THE LORD SPOKE (July 24)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Job 4-6

Eliphaz didn't get it all right. Early in his first counseling session he says, "At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish" (Job 4:9). He uses lots of words like "crushed", "destroyed", and "broken". Perhaps true, but hardly the thing his friend needed at this moment. Eventually he joins the ranks of the "miserable comforters" too. But there are moments of insight in his words and one comes in Job 5:17 when he reminds us all:

Blessed is the man whom God corrects;
So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Do you remember the dread? Dad would say something like, "Okay, go to your room. You're getting a licking." There you'd sit waiting for the executioner's footsteps outside your door. Maybe you'd do something foolish like stuffing newspaper down your backside. The anticipation hurt almost more than the whipping itself. You knew you were guilty. You knew you deserved what you were getting. When it was finally over, quite often your immediate reaction was to throw yourself into Dad's arms. The flood of emotion and sweet relief that it was over and that the relationship with Dad could be restored brought joy again. You couldn't hug him fast enough.

Joy? Yes, our passage says "blessed is the man" but the Hebrew phrase (hine ashrei enosh) is closer to "how happy is the man". It's the same as used frequently in the psalms and is the Hebrew thinking behind the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 ("how happy is the man who..."). It really is pure joy in the deepest sense when we revel in the restored relationship with our heavenly Father. Can we indeed "count it all joy" when the Lord disciplines us? (See the rest of James 1 for some similar context.) Yes, we can because...

1. It's proof that He really loves us. Otherwise, why would He care? The worst possible thing would be for Him to leave us up to our own devices. An abandoned kid is usually a brat clamoring for attention and that usually leads to foolish actions that need discipline.
2. It's a reminder that He is watching. How we act and what we say is important. What we do affects others and He will hold us accountable. Remember when Dad would say, "don't forget who's kid you are"? God's discipline is a reminder of who's kid we are.
3. It's a restatement of the truth that He is God. It is the Almighty who calls the shots, not us. He is in control and is to be obeyed. He has set the standards and does not allow deviation.
4. It's a course correction by the One who drew the map. We can hardly figure out today. Forget about tomorrow. But He sees all things from beginning to end because He is the master of time and the fountain of all knowledge. We can trust His wisdom and happily follow His direction.

So, when it comes to following His ways instead of our own, Solomon gave similar advise in Proverbs 3:11...

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke,
Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

The only thing better is to not need the correction and discipline in the first place.


New Testament: Hebrews 1

The Lord spoke. He spoke to our forefathers. We may or may not be Jewish but, if we have genuine faith in God, we are descendants of Abraham to whom God spoke as a friend. We have a spiritual heritage in Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and Daniel. He spoke to and through all of them.

The Lord spoke. He spoke through the prophets. Those men received direct communication from God and wrote it down under His superintendence. They saw things at times that others have never been allowed to see and described them for us.

The Lord spoke. He spoke at many times. This wasn’t a matter of one moment. Repeatedly over the course of some 1500 years, God spoke to man and took care that it should be accurately recorded so that those who came later could hear and learn from those many times.

The Lord spoke. He spoke in various ways. Sometimes it was out loud and others heard too. It took the form of dictation on a few occasions. Twice He even wrote it out Himself (Deut. 9:10; 10:4; and maybe Dan. 5:5). Sometimes He revealed Himself audibly to crowds but most often it was to chosen individuals who were responsible to record and transmit it to others.

The Lord spoke. He spoke to us by his Son. Some had the privilege of beholding His glory and gave us eyewitness testimony (Jn. 1:14; I Jn. 1:1-3). We have four inspired records of His words and works. Through them the Son continues to exegete the Father to us (Jn. 1:18). He is the living Word of God to us.

The Lord speaks. He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. We know all of the above because of what is written down for us in Scripture. Apart from that there is very little else we can know of God. Yes, the heavens declare His glory (Ps. 19:1) and all of creation tells us of “His eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:20). It even does it in some form of universal language or “speech” (Ps. 19:3-4). It is true that God speaks to us outside of the Bible. But it is not audible and it is not in stated propositions. He leads us, He gives us moving impressions, His providence guides us, and He brings clear direction to us but it is not audible and it is not in states propositions. For that we must go to the Bible.

Aren’t you glad He gave us the Bible?! We can always go back to it and receive its messages again and again, just as they were first given in that form. It doesn’t depend on anyone’s memory or someone else’s experience. The Bible is every day the means by which the Lord speaks to us.