God's Not Bored

We had been over this more times than I could count.  How many times must we repeat ourselves for this pre-k drama queen to understand that the world doesn't revolve around her friends' opinions of her? "I'm afraid other people won't like me," she told me.  I had tried to talk her through this before, consoling her and offering encouragement. This time I had had enough.  "If you don't want to play with your friends, that's your choice," I told her kindly, but firmly.

But a few minutes later, as she still wiped crocodile tears and looked to me for consolation, I tried to talk her through it one more time.  "Does God love you?" I asked, only slightly impatiently, to encourage her to think through this on her own.  "No," she answered.  "I think He gets bored of us."

Even in the Deep Blue Sea
There really is no other way to put it.

Disgusting. It had to be disgusting. There in that great fish for three days and nights with seaweed, saltwater, undigested plankton, and whatever else it ate - the smell alone must have been repulsive.

As easy as it might be to feel sorry for someone in that predicament, Jonah had no one to blame for it but himself.

His own choices, his own decisions, his own disobedience brought him here.  He should stay here - a long time.  Maybe forever, don't you think? God is under no obligation to rescue Jonah from the prison he brought on himself.

But.

Prison Life
Just a few short hours before I found myself counseling my five-year-old friend, I had flipped the pages to my daily Bible reading assignment: Psalm 69.

Just like Jonah, our little drama queen was in a prison she had fashioned for herself. But they were never alone there. "For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners" (Psalm 69:33).

Here I was, with a little girl in a "prison" of fear of man - a prison where I have made my own home far too often.

Time and Time Again
Does He get bored of us?  It would make sense if He did.  Day in, day out, the same mistakes over and over.

Every day I get myself in another mess.  It's my fault, my problem.  What if I have the same problem as Jonah? As our drama queen? As nearly everyone in the history of the human race?  Does He grow weary of rescuing us time and time again from the same predicaments?  Does He get bored of His creation of man?

I would.  But He doesn't.

He does not despise His own people who are prisoners...

What a Privilege: Access to the Throne of Grace

In Peter's second epistle, he wrote that some things in Paul's letters are "hard to understand" (2 Peter 3:15-16).  Good.  So I'm not the only one who hasn't figured it out.

Of course, Paul's letters are far from the only Biblical passages that leave me flummoxed.  Try this one: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion" (Psalm 84:5).

Psalm 84:5 is very poetic.  I've heard of people choosing a "life verse," and I think I would definitely consider this one, even though at first glance I'm not sure I fully understand it.

The Gift

A few verses after Psalm 84:5, the psalmist writes, "O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!"  Hear my prayer.  Do we even realize the magnitude of prayer?  The sovereign God of the universe hearing us.

"What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer " (Joseph Scriven).

This beloved hymn calls prayer “a privilege.”  What a gift that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).  Why do we so often see it as an obligation, a chore?

How Should We Then Pray?

When the disciples asked the Son of God to teach them how to pray (Luke 11), Jesus did not give an in-depth exposition or point-by-point explanation of the ways and works of prayer.  When one of His disciples asked for a lesson on prayer, Jesus…prayed.

He prayed other times, too.  There are times He prayed alone, early in the morning.  There are times He prayed in front of crowds, or with the disciples, and many of His prayers are recorded for us.  Isn’t it incredible that we have record of how the Son of God prayed to God?  What other lessons about or demonstrations of prayer could we need?

Throughout the Bible, it is clear that prayer is not a way to get whatever we want as if there were a genie hiding in a bottle.  Ultimately, God is sovereign and will answer our prayers however He chooses.  While we may not fully grasp the role of prayer in the events around us, we do know that there is power in prayer (James 5:16) and that God will ultimately do what is best for us (Matthew 7:11).

The Highway

In his commentary, Matthew Henry wrote, "In whose heart are the ways of them, that is, who, having placed their happiness in God as their end, rejoice in all the ways that lead to him…They not only walk in these ways, but they have them in their hearts..."

What a beautiful thought.  We have the ways that lead to God in our hearts!

When faced with decisions you can’t make on your own, pray.  When worried about family members or friends, pray.  When exhausted at the prospect of another day like yesterday, pray. Don't just stand there.  Pray!

We have a highway to Zion in our hearts.  What an mind-blowing picture!  We don't have to wait in line or take a number until we’re summoned.  We don't have to travel for days or weeks to reach His throne.  Despite our hectic days and harried moments, God has put the highway to His presence in our hearts.

So pray.  And remember that He is praying for you.

"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Romans 8:33-34).

Image courtesy of porbital / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Heaven's Open Door

The book of Revelation is often characterized as confusing and divisive, and I think I can understand why.  I am certainly no eschatologist, so I have only a very limited grasp of the Bible's explanation of what will come when the world as we know it ends.  This is one reason why (I hate to admit) I often find reading Revelation...tedious.

But it is part of the inspired Word of God, and it is included in the Bible reading plan I have been attempting to follow.  Recently, I opened my Bible to my assigned reading for the day, unsure if I would even understand what I read - or if I could possibly relate it to my life.  But the first verses of Revelation 4 stopped me in my tracks as my eyes hurried through the mysterious verses.

"After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this'" (Revelation 4:1, ESV).

"A door standing open in heaven..."  That phrase alone is packed with mind-blowing truth.  Imagine: an open door in heaven!

Inconceivable
Those who have heard and studied the Gospel know of the uncrossable chasm our sins have created between fallen human beings and the holy, perfect God.  This was once symbolized by the temple curtains dividing one temple partition from another.  The Israelite masses could congregate outside the temple, the priests could go into the first area (after undergoing purification rituals), but only one person - the high priest - could go into the final partition of the temple: the Holy of Holies.  Even the high priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year, and only after painstakingly preparing himself to approach the living God.

A curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, and another curtain separated the rest of the temple from the majority of the Israelites.  These curtains would have spanned the entire length of the tabernacle; there was no door, no opening, no entrance for sinful man to approach his Maker.

Think of it!  A door open in heaven!

That God would even care to notice our earthly predicament is a grace itself.  That He would make a way for us to enter His perfect presence is...inconceivable.

During His time on earth, Jesus made a shocking declaration: "'I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved...'" (John 10:9a).  What incredible grace!  The only One who perfectly fulfilled all requirements to enter the presence of God is the One who freely offers us His perfection.  There is only one way to heaven, and that is through - what else? - the door: Jesus Christ.

The Door Won't Always be Open

"'Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, "Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise answered, saying, "Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves." And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut" (Matthew 25:1-10, ESV).

As God closed the door of the ark once Noah and his family had entered, so one day the door to heaven will be closed for all eternity.  The offer of His pardon, peace, and perfection still stands, but it will not stand forever.  One day, when the time is up, this door, too, will close.

Which begs the question:

"But  the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be..."? (2 Peter 3:10-11, emphasis added).

Think of it: a door open in heaven!  There is nothing tedious about that.

Image courtesy of ponsulak / FreeDigitalPhotos.net