My Allotted Portion

My Allotted Portion

The LORD is my allotted portion and my cup,

the one who supports my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me.

Psalm 16:5-6

Ancient Israelites had a tribal representative who cast lots for them in the assembly. Lots were used to make decisions of all sorts, but especially land allocation. This section of Psalm 16 is an extended metaphor of land inheritance, but what strikes me is how clear the Psalmist makes it that the LORD is his real inheritance. When I read these verses, I’m tempted to think about all the blessings that God showers on me – my portion in terms of loving family, faithful friends, material provision, and so on. But other parts of Scripture affirm these good gifts that God showers on us; other psalms thank God for His blessings and favour, and other verses enjoin us to be content with the ‘lot’ that God gives us. Psalm 16, though, started with the Psalmist exclaiming boldly to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good besides Thee.” (16:2) And in v.5, he declares that the LORD is his allotted portion and his cup. God supports my lot because He is my lot – my representative and my inheritance. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places and my inheritance is beautiful to me because it is the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints – that is, Himself. Lord, help my heart to echo the Psalmist’s joyful contentment in having You as his glorious, more-than-sufficient portion.

To the Glory of God...

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

"To the Glory of God"

This phrase has reshaped my thinking and the way that I view myself and the world over the past few years. When I first heard that God’s primary concern is His Glory, I hesitated to believe it. My first thought was ‘aren’t we supposed to be selfless?’ Yes, that’s true. Humans are to be selfless, but the point is to glorify God. Even when Jesus showed the ultimate demonstration of selflessness by going to the cross, His purpose was to glorify His Father by doing His Father’s Will. The glory of God is the reason that we were created. Our purpose and God’s purpose are one-and-the-same: to bring Him Glory.

When I hear the phrase ‘to the Glory of God’, I think of two things, and I would challenge you to do the same: 1) praise and 2) transformation. The purpose for our existence is to praise God, but it does not end there; we are being transformed into His Glory. I don’t mean that we will become ‘gods’ (we will never share the same essence as God), but that we are to be reflecting Him more and more as followers of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is the ‘radiance of His Glory and exact representation of His Nature’, so as we are transformed into the Image of Jesus (Christ-like or ‘Christian’), we are being transformed into the fullness of God. It is a transformation process that will last for the rest of eternity. We will spend forever increasingly reflecting the Glory of God. Praise God that He has aligned our purpose with His (to bring Him Glory) and that we have this opportunity to day-by-day be transformed by the Holy Spirit at work within us to reflect Jesus, who is the Glory of God, to a world desperately in need of a Savior.

Remember the Body

Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them

and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

                                                                               Hebrews 13:3

I used to subscribe to Voice of the Martyrs newsletters, and there were seasons in my life when I actively remembered persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. But it occurred to me today that I have not earnestly interceded for the global, suffering church for a while. As I read this verse, God reminded me of the multitude of faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are languishing in prison or being physically attacked because of their faith in Jesus. Recent news has highlighted the plight of the Christians in the Kenyan shopping centre. Our chapel speaker today, a US Congressman, told us that intense persecution and conflict has resulted in the number of Iraqi Christians dropping from 1.4 million to less than 500,000. One of our fellow students here was imprisoned in China because he was an active house church leader. And yet I forget to remember those in prison as though I myself were in prison with them. I somehow forget the many Christians who are beaten and killed for Jesus every day. But I invariably manage to remember when I am hungry or thirsty or tired – and take action to secure food or water or rest. Hebrews 13:3 reminds me of another body that I should be just as concerned about—the body of Jesus Christ, that is, the Church. Lord, help me to remember the other parts of your body who are suffering for you. Remind me daily to pray for them, to encourage them as I can, and to seize opportunities to speak out for them.

Overcoming: The Way of the Cross

Revelation 5:5-7

⁵ and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

⁶ And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. ⁷ And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

Revelation 7: 4, 9, 14

⁴ And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel….
⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands…….¹⁴“…These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

In the above verses John hears about a Lion but sees a Lamb. He hears about 144,000 but sees a great multitude that no one could count. The Lion of Judah overcomes as a “Lamb standing, as if slain” and the 144,000, a figure that seems to represent an army, actually is a great multitude of martyrs. How we expect that the Lord would have overcome is not the way that He actually overcame. No Messiah-expecting Jew (Peter is a great example of this) would have ever expected this either.  Jesus has overcome by submitting to the will of His Father and taking on the cross, with the intent of glorifying God and bringing us salvation. This great multitude, whom John sees worshiping the Lamb, has overcome in the same manner: by following Christ’s example in submitting to the will of God. They are not an army of Christian soldiers readied with supernatural artillery but martyrs in white robes cleansed by the blood of Jesus. They embrace the example of the Risen Lamb. It’s what Luther called having a Theology of the Cross (as opposed to a Theology of Glory). It is a victory that we find in submission to whatever trial that God calls us through. No matter what path may lay ahead, whatever ‘little Gethsemane’ we may face, we must be defined as ones who love and pray for our enemies, who overcome evil with good, and who say, as adopted children through the blood of Christ, “Father, Thy Will be done.” May the same Holy Spirit, whose power raised Christ from the dead and now dwells within we who believe, fill us with the strength to overcome whatever painful paths may come while helping our gaze to stay firmly focused on the One Who has Overcome.

What can the righteous do?

In the LORD I take refuge.

How can you say to my soul,

“Flutter like a bird to your mountain,

For behold, the wicked draw the bow,

they have readied their arrows on the string

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.

When the foundations are being destroyed,

What can the righteous do?”

The LORD is in His holy temple;

the LORD’s throne is in heaven.

His eyes see, His eyelids examine the sons of men.

Psalm 11:1-4

The news depresses me. Global disasters, injustice, tales of moral compromise in leaders, terrorism, tragedies small and large, and sordid celebrity gossip all make me feel like the psalmist. The world does sometimes feel dark and gloomy, because evildoers don’t have to fight fair but righteous people do—and are beset by evil on every side. Tempting indeed are the voices that say, “This culture is a cesspool and getting worse. Let’s create an alternative Christian culture and live in that – we can have Christian music, Christian books, Christian schools, Christian neighbourhoods that will be safe and moral.” In other words, Christian souls, flutter away like birds and retreat to your mountain where you will be safe, protected from the ravages of a hostile culture. The psalmist’s response encourages me because it reminds me that I take refuge not in surrounding myself with ‘safe’ people and wholesome cultural goods; no, I take refuge in the LORD. The LORD in whom I trust to vindicate the righteous reigns from heaven. I love the repetition in v.4 – God’s eyes see the evil that lurks in the shadows; even his eyelids—the quick as a blink glances from his eyes—suffice to examine people. Nobody can pull the wool over these eyes—and therein lies my hope. I can keep living a Godward life in the midst of whatever situation I’m in, because however strong and undenounced wickedness might seem to be, the LORD will bring judgment and the righting of all wrongs, and on that day, the face that sees me will be the face I at last see (v.7). So in the face of systemic and individual evil, where I feel like a naked bird threatened by multitudinous bows, will I fly away? Or will I stay and persevere in righteousness? Lord, help me act in faith.

A Righteous Man?

What does it mean to be righteous?

“And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.”(Matthew 1:19)

Perhaps, if you have heard the birth story of Jesus numerous times, you have read over the following lines and have seen them as simply background information before Joseph knew that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. I interpreted these verses this way until Dr. Roy Ciampa brought up a great point in Exegesis of Matthew this week. In Joseph’s culture, a righteous man would publicly disgrace a woman he was engaged to if she was found to be with child. If he did not publicly disgrace her, he would be seen as condoning sin. Yet, the 'being' in "being a righteous man" is a causal adverbial participle, which means that the righteousness of Joseph's character causes him to respond by sending her away in secret. How is it that Joseph sees showing mercy as being righteous and the Bible agrees? It is because true righteousness is a blend of justice, mercy, and grace. If it were not, then we’d have to question how we define the Righteousness of God. When we appeal to God’s Righteousness, we appeal to the whole of His Character. Therefore, when we desire to reflect God’s Righteousness, we must desire to reflect the whole of His Character. We cannot separate the Justice of God from the Mercy of God. We must speak the Truth in Love and share His Love in Truth. May the Spirit of God within us give us the ability to fully reflect the whole of His Character as Joseph models for us in Matthew 1:19 and as Christ models for us eternally.

“See my affliction”: A Tale of Two Gates

“Have mercy on me, O LORD;

See my affliction because of those who hate me,

you who lift me up from the gates of death,

so that I may recount all Your praises

in the gates of the Daughter of Zion,

that I may rejoice in Your salvation.”

Psalm 9:13-14

For my daily devotions, I have been reading through the Psalms. Today, I was struck by these lines that juxtapose two gates: the gates of death and the gates of the daughter of Zion. The psalmist pleads with God to have mercy on him and to see his affliction at the hands of his enemies, so that God will raise him from the former gate—the epitome of hopelessness—to the latter gate—the epitome of beatitude. The phrase ‘see my affliction’ is the same as that used by Leah when she thanks God, who has seen her afflictions as Jacob’s unloved wife – and seen fit to bless her with a child, Reuben (Gen. 29:32). Leah hopes that giving Jacob his firstborn son will make her husband love her, but she is doomed to disappointment. The psalmist, on the other hand, asks God to see his affliction and to raise him up from the gates of death. What is his motivation? He does not desire to be restored from death merely so that he can extend his life or his years of carousing. His heart is fixed instead on another set of gates – those of the Daughter of Zion, in other words, Jerusalem. The psalmist throws himself on God’s mercy because he wants yet another reason and more time to praise God. I am challenged to think about the times when I ask for God’s mercy. When I pray that God will deliver me from the gates of sickness, financial instability, frustration, sin, injustice, and all those things that stink of death, what is my goal? Are my prayers for help motivated by a desire to praise God in the community of His redeemed people? If my plea for God’s mercy is driven by a desire for anything less, I may end up more like unhappy Leah than like the joyful psalmist.