Category: Uncategorized

Author: Lisa Groen

It will help us to consider first a few things. It is God who gives us a desire to please Him. I want to establish that the way we understand God is key to helping us to NOT misunderstand him. What we can know about the forgiveness of a holy God is inextricably linked to our understanding of both the justice and mercy of God.

A person who has committed serious sins might ask “I just want to know that I am truly forgiven by God, so, why would I need to know about the justice of God?” Someone may ask, “Isn’t the justice of God the opposite of the mercy of God?”

Actually, the Christian realities of God’s justice and mercy are not at odds with each other. We can see in scripture that God does not set aside his mercy to show justice, nor does he set aside his justice to show mercy. Justice and mercy are combined and unified in the person of God. God is whole and full and the source of wholeness and fullness. He does not fragment himself to provide for our needs. When we trusted in Jesus as our savior and Lord, he did not just provide an answer to our prayers, but provided himself in his fullness. There is unity within all aspects his personality. From scripture we can see the relationship between God’s justice and mercy.

The Lord is a God of justice and mercy, so he would have us to act with justice and mercy as well.

Micah 6:8 The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: “See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God.” (CEV)

God’s throne provides both justice and mercy:

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

God can forgive murder. We see it clearly in the following scriptures where David got Bathsheba pregnant, and later has Bathsheba’s husband killed so he would not be found to be guilty of adultery. In 2 Samuel 11, verses 5, 14, 24, 26 and 27:

⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 

¹⁵ In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”  

²⁴ Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 

²⁷ After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

Then, The Lord confronts David, but shows him mercy. In Chapter 12 of 2 Samuel, verses 13, 14, 16, 18b, 24, and 25:

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 

¹⁴ But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt forthe Lord, the son born to you will die.”

¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackclothon the ground. 

^18 b On the seventh day the child died. 

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 

²⁵ and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.

We see how David repents of his sin with Bathsheba and records it in a Psalm. Note verse 14 where he names the sin of bloodguiltiness:

Psalm 51:1-3,7-14 ESV

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

Then what’s amazing in this Psalm is that David tells of something in verses 17 and 18:

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;

He talks about God not despising his heart, as long as his heart is broken and contrite, and he talks about God having good pleasure in doing good to Zion, and good pleasure in building the walls of Jerusalem. David believes God would have good pleasure in building the walls (building the protection back up) of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was David’s responsibility as a King to protect. When David sinned, God told him there would be bloodshed. Now David asks for the protection back that was lost by his own sins with Bathsheba. David has faith that it could or would be something God could take pleasure in restoring.

Over time the Lord does a work in the heart of David. The Lord brings him from being a man who the Lord says of David “you despised Me” in 2 Samuel 12:10 to a person wholehearted for the Lord again, as is seen in the words of others in 1 Kings who spoke of King David after the incident with Bathsheba’s husband (in the NIV):

1 Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,

1 Kings 14:8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.

And in:

1 Kings 15:3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.

The above three scriptures show us that The Lord can restore wholehearted devotion and service to God in a person’s life after a terrible sin, in this case the sin of murder. This is the hope for anyone who repents and turns away from sin to God. This is good news for any of us, even for those that haven’t committed murder, because it gives us a picture of the depth of forgiveness, mercy, justice, and grace of God.

One final proof is another example that shows us without a doubt that the Lord can not only forgive a murderer, but draw him to a place of close fellowship with him. We will read the very words of Jesus. Because Jesus is the clear image of God we can believe what he says are God the Father’s sentiments as well. (Jesus is called the exact representation of the Father in Hebrews 1:3, which says “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”(NIV)) When the soldiers nailed him to the cross, after an angry crowd chanted “crucify him!” (crying for the murder of someone who was innocent), Jesus reveals the heart of God, in Luke 23:34 where he says “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” (NIV)

In the person of Jesus, and only by faith in Jesus the justice of God we deserve was fully paid for us through his work. He laid his life down to pay the penalty for our sins, so we don’t have to die for our sins. Consider first that the Bible says, even sins like lying, stealing, or lust, call for the justice of God against us and we deserve death even if we have not murdered someone. Apart from Jesus the justice of God for us is not dealt with. We would still deserve death. Mercy only comes from God to us by the payment for our sins having been made by Jesus. Mercy exists and is made available for us because God’s just wrath for our sins was justly satisfied as he poured it out upon Christ who died in our place. Because our sins are atoned for in Christ, God opens us his mercy for us, and he remains fully righteous in his making mercy available without compromising his righteousness or pretending like our sins never existed. The responsibility we have now after receiving the mercy God made available through Christ is that we are simply told to confess our sins, and forsake our sins, and we will be shown mercy, (Proverbs 28:13) and to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.(Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8).

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Author: Lisa Groen

People have often said, “It should never be God’s will for a Christian to go through hardship!”. And “Hardship is from the devil, it’s not from God! You have to resist hardship with the promises of God!”

Does hardship require spiritual warfare to ‘get the victory’ for the Christian?

Or, is hardship a normal part of Christian life? Can we pray to be released from hardship but still trust the Lord to be the one who deals with reversing the hardships that are too big for us to change rather that we ourselves trying to resist any and every kind of hardship we must face?

These are smaller parts of the bigger question “Why does God allow suffering, even for his own people?”

Is there a bigger purpose for it?

We can know that with God’s personality which we see in scripture, we are told in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Because of this, we can be assured that when God allows certain things in our lives, that he may have a thought about it that is higher than yours, and a reason for it that is nothing like what you could have imagined.

The following is not an exhaustive list, but some examples of why people suffer affliction may be because:

–We live in a fallen world (The original sin affects “all of creation”, therefore the results of that today are sin has still affected all of creation. Creation reaped hardship, sickness, and brokenness from the sin of people who lived before us.)

–God allows us to go through suffering to test our faith.

–To purge us and refine us.

–To remind us that we need a Savior

–To humble us

–Or to build our character, and to rub off the rough edges in our personalities.

If you have been a Christian for a while, you might have felt there were days in your Christian walk in which you were going through the ‘furnace of affliction’ as the Bible describes it. Maybe you have wondered if you were at fault, or if you somehow ‘messed up the plan of God’ that you imagined entitled you to a “trouble free existence”. Some of us have been taught things along these lines in our Christianity.

In considering these things we come with the understanding that salvation is a gift. Are good people entitled to anything good? A famous question brought up from the book “Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?” by Harold Kushner, might be better stated as, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” To keep it in perspective, we must remember that our salvation is a free gift. And we didn’t earn our salvation, so it is not possible to “earn” life or any of the blessings we see, because of the word “blessing” and the infused meaning it holds. A short definition of the word “blessing” is “God’s favor and protection”. Therefore, life itself and all the good things that come with it, is a gift.

From the Psalms we can read that God uses hardship and affliction to draw people to himself. Whether a person is unsaved, or if a Christian should ever backslide, God can use hardship, suffering or trials to draw people to himself. And even in the life of a believer who may not overtly be involved in any particular or habitual disobedience, the Lord may use some types of hardship for simply the purpose of causing them to grow closer to Him in their walk with Him.

Biblical reasons why God might allow people to be afflicted, taken from the New International Version Bible:

Psalm 107:17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

Psalm 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119:75 I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Many kinds of good news are also listed for those who have been afflicted as seen in scripture, from the NIV:

Isaiah 14:32 What answer shall be given to the envoys of that nation? “The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Isaiah 51:21-23 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine. This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”

And Isaiah 54:11-17“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. ¹² I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. ¹³ All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. ¹⁴ In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. ¹⁵ If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. ¹⁶ “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; ¹⁷ no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

And Psalm 10:17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

And Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

With these great and marvelous promises, Christ followers don’t need to worry, fret, or be hopeless, because the Lord who marvelously holds us in his righteous right hand, is doing a wonderful work. He is committed to that work being fully expressed and brought to a full mature fruit in our lives to bring Him glory. We can know he will do wonderful things with our broken pieces and with our challenges and suffering, and as well for the same kind of needs of those we see around us. God can turn your suffering into a true blessing.

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Author: Lisa Groen

Within Christianity, the believer is one who is given a new, born-again nature and a life that is united with Christ. As we learn about God in our faith and what it means to follow Him, we learn from the truths we hear from the word of God. We may discover a love for the word of God as it brings us hope and assurance and spiritual delight with the graces of glimpses of God. We discover also that God warns us about sin, and the Biblical warnings are real, and sometimes harrowing.

If you have come to know the Lord, you may have already asked a pressing question at some point: “How do I know if something is regarded as a sin in God’s eyes?” Or as a follower of God you may have said something like “I know the Bible teaches there is a cost to sin, and thank God Jesus paid that cost, but I know we are not to live in the sin that Jesus died to free us from. How do I know for sure if what I am doing is right?” How should we then navigate these questions? The Bible was written as a book to help us in our faith, to give us understanding about how to live for the Lord. As we come to know the Lord, we can know and believe the God we serve does not want confusion for us. He may allow some grey areas to come at times, perhaps for the purpose of prompting us to seek His light and guidance. Confusion is not meant to be the diet God provides for the believer, although He may allow us to question at times.

Many times, the Bible will explicitly say something is a sin. Sometimes it will not clearly state certain things are sins. Sometimes likewise it may say something is God’s will, and other times not. So, it is important to become familiar with the Bible so we can glean from what it does say. God often makes His will known to us through His word. At times when the word of God does not spell out things as sin, or either spell out his will, these grey areas are times to use what we do know about God and his plan for us. This may be how God plans we must trust Him in order to grow our faith. In these times keeping our eyes on the nature of the Lord that we can see in His word will bring assurance to our walk with God and we will become fruitful. Consequently, we will see the unfolding of His will for our lives.

For many of us, we would like a map of every day written for us from heaven for God’s plan for us, if it were possible. A Christ follower wants to stay close to God, and a Christ follower desires to be pleasing to God. However, in the infinite intelligence of God, He has foreseen that for the believer it is more fruitful for their faith if he or she does not have everything spelled out for them. What we do have is the sure promise that The God of salvation has already provided everything we need for life and godliness in following the Lord through faith in Him.

If you are a Christ follower and walking with Him, the need will arise when the Lord would like us to examine our relationship with Christ, and what He has done for us provisionally for the things we may need for following him effectively. We could fill entire libraries of books on what God has provided for us. We would then have to keep adding libraries.

But the point I am making is about how God will arrange events in our lives when we will need to lean on his Spirit and word and his eternal being for our help to move along safely in life. Our dependency on God will grow. If we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father to pray for us. To prepare us for times like this, the Lord admonishes his followers in Deuteronomy to “remember My word. For it is your life….”. Other benefits we see in going to the word are in the gospel of John, are where Jesus says, “My words are Spirit and My words are Life”.  In addition, throughout many Bible passages in scripture is the picture that God’s word is our spiritual food—our living bread. So, we know that leaning on Him and His word is meant to give us spiritual life and nourishment–spiritual daily strength. We know the Lord intends this bread to be eaten by his followers.

To tie together all of these points we see that if we regularly unpack what is in the word of God it will be daily nourishment, it will help us steer away from sin, it will be life for us, and it will help us follow His will. Reading God’s word and seeking to apply it day by day, should safeguard us from sin because it is life from our Life-Giver. These elements will safeguard us as we go to Him for guidance daily along the pathways we must take. 

Keep growing in the Word! LG

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