As promised, here’s Part 2 in a short exploration of the problem of evil and suffering (theodicy). I do not know of anyone who is honest who has not wrestled with the problem of evil and suffering. I mean, who among us does not know suffering either first-hand or know of someone who has suffered incredibly?

I think, for example, of those people who longed to have children, but could not, for any number of reasons. I think of parents whose children have died. I know few sorrows greater than outliving one’s children. It runs against the grain of our most natural understanding. I think of those who’ve suffered physical torture and abuse at the hands of evil men. I think of the sorrow of watching loved ones succumb to dementia and the rotting of their minds and natural functions. I think of the casualties of war–those who suffer from contaminated earth and resources. I think of the Vietnam-era Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who often suffered immensely from the effects of poisons that were used during that war. I think of fellow Soldiers I’ve known who’ve lost parts of their bodies and souls in service to what they may’ve initially believed to be just and/or noble causes. I think of children who, though in the bloom of youth, are instead abused, trafficked, and sold due to the vileness of man’s corrupted nature. This is not even to mention so-called natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, fires, volcanoes, et al. The list could continue perhaps indefinitely.

The biblical worldview speaks to this, of course. Below are some initial thoughts on the problem of evil and suffering:

• Scripture acknowledges the existence of evil and suffering; it does not (like some cults and other worldviews) deny evil or suffering, or downplay their vast impact.
• Scripture teaches that God both uses evil and suffering and is sovereign over them. In fact, all things ultimately redound to God’s glory.
• Scripture teaches that God is a Savior by nature. If moral rebels refuse God’s offer of salvation, redemption, and restoration, that says more about man’s nature than it does about the problem of theodicy.

These are just some of the initial thoughts for such a tender issue and foundational topic. More to come… Thanks for reading along so far.

Bottom line up front: The Crucial Significance of If

Text: Three is an important and pervasive number in Scripture. God is called holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). After his crucifixion, Jesus was buried; three days later, he arose, just as he had said (Matthew 28:6). Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17). God is triune (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one God in three persons). Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times (Luke 22:34). Again, again, and again, we see that God uses three often in Scripture.

Context: It’s the same pattern in Proverbs 2, in just the first few verses. The word if is used three times to show the condition of God’s wisdom for all who might receive it. “My son, if you receive my words …” (Proverbs 2:1, ESV). And in verse three, “yes, if you call out for insight” (Proverbs 2:3, ESV) and the following verse read, “if you seek it like silver …” (Proverbs 2:4, ESV).

How clear is that? If denotes that a condition must be met. If this, then that. But only if.

Encouragement/takeaway: Over and over and over, God calls out with offers to all who will hear and obey. If, if, if … Who will respond in repentance and faith? That is God’s knowledge alone. Our job is to be obedient to herald the truth. Those who respond in repentance and faith will be saved. Those who refuse will receive justice. No one receives non-justice. Some receive grace and others harden themselves. Again, again, and again, you see that pattern in Scripture.

I’ve been in ministry—military and civilian—for decades now. I’ve seen God grip men and women and make them tender to the truth. I met with a young man even this very week who is planning to leave his position of command in the Army to enter the Christian ministry as a chaplain and pastor.

I’ve also seen men and women over my decades in ministry who hardened themselves and went a very different direction; they hated God and embraced an anti-God lifestyle. That is the way it goes. But there that little grammatical conjunction is again, and again, and again in Scripture: If.

Issue: The issue of purpose/goal is unavoidable.

Context:  The academic term for this is teleology. It simply means the issue of purpose/goal/end for which something’s designed. Telos in Greek simply means “end, goal, or aim.” And logos means “word, reason, system.” So, teleology is the system or reason regarding purposes/goals/aims.

The Issue Made Plain: As Soldiers, we’re guaranteed in our official Army doctrine (FM 7-22 and FM 3-83, e.g.) the following as part of what the Army calls Religious Support: “RS includes providing those aspects of religious education, clergy counsel, pastoral care, authentic worship, individual spiritual readiness practices, and faith group expression that would otherwise be denied as a practical matter to Soldiers under the varied circumstances of military contingencies” (FM 3-83, 1-12).

Encouragement: There is always a God of the system. We Soldiers, and the Civilians we serve, invariably worship at an altar. It’s simply a matter of whether that altar is true or false. Worship is inescapable. Something or someone will always demand allegiance. This is what I mean when I say that teleology is unavoidable. “Man is incurably religious,” is bromidic because it’s so demonstrably true. When we see Soldiers—young, old, or somewhere in between—rest assured that each one has a view about his/her purpose/goal for serving.

Our spiritual core demands answers regarding the unavoidable issue of purpose. Just as commanders are to declare their intent to the units they lead, each of us is to know his/her heart, soul, mind, and strength vis-à-vis the issue of teleology/purpose. It’s oft cited for good reason, and that’s Frankl’s wisdom in Man’s Search for Meaning: “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”

Jog, walk, sprint. Jog, walk, sprint. Jog, walk, sprint. It was before dawn still and the humidity thick and heavy. Small birds began their morning chorus. The light slowly increased in the sky and I could see other soldiers doing PT, too, the sounds of their running shoes on the pavement. An occasional vehicle passed. The drivers would slow their speed a bit when they glimpsed the flashes from our reflective belts and running shoe reflectors. After I turned around and headed back for the final stretches, again I was moved by oaks, cedars, and cypresses. These were in an old cemetery, and I paused to capture the moment. I cannot explain my fascination with trees, but for some reason, they move me deeply, as if their years are telling a story.

Question: Is your hope rooted in truth? The reason I ask is because there is so much drivel out there trying to pass itself off as reasons to hope. The whole prosperity false gospel traffics in this sort of nonsense, as if God is a cosmic bellhop whose main calling is to provide self-absorbed sinners their every whim. Last week, I read an article in the news where a woman was offering crystals filled with blessings for (you guessed it) a financial donation. I’ll not be donating my hard-earned money to her or anyone else for crystals filled with blessings. But apparently, some folks do. As Vonnegut was fond of quipping in his satirical novel Slaughterhouse-Five, so it goes.

Hope & Truth: In Hebrews 6, the biblical writer puts it this way when exploring wise and rooted hope: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:19, ESV).

Encouragement: No spiritual high jinks in Scripture. No crystals of blessings contingent upon financial donations. In Christianity, the believer’s hope is rooted in the infinite-personal God who is holy, holy, holy, who never lies, who is unchanging and faithful, who spoke the cosmos into existence and upholds it by the word of his power, who preserved Jonah in an underwater leviathan and deposited him three days later in order to preach the gospel in Iraq, and who told Doubting Thomas to not disbelieve but believe, who told skeptics that he was going to the cross, but in three days, he’d be raised. And despite added Roman guards at the tomb of a dead man, after having been publicly flayed, crucified, and buried, he was raised bodily and built his church, just as he said. There are no spiritual high jinks in this, you see. It’s the greatest news possible and the reason Christians have hope. It is because God keeps his promises, because God is faithful, because even though the powers of hell and hucksters continue their ways, the true God does not pimp the gullible with wish projection. It is something altogether different and pervaded with truth and hope. God says to taste and see that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:8).

I’m currently camping out in the book of Judges for some of my studies. Judges is replete with larger-than-life characters. Many folks have at least some familiarity with Samson, Delilah, and Gideon. I was not blessed with the genetics of a Samson or the manipulative nature of a Delilah, but I certainly see things in Gideon’s character that are instructive.

Gideon was called by God. God was going to use Gideon mightily. But Gideon was oftentimes a reluctant man. He was prone to question God and trust people. That’s folly, of course. But it’s folly we often learn the hard way. Just a few of the times God dealt with Gideon’s reluctance follow:

• After the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and even spoke to him in Judges 6:12, it’s striking what Gideon’s response was: “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has this happened to us?” (Judges 6:12, ESV)
• And in verse 15 of the same chapter, we again see Gideon’s reluctance: “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel?” (Judges 6:15, ESV).
• And then there’s the infamous incident of Gideon and the fleece. And what do we see therein? Gideon’s reluctance:

Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. (Judges 6:36-40, ESV)

Encouragement/takeaway: God did indeed use Gideon mightily. But what Gideon had to learn again and again was that it was God’s own faithfulness to his promises that was the bedrock. It was not Gideon’s talent, Gideon’s wherewithal, or wisdom. It was God’s word, God’s fidelity, and God’s work. When I meditate upon Gideon’s life and ministry, so often I have to repent because I see Gideon’s weaknesses in myself. He tended to overestimate man and underestimate God, and that is both arrogance and folly. God does his work his way. And that way invariably crushes our human pride so that any boast is to be in the Lord alone.

My favorite time of the morning, I was downstairs reading. The sun had not yet risen. Humidity was heavy outside. Hopefully, rain was on the way, as our area is parched. I was in the Old Testament book of Judges. Our dog was beside me, next to my right thigh in the chair, snoring.

Judges is one of those books I like to read straight through in one sitting. Why? Well, first, it’s short enough to do so. Second, it encapsulates the biblical narrative. Third, it emphasizes man’s pattern and God’s consistency.

The writer states the theme of Judges overtly: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25, ESV). Straightforward enough. You get either exact repetitions or echoes of that in Judges 17:6 and Judges 19:1, among other places. God’s message, in short, is clear: Israel has again fallen into rebellion, apostasy, syncretism, false worship, and worse; therefore, God judges their sin via providing judges, mediators, and leaders.

What are God’s purposes? First, to reveal his unchanging holiness. Holiness must judge sin. Second, to quicken his people. Third, to prefigure to ulimate judge, Christ the Lord. The judges in the book of Judges were occasionally quite good and effective, but they were nonetheless insufficient to fully conquer sin, redeem, and lead the people of God into the land of promise.

Judah was sometimes trustworthy, but not always. Benjamin failed to take Jerusalem, a prefiguring of Saul’s many failures. Joshua died. Gideon sometimes trusted the Lord but at other times fell quite short. Samson, time and time again, went from hero to zero. The pattern remains the same, in other words. Human mediators, judges, military leaders, etc. fall short. Our trust ought never to be in sinners because all of us sinners fall short and let one another down. We all have feet of clay.

As a whole, Judges is to point us to Jesus, the sole sufficient and efficient mediator, judge, leader and conqueror. Paul writes that “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV). How many mediators? One.

We are to learn from Samson’s failures, from Gideon’s failures, from Benjamin’s failures. We’re to learn of the consequences of syncretism and impure worship. We’re to see that God always judges sins, that no one escapes the eyes of God. When it comes to this, I don’t think of others. I have so many sins that I’ve no room to cast glances and point fingers. Were I to receive justice from God, I’d be damned. Without hesitation. I do not hide from that. That is my point: There is no hiding from God. No fig leaves. No clothes. No amount of good manners or educational degrees. I’m gifted in academia, but one thing I learned a long time ago is that are MANY ‘educated’ fools. Degrees? Yes. Wisdom? No. (God save me from credentialism.) I’d rather sit at the feet of my maternal grandparents in GA than in almost any lecture hall where a pagan pontificates. (Momo and Granddaddy, Rooster honors you, as do countless others into whom you poured but were scantly repaid. Thank you for your steadfast love and patience with a tender but stubborn boy, who loved you with a love unspeakable.)

In sum, God has revealed one coherent story in the 66 books of sacred Scripture. It’s all showing why Christ was necessary to redeem the elect. The one coherent story hinges upon the unchanging character of the triune God, and the passive and active obedience of Christ. No book of the 66 books of sacred Scripture is anything less than God-breathed.

This is why understanding God’s revelation to be one coherent story is foundational. Judges remains just as relevant today for all who are or will be in Christ.

Scripture: “Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears” (Proverbs 26:17).

Teaching: The imagery is clear as an azure sky, isn’t it? The wise person keeps his nose out of other folks’ business. The fool, on the other hand, is one who solicits trouble. He’s meddlesome. He’s uneasy unless poking his nose in other people’s affairs. A goal of such people is to somehow redirect scrutiny from themselves by throwing shade on others. I’ve never quite understood why some folks are not content unless they can trash others. That’s not leadership. It’s emotional and professional sabotage. It undermines teamwork and decimates trust.

In over two decades of military service, I have known some truly excellent leaders. They’ve been men who were content in themselves, and who knew how to raise the tide of all ships in the harbor. They didn’t pound their chests. No “Look at me!” bravado with them. Instead, they’ve been the ones who made me better via their quiet and professional demeanor, character, and competence.

Encouragement: I am drawn to quality leaders, just like many others are. We know them by their fruits. They’re the givers, the ones who’ll be remembered because they poured themselves out for the team. We know they care for us, and we’re loyal to them. May such men increase. And may those who take a passing dog by the ears meet with a breed appropriate for the meddlesome.

One of my consuming intellectual and existential interests is theodicy. It is a fancy term that basically means, “the problem of evil.” When I was a young man and studying philosophy and already reading the greatest books, almost always they dealt to some degree with this issue: Why suffering? Why so much of it? Is it deserved? Is it random? Is it directed and/or resultant? Is it rooted in an extrinsic standard? If so, what is that standard? And by whom is it standardized? Is there a standard to which that standard is appealed? Is there, in short, a transcendent, unchanging, good standard by which good and evil are defined and to be understood?

Or is it just randomness? Unguided billiard balls bumping into one another, but somehow sensing that that they matter?

Who arbitrates?

Are goodness and evil, like Dostoyevsky’s great intellectual said, explainable if and when the Ultimate Transcendent is absent? In short, that’s the issue. What if the Ultimate Transcendent is not absent, but something else?

But here’s the rub: The Ultimate Transcendent is not absent. He is merely suppressed. The issue is explored in Romans 1:18-19 this way:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” (Romans 1:18-19, ESV)

This week I completed a read-through of another excellent book on this topic. In it, the author reached a similar conclusion as Paul in the 1st century A.D., when he (Paul) wrote to a body of Christians enduring persecution by wicked structures of power. Not much, I might argue, has changed.

More is to follow, but if interested, I welcome you, as I address this theme we all face. Regardless of our status, wealth, penury, popularity or lack thereof, importance or dismissability, we all wrestle with it: What about human suffering? How should we understand it? Why its prevalence? Whence its origin? How should we, then, live? If interested, welcome. More to come.

Fickleness vs. Faithfulness

Bottom Line Up Front: Fickleness of Man vs. Faithfulness of God

Introduction: Again, I was studying Exodus 32. It is one of the most referenced pieces of Scripture and world literature. And it’s for good reasons. Here are just (6) themes we discover therein: 1) the fickleness of man; 2) empty promises vs. steadfastness; 3) the patience of God; 4) the forgiveness of God; 5) the judgment of God; and 6) the necessity of a mediator between holy God and sinful people. I just want to focus on one right now—the fickleness of man.

I’m assuming readers have some familiarity with the historical context of what’s going on at this point in the history of Old Testament Israel and their exodus from bondage in pagan Egypt. When we pick up the narrative history in Exodus 32, Old Testament Israel has again and again witnessed God deliver them. Their duty was to trust the Lord rather than the schemes of man.

And their human mediator has been the great man of God, Moses. You’d think they would be faithful to trust Moses, the one who was with them through it all. Moses was the one who petitioned the Lord on their behalf. Moses was the one who went before Pharaoh. Moses was the one who was the true shepherd. Moses was the one who labored for the people and endured the long days and nights on behalf of those he represented. And arguably the most important role Moses served was as the human mediator, the nexus, the go-between Old Testament Israel and holy God.

So, Moses was on the mountain in verse 1 of Exodus 32, and what do we see when Moses is gone from the people’s sight? They go to someone else and say, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Ex 32:1b, ESV). Folks, that should break our hearts. It does mine. The very people Moses served betrayed him. They went to Moses’ brother and demanded he provide for their idolatrous hearts. Fickleness. No steadfastness from the crowds. Just hiding in numbers. No courage, just mob cowardice.

Encouragement/takeaway: And yet God … When you get to verse 11 of Exodus 32, we’ll see one of the other great themes in this chapter: the patience of God. But for now, I just want to leave you with this: Many people do a lot of talking, a lot of ‘professing’ faithfulness, but few are consistently faithful. Scripture puts it this way: “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?” (Pr 20:6, ESV). There is One who was and is faithful through and through, folks. God has demonstrated who that is. He was faithful unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8, ESV).