for God’s own glory.

Undeserved, unearned favor—
from our first breath to the last.
From work to food to shelter
and all the things we’ve amassed.

The rain that waters the earth
and the ground that brings forth food.
The sun that warms and gives light—
all gifts granted for our good.

The Spirit’s breath that wakes us,
the faith that makes us God’s own,
the forgiveness that cleanses us,
and the joy of being known.

God’s grace also changes us,
to the image of his Son.
Cutting away sinful flesh,
until all the work is done.

Take a look and you will see.
In each and ev’ry moment,
The Lord’s favor can be found—
his hand is always present.

So when you share the story
of our fallen human race,
Remember the constant thread
of God’s amazing grace.

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

Investing in Spiritual Health

In my younger years, I often took my health for granted. Oh, I checked in with a doctor at least once a year and if I was really sick, I sought medical treatment. But I generally gave little thought to my health, other than going to the gym and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.

But the older I get, the more I’ve focused my time and energies on maintaining good health. The more I find myself doing things to maintain the health that I have. The more my supplements have increased. The more time I spend at the doctor.

I see my chiropractor each month for chronic back problems and do stretching exercises each morning to prevent back pain. I see my dermatologist for a yearly skin check and use various creams and lotions each day to protect my skin from the sun. I get an allergy shot each month, regularly dust my house, and take medication as needed to prevent allergic reactions and asthma attacks. Not to mention annual blood work and other tests to monitor my health for any problems.

As one who only goes to the doctor when he is sick, my husband teases me for all these preventative measures. But I’ve learned the hard way that prevention is the best medicine. If I stop stretching my back each morning, I’ll soon find myself whimpering in pain. If I don’t take efforts to protect my skin, I’ll soon myself needing spots biopsied or removed—especially after all those years of soaking in the Florida sun!

I know I’m not alone in the pursuit of good health. Every year around this time we are bombarded with health and wellness ads. We are invited to invest in new exercise equipment, diet programs, and supplements. And to good effect: Americans spend over $4 trillion a year on health and wellness, not to mention all that we spend on medical treatment and prescriptions.

I looked at my calendar recently and saw several yearly check up appointments lined up in a row. As I thought about the time I invest in maintaining my health, I was convicted about my spiritual health.

Do I invest just as much time, effort, and attention to my relationship with God?

If I commit to my physical health in this way, should I not also commit even more to my spiritual health?

And what would it look like if I did?

The Apostle Paul wrote: “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). The time and money we invest in our physical health does have value. It is good to take care of the body God gave us. But such an investment is limited to just this life. The investment we make in godliness, in our spiritual growth, has eternal value. It pays dividends that will last forever.

What does it look like to investment in our spiritual health and growth? It’s not something elaborate or complicated. It’s doesn’t necessitate new inventions or technology. While it does take time, it doesn’t consume time we don’t already have. The method is the same as it was from the start: the means of grace. Prayer. Bible study. Worship. Communion. Fellowship with the Saints. God provides these means to strengthen us in our faith. He uses them to feed and nurture our souls. He uses them to change and transform us into the image of his Son. While commitment to a certain diet or exercise regimen may or may not produce the outcome we desire, commitment to pursuing the means of grace will bear fruit in our lives.

Paul also wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:24-27). Our pursuits to grow in holiness should be intentional, purposeful. We don’t want these pursuits to be aimless; they should push us forward to the goal. Further, Paul urges self-discipline in our appetites and passions—our sin nature— so that they don’t get us off track. This means the pursuit of spiritual health is not for the lazy. It takes work and effort. Our sin nature will want us to slack off and find reasons not to pray or study God’s word. It will find excuses for us not to attend church and worship our Savior. This is why Paul says we must “run that you may attain it” or as the NLT puts it, “run to win!”

The good news is that our efforts to pursue spiritual health and growth are not left to us alone. As Paul wrote elsewhere, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). It is God who ensures that we grow in the knowledge of him. He makes certain we have what we need to live for him (2 Pet. 1:3). He guarantees we finish the race. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Praise him for this grace at work in our lives!

As we invest in our physical health at the start of this new year, may not forsake our spiritual health. May we run the race of faith to win the prize of Jesus Christ.

Calvin on the Christian Life

If you could sum up the Christian life in one phrase, what would it be? It seems an impossible task. The entire Christian life in just one phrase? After all, if you’ve ever explored a bookstore and walked down the Christian Living aisle, you know just how many books are written on the subject. Thousands upon thousands. Each of my own books fall under this category. So how could anyone sum it up?

In John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, he sums up the Christian life in two words: self-denial.

Why self-denial? Calvin reminds us that we are not our own. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Our Savior redeemed us from slavery to sin and made us his own. We are united to Christ. We belong to him and are not our own masters. We now live for him. We are to let his wisdom and will rule our lives, not our own. Calvin writes: “We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal.”

A Life of Self-Denial

What does this self-denial look like? It’s the opposite of self-love. It is devotion to God. It is a life lived for his honor and fame. Calvin says self-denial is not about seeking the things that are ours, but that which is the Lord’s. We live for his glory. He writes: “For when Scripture bids us leave off self-concern, it not only erases from our minds the yearning to possess, the desire for power, and the favor of men, but it also uproots ambition and all craving for human glory and other more secret plagues.” For those of us who know the burden of the fear of man or who worship the idols of affirmation and success, the call to self-denial frees us from those things. It frees us from wondering what others think of us or for striving for the acceptance and affirmation of others. We already have God’s approval and acceptance. We are freed instead to live for God and his glory, to strive for the things that make him great and give him the honor he is due. This is gospel freedom!

Further, Calvin says this self-denial is seen in soberness (self-control), righteousness, and godliness. Paul describes this in Titus 2:11-14, ”For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” God not only saves us by grace, he also trains us by his grace to put off our sin nature and put on self-control, righteousness, and godliness. We live a life of self-denial as we cast aside our former way of life, denying what comes naturally to us in our sin nature. We are new creations, re-made into the image Christ, the one who bore the cross for us and calls us to take up our own crosses and follow after him (Matt. 16:24).

These efforts at self-denial have an end in sight. In this Titus passage, Paul reminds us of our hope in glory. We live in self-denial as we wait for Christ’s return and eternal life with him. As Paul says elsewhere, we are in the world, not of it. We are pilgrims, traveling in this world as citizens of another country. And when Christ comes to bring us to our true home, we’ll shed our sin once and for all. Don’t you look forward to that day?

Benefits of Self-Denial

In the Institutes, Calvin also writes of the benefits of living a life of self-denial. One benefit is having the right attitude of humility toward others, of counting others above yourself (Phil 2:3). Calvin reminds us that all we have and all that we are come as a gift of God’s grace; we cannot boast in ourselves. We are called to honor one another, do good to one another, and show forbearance to one another.

Calvin says this self-denial necessarily leads to seeking the benefit of our neighbors. The more we deny ourselves, the more we seek to help others. We are open handed and generous with what God has given us. We help others, not because they are inherently good or because they deserve it, but because of the image of God in them, “the image of God…is worthy of your giving yourself and all your possessions.”  

Another blessing of self-denial is that is helps us bear adversity. Calvin says there are many hard things in life that take place: “various diseases repeatedly trouble us: now plague rages; now we are cruelly beset by the calamities of war; now ice and hail…” In the face of such hardship, Calvin says many wish they had not been born, they rail against God, and accuse him of cruelty. But for the godly, for those who know they belong to God, “he alone has duly denied himself who has so totally resigned himself to the Lord that he permits every part of his life to be governed by God’s will.” No matter what happens, we trust in the grace of God, knowing he will meet all our needs, for we are the sheep of his pasture.

I’ve only highlighted a few things from this section of Calvin’s Institutes on self-denial in the Christian life. His work provides great devotional reading and I commend you to it. Above all, Calvin emphasizes the grace of God in Christ for us. The work of self-denial is not an outward work, done in the strength of the flesh, but an overflow of the inner work of a heart transformed by the grace of God. Ultimately, it is the process of shedding our old selves, and putting on the new self. It is conforming to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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For the Heart that is Overwhelmed

This is the time of year I most feel overwhelmed. That back to school, back to sports, back to parent volunteer duties, back to driving everywhere time of year. It comes on like a deluge and I feel as though I am drowning in responsibilities and places I have to be and worries I will forget to pick someone up.

But to add a pandemic on top of it all is a whole other thing.

Your fall may look far different from mine but I would venture to say you feel just as overwhelmed. We all are. Overwhelmed by losses, changes, and the unknowns. Overwhelmed by news reports and disheartening stories. Overwhelmed by what is happening in the world and in our culture. Overwhelmed by worries, fears, and stressors. Just when we think there couldn’t possibly one more bad thing to happen this year, we learn of another event. We try to cope with these emotions by reading and sharing memes that joke about 2020. If we could, we’d push fast forward on this year and skip ahead to the next, hoping for a brighter future on the other side of December 31st.

For some of us, feeling overwhelmed stops us in our tracks. We freeze in place and struggle to make simple decisions. Others of us might get out our to-do lists in an attempt to reign in all that is out of control. Still others may turn to distractions to get their mind on something else for a change. Often, feeling overwhelmed can lead us to look to false saviors for help and hope in the midst of the chaos. To be honest, I know each of these responses well.

And I’m still overwhelmed.

One of the things that weighs me down the most when I am overwhelmed is when I look ahead to the future. Whatever it is that overwhelms me, I simply can’t imagine bearing the load day after day. My resources are slim and I fear running out of time, energy, wisdom, creativity, and strength. I look at the calendar and fear I simply won’t have what it takes to get through the coming month. I look at all the responsibilities stacked up high and worry I can’t complete them. I consider all the things that could go wrong in the days and weeks to come and my worries press down on me even more.

All too often, I live there in the future, focused on what may or may not happen. I worry about not being prepared. I fear running short. I fear not having enough, not being enough, not doing enough. In doing so, I forget that God is greater than anything that may overwhelm me. I forget who he is and what he has done. I forget his extravagant grace in providing what I need most: salvation from sin. I forget he is Jehovah Jireh and all the times he has provided for me in the past. I forget how he has strengthened me in my weakness, sustained me in trials, and carried me in my sorrows.

I also forget that his mercy for me is new each day and his well of grace never runs dry. He is the source and wellspring of all that I need to live for him in this crazy and chaotic world. In fact, he’s already provided everything I need to live a life of godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Yet, rather than trust in God to strengthen and sustain me each day, I’m like the Israelites who collected more manna than they needed, thinking they would store it up for the next day—only to find it rotten and inedible. I live my life on the insufficient fumes of my own resources instead of the grace God generously provides.

The truth is God doesn’t call us to depend upon ourselves; he calls us to trust in him to provide what we need to live for him. He gives us just what we need for each day and promises to be there on the next to provide for us again. And he is not stingy with his grace, for as John wrote “he gives us grace upon grace” (John 1:16). God doesn’t tell us what tomorrow brings; rather, he calls us to follow after him, trusting he will lead and guide us. The Israelites did not know the path through the desert; God led them as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. He leads us today by his word and his Spirit at work within us. We may not have a map or know what tomorrow brings, but we are assured God is with us and will give us just what we need.

For all the hearts that are overwhelmed today, we need that gentle reminder that God is far bigger than whatever overwhelms us. He owns all things, keeps all things, and sustains all things. May we live in his grace today.