Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalms 2:1-12, ESV)

Today, many people are having reactions to last night’s news. And they will continue reacting as more news comes in today. The voting is over, and as the final ballots are counted news will abound.

In January Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. And many of those who did not vote for him are fretting about what kind of Presidency he will have, and in a future post I will deal with that fretting.

First, though, about reactions. The King of Kings is still enthroned. And as I wrote yesterday, it is God who removes rulers and sets others in their places. In our republic He does that through the means of the voters and the electoral college–but it is God who does it. And God has determined that Barack Obama will be the next President.

And Christians will be tempted to react many different ways today.

To those who voted for McCain: He did not lose because of your brothers who did not vote for McCain. Do not curse your brothers who voted for third parties, or even those who voted for Barack Obama. Furthermore, consider the additional executive powers that you were just fine with President Bush exercising and remember why limited government is important: power shifts. And if you’re not comfortable with Barack Obama wielding certain powers you shouldn’t want George W. Bush to have them either. And sit down and pray for our nation, and for our next President (more on this in the next post). You voted as you thought you should, and God will bless that–rest in that and trust in God for what will come next.

To those who voted for a third party: Do not gloat over the inability of the centrist, “RINO” McCain to inspire the nation. Do not say “I told you so” or bite back about how horrible it is that your brothers voted differently than you did. Don’t revile VNS for bad third party reporting. Don’t take a “holier than thou” attitude towards others who voted differently. Sit down and pray for our nation, and for our next President. You voted as you thought you should, and God will bless that–rest in that and trust in God for what will come next.

To those who voted for Obama: Do not gloat in his victory. And more importantly, despite whatever inspired you about him, never forget that he is a man. And many men, good though they appeared, have been corrupted by power even if they were not before. Also, be prepared to watch him do things that he said he would that you paid no attention to like signing the Freedom of Choice act and pursuing the so-called fairness doctrines that may hamper your free speech. I will resist the temptation to say “I told you so” later, but consider those possibilities now and do not be surprised if those things happen. And do not look down on your brothers for not voting the way you did. I am very happy that the USA was willing to vote for a Black president so soon after our war, even though I am sad that the first Black president has the views he does. And maybe this will bring some of that healing, but do think of those who did not vote for him as racist or betrayers. And sit down and pray for our nation, and for our next President. You voted as you thought you should, and God will bless that–rest in that and trust in God for what will come next.

Finally, to the title and verses above. There are many in our nation who want no part in the holy God who created them. They want to cast the cords that bind them away–rage against the Most High. No matter what happens in the public square over the next four years, God is neither surprised nor shaken. In fact, the efforts to throw off His control he scoffs at. He laughs! Our King is still enthroned, and He watches over our world, and He will not be dethroned no matter who rules on earth over any nation.

So pray for President Bush. Pray for President-elect Obama. And trust in the King. And serve no King but Jesus Christ.

In dealing with rulers who sin against us and against others, sometimes misusing their office and lording their authority over their charges, it is important that we keep a Biblical perspective. Proverbs 21:1 is instructive here:

Our God holds the heart of the authorities in His hand.

When trouble comes from rulers who are sinning in their exercising of their offices we must remember this. God’s arm is not short, and this trouble is ultimately from His hand. Romans 13:1b reminds us that there is “no authority except from God.” God’s providence has brought about the difficult situation you face when a ruler in any sphere of authority sins against you.

At the point where we are sinned against, we have choices to make. In making these difficult choices, though, we must never forget that God’s hand holds the heart of those who are making our life difficult.

Solomon doesn’t stop with God’s hand holding the heart of the king, though, he tells us what Yahweh does with His hand: “He turns it wherever He wishes.”

This should be comforting to us when we see sinful men abusing their authority (whether willfully or not). God holds and turns the hearts of rulers—He always has and always will. So when we have difficulty because of the sin of our rulers, the first place we need to turn is to the King of the kings. To Jesus.

I have had experiences in the past where I was convinced that an authority was going to make a grave error or commit a grave sin. When I have stopped, and prayed for change in the situation, and for God to change the heart of my ruler on that point I have invariably approached the situation with a better attitude, and I have also always seen God’s hand in it. More often than not, I was able to make a peaceful appeal and God either stayed off the action of my superior or I was able to convince him of his error. But even when the ruler continued in his decision, I was able to trust God with the heart and hand of the “king” in the situation—and to rest in God’s infinite knowledge of and control over the situation.

The heart of our rulers is in the hand of Yahweh—and He not only is able, but does turn that heart wherever He wishes, to accomplish His purposes.

When rulers sin, first appeal to the True King of kings who holds their hearts and you will see the hand of God in your trial—regardless of the outcome.

I have been reading quite a bit lately about the topic of abusive authorities. I’ve read cautions about blindly following (a wise caution), about the harm that authorities can cause when they abuse their power, and many other aspects of the damage that unwise or unrighteous rulers bring in their wake.

One thing that I have found continually missing, though, is how those who are ruled should respond to those who rule in these situations. What little is said about how to respond to the abuse of authority seems too often to be making excuses why the abused underling (no matter the authority) doesn’t need to do anything about the problem, but can get off free in the matter.

As I’ve looked at the relevant passages, I am convinced that the abuse of authority (the Bible calls it lording over people with regard to Church leaders) is truly a horrible thing. And the poor or evil leadership a ruler brings, whether in church, state or family will curse the entire group. There’s no two ways about it.

But having sinful rulers is inevitable. God will allow evil men to rise to power at times (past President Clinton is a great example)—and there is no arguing against that. Even men who are not evil will sin grievously against those under their charge. David, who was a king after God’s own heart, sent his friend Uriah to his death on the front lines so that he could steal his wife.

So what does a man do when placed under authorities who sin? All of us are under authority, or we should be, in at least three areas: the family (father), the church (elders) and the state (the magistrate). In this day and age most of you will also have rulers at work (bosses). The Bible uses the slave/master relationship to describe this. Biblically speaking, I will try to treat this as a subset of the family, even though our workplaces are not organized that way anymore.

I don’t want my posts on this topic to be long, and so I’m going to post shorter posts as I am able. You are going to have sinful rulers, likely in more than one of the spheres of authority, and there are practical steps to overcoming the sin of those who rule over you and God has not only not been silent on the topic, but He has left us with quite a few principles on the matter. I’m not going to deal with the principles in any particular order, but as I do I’ll organize them into a logical outline that you’ll be able to find under this category, or an index I’ll create later.

that George W. Bush, Nancy Pelosi, and Charles Manson all drink water? I think there’s some kind of vast, murderous conspiracy going on . . .

Guilt by association is back en vogue!

I know people who voted for Ron Paul. You know, the Ron Paul who was endorsed by Rolling Stone because he’s against the war and for the legalization of recreational pharmaceuticals? Some prostitutes and racists voted for Ron Paul, too. Therefore the people I know who voted for Congressman Paul must be racist adulterers, right?

I also know people who voted for John McCain. Senator McCain sponsored a bill that limits free speech. He voted for taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. Therefore those people must be pro-choice, anti-baby and fascists who want to limit free speech, right?

The internet is a wonderful invention (thank you Al Gore!) but it’s also a cesspool. If you know somebody, don’t believe what you read on the internet about them–ask them face to face and give them some benefit of doubt if you’re not willing to bring it up to them personally. And if you read something about me on the internet, it might be true. But then I know people who are racist adulterous freespeech hating, baby hating fascists so I must be one too.

If you’re my friend I’ll ask you about yourself and generally trust what you say rather than what people who don’t like you say. And I’ll do that no matter whether you voted for Ron Paul, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama or whatever. I’d like to hope my friends would do the same for me.

Oh, and by the way. I’m a sinner. And so are you and all my friends. And somewhere there’s a few things written about sin and what we do about it. Now where was that book…. oh right. It’s the Bible.

I know this–but at times I let things get the better of me. In the past few weeks I have seen God remind me of something: communication early is better than communication late. And another thing: when we know we’re supposed to do something and don’t, it bothers us. Whether consciously or deep in the recesses of our hearts, it bothers us.

A few times over the last few weeks I’ve had conversations that I had been putting off. Why did I put them off? Because I was afraid of the worst possible way they could go. I was thinking through all the possible scenarios and I didn’t like the bad ones. In some cases, I needed to talk about things related to me. If the other person really cared they’d ask, I’d tell myself. Foolish, foolish man that I am.

And when the conversations happened? Weight was lifted, relationships extended and bettered, the Gospel reminded. Not that they were necessarily easy, but better now than later. This past week I started a conversation that I would usually put off and stew over right away. And you know what? It was good. And helpful. And a loving, productive chat about stuff that I might not have brought up at all if I’d let the grass grow under my feet on it.

So don’t wait. That conversation you’ve been putting off with someone you care about? Do it today. Think through what you need to say. Examine your motives and make sure you’re not coming from selfishness. But then go do it. You’ll find that it opens doors that you feel like are closed and that speaking the truth in love with one another will bring grace into your life in a mighty way.

Psalm 43:

1Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!

An amazing start to the day. Lord—DEFEND MY CAUSE! David’s words (if these are indeed David’s) are appropriate to what I am going through right now. Vindicate us, Lord, against the ungodly people who seek to harm us. Deliver us from the unjust! The judges who will make ungodly, unwise, illogical decisions—deliver us from them. The legislators who will sacrifice liberty to be reelected because they “made a difference”—deliver us from them.

2For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?

Who is this God who we ask to help? The One True God! We take refuge in Him. Has He rejected us?

I think that David answers his own question here—God has not rejected him. David looks deeper into his own soul and sees that his feeling of rejections is his alone and so he asks “why?”

Why do we mourn the oppression of the enemy? Because it is hard. But does it mean that our God has rejected us? That we can no longer take refuge in Him? NO!

3Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
4Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

This is beautiful poetry. David knows He needs his God—as do we. Please, Father, send out your light and your truth. Let the light and truth of God lead us to His dwelling.

In the Old Covenant God dwelled in the temple in Jerusalem—the place where worship took place day and night. In the New Covenant His dwelling place is with His people, among them, within their hearts.

God’s truth and light will lead us to WORSHIP.

God’s truth and light will lead us to SACRIFICE.

God’s truth and light will bring us into EXCEEDING JOY.

And we will praise Him with guitar and piano and voice and harp and song—we will praise Him for His truth and light as we worship from our souls.

Father, may I worship you this way today and every day—let not the oppression of the wicked drive me away from worship—but let Your truth and light drive me into it!

5Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?

Again, “why?” “Why are you cast down, O my soul and why are you in turmoil within me?” David stands outside of himself and looks at his soul—looks at himself. Why? Why am I down cast? Because I do not follow God’s truth and light. Because I do not hope in Him alone—but in my own strength. Because I fear the enemy rather than fearing my Father who promises to take care of me.

Our God is bigger than our enemies. How often we forget that! And so we are cast down in turmoil on the inside. David knew that he needed God—and so he asks God, “why”

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

And then he finishes with orders to himself. “Hope in God!” He has not yet followed truth and light into worship—but by faith he knows he will. “for I shall again praise Him.”

What doesn’t David say here?

He doesn’t say whether God did what he asked of Him. See how David’s fear of His enemies turns him to long for worship. To long for hope in God.

Is David’s praise dependent upon God’s fixing of the problem that has him so down in the dumps? NO! No way! David’s praise is because of who God is. David’s praise is because he can take refuge in God. David’s praise is because this is his God. Note that twice David refers to the Lord has “my God.”

He is our God too. He is our refuge and our strength (Ps. 46) and we can hope in Him as our salvation from eternal and temporal ills.

Let us today stop mourning because of the oppression of our enemies—and may God’s truth and light lead us into exceedingly joyful worship of our God.

How great is our God . . . sing with me . . . .

I read an email once that had as part of its signature, “this email printed on 100% recycled electrons.�

Funny, but not this morning.

Ever notice how fast electrons move?

At one point a friend posted something in his blog that caused some others to post some less than charitable responses.  He later repented of part of what he had written, and I took it upon myself to lay in on a particular blog with both barrels, noting their lack of charity and benefit of the doubt for the blogger in question.

Did I mention that electrons move fast?

Things we post on the internet (or hit send from our outboxes) move really fast. In the old days I would have a lot of time between writing something like I did this morning and it even making it to the post office. Not so anymore. I can sin so much more efficiently now that we’re in the internet age.

While in the shower that morning the Spirit hit me with what I had written and I was forced to apply it, and the sermon I preached this past Sunday evening, to my own heart and my own actions. The blog, thankfully, had a feature where as the author of a comment I could delete it, but not before it was able to be read by anyone who looked at that in those very long two hours in between. And not before it doubtlessly sent a copy of that comment on to the blog’s owner.

This serves as a reminder to me (and I hope to all of us) why Jesus warns us in the Scriptures to be slow to speak and quick to listen. It is those comments I make without weighing them that almost invariably get me into trouble and are a cause for repentance.

Praise God that he gives to me (and to all of His children) the grace to see our own sin, and to repent when it is seen. May He also give me the grace to slow down and not to so easily sin at the speed of an electron.

Proverbs 18:13—“He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.�

If you want to help people solve problems, the first and most important thing you need to learn to do is listen.

Proverbs 18 has three verses on listening and I will talk about all three if them in time. Verse 13 is the right place to begin. This is the one I personally struggle with the most.

I usually am told I am a “type A� personality or a choleric. I will write more about personality later, but briefly here I’ll say that all of us have all of the personality “types� but we tend to gravitate towards one or two of them most easily. There are times that we ought to be each of them and times where the reactions of one “type� are sinful.

For me, though, I gravitate towards being the boss. In many situations that is a good thing, but in many others it’s bad. One place where it’s totally horrible is when I am listening to others and I succumb to the temptation to finish their sentence for them. I do it to my children way too often, my wife on more occasions than I ought, and occasionally with people I work with. I see this same tendency in my oldest son and desire to purge it from my life in order to help him with this struggle as well.

Anyway, finishing somebody else’s sentence is the most obvious way to violate God’s injunction here—answering before one hears.

If I finish your sentence, it’s not only rude, I’m likely to be wrong. I’m right when I do it 50% of the time but even when I’m right, I’m not really right. Because I won’t say it the way you do and I’m not supposed to say it at all. I’m supposed to listen.

Much more subtle than finishing another person’s sentence, though, is answering before one hears. I do that all the time. I listen just enough to think we have a solution to a problem and then jump in with the answer when what I am sure is the right answer.

When what I should have done is asked another question.

Answers are more fun than questions.

But too often they’re wrong. God says here that when I do that it is ‘folly and shame� to me. Folly and shame are not words that we use much today. But we do still use words that are related to them. Folly means being a fool. We all know what it means to be a fool, or to be foolish.

When I have shame, I am ashamed of myself. That often happens when I do something foolish. God says here both folly and shame to show the magnitude of the foolishness of answering before one hears.

Listening is important to solving problems. Crucial. Don’t answer before you hear. Ask enough questions that you are sure you understand before you give an answer. Don’t be a fool and bring shame upon yourself.

May God give each of us the grace to listen long and hard before we answer.

Why Problems Are For Solving?

Because problems are for solving.  I say that because I believe it to be true.  It is something a mentor once told me that has never shaken its way from my memory.

People have problems.  All people without exception.

Most people try to avoid problems, but still they come.  Why?  Because we live in a world of sin.  And our sin and the sins of others cause problems. 

What should we do with problems?

Some people try to pretend they don’t exist.  This is especially true with regard to relational problems.  People pretend that there’s nothing wrong between them when there are dreadful rifts.  This doesn’t work.  It only makes life worse in the long run.  The problems stack up on top of one another until the tower falls under the weight.

Some people run away from them.  They leave jobs, families, churches, even cities in order to alleviate the pressure that comes invariably from an unsolved problem.  This doesn’t work either.   At least part of the problem is you—and if you run away from a problem you take yourself with you—the problems return in the new place.

So what should you do?

Solve the problem.

Most people don’t try this because it is hard.  It makes life better in the long run but in the short term it is terribly difficult.  Also too often people have tried the wrong solution and then written the problem off as unsolvable.

God brings problems into the lives of people as a gift.  And for every problem He sends He provides a solution.  The solution is rarely easy but almost always simple.  And the solution is available to every one who puts their whole trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Problems are for solving.  Do you need help with a problem?  Don’t wait until it gets worse—talk to someone who can help as soon as you can.  If you don’t know who to call, contact the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors for a reference to a Biblical counselor near you.  You can find a list at www.nanc.org.