Psalm 81:11-13:

"But my people did not listen to my voice;
   Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
   to follow their own counsels.
Oh, that my people would listen to me,
   that Israel would walk in my ways!”

In this passage, Asaph illustrates an important principle which runs throughout all of scripture. And, it’s one I’ve written on before.

There are times when a believer succumbs to destructive habits in his or her life and rides them out for a time. The severity varies, but most of the time the root is the same. God, at times, gives a believer up to his or her own sinful inclinations as a means of discipline. Discipline is good. Something like a parent allowing a child to get burned so they learn that it hurts.

While at times indulging our flesh feels rewarding, the underlying fact is that it is destructive and bad for us. When a believer enters a time like this, it isn’t long before they realize that they are suffering and return stronger than before.

This is why, I believe, a consistently good relationship with God won’t always look like obvious sanctification. Rather, sanctification will sometimes actually include times of serious struggle or even repetitive failure. For the believer, I believe, this is part of the sanctifying process we have to go through.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we go out in search of ways to gratify our flesh. No, we continue to seek God and seek to be like him. But when, we face times like these, we should feel encouraged. God is patient, molding and teaching us to be more like him, employing even the unexpected things we do and experience in order to meet his intentions for us.

The past couple weeks I’ve really been dwelling on the idea of remembering Jesus—remembering the Gospel. As I read today, this passage in the beginning of Psalm 77 stuck out to me.

You hold my eyelids open;
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
   the years long ago.
I said, "Let me remember my song in the night;
   let me meditate in my heart."
   Then my spirit made a diligent search:
”Will the Lord spurn forever,
   and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
   Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"
                         Selah

Then I said, "I will appeal to this,
   to the years of the right hand of the Most High."

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
   yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

Asaph describes his turmoil and mental anguish over his circumstances. Then shifts immediately. He says that he will remember God’s works and ‘wonders’ of old.

Every Christian can attest to God’s power to provide strength and comfort. Yet, we all quickly forget that he has done so for us in the past, when our present seems to fall apart. Like Asaph, we should make a careful point to remember what God has done for us in the past, in his Gospel in general and our lives in specific, to give us confidence for the future.

Toward the end of Deuteronomy before Israel crosses over into the promised land, God gives a song to Moses which is intended to be a sharp reminder in the people’s ear of their wickedness and proneness to sin. But more importantly, it’s stark contrast to God’s mercy and grace on his people.

Deuteronomy 31:19-21:

"Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give."

The song, which comes in the following chapter, is delivered to be a reminder and to deliver conviction to the wandering soul. God has been merciful, yet is a God of wrath.

This, of course, reminds me of my own inclination to please myself and my own constant need to remember the Gospel of Jesus, which is given for similar reasons yet from a very different direction.

The Gospel reminds us not only that we are sinful beings, and that God is a God of wrath, but also that he is gracious and patient. It is not his wrath that will lead us to repentance, but his grace! Remembering this can give us the confidence and strength to stand and trust God to sanctify us and conform us to his own image.

About a year ago I posted a review of a book by Milton Vincent called A Gospel Primer for Christians.

The book’s aim is this very thing. To help Christians remember the basic, strength giving, tenets of the Gospel. It begins with an explanation of the Gospel and concludes with a simple rehearsal of those truths for Christians to remember on a regular basis.

For me, this book has been a great blessing toward this end. It’s usually less than $10 and worth every penny.

Much like Moses’ song delivered to Israel to remind them, we can use similar tools to remember Jesus’ Gospel and find strength to move foreword even in the face of our own opposition.

Psalm 69:19:

You know my reproach,
   and my shame and my dishonor;
   my foes are all known to you.

David is speaking to God about his enemies. In essence, he’s saying that God knows what they do to him and the pain he undergoes at their hands. He is affirming back to God (and to us) that God’s eyes are on us and he knows what he’s doing.

As I read it tonight though I couldn’t help but read the words a little differently.

The Gospel is thorough, but the comforts of it when not dwelled upon very, very regularly can seem to get lost under the anxiety of life. But I read this passage in a personal manner. God knows not only my circumstances and challenges, but also knows me and all of my deepest, most difficult issues. And yet still, the Gospel is applied to me.

What worldly anxiety can stand up against that?

I read the book of Jonah a couple days ago as part of my Bible reading plan. Now, the point of the book of Jonah is largely resting on Jonah himself. Jonah was a prophet called by God to warn the city of Nineveh that God’s judgment was coming. Jonah, however, wasn’t interested in God’s call and was even less interested in helping the ‘wicked’ people of Nineveh receive grace from God by repenting.

So, as the story goes, Jonah fled from God’s command and boarded a ship. God stirred up a storm which eventually led to Jonah being thrown overboard and being eaten by a “large fish”. He eventually conceded his pride and the fish spit him up.

What I find very remarkable though is just what happens when Jonah goes to fulfill the word God had commanded him in the first place. He goes to Nineveh and preaches the word of God’s disaster to the people. Here’s what it says happened:

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish."

They repented. God commanded Jonah to go and warn the city of Nineveh and the people not only listened, but repented. The very next verse details that God relented of the disaster he had set for Nineveh.

While the main theme of the book definitely focuses on Jonah’s disobedience and hard-heartedness, what I really noticed this time was the encouragement and relationship between God’s command for Jonah to preach and Nineveh’s penitent response.

I find encouragement in this. God has sent us into the world with a message for repentance and hope and if we will listen and go, God has people in every nation, tribe and tongue. Someone will listen and be saved.

Job 10:1-3:

"I loathe my life;I will give free utterance to my complaint;
   I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
   let me know why you contend against me.
Does it seem good to you to oppress,
   to despise the work of your hands
    and favor the designs of the wicked?”

The book of Job is kind the of go-to book for people in the midst of trials. But I think that Job presses on the major difficulty we all have underneath our trials: Why?

In the flesh, “just because” isn’t a satisfying answer. And some wager between God and the Devil seems even less settling. I think we would like to find comfort in understanding our plight. But I suspect that it’s an unreasonable request. As the book of Job affirms over and over again, God is not like us. He doesn’t think like us. He doesn’t operate like us. The difficulty we experience in this life is not something we’re probably going to get to understand. Maybe ever.

So, while the story of Job is often used to comfort the distressed, I think the Gospel, in all of its simplicity, should really go much farther in achieving that goal.

I had a great conversation with some friends around a hookah tonight. Of course we jumped all over the place. But at once, one friend shared an excellent observation about faith. His faith specifically, but applicable to all honest faith, I think.

Faith cannot be because of the evidence; otherwise it wouldn’t be faith. But evidence can cause us to stand more firmly in the faith we hold.

I think this is an excellent observation. I didn’t search out the evidence supporting Christ’s lordship then make a logical decision to have faith. Rather, before I really knew what was going on, Christ changed me heart and faith was born. Now, I stand more confidently in my faith knowing that strong evidence also supports it.

I think this also is the trap of street-corner apologetics (so to speak). Souls are not won on the evidence, they’re won on the message.

So kudos to Zach for a thought provoking observation. And on that, lets try and save souls the way God would have us, with His message, rather than our argument.