The God Who Carries

One of the things I love most about writing— whether it be a blog post, an article, or a book— is the opportunity to zero in on a topic in Scripture. Sitting still with one subject for a period of time helps me grasp anew its depth and breadth. I see things I never noticed before. My faith is strengthened and I’m filled with wonder at the riches found in God’s word.

This was certainly true when I studied and prepared to write Idols of a Mother’s Heart. As I read and meditated on God’s word, I discovered just how much the Bible talks about idolatry. The narratives describe idolatry in the hearts of God’s people, the prophets speak out against it, and our Savior redeems us from it. Spending so much time focused on the topic opened my eyes to realize how quickly my own heart turns to lesser gods and that God alone gives me what I need and long for most.

Idolatry and Isaiah 46

Currently, I’m reading through Isaiah in my quiet time, a book in which the prophet repeatedly exhorts God’s people to turn from idolatry and back to God. When we read of their history, we see over and over how they turned from God to worship false gods. We see it in Exodus, when Moses was on the mountain to receive the law from God and they crafted an idol out of gold and worshiped it. We read accounts of king after king setting up altars to worship the gods of the nations around them. Then in Isaiah, God pronounced judgment against his people for their sin.

“For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made” (Isaiah 2:6-8).

In Isaiah 46, the prophet focuses in on the idols of Babylon. He describes them as helpless and weak. How foolish to trust in something that has no power!

“Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity” (Isaiah 46:1-2).

Bel, meaning Lord, is another name for the Babylonian god, Marduk. Nebo is his son. The Babylonians held a yearly celebration honoring both Marduk and Nebo, where animals would carry the gods in a great procession. Isaiah mocks these gods who cannot carry themselves and predicts the day when God would punish Babylon and her gods with her. The same gods in which Babylon trusted and worshiped would not be able to protect them from the wrath of God. As it turned out, Babylon did fall and her idols with her. No one worships Marduk today.

Isaiah continues and contrasts Israel’s God with that of the Babylonian gods. While Marduk and Nebo could not carry themselves and required beasts of burden to take them from place to place, our God carries us: “even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (v.4).

What amazing grace! We turn from the true God to worship counterfeit gods, yet he promises to save and carry us. The Hebrew word for carry (nasa) in that verse is also used to mean to bear, to lift up, to forgive. In Christ, we find a Savior who carries our griefs and burdens, our guilt and sin (Isaiah 53). He is the scapegoat who takes our curse upon himself and carries it away.

The God Who Carries Us

Isiah then answers the question: Who is this God who carries his people? He first points out that no one can be compared with God (v.5), because every other god is created by human hands (v.6). They must carry it on their shoulders and set it up in its place where it cannot move (v.7). And “If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble” (v.7).

Oh, how I need this reminder! All those things I trust in to make my life work, to make my life safe and comfortable, all those things I look to in the hopes they will make life better—they cannot save me. They only exist because I construct them and then put them in place. They cannot hear me. They cannot meet my needs. They cannot fulfill my longings. They cannot deliver me.

They cannot carry me.

The prophet then calls us to remember who God is, to fix it in our minds, and imprint it on our hearts:

“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (vv.9-10). God alone rules over all things. He is the one true God and there is none like him. He determines all that will happen and ensures his purposes come to fruition. Everything we trust in, every idol we worship, all the places we look to for life and hope have no power. Our idols will fail us. Like Dagon in 1 Samuel, all the idols of our heart fall down flat in the presence of the true God who made all things.

As I consider the idols I have crafted and set up on the throne of my heart to worship, this passage in Isaiah 46 reminds me of their weakness and helplessness; it reminds me they are worthless. Only God can deliver me from my idolatrous heart. Only he can set me free from my wayward ways. “I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory” (46:13). The coming of Christ fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy. Our Savior stills our restless hearts, meets our deepest longings, and carries us out of darkness and into the light of righteousness.

Father, these past few months have revealed idols in my heart I did not realize were there. I thank you for your word which shines a light in the dark places, revealing things I need to see. Help me to see more and more just how weak and helpless these counterfeit gods are. Help me to uproot them and cast them away. In contrast, help me to see you in all your wonder, power, holiness, and grace. By your grace, continue to carry me. In Jesus’s name, amen.

The God Who Sees

When the kids were younger, we spent a year studying the names of God. It’s an amazing thing to consider: There is so much depth to who God is in his character, in his works, and in his ways, it takes numerous names just to describe him. One of my favorites that we studied was El Roi, the God Who Sees.

Hagar and the God Who Sees

El Roi is found in the story of Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian servant. Abram and Sarai had no children. They were advanced in years, and though God promised Abram he would have an heir and that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the night sky, it seems as though they thought God needed some help to make it happen. So, at Sarai’s arrangement, Abram slept with Hagar in the hopes that she would conceive and bear him a child. When Hagar became pregnant by Abram, she treated Sarai with contempt. “And Sarai said to Abram, May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!’ But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (Genesis 16:5-6).

Hagar ran off into the wilderness and the angel of the Lord met her there. She confessed to running away from her mistress and he instructed her to return. He then promised her a son, Ishmael. “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude” (v. 10). Hagar responded, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me” (v.13). The “God of seeing” is El Roi in Hebrew.

Commentators point out that she literally says, “Have I here also looked after him that sees me? Have I here seen the back parts of him that sees me?" This reminds us of when God told Moses he could only see his back as he walked by in Exodus 33. Hagar marvels at the grace of God who sees her even while far away from Abram and Sarai, even when she left her mistress, even as she is running back home to Egypt. She didn’t look for him; God sought her out. He met her where she was. He corrected her. He blessed and provided for her. (And he did so again in Genesis 21).

In the New Testament, we read numerous accounts of Christ “seeing” those who are unseen. Women in those days were the most unseen (except for children). Yet over and over we read accounts of our Savior breaking societal norms by speaking to women. He interacted with those whom society had ignored and cast out. He showered them with his grace and their lives were forever changed.

Like Hagar, we are undeserving of such favor. We are all runaways, in one way or another. Yet Christ looks at us and sees our sin. He sees our failures. He sees our wayward wanderings. He also sees our shame and the horrific things we have endured in this fallen world. He sees our sorrows and our fears. And he gives us his grace, meeting us where we are, redeeming us, and sanctifying us by his Spirit.

Like Hagar, we should pause in wonder at El Roi, the God who sees. Like the woman at the well, we should marvel at the One who knows all we’ve ever done, and yet he saw us. Like the woman with the alabaster jar, we should weep at the feet of our Savior. For he loved us and he saved us.

The God Who Sees

“Just a touch” she said in her heart,
daring to hope he’d make her clean.
So long rejected and ignored,
would he too treat her as unseen?

A jar of expensive perfume,
broken and poured out on his feet.
She wept and brushed him with her hair.
Would he see her faith made complete?

She came down to the village well
and met one who knew all her shame.
He offered water without end—
could he be the One as he claims?

Forgotten, broken, or abused,
he sees each and every heart.
Giving grace and speaking the truth,
he redeems all he’s set apart.

We are like those women he met
who found his unexpected grace.
He sees our sin and knows our shame—
his blood covers all our disgrace.

God's Enabling Grace

Do you ever think of God’s commands as too hard? In many ways, they seem impossible. The longer we live in this fallen world, the more we see our sins, failures, and weaknesses. Try as we might, we just can’t resist temptation; we just can’t overcome our sin for good.

Sometimes, in facing a besetting sin—a sin that seems to haunt us, taunt us, and rule us—we may feel discouraged. We may want to give up the battle. We may think we just don’t have what it takes to live a life of godliness.

This is an issue Moses addressed in the book of Deuteronomy and it gives us hope in our battle against sin.

Deuteronomy 30

At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses renewed the covenant with God’s people. He reminded them all God had done to rescue and redeem them. He warned them to be watchful and wary of their hearts, lest they turn from God to worship idols. Moses told them of the consequences for sin and the curses that would come upon them if they abandoned their covenant with God.

In chapter 30, Moses spoke about the future. He told them that when they find themselves scattered among the nations as punishment for abandoning the covenant, they would need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness for sin and the Lord would restore them. God would then transform their hearts so that they could love him with all their heart and soul.

He then reminded them that they can obey God and they have the means to do so:

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).

Enabling Grace

The reason God’s commands are not too hard is because he supplies the grace to keep them. The same One who gives the commands also enables us to obey them. For the Israelites, that grace was “the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

On this side of the cross, we know that it is the Holy Spirit who brings us from death to life, who removes our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. It is the Spirit who also gives us the word and enables us to understand it. He is the one who uses it with precision in our hearts, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Paul tells us in Titus that the same grace which justifies us is the same grace that sanctifies us “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” (Titus 2:11-12). Peter tells us that we have been given all we need to live a godly life: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).

Why is it not too hard to obey God’s commands? Because he enables us to do so through the power of the Spirit at work in us and the through knowledge of who Christ is and what he has done. The gospel tells us that Christ obeyed the law perfectly for us. His obedience is credited to us. God looks at us and sees Christ’s righteousness.

This is good news! God’s commands are impossible apart from Christ, but are made possible through the gospel and the Spirit of Christ at work in us. This is good news for when we face temptations to sin. This is good news when we are weary and weighed down by our failures. This is good news for the weak and worn and discouraged.

We have the very Spirit of Christ living within us. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us. Day by day, he is transforming us into the likeness of our Savior. While the battle is indeed hard, we are not left on our own. Christ is with us, strengthening and sustaining us to resist sin and walk in obedience. When we stumble and fall, his grace covers us. Because we are united to him by faith, he is for us what we can’t be; he is righteous in our place. And he promises that the work he began in us will be completed. In eternity, we’ll shed our sin once for all and will spend forever worshiping God for his grace toward us in Christ.

Dear friend, if you find yourself facing besetting sin and thinking “It’s too hard!” turn to Christ. Repent of your sin and receive forgiveness through the gospel of grace. Rest and rely upon God’s grace for you in Christ and the work of the Spirit in you. Utilize the means of grace to resist and fight against your sin. And know that one day you will reach the finish line. The work God is doing in you will one day be complete. What a joy to look forward to!

All because of God’s enabling grace.

When You Feel Weak in Faith

"I tried Mommy, but I just can't do it!" moaned my son. He curled up on the couch and cried. Sitting down beside him, I said "You're right. You can't. But God can. Let's pray about it together."

I often look at my children and see my own heart and my own struggles. Sometimes I look at the road ahead, see an obstacle and think, "There's no way around it. It's impossible." When I consider my life circumstances and the trials seem insurmountable, I throw up my hands and think, "I'm stuck. I'll never get out of this mess." Feeling overwhelmed and in despair, I simply give up. Like my son, I want to curl up and cry.

The truth is, my faith often seems quite small. Imperfect. Weak.

In Exodus 4, Moses and Aaron told the Israelites that God would deliver them from Pharaoh. They showed them signs and wonders. They believed that God sent Moses to deliver them and they worshiped God. Then in chapter 5, Moses went before Pharaoh for the first time and told him to let the Israelites go. He responded in anger and made the work load harder for the people. They were punished and beaten. The Israelites went to Moses and Aaron and said, "May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (v.21).

I do the same thing. I say I believe God can do anything and then when he does things differently than I expect, I stomp my feet and say he did it wrong. I follow him when he gives me what I want, but as soon as scarcity arrives, I complain and say "This is not how I'm supposed to be treated!" I grumble about the provisions I'm given and returning to slavery begins to look appealing. When the future seems filled with giants, I'm like the returning spies who want to give it all up and return to the desert rather than believe the promised land is worth the effort to stay and fight.

I know I'm not alone in this. I receive emails all the time from people struggling with doubts and feelings of insufficiency. Even in Scripture I see that I'm not alone in my weak faith. In fact, over and over in Scripture, I see Jesus extending grace and accepting the imperfect faith of those he called. He often admonished the disciples by saying, "O you of little faith!" They constantly questioned him and doubted what he could do. Even after witnessing Jesus feeding the five thousand, they were concerned when they didn't have anything to eat. Jesus said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? (Matthew 16:8-9). Yet, these were the very men whom Jesus entrusted with starting the church.

Those who came to him for healing didn't have complete faith either. The woman who had bled for twelve years came to him with a combination of superstition, doubt, and faith and touched the edge of his cloak. Yet he accepted her efforts and healed her. A man asked Jesus to heal his demon possessed son saying, "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” (Mark 9:22) "Jesus responded, ‘If you can?' said Jesus. 'Everything is possible for one who believes.' Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'” (vs. 23-24).

In Calvin's commentary on the book of Mark he commented on how God responds to our weak faith: "This agrees with what I have lately noticed, that God deals kindly and gently with his people, —accepts their faith, though imperfect and weak,—and does not lay to their charge the faults and imperfections with which it is connected...Though we have not such abundance of faith as might be desired, there is no reason why our weakness should drive away or discourage us from prayer.”

This is what I want my children to understand and what I want my own heart to grasp: It's not about what I can do but about what God has already done through Jesus on my behalf. It's not the strength of my faith which saves me but the object of my faith. It's who my faith is in and not how strong it is that matters. Though my faith is weak and imperfect, I need to come to God in prayer saying, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Francis Schaeffer received numerous letters from people asking him questions about the Christian life. I have a book where Francis Schaeffer shares some of those letters, along with his responses. One of my favorites is between Schaeffer and a man who struggled with doubts. Schaeffer responded: "You may go through a period of darkness, but once we have accepted Christ as our Savior he has promised to hold us fast forever. Our salvation does not rest upon our holding on to Christ, but upon his work as He died upon the cross. Because He is God, His death has infinite value and can cover every spot. Thus when He promises to hold us fast and to never let us go, He is doing so upon the basis of the infinite value of His shed blood as He died for us....You have been in a relationship to this personal God—in the way God Himself has provided through the work of Christ— and as such you can look to Him to help you through the darkness." (in Letters to Francis Schaeffer, p.142).

Here's what I know to be true: in this life I will face trials, circumstances, and mountains that are too high for me to climb. I will have fears, doubts, and worries. I will feel weak in faith. Like the Israelites, I may see God's wonders in my life one day but the very next day doubt he can provide my daily bread. But I must keep my eyes focused not on my circumstances or on how strong I feel, but on the object of my faith: Jesus Christ. His blood is sufficient; his grace is more than abundant to cover my weakness. I must come to him, no matter how weak my faith and ask him to help me in my unbelief. And though there may be times when I just can't hold on, I have to remember that Jesus never lets go of me.

What about you? Do you ever feel weak in faith?

The Privilege of Prayer

A quick glance at my home library and I see that I own at least a dozen books on prayer. It's not surprising. Prayer, while a simple thing in many ways, is also at the same time challenging for us.

Consider the disciples who grew up praying in the synagogue. Even though they had likely prayed their whole life and probably knew certain prayers in the Bible by heart (such as those in the Psalms), they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Perhaps they saw how he withdrew from them on a regular basis to seek his Father in prayer. Perhaps they heard him pray, not in rote memorization, but in belief, trust, and confidence. Perhaps they witnessed firsthand the results of his prayers. Whatever their reasons for asking, Jesus did teach them to pray by giving them what we call the The Lord's Prayer:

"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.a
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil." (Matthew 6:9-13)

For many believers, The Lord's Prayer is something we can recite in our sleep. Many of us learned it as child in Sunday School. Some of us say it in church every Sunday. It's also a prayer that forms and shapes our personal prayers—using it as a model to help us include the important elements of prayer such as praise, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. 

Sometimes, when we know something so well, we take it for granted. We recite it without paying attention to the words. We overlook its meaning and significance. When that happens, we need a fresh reminder of why we say it to begin with.

In the case of The Lord's Prayer, do we know how significant it is that we get to pray that first line, Our Father in Heaven? Do we understand the privilege of coming before God as our Father and laying our requests before him?

God Our Father

Through faith in Jesus' perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection, we are saved from sin. We are justified. God looks at what Christ has done for us and declares us righteous. This is a legal act. Upon our salvation, we are also brought into right relationship with God. We are adopted into his family, the church. This adoption concerns our relationship with God. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

When Jesus referred to God as Father in this prayer, it is translated as Abba. It was the name Jewish children used to refer to their fathers. Some compare it to our own children referring to their father as "Daddy." Because of our adoption as God's children, we get to pray Our Father. Just as our children can run to their own Daddy when they are hurt, curl in his lap and find rest and comfort, praying Our Father means the same for us. It is an intimate, familiar, and familial reference. It denotes trust, security, and love. In praying, Our Father, it reminds us of God's great love for us. "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God" (1 John 3:1). 

To pray Our Father means that we have a familial relationship with the God of the universe. The One who flung the stars across the sky, who holds the earth in the palm of his hand, who controls the wind and mighty oceans, is our Abba. He cares about every detail of our lives, down to the number of hairs on our head. He hears our every cry and knows our every need—before we even speak it.

J.I. Packer asserts that adoption "is the highest privilege that the gospel offers." He wrote in Knowing God, "Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship." 

Our Father in Heaven

Jesus didn't simply pray, Our Father, he qualified it with, "in heaven." This phrase tells us that our Father is in heaven. It reminds us that God isn't just any father, he is also the Sovereign God who rules and reigns from his throne above. "The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all" (Psalm 103:19). This means he is far above and beyond any earthly father. He is a father who is holy, perfect, right, and true.

For those who can't help but think of their fallen relationships with their earthly father, this prayer reminds us that our Father is in heaven. He is nothing like our human fathers. He will never forsake us. He will never leave us, fail us, or reject us. So as we pray to our Heavenly Father, we can trust that he hears us, he loves us, and he is for us. "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:11-14)

Because our Father is in Heaven, it also means he owns all things. He is the source of all we have. He determines our length of days and gives us life, breath, and health. All of creation is dependent upon him. "He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry" (Psalm 147:8-9). Each and every day, we wake up sustained by God's power and grace. When we pray Our Father in Heaven, we ought to respond in wonder and praise that the God of the universe hears our prayers.  

Prayer is a privilege. How amazing it is that we get to come into our Father's presence! When we pray the The Lord's Prayer, may we take time to dwell on what it means to pray Our Father. May it remind us of our adoption into God's family and cause us to rejoice at God's generous and daily provision of grace. 

When Life Isn't Fair

My boys were playing a board game one rainy afternoon. It was down to the last spin. One of my sons got the number he hoped for and crossed the finish line, winning the game. The loser stomped his feet and declared, "That's not fair! He always wins!"

My boys are not alone in their view of life. I often look at the circumstances of my life, my failed dreams, struggles and trials, and think, "It's not fair." I look at the successes of others, their achievements, adventures, and lifestyle and think, "Why them and not me?" And I wonder, why do some people seem to always win and I always lose?

I told my son when he lost the game that God intended it for a reason. I reminded him that God rules over everything, even a spinner on a game and he now had an opportunity to learn something from the loss. I also reminded him that by focusing on his loss, he missed an opportunity to rejoice with his brother and encourage him for his win.

Good advice for my own heart, wouldn't you say?

My kids often say that life isn't fair. I've told them that if life really were fair, we'd all get what we deserve—eternal death and separation from God. In fact, we don't deserve a single thing, neither life or breath or anything else. Yet God continues to let the rains come down on both the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45). He gives mercy each new morning (Lamentations 3:23). He strengthens the weary and gives peace to the anxious (Isaiah 40:29, Philippians 4:7).

But most importantly, God gives grace. "And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16). It is by grace that our hearts are brought from death to life (Ephesians 2, Ezekiel 11). It is by grace that we are saved, secured and sanctified (Ephesians 2:8). And through grace, God will complete the work he began in us.

The truth is, if God treated me as I deserve, I wouldn't have a relationship with him. If God treated me fairly, he wouldn't spend so much time refining me. If God treated me based on what I earned, I would be hopeless and lost. But as the Psalmist penned, "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). Because of God's grace for me in Christ, I have a relationship with the Creator of the universe. My Maker and Creator knows me and I know him. I can come before the throne of grace and receive help in my time of need. And nothing can separate me from God's love.

I don't deserve God's love but he lavishes it upon me—what wonder!

When it comes to what God does in the lives in others and how he chooses to bless them, I have to remember that everyone has their own story. The prose God is writing in my life is for my good and his glory. He is using the circumstances, challenges, and failures in my life to transform me to be more and more like Christ. My story is different from others and I can't compare it. The individual chapters of my life may seem painful and feel unfair but woven together they form a beautiful tapestry of God's grace at work in my life. In fact, my story is included in the grand story of redemption, alongside the stories of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Rather than look at their stories in envy, I ought to rejoice at what God has done to unite our stories together.

It's true, life is unfair. But I wouldn't have it any other way. How about you?