My Only Comfort

Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. (Zep 3:19 KJV)

Zephaniah prophesied to those in Israel who were about to be carried into exile by the Babylonians.  Because of Israel’s sins and idolatry, they were about to be completely destroyed and carried away captive.

But God makes a tremendous promise to them – at least to those who had the ears to hear.  For there were still a few left in Israel who would also suffer along with the wicked.  God says to them that the time will come when He will gather them back together and save them.  Therefore they were to sing aloud with joy, for God rejoices over them with singing (3:17).

The time would come very soon when the people of God would be chained together behind the horses of Babylon and forced into a long march to a strange nation.

But God tells them: I will deal with those who afflict you.  The affliction to come is not the final word.  It may appear as if the Babylonians are blessed by God.  They will appear to be invincible and you will appear to be weak and good for nothing except to be used as slaves until you are dead.

But for some, it would be even worse.  What about those who were lame, or who did not have the strength to walk the long distance to Babylon?  What about those who fell?  To the Babylonians it didn’t matter.  They would be left to die where they fell or dragged by the horses until they were dead and someone noticed.

But God’s promise in 3:19 is that He would deal with the cruelty of Babylon.  And that He Himself would save the lame and the outcast. Even though they would be forgotten by men, counted as rubble by the powerful of the world, used for the lusts of the rich – God would not forget.  He will save the lame and gather those who were driven out of the land.

God has a special care for the weak and helpless that put their trust in Him.  He has a purpose for all that He does, and much of it we can’t see – especially in times of oppression and pain.  But God calls us to look up from our chains to the One who is Seated in Heaven and sing with joy!

He will deal with the oppressors and He will gather together the lame and the outcast.
And those who were counted as nothing will be given a name.  They will be set for praise throughout the world.
He will use the weak to confound the wise.  The day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God.

In that day, oppression will cease.  The weak will be strengthened, the poor made rich, and the afflicted will be lifted up, for we will be partakers in the one whose Name is above every name.

So here I am. I’ve become one of those guys. A blogger.

My resistance could only hold out for so long. I am astounded that anyone would find anything I have to say to be helpful, but as the proverbial straw and the hundredth monkey, I was asked to blog one time more than my defenses could hold.

So here is a blog. Another one. Don’t we have enough?

Why the name? I was thinking about our wonderful 16th century catechism – the Heidelberg Catechism. Question one asks, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?”

The answer is this: “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own but belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ; who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins and redeemed me from all the power of the devil, and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him.”

That’s what I plan on doing here. We as fallen men and women live in a world of pain, isolation, sickness, sorrow, doubt, confusion – sin. It isn’t how we were made. We were made to love God heartily. We were made to live with him, forever praising and glorifying him.

But man fell. Adam decided that he could be as God and decide for himself what was comforting, what was right, what was true and what was false.
And we all inherited that way of thinking.

Even after we became Christians, we still find ourselves looking for comfort in taking the forbidden fruit, if you will. One more girl at the bar. One more drink. One more night. One more kiss.

Maybe a different job, a different spouse, a different church, a different set of friends.

Maybe its all the other people in my life that make me miserable. Those jerks that I work with. The idiot in front of me. The madmen on the roads. And so we think we find comfort in fleeting dreams of murder and mayhem, all the while lying to ourselves. We try to convince ourselves that the creation exists in order to make us happy.

But we will never be happy as long as we worship ourselves, for this life apart from Jesus Christ is merely one faltering step after another leading to the grave. This life is merely carefully postponed dying apart from redemption.

There is only one comfort to be found. Jesus Christ has redeemed us from a life of futility, drunkenness and misery and restored our fallen humanity. We can now be fully human as God created us to be. When our sins are cleansed and we stand before God whole and forgiven and complete, we have all that we need and we long for the day when we finally put off this body of sin and death and live in His presence forever.

It’s what we were made for. It’s what we long for. It’s what it means to be fully human, fully alive.

My intention for this blog is to talk about what it means to be fully and completely human, in the image of God.

The devil seeks to drive us from that. The devil seeks to convince us, as he did our father Adam, that we can find peace and comfort in our own wisdom and power and strength.
And from there, we see the result. The weak are abused and violated; those who are different are driven out. We live in a world of crime and sin and all sorts of misery.
And we think that when we have finally done away with conscience, that voice that remains as a remnant of Eden, that we will finally be free.

What freedom is it to be no greater than an animal, serving the lusts of the belly, where the fittest destroy and drive out the weakest? What freedom is found when all creation only exists to serve your lusts and make you “happy”? Are you not then a slave to all?
This will never bring peace, for God is in heaven.

In Christ we have freedom. True freedom to live fully human. We squarely face our pain and our misery and long for the redemption of the body. We breathe the springtime bouquets and praise the God who made the jasmine. We break bread together, lingering over a meal – because food isn’t just fuel.

We caress our spouses, hold our children and grandchildren in our arms and rejoice in the God that made the heavens and the earth and us to dwell in them.
And most of all, we praise the God who redeemed us from our misery, body and soul, pointing our eyes to heaven where Christ is seated at His right hand.

Would you follow my journey?