Author: Danny Panter

Danny is the Associate Pastor for NextGen Marrieds & Community Missions at FBCSA.

Resolution

Re:Verse passage – Job 7:1-21 (day six)

 As the Scriptures say,

“People are like grass;
    their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25     But the word of the Lord remains forever.” 1 Peter 1:24

One of the most painful parts of Job is the lack of resolution-until the very end of course. Through the suffering, conversations, debate and complaining, we long for just a little bit of resolution along the way, but it is no where to be found. Just silence, or the annoying drip of his friends accusatory words.

In this way Job is intended to remind us of what real life is like. When does everything resolve itself when you want or expect it to? Does everything wrap up nicely at the end of every day? Does every conversation or argument conclude with a story book ending like out of some rom-com?

In an interesting kind of way, Job (the whole story) reminds us that God knows what real life is like, and not only, but he is sympathetic to our weaknesses. And that alone is enough to keep me moving forward, one foot after the other.

You Are My Delight

Re:Verse passage – Job 2:1-10, 3:11, 20-26 (day six)

Reflections on Job 3 and Psalm 37:4 while in Kenya.

Would I take delight in the Lord if I had no fresh water to drink, or a bath to stay clean? Would I take delight in the Lord if I had little food to eat? Would I take delight in the Lord if I slept on a dirt floor, and my little brother didn’t make it past four? And what if I had no father who cared, and a mother who had no time to spare? Would I take delight in him then? What if rather than a little, I had nothing at all, and all life around me seemed to hang on only by a thread? Would I take delight in him rather than dread?

Would I take delight in him?

But what if I saw his promise in the colored banner that arched across the sky, or the sun which gave its merciful light? Would I take delight in the Lord? What if I saw that tooth filled smile, and the purest laughter without pretense or guile? The boy kicking the thread bare ball, and my sister with her stick-thatched doll, what if I saw the simplest joy in it all? Or what if someone touched me, and told me of the SON who could rescue me from this merciless life? Would he be enough to pull me through this indiscriminate strife?

What if I saw him in others when they gave of themselves; knew his love, and peace, even when all else failed? What if hope prevailed?

Would I take delight in the Lord?

Yes, yes, even then, with nothing at all, my joy and hope would rest in him.

The Word Made Flesh

Re:Verse passage – Job 1:1-12 (day six) 

Have you ever considered why God included poetry among the various genres of biblical literature? We can be so enamored with what is being said, parsing out all the details, that we can miss the how.

Poetry and prose capture the human experience in all its subtlety and nuance, bringing real life emotion to the surface in ways that no other genre can. Fear and joy, doubt and faith, anger and celebration all find their home in the poet’s verse.

Poetry is the Word becoming flesh-in a manner of speaking. (Not THE WORD of course.) It is God saying to us, “I am with you. I understand. It is okay.” Biblical poetry is God’s way of letting us know that it is okay to work out our salvation in the midst of a sinful broken world.

Oh, and by the way, it is also intended to read out loud.

No Joke

Re:Verse passage – Luke 19:11-27 (six)

27 “‘And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.’” Luke 19:27

It is hard to imagine Jesus wrapping up this parable with words so violent and final. Isn’t he all grace and mercy? Did he not say, “I did not come into the world to judge the world, but to save it?” John 3:17

All true.

God’s kindness (withholding judgment for a season) is intended to lead everyone to repentance. Jesus’ ministry on earth is the epitome of God’s kindness; his grace and mercy on full display, like a billboard with an open invitation to freely follow him and escape everlasting judgement.

What Jesus says in John 3:17 refers to his first coming, but when he comes again he will come with sword and fire.

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Hebrews 10:31

This is precisely why we must be good stewards of what Christ has given us, his church. His future and final judgement is no joke.

Distance

Re:Verse passage – Luke 18:9-14 (day six)

…the tax collector stood at a distance. Luke 18:13

Pride does one thing extremely well, it creates distance. This distance was at the heart of this parable. The Pharisees’ self-righteousness had reduced most people to “them” and “those people,” resulting in an unholy separation.

Unholy, in that we weren’t designed for distance, we were made for connection, with God and with others.

In what ways has pride kept you for making connections with God and with others?  Where has pride created an unholy distance in your life?

Treasure

Re:Verse passage – Luke 16:1-18 (day five)

15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God. Luke 16:15

God hates the world’s preoccupation with the accumulation of wealth for personal gain. The reason is because the human heart can’t bend both ways; it can’t give itself to both God and money. More simply, the love of money robs the human heart of a superior treasure.

How’s your heart doing? Does it detest what God detests?

Son

Re:Verse passage – Luke 15:11-24 (day six)

When Israel was a child, I loved him,  and I called my son out of Egypt.-God, Hosea 11:1

Both sons were prodigals. One son squandered his inheritance, only to return after he hit rock bottom, the second had forgotten what it meant to be a son altogether.

Jesus told this beloved parable to remind the religious leaders of what it means to be a son. They had exchanged the covenant relationship with God for something he never intended. Rather than sons, they had become slaves to their own self-righteousness.

Jesus beckons them, “Why live as a slave, when I have called you to be my son.”

Delight

Re:Verse passage – Luke 15:1-10 (day six)

11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?
-God, Ezekiel 33:11

I don’t think this could be overstated, God does not find delight in destroying the wicked. While he may be glorified in the destruction of the wicked, in the same way a judge is glorified when he upholds justice against grave injustice, he doesn’t enjoy it; it does not give him pleasure.

What does give God joy and delight? Jesus tells us. When the lost are found; when even one wicked person repents and turns to God.

Doesn’t that tells us something deeply profound about God’s heart towards us? The sending of the Son sprung from the infinite well of God’s compassion towards wicked sinners like us. He is not waiting for the Day of Judgment with great anticipation, rubbing his hands together with glee, thinking let’s hurry this thing along. Not even close.

Peter wrote,“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Here’s the rub, if this is the attitude of heaven, shouldn’t this be our attitude? Isn’t that what Jesus wanted the pharisees to learn?

O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem

Re:Verse passage – Luke 14:12-24 (day six) 

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”-Jesus, Luke 13:34

No matter how much they may have deserved it, Jesus’ words were not always colored with anger when confronting the self-righteousness of the pharisees. To be sure, there were moments when Jesus was angry with them, but more often than not he told his parables with compassion and longing for repentance. The one he tells while at the pharisee’s house is no exception.

Jesus had dinner with these pharisees and experts of the law, not to pass immediate judgement, but to help them truly see themselves; that they were fully invested in building their own kingdoms rather joining God in building his.

I imagine that required God-sized compassion.

Children of Wrath

Re:Verse passage – Luke 13:1-9 (day six) 

2 “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” Luke 13:2-3

It’s easy to justify ourselves when we compare ourselves to the sin and suffering of others, especially when we imagine their sin must be way worse than our own. It becomes such a slippery slope, with the conclusion that God blesses the  more righteous, and curses or judges the less righteous.

This notion has been alive and well from the beginning. It’s why the book of Job was written. Today, we call it the prosperity gospel.

Jesus corrects this kind of thinking quickly by answering the rhetorical  question with, “Not at all!” He goes on to say, “It could have just as easily been you.” Well, he didn’t say it just like that, but that is what he meant.

When we compare ourselves to the righteousness of God, rather than one another, his wrath makes complete sense. We are all deserving of his judgment. Then every waking moment is rightly perceived as a gift of God’s mercy, instead of something we believe we somehow earned.