"Single life may be only a stage of a life's journey, but even a stage is a gift. God may replace it with another gift, but the receiver accepts His gifts with thanksgiving. This gift for this day. The life of faith is lived one day at a time, and it has to be lived - not always looked forward to as though the 'real' living were around the next corner. it is for today for which we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow" (Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be A Woman).
Single, dating, engaged, or married - every stage is a gift. How are you doing with the gift God has given you? Have you accepted it with thanksgiving? Are you living in the moment, or are you too busy planning for when your life will start to realize that it already has? Make the most of this gift, of the precious time you have been given.
EVEN IN EDEN
This is it. The first instance of boy meets girl. The original moment of love's first glance. The first wedding. A couple who knew perfection, who knew perfect love - a love that would survive the deepest joy and the greatest heartbreak of human history. But the greatest part of this love story involves the One Who wrote it and the One Who loved most.
In Genesis 2:7, Scripture describes God as the Master Potter forming and sculpting man out of the dust of the ground, and when God stepped back to observe His handiwork, He was pleased. All was "good" - good, that is, until one reaches Genesis 2:18.
"The the LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him" (Gen. 2:18).
Even in the perfection of Eden it was not good for man to be alone. Whoa - hold the phone! Does this mean that every person is meant to be married? Does God's evaluation here signify that to be single is to be inferior or incomplete in some way? No! And Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 7:7-8.
"I wish that all were as I myself am. But each one has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am" (1 Cor. 7:7-8).
God gives each person their own gift. Are you looking with longing at what God has given another instead of enjoying what He has given you? God intended your gift for you. If He meant it for someone else, He would have given it to them. But your gift has your name on it. And if your gift is singleness, Paul comments that this is "good." He uses creation language, repeats God's assessment from Genesis 1, and applies it to singleness.
So what is God getting at in Genesis 2:18? How come it was not good for Adam to be alone, yet God sees fit to allow you or me to be single? First of all, the Genesis account demonstrates that God created humanity for relationships. While we will not all be married, we all have a need to be connected to others. God wired us to know and be known. And this need existed even in the Garden. Second, as Paul says, "each one has his own gift from God" (1 Cor. 7:7). God saw fit to give Adam a wife, and He knows best. Remember, He is the Author of this tale. He's the Giver of the gift.
ADAM'S WHAT?
God knows everything, and when He made Adam, He was not unaware that Eve's creation would be forthcoming. So why didn't He make them at the same time? I believe that God did this to show the necessity of woman and human relationships and to give dignity to her as the culmination of His creation. No other religion offers a story for the formation of woman, but to God, she is vital. Adam needed her, was incomplete without her. It was as if he was missing a piece of himself until he met her - and Adam acknowledged as much when he burst into poetry upon first glimpse of his wife: "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;" (Gen. 2:23). He had waited his whole life to meet her, granted that had only been a few hours since both were made on the sixth day of creation. Essentially, by ordering events in this manner, God demonstrated Eve's necessity.
So our Sovereign Creator God assessed Adam's situation and determined to solve the problem Himself by creating a helpmeet for Adam.
A helper fit for Adam.
Someone who is like him.
Someone who corresponds to him.
Someone who is opposite to him.
Someone who would help him in doing what he could not do alone.
Someone who would provide what is lacking in the man.
Someone who would be his corresponding counterpart.
"So God declared that help was on the way from one who would be both like and unlike the man - one whose corresponding differences would make man complete for what God intended him to do. This is why the Apostle Paul would say that the man was not made for the woman 'but woman for man' (1 Corinthians 11:9). The woman would make it possible for man to do what he never could alone. And likewise for the woman. Something 'very good' would fill man's aloneness" (R. Kent Hughes, Beginning and Blessing).
We need each other. As people and especially as believers - we need both genders. And this was God's plan from the beginning. Human beings cannot complete their destiny without mutual assistance.
GOD'S BACHELOR AWARENESS PROGRAM
Oblivious. Clueless. Unaware. Sometimes guys just don't get it. No offense to any male readers - but you guys are different, and sometimes the extent of the differences are astounding.
After God makes His divine assessment, the reader expects immediate implementation of His solution. But what happens next?
"So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what He would call them. And whatever the man called the living creature, that was its name...But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him" (Gen. 2:19, 20b).
God knew that Adam's aloneness was "not good," but Adam had no clue. Because all was perfect in Eden, He may not have even recognized that he was alone. Hence, the animal project. By seeing and naming every animal (and how many animals are there?), God was driving in the fact that, unlike the animals, Adam had no partner.
Now, do we see Adam lamenting his singleness? Do we see him begging God for a mate? No, granted, woman had not even been made yet. Despite that, what we do see is Adam being obedient to God. And whatever our stage, this is our call - to have faith and to be faithful.
From Genesis 2:7, we see that God created Adam. In Genesis 2:18, God identified a problem - man's loneliness, and God determined to solve the problem. In Genesis 2:19, God formed the animals and brought them to Adam to name. And in Genesis 2:21, God put Adam to sleep, performed surgery, and made Eve. Finally, in Genesis 2:22, God brought the woman to Adam. In this passage, there's an emphasis on God doing the action - we see the obvious hand of God orchestrating events according to His master plan. Throughout, He is the One Who is in control and Who is working all things toward the fulfillment of His purpose.
And He is working in your life, weaving every event and circumstance. I do not know what stage you are in, what gift you are currently experiencing, but trust the Giver and enjoy His gift.
"Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living" (Jim Elliot, quoted in Let Me Be A Woman).
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Good of Good Friday
REMEMBER
As Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, God's words to them resounded with the command to remember (Deuteronomy 8-11):
Remember His provision for them during their forty years of wilderness wanderings - the manna from heaven, the quail, the water from rocks, the fact that their clothes never wore out and their feet did not swell.
Remember His guidance - a cloud by day and fire by night.
Remember His promises - the land would be theirs. All they had to do was claim what God had already won for them.
Remember His covenant - He promised to be faithful even when His people were unfaithful.
Remember His laws and keep His commandments.
Remember that it was the LORD who gave them the power to obtain land, wealth, and comfort. All blessings come from Him.
Upon recounting all that God had done for them, how could they not be assured of His continued care? They could go forth in confidence and peace because they followed the LORD God, the One Who had created the universe and the One Who was in relationship with them.
THE PESACH
This week, I helped the family that I nanny prepare for Passover Seder. As we were cooking, the mom and the children explained the meaning of the various foods - the matzah and the bitter herbs to remember what the Israelites quickly ate as they awaited the original Passover, salt water to represent the tears of God's people while slaves in Egypt, charoset to symbolize the mortar that the Israelites used to make bricks when the Egyptians stopped providing them with grain, a lamb shankbone to represent the original Pesach offering, hard-boiled eggs to represent life and the perpetuation of existence, and four glasses of wine to represent the four stages of Israel's redemption process from Exodus to the Promised Land.
During the Seder, the maggid, the retelling of the Exodus story and the first Passover, is shared in fulfillment of Exodus 12:24-27, and my family even uses a "Bag of Plagues" to depict the events leading up to their release from Egypt. (The cow was my personal favorite - you press a button and it falls over dead, but I also liked the man cut out of bubble wrap - he represents the plague of boils.)
The entire purpose for Passover Seder is to remember. And it is only fitting that at the Last Supper, Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples. He instituted a new meal and issued that His followers take and eat in remembrance of Him (Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24-25). One Passover was replaced by another, and once again, there is the instruction to remember. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Cor. 11:26). Paul directs believers to partake of the Lord's Supper in order to both remember Christ's death and to proclaim His salvation.
GOOD FRIDAY
Growing up, my family and my home church did not observe the liturgical calendar, and as a result, it has only been since I came to seminary that I have learned about the significance of events such as Maundy Thursday and Lent. I have recently been reading a book on Jewish spiritual disciplines, and I quickly observed that there is rhythm to Jewish life, a purposefulness and a thoughtfulness in the way that the Jews live. From keeping kosher to observing Shabbat, to the way that they mourn - there is intentionality. Everything is designed to point the person toward God and toward community. Everything is designed to remember.
Life can be so daily. How often do we stop - or even pause - to think and reflect? I often feel like there is barely enough time to consider the present or to plan for the future much less to remember the past. But remembering changes my perspective of the present and the future. I regain my sense of what is important. I grow in my confidence of the Lord's power. I offer praise and thanks to the Lord for what He has given. And I feel a greater sense of peace as I trust that the One Who has kept His promises and led me thus far will continue to do so.
In lieu of Holy Week, I decided to make space in my busy calendar to remember, and here lies the result of my musings.
In the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle stood the Ark of the Covenant. The wings of the cherubim spread out above the mercy seat, the place where God would meet with man (Exodus 25:22). The mercy seat was the lid that covered the contents of the ark, which included the 10 Commandments, and each year on the Day of Atonement, the priest would sprinkle the blood of the goat on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Essentially, the blood was put between the law and the cloud of God's presence, for "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22b). The presence of God saw the broken law of His people, and with the blood, God saw that the payment of sin had been satisfied by a substitute. Atonement had been made.
But the sacrifice had to be repeatedly offered. It was insufficient.
"But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:3).
Enter Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He came not with a sacrifice but as the sacrifice.
"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
"But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12).
Since it is Good Friday, I read Mark's description of the crucifixion, and what I found blew me away!
"And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (Mark 15:37-38).
Jesus gave a great shout before dying (Mt. 27:50; Mk. 15:37; Lk. 23:46), but only John informs us of the content of this cry: "It is finished!" In the Greek, this is one word, and "that one word was the great shout" (William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark). FINISHED! Jesus died proclaiming His victory.
At the moment when Jesus died, the veil was torn. Direct access to God became available to all people. No more animal sacrifices because the Lamb of God had been offered on our behalf.
The veil was torn - I can't get over this! The Greek word skizo is the verb used to describe this action, and my Greek lexicon defines it as "to divide by use of force, split, divide, separate, tear apart..." (BDAG). Force was used to tear this veil - it was not by accident nor by the power of man - it was a divine act.
Here's the really cool part, the only other time that this word is used in this Gospel is in Mark 1:10 at Jesus' baptism: "And when He came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove." Like the veil in Mark 15:28, the heavens were torn asunder. In 1:10, Mark is directly alluding to Isaiah 64:1a, which is addressing the LORD: "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down." Even at the beginning of His ministry, it was already apparent that Jesus, the Promised Messiah, had come down to earth to be the bridge between God and man.
"The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
"But made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:7-11).
As Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, God's words to them resounded with the command to remember (Deuteronomy 8-11):
Remember His provision for them during their forty years of wilderness wanderings - the manna from heaven, the quail, the water from rocks, the fact that their clothes never wore out and their feet did not swell.
Remember His guidance - a cloud by day and fire by night.
Remember His promises - the land would be theirs. All they had to do was claim what God had already won for them.
Remember His covenant - He promised to be faithful even when His people were unfaithful.
Remember His laws and keep His commandments.
Remember that it was the LORD who gave them the power to obtain land, wealth, and comfort. All blessings come from Him.
Upon recounting all that God had done for them, how could they not be assured of His continued care? They could go forth in confidence and peace because they followed the LORD God, the One Who had created the universe and the One Who was in relationship with them.
THE PESACH
This week, I helped the family that I nanny prepare for Passover Seder. As we were cooking, the mom and the children explained the meaning of the various foods - the matzah and the bitter herbs to remember what the Israelites quickly ate as they awaited the original Passover, salt water to represent the tears of God's people while slaves in Egypt, charoset to symbolize the mortar that the Israelites used to make bricks when the Egyptians stopped providing them with grain, a lamb shankbone to represent the original Pesach offering, hard-boiled eggs to represent life and the perpetuation of existence, and four glasses of wine to represent the four stages of Israel's redemption process from Exodus to the Promised Land.
During the Seder, the maggid, the retelling of the Exodus story and the first Passover, is shared in fulfillment of Exodus 12:24-27, and my family even uses a "Bag of Plagues" to depict the events leading up to their release from Egypt. (The cow was my personal favorite - you press a button and it falls over dead, but I also liked the man cut out of bubble wrap - he represents the plague of boils.)
The entire purpose for Passover Seder is to remember. And it is only fitting that at the Last Supper, Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples. He instituted a new meal and issued that His followers take and eat in remembrance of Him (Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24-25). One Passover was replaced by another, and once again, there is the instruction to remember. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Cor. 11:26). Paul directs believers to partake of the Lord's Supper in order to both remember Christ's death and to proclaim His salvation.
GOOD FRIDAY
Growing up, my family and my home church did not observe the liturgical calendar, and as a result, it has only been since I came to seminary that I have learned about the significance of events such as Maundy Thursday and Lent. I have recently been reading a book on Jewish spiritual disciplines, and I quickly observed that there is rhythm to Jewish life, a purposefulness and a thoughtfulness in the way that the Jews live. From keeping kosher to observing Shabbat, to the way that they mourn - there is intentionality. Everything is designed to point the person toward God and toward community. Everything is designed to remember.
Life can be so daily. How often do we stop - or even pause - to think and reflect? I often feel like there is barely enough time to consider the present or to plan for the future much less to remember the past. But remembering changes my perspective of the present and the future. I regain my sense of what is important. I grow in my confidence of the Lord's power. I offer praise and thanks to the Lord for what He has given. And I feel a greater sense of peace as I trust that the One Who has kept His promises and led me thus far will continue to do so.
In lieu of Holy Week, I decided to make space in my busy calendar to remember, and here lies the result of my musings.
In the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle stood the Ark of the Covenant. The wings of the cherubim spread out above the mercy seat, the place where God would meet with man (Exodus 25:22). The mercy seat was the lid that covered the contents of the ark, which included the 10 Commandments, and each year on the Day of Atonement, the priest would sprinkle the blood of the goat on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Essentially, the blood was put between the law and the cloud of God's presence, for "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22b). The presence of God saw the broken law of His people, and with the blood, God saw that the payment of sin had been satisfied by a substitute. Atonement had been made.
But the sacrifice had to be repeatedly offered. It was insufficient.
"But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:3).
Enter Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He came not with a sacrifice but as the sacrifice.
"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
"But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12).
Since it is Good Friday, I read Mark's description of the crucifixion, and what I found blew me away!
"And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (Mark 15:37-38).
Jesus gave a great shout before dying (Mt. 27:50; Mk. 15:37; Lk. 23:46), but only John informs us of the content of this cry: "It is finished!" In the Greek, this is one word, and "that one word was the great shout" (William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark). FINISHED! Jesus died proclaiming His victory.
At the moment when Jesus died, the veil was torn. Direct access to God became available to all people. No more animal sacrifices because the Lamb of God had been offered on our behalf.
The veil was torn - I can't get over this! The Greek word skizo is the verb used to describe this action, and my Greek lexicon defines it as "to divide by use of force, split, divide, separate, tear apart..." (BDAG). Force was used to tear this veil - it was not by accident nor by the power of man - it was a divine act.
Here's the really cool part, the only other time that this word is used in this Gospel is in Mark 1:10 at Jesus' baptism: "And when He came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove." Like the veil in Mark 15:28, the heavens were torn asunder. In 1:10, Mark is directly alluding to Isaiah 64:1a, which is addressing the LORD: "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down." Even at the beginning of His ministry, it was already apparent that Jesus, the Promised Messiah, had come down to earth to be the bridge between God and man.
"The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
"But made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:7-11).
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