In the book of Amos there is a startling saying. Amos 5:18:

“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
   Why would you have the day of the LORD?”

The book of Amos is a declaration of God’s judgments on mankind for their wickedness. A wickedness that everyone shared. All were guilty and the day of God’s judgments would be vast and painful.

But in the words Jesus taught us to pray, we read something else. Matthew 6:10:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus teaches us to pray that His Kingdom would come.

Before Christ’s work, the coming day of the Lord was dismal and hopeless. For the saved in Christ, the coming day of the Lord is one of ultimate and absolute comfort. As seen in Revelation 7:17:

“For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
   and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

We can hope and pray diligently for the Lord’s return, yet at the same time pray and trust that Jesus will stay his return until all of the elect have accepted his gift of eternal life.

There is hope and encouragement in that.

I always find it so bizarre thinking about the ancient practice of idol worship. Not because my own faith doesn’t look a bit crazy to people on the outside. But I think ancient idol worship is really out there.

Check out this reference to it in Isaiah. This language is common. Isaiah 2:8:

Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.

Imagine starting with a block of wood and a knife. Imagine carving out the likeness of some animal or cultural symbol. Then, imagine setting it up on a mantle and trusting that the thing you just made is going to somehow produce food and money and health and comfort.

It would seem like logic would have to kick in somewhere in there and you’d have to say, “wait a second, I actually made this thing. I knew it before it was my god.”

I think most of us would like to think we’ve risen above this behavior. But I think most of us know it’s not entirely true. Christians and non-Christians alike make idols out of things all the time. We’ve just become better, as a society, at disguising it.

In between finishing the bible reading plan yesterday and starting the bible reading plan fresh next Monday, I’ve been reading scattered portions of scripture. Today, I found encouragement in 1 Peter 1:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

I love the imagery. That the inheritance we’re promised is no fickle, unsure thing. It’s imperishable, undefiled and unfading. In three words, it is absolutely unlike anything we’ve experienced here in this lifetime. But not only that, God’s power guards them with our faith as a simple conduit.

Encouragement 101—brought to you by the Apostle Peter. Sweet.

I just read the story of Josiah in 2 Kings a couple days ago. You probably recognize it. Josiah is the king who sets out to repair the temple. So he sends a priest into the treasury to get money out to pay the workmen. But while they’re there, the priest stumbles on the Book of the Law. He takes it back to Josiah and reads it to him. When Josiah hears what’s been written, he realizes that Judah is living in sin. He tears his clothes and mourns for Judah.

Then, he gathers all the people together and has the Book of the Law read to all of them, “great and small”. Through Josiah’s leadership, the people reform their ways and for the first time in many, many years they celebrate the Passover.

In the narrative timeline of 2 Kings, this is a really positive turn. The kind of moment that makes you say, “Yes!”. After reading, “so-and-so reigned in Israel so-many years and did evil in the sight of the Lord…” over and over again, things start to look bleak. Then Josiah comes along and you almost breath a sigh of relief—or you would if it were you first time reading the narrative.

But, the truth is that it didn’t last. Josiah is unexpectedly killed in battle and is succeeded by Johoahaz. Who, guess what, “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”.

What a let-down. But I think the truth is that most Christians who’ve been walking for more than a few years can really relate to this—whether they recognize it or not. Life is made up of times of great spiritual strength and times of questioning where that strength went. Of course, both are guided by God and, in both, God is the defending agent. As soon as someone is met with their first time of spiritual trouble, they’re also sure to be met with false starts.

By that I mean a temporary resurgence in spiritual fervor. Like all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, there is fresh spiritual vigor. But, whatever was a bring down in the first place probably hasn’t finished causing trouble and the spark of energy is gone almost as quickly as it came.

I’m no foreigner to these ups and downs—and especially not the false start. For me, if I’m not aware of what’s going on, the discouragement can leave me in worse shape than I was in to start with. I’ve found that managing my expectations is fundamental in keeping myself from even deeper discouragement. It’s important to remember that the Spirit is never “business as usual”. He deals with us differently at different times out our life. I have to understand that any “start” could easily be a false start, but even if it is, it is for a reason and I should be patient and not give up hope during that time—whether it lasts or not. God is working all things for my ultimate good.

So, if you’re one who experiences the false starts frequently, or are experiencing one now, or just experienced one, or whatever—keep up hope. God is the defending agent and that’s a lot better than business-as-usual.

I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy. I’m on the second book right now, Perelandre. The concept of the trilogy is basically that God created, not only earth, but other worlds as well. He deals and communicates with each of them in unique ways, although always in line with his character.

Today, I was thinking about what we know of the universe, and more existentially, what we know about existence—what we know about knowing things, even. And it occurred to me that it seems borderline insulting, even arrogant, to assume that we would be the end of God’s creation. That he would have retired after creating us.

We believe that God is all powerful. The he is sovereign. That he’s creative. But most importantly, that he’s passionately devoted to bringing glory to his name. Well, what great human artist do you know of that only painted one thing and stopped?

I mean, think about it, God has already created at least once before creating us: angels. Who’s to say there weren’t other beings created before us—maybe in existences other than our own. I don’t know.

But it does seem to me, that if God has the character that we believe he does—that he’s revealed to us—it would more probable that his creative impulses wouldn’t be spent on us. Maybe nowhere in our universe or realm of existence, but it seems likely to me that God would have more than one egg and more than one basket, that he would go on creating and gleaning glory from all of it.

Of course, as to our own interaction with God, this is all pretty inconsequential. If God has continued to create capacities other than our own, I don’t really need to know about it. I may never actually have an answer. But it sure is interesting to consider.

In small group tonight, we studied 1 Peter 1:13-25. In the midst of the verse, an awkward segment arises:

“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth… “

In isolation, it sounds like Peter is saying that we should be careful to do what’s right because if we don’t we’re getting the boot. That’s not what he’s saying, but it took us some time to get our heads outside of our works-based thinking.

What Peter is saying is that God rebukes his children. He’s reminding these Christians that they call on him as Father, and their father sees their actions, choices and conditions of heart and, like a father, he will deliver a stern rebuke. Little children fear the rebuke of their earthly father, although it is delivered in love. It is very much the same with God’s fatherhood over us.

The author of Hebrews expands on this idea in Hebrews 12:7-8:

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

On one hand we see that God only chastises the ones he loves. On the other hand, we should use the prospect of that chastisement to help keep our hearts in line.

This stands, I think, as a fresh shot of spiritual reality. God will rebuke me for my sin and it will be unpleasant. But, he will do it in love for my benefit.

I’m reading through Joshua right now. They’re in the midst of dividing up the new land and assigning it to the different tribes of Israel. Each has an inheritance in the land. That is except for the tribe of Levi. The Levites receive no inheritance in the land.

If you don’t know much about the Israelite’s history, the Levites were the priests in Israel. They governed the temple and performed the various ceremonial rituals God commanded Israel to do. In most ways they had a greater responsibility than all the rest of Israel. Yet, God gave them no inheritance in the land.

You know why? Because of this, Deuteronomy 10:8-9:

"At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance…"

So the Levites were set apart to minister to God. To perform various duties and tasks. But, most importantly, this somehow made God himself their inheritance.

Indeed their responsibility was greater, but the Levitical priesthood was set apart from Israel for God, and God would be their inheritance.

Okay, so fast foreword several thousand years. I’m reading this passage in Joshua where It refers to the Levites having no inheritance in the land and it reminded me of another royal priesthood, which God set apart for his own uses. Us.

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9)

In the nation of Israel, God set apart the tribe of Levi as a royal priesthood to minister to him and to receive him as their inheritance. Now, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God calls his church out of the whole world of his creation as his chosen race and royal priesthood.

By declaring his excellencies do we minister to him. And although we may not be allotted any inheritance in this life time, like no other before us, do we receive Jesus as our true and all satisfying inheritance in the life to come.

Talk about reasons to worship. That’s pretty awesome.