Death Rehearsal

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. . . . So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

For me, the end of a year is like the end of my life. And 11:59 pm on December 31 is like the moment of my death.

The 365 days of the year are like a miniature lifetime. And these final hours are like the last days in the hospital after the doctor has told me that the end is very near. And in these last hours, the lifetime of this year passes before my eyes, and I face the inevitable question: Did I live it well? Will Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge, say “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21)?

I feel very fortunate that this is the way my year ends. And I pray that the year’s end might have the same significance for you.

The reason I feel fortunate is that it is a great advantage to have a trial run at my own dying. It is a great benefit to rehearse once a year in preparation for the last scene of your life. It is a great benefit because the morning of January 1 will find most of us still alive, at the brink of a whole new lifetime, able to start fresh all over again.

The great thing about rehearsals is that they show you where your weaknesses are, where your preparation was faulty; and they leave you time to change before the real play in front of a real audience.

I suppose for some of you the thought of dying is so morbid, so gloomy, so fraught with grief and pain that you do your best to keep it out of your minds, especially during holidays. I think that is unwise and that you do yourself a great disservice. I have found that there are few things more revolutionizing for my life than a periodic pondering of my own death.

How do you get a heart of wisdom so as to know how best to live? The psalmist answers:

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. . . . So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

Numbering your days simply means remembering that your life is short and your dying will be soon. Great wisdom — great, life-revolutionizing wisdom — comes from periodically pondering these things.

The criterion of success, that Paul used to measure his life, was whether he had kept the faith. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). Let this be our test at year’s end.

And if we discover that we did not keep the faith this past year, then we can be glad, as I am, that this year-end death is (probably) only a rehearsal, and a whole life of potential faith-keeping lies before us in the next year.

John Piper 

The Plan for Victory

PRAY OVER THIS

“And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.” Joshua 17:13

 

PONDER THIS

God’s plan for His people was total occupation. God told Joshua and the children of Israel to take the land from border to border, from sea to sea—to take it totally. Every grain of sand they were to take. There were Canaanites. But God said, “You are to drive them out of the land” (see Numbers 22:6). Likewise, God’s plan for you is victory. Are you living in victory? Are you living in victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil? That is God’s plan for you. First Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Douglas MacArthur said, “In war there is no substitute for victory.” We’re at war, and there’s no substitute for victory. There is an alternative to victory and that is defeat, but there’s no substitute for victory. God has promised us victory, but we must be obedient to Him to take hold of it.

Why is it important to be obedient to God in order to receive His victory?

Why is it important to remember that the victory of God is not gained in our own strength and power?

PRACTICE THIS

Evaluate today where you might be substituting for God’s victory in your life. Where have you settled and what needs to change in order to pursue God’s plan for you?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

Psalm 39:4

    [4] “O LORD, make me know my end

        and what is the measure of my days;

        let me know how fleeting I am!

Psalm 90:13-17

    [13] Return, O LORD! How long?

        Have pity on your servants! 

    [14] Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

        that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 

    [15] Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

        and for as many years as we have seen evil. 

    [16] Let your work be shown to your servants,

        and your glorious power to their children. 

    [17] Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

        and establish the work of our hands upon us;

        yes, establish the work of our hands!

Genesis 6:6

[6] And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Jonah 3:9-10

[9] Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

[10] When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Are You a Procrastinator?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

(James 4:17)

 

PONDER THIS

The man described in this passage knew what he ought to do, but he didn’t do it. He’s boasting in himself and all that he’s done. He has become complacent. He is aware of God’s will, but he doesn’t want to do it. Procrastination may be the biggest problem most of us have today. It’s a very deceptive sin. You see, other sins are very obvious: drunkenness, stealing, hate, violence—these are all very obvious. But procrastination is so deceptive. Many of us think we’re doing good if we don’t do a specific list of sins. But most of us don’t think of procrastination as a sin. Yet, it is a greater sin to fail to do what you ought to do than to do what you ought not do. What is God calling you to do today, and how will you respond?

Is there anywhere you are procrastinating to show obedience to what God has called you to do?

How do you need to respond today so this will not linger in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of things you know God is calling you to do. Take practical steps of obedience in these areas today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Outfitted and Empowered

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21)

Christ shed the blood of the eternal covenant. By this successful redemption, he obtained the blessing of his own resurrection from the dead. That is even clearer in Greek than it is in English, and here it’s clear enough: “God . . . brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus . . . by the blood of the eternal covenant.” This Jesus — raised by the blood of the covenant — is now our living Lord and Shepherd.

And because of all that, God does two things:

he equips us with everything good that we may do his will, and

he works in us that which is pleasing in his sight.

The “eternal covenant,” secured by the blood of Christ, is the new covenant. And the new covenant promise is this: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). Therefore, the blood of this covenant not only secures God’s equipping us to do his will, but also secures God working in us to make that equipping successful.

The will of God is not just written on stone or paper as a means of grace. It is worked in us. And the effect is: We feel and think and act in ways more pleasing to God.

We are still commanded to use the equipment he gives: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” But more importantly we are told why: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).

If we are able to please God — if we do his good pleasure — it is because the blood-bought grace of God has moved from mere equipping to omnipotent transforming.

John Piper 

Bible Study

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

[4] Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6] and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

Hebrews 13:20-21

[20] Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, [21] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:10-17

[10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. [11] Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

[12] Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? [13] But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [14] And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. [15] We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. [16] For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. [17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

1 Timothy 2:1-4

[1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Are You Planning God’s Way?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

(James 4:13-14)

 

PONDER THIS

The man in this passage seems productive and successful. He’s doing all of this planning. It doesn’t look like he’s doing anything wrong. The Bible certainly doesn’t condemn business; it encourages it. Neither does the Bible condemn planning; it encourages it. The Bible is not against making a profit. These things are not wrong.

Look at this man and you’ll find out what was wrong with him. He left God out of his plans altogether. He’s not consulting with God. He’s not seeking the will of God. He’s like so many today. Your worship life is one thing; your business life is another thing. You’ve divided your life into the secular and the sacred. And so you come to church and worship, and then you plan your life as if there were no God. And the biggest fool is not the man who says there’s no God; the biggest fool is the man who says there is a God and then doesn’t live like it. Have you really taken God into your plans?

How much do you factor God into your plans each day?

What would it look like to do this faithfully?

PRACTICE THIS

Take out your schedule for the week. Consider what it would look like to plan your entire week with God in mind and adjust as you feel prompted by the Holy Spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

A Horrible Destiny

. . . Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

Do you remember the time you were lost as a child, or slipping over a precipice, or about to drown? Then suddenly you were rescued. You held on for “dear life.” You trembled for what you almost lost. You were happy. Oh, so happy, and thankful. And you trembled with joy.

That’s the way I feel at the end of the year about my rescue from God’s wrath. All day Christmas we had a fire in the fireplace. Sometimes the coals were so hot that when I stoked it my hand hurt. I pulled back and shuddered at the horrendous thought of the wrath of God against sin in hell. Oh, how unspeakably horrible that will be!

Christmas afternoon I visited a woman who had been burned over 87 percent of her body. She has been in the hospital since August. My heart broke for her. How wonderful it was to hold out hope to her from God’s word for a new body in the age to come! But I came away not only thinking about her pain in this life, but also about the everlasting pain I have been saved from through Jesus.

Test my experience with me. Is this trembling joy a fitting way to end the year? Paul was glad that “Jesus . . . delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He warned that “for those who . . . do not obey the truth . . . there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8). And “because of [sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness] the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).

Here at the end of the year, I am finishing my trek through the Bible and reading the last book, Revelation. It is a glorious prophecy of the triumph of God, and the everlasting joy of all who “take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17). No more tears, no more pain, no more depression, no more sorrow, no more death, no more sin (Revelation 21:4).

But oh, the horror of not repenting and not holding fast to the testimony of Jesus! The description of the wrath of God by the “apostle of love” (John) is terrifying. Those who spurn God’s love will “drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:10–11).

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Jesus will “tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:15). And blood will flow “from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 184 miles” (Revelation 14:20). Whatever that vision signifies, it is meant to communicate something unspeakably terrible.

I tremble with joy that I am saved! But oh, the holy wrath of God is a horrible destiny. Flee this, brothers and sisters. Flee this with all your might. And let us save as many as we can! No wonder there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous (Luke 15:7)!

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Thessalonians 1:10

[10] when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

Colossians 1:13

[13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Romans 5:9

[9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

[16] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. [18] Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Promised Victory of Jesus’ Second Coming

PRAY OVER THIS

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:14)

 

PONDER THIS

There are two aspects of Jesus’ return. First of all, He’s coming secretly for His bride, and then He is coming with His bride. He’s coming sweetly like a bridegroom and He’s coming sovereignly like a King. There was no room for Jesus in the inn the first time He came, but when He comes again, He’s coming as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The unfinished story of Christmas is this: Jesus is coming again. Paul’s message was that when Jesus comes, 777 is going to take care of 666. Our Lord shall reign. Jesus came the first Christmas to die in the sinner’s place. Jesus is coming the second Christmas to receive the sinner to Himself. Our faith looks backward to a crucified Savior. Our love looks upward to a crowned Savior. And our hope looks forward to a coming Savior.

On a daily basis, where do you find it hard to remember and believe Jesus will return again?

How would your life look different if you believed this fully each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways your life would change if you fully believed Jesus could come again at any moment. Submit these things before God in prayer and ask Him to help you live in faith and obedience before Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Glory Is the Goal

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)

Seeing the glory of God is our ultimate hope. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). God will “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24).

He will “make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). He “calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12). “Our blessed hope [is] the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Jesus, in all his person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). “Father, I desire that they . . . may be with me where I am, to see my glory” Jesus prays in John 17:24.

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

“We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7). “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). “Those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).

Seeing and sharing in God’s glory is our ultimate hope through the gospel of Christ.

Such a hope, that is really known and treasured, has a huge and decisive effect on our present values and choices and actions.

Get to know the glory of God. Study the glory of God and the glory of Christ. Study the glory of the world that reveals the glory of God, and the glory of the gospel that reveals the glory of Christ.

Treasure the glory of God in all things and above all things.

Study your soul. Know the glory you are seduced by, and know why you treasure glories that are not God’s glory.

Study your own soul to know how to make the glories of the world collapse like the pagan idol Dagon in 1 Samuel 5:4. Let all glories that distract you from the glory of God shatter in pitiful pieces on the floor of the world’s temples. Treasure the glory of God above all this world.

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Peter 3:12

[12] waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

2 Thessalonians 2:8

[8] And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

1 Corinthians 1:7-8

[7] so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, [8] who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 17:24

[24] For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

Are You Anticipating Jesus’ Return?

PRAY OVER THIS

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

 

PONDER THIS

I preached a funeral a while back. A man in our church died; he was a dear and beloved man. I sat there. I saw all those flowers. I saw the children. I saw the grandchildren. I watched that sweet widow who lived with that man for so long, and they had both come up to a full, ripe age. These folks had lived together for more than fifty years. I watched her as she just put her hand on his coat sleeve, gave it a little tug, and then turned and walked away.

And I thought, “How terrible it must be to be an atheist.” This woman wasn’t; she was a true believer. But what do atheists do in times like that? Is this all it is? Are we just going to get sick and die and go into the ground and that’s it? No! Jesus is coming again. His first coming without the Second Coming would be like an engagement without a wedding. No, He is coming again, and I thank God for that.

How are you comforted by the promise of Jesus’s Second Coming?

How do you need to refocus your mind on this promise today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to encourage someone you know who is struggling, with the reminder of Jesus’s promised return.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Is Your Aim?

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. . . . And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17)

When you get up in the morning and you face the day, what do you say to yourself about your hopes for the day? When you look from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, what do you want to happen because you have lived?

If you say, “I don’t even think like that. I just get up and do what I’ve got to do,” then you are cutting yourself off from a basic means of grace and a source of guidance and strength and fruitfulness and joy. It is crystal clear in the Bible, including these texts, that God means for us to aim consciously at something significant in our days.

God’s revealed will for you is that when you get up in the morning, you don’t drift aimlessly through the day letting mere circumstances alone dictate what you do, but that you aim at something — that you focus on a certain kind of purpose. I’m talking about children here, and teenagers, and adults — single, married, widowed, moms, and every trade and every profession.

Aimlessness is akin to lifelessness. Dead leaves in the back yard may move around more than anything else — more than the dog, more than the children. The wind blows this way, they go this way. The wind blows that way, they go that way. They tumble, they bounce, they skip, they press against a fence, but they have no aim whatsoever. They are full of motion and empty of life.

God did not create humans in his image to be aimless, like lifeless leaves blown around in the backyard of life. He created us to be purposeful — to have a focus and an aim for all our days. What is yours today? What is yours for the new year? A good place to start is 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

John Piper 

Bible Study

Colossians 3:17

[17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Peter 4:11

[11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 5:19-20

[19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Colossians 4:2-4

[2] Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. [3] At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—[4] that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Looking Toward Jesus’ Return

PRAY OVER THIS

“All things were created through Him and for Him. …And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

(Colossians 1:16b, 18)

 

PONDER THIS

In Colossians 1:16, “For” is a preposition that speaks of direction. We in America have been invaded by Eastern religions. Eastern religions are circular. Everything goes round and round. Followers of these religions believe in reincarnation. And so you have to live with good karma. And if your karma is not good, then in your next life you may come back as a roach. But if you’ve been good, you might come back as a cow. That’s the reason someone might not eat meat. He might be eating his ancestor.

But life and history are not circular. It is all headed in a direction. The Bible is linear. We’re moving to the time when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. That’s the reason He taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). I can hardly wait.

What are some ways you might inadvertently be living according to the belief that you will be paid back for how good or bad your life was?

How does following Jesus differ from this? How does following Jesus and looking forward to His Second Coming motivate you to live differently?

PRACTICE THIS

Take some time to journal any ways you might be living to earn rewards in the next life. Confess these to the Father and thank Him that Jesus has done everything needed to secure your eternity and has promised to return again soon.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Contemplate Calamity

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . . This God — his way is perfect.” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31)

After the loss of his ten children owing to a natural disaster (Job 1:19), Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). At the end of the book, the inspired writer confirms Job’s understanding of what happened. He says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11).

This has several crucial implications for us — lessons for us here at the dawn of a new year — as we think about calamities in the world and in our lives — like the massive disaster that occurred December 26, 2004, in the Indian Ocean — one of the deadliest natural disasters on record with 1.7 million people made homeless, half a million injured, and over 230,000 killed.

Lesson #1. Satan is not ultimate; God is.

Satan had a hand in Job’s misery, but not the decisive hand. God gave Satan permission to afflict Job (Job 1:12; 2:6). But Job and the writer of this book treat God as the decisive cause. When Satan afflicts Job with sores, Job says to his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10), and the writer calls these satanic sores “the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). So, Satan is real. Satan brings misery. But Satan is not ultimate or decisive. He is on a leash. He goes no farther than God decisively permits.

Lesson #2. Even if Satan caused that tsunami in the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas, 2004, he is not the decisive cause of over 200,000 deaths; God is.

God claims power over tsunamis in Job 38:8 and 11 when he asks Job rhetorically, “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb . . . and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Psalm 89:8–9 says, “O Lord . . . you rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” And Jesus himself has the same control today as he once did over the deadly threats of waves: “He . . . rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm” (Luke 8:24). In other words, even if Satan caused the earthquake, God could have stopped the waves. But he didn’t.

Lesson #3. Destructive calamities in this world mingle judgment and mercy.

God’s purposes are not simple. Job was a godly man and his miseries were not God’s punishment (Job 1:1, 8). Their design was purifying, not punishment (Job 42:6). James 5:11 says, “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

But we do not know the spiritual condition of Job’s children who died. Job was certainly concerned about them (Job 1:5). God may have taken their life in judgment. We don’t know.

If that is true, then the same calamity proved in the end to be mercy for Job and judgment on his children. This double purpose is true of all calamities. They mingle judgment and mercy. They are both punishment and purification. Suffering, and even death, can be both judgment and mercy at the same time.

The clearest illustration of this is the death of Jesus. It was both judgment and mercy. It was judgment on Jesus because he bore our sins (not his own), and it was mercy toward us who trust him to bear our punishment (Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) and be our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Another example is the curse and miseries that have come on this earth because of the fall of Adam and Eve. Those who never believe in Christ experience it as judgment, but believers experience it as merciful, though painful — a preparation for glory. “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope” (Romans 8:20). This is God’s subjection. This is why there are tsunamis. But this subjection to futility is “in hope.”

Lesson #4. The heart that Christ gives to his people feels compassion for those who suffer, no matter what their faith is.

When the Bible says, “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), it does not add, “unless God caused the weeping.” Job’s comforters would have done better to weep with Job than talk so much. That does not change when we discover that Job’s suffering was ultimately from God. No, it is right to weep with those who suffer. Pain is pain, no matter who causes it. We are all sinners. Empathy flows not from the causes of pain, but from the company of pain. And we are all in it together.

Lesson #5. Finally, Christ calls us to show mercy to those who suffer, even if they do not deserve it.

That is the meaning of mercy — undeserved help. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). This is how Christ treated us (Romans 5:10), dying for us when we were his enemies. By that power, and with that example, we do the same.

John Piper 

Bible Study

2 Samuel 22:31-32

    [31] This God—his way is perfect;

        the word of the LORD proves true;

        he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

    [32] “For who is God, but the LORD?

        And who is a rock, except our God?

Psalm 33:20-21

    [20] Our soul waits for the LORD;

        he is our help and our shield. 

    [21] For our heart is glad in him,

        because we trust in his holy name.

Philippians 3:15

[15] Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

James 1:4-6

[4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

Every Star Has Been Named

PRAY OVER THIS

“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing.” Isaiah 40:26

 

PONDER THIS

Take time on a dark night to go out and look up. Isaiah said, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things.” Do you think everything came out of nothing? You may say, “I can’t believe in an eternal God.” Do you believe in eternal, inanimate matter? Too often we let the creation in front of us block our view of the Creator who made it.

I was listening to the radio the other day and someone said, “You want to give a Christmas present? We’ll name a star after you. You choose somebody, and we will name a star for that person, and we’ll put it in a book.” Friend, it’s too late. Jesus has already named every one of the billions and billions of stars. He is the preserver of creation. He guides it all.

When was the last time you were in awe of creation, such as the stars in the night sky?

How does it comfort you to be reminded that Jesus even knows and names every star in the sky? What does that tell you about His concern for you?

PRACTICE THIS

Plan a time soon to go out at night and look at the stars. Spend time reflecting on the fact that God knows each of them by name and His care for you is even greater than the stars.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers