Slaughtered yet Loved

Psalms 44:20‭-‬23

If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!

...............

On first glance, this Psalm appears to be a simple cry for help. The psalmist is clearly in the depths of despair, feeling abandoned by God. There is a familiar pattern we see in many of the laments. The structure of the poem breaks down like this:

A recounting of God's past faithfulness (v. 1-8)
An accusation of God's present rejection (v. 9-22)
A plea for God's future deliverance (v. 23-26)

Granted, no painful crisis is simple, and pleading for God's intervention is not all that simple either. We are reminded again of the importance of remembering God's real intervening actions in times past. We are reminded that great men and women of faith had times of real doubting and even voiced honest accusations in prayer to God. God can handle our honesty, and that is often the path of reflection that reconnects us to our merciful Savior in the midst of deep pain. He empathizes with our weakness and temptations because he too bore them in Christ.

But compared to other Psalms, this does not appear to break new ground or reveal anything new about who God is or what he has accomplished. That is, until you recognize how this Psalm is quoted by Paul in Romans 8. Let's focus there for a moment:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35‭-‬39)

This passage in Romans is one of the richest promises in all of Scripture. The assurance and permanence of the love of Christ is described with absolute certainty, no matter the circumstance. And here we find that the more we grasp the depths of Psalm 44, the more rich and relieving this promise becomes.

That must have been Paul's intention. His Jewish audience should have been familiar with this painful Psalm and the emotions it would invoke. And despite the sense of rejection the persecuted Roman Christians felt, God had not fallen asleep or forgotten his precious children. Nothing, absolutely nothing in all creation, could separate them from the love of God now fully revealed in the finished work of Christ.

Lord, help me to bring my crisis to you in honest prayer. I am weak and short-sighted. Help me to see and believe that you remain faithful even in this hard time. And I know this is true because you have offered your Son who has conquered death and now lives in me. All I have and all I will ever need is found in you:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31‭-‬32)

The Upsidedown Kingdom

John 18:36‭-‬38

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."  Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."  Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him."

...............

The Creator has been put in chains. Our Maker has been betrayed by his closest friends. The King of the universe stands humiliated before the governors of men. Moments before, he was describing the glory he shared with the Father before the world began. Now, he is condemned by a kangaroo court and rejected by a crowd who preferred a known murderer. What does he say in his defense?

My kingdom is not of this world.

As we have seen time and again, the Gospels portray a Savior who is not what we expected. From his humble birth by an unwed teenager, to his obscure upbringing in Nazareth, to his ministry of parables and dining with sinners -- this is not the Davidic Messiah that they were hoping for.

John 18 brings this upsidedown narrative to its climax. Clearly Peter thought that striking the high priest's servant with a sword was fitting with Jesus' mission. The disciples had lived through decades of government oppression, unable to worship and govern themselves freely. Other zealots and insurrectionists had come and gone, offering a rebel's hope against the monolithic Roman empire. And Jesus had proven his supernatural power before their very eyes. Surely he would turn that power against the injustice of Rome and free Israel once and for all!

But this hope was false and it shows how our biases can deceive us, even when the truth is explained over and over.

No, the kingdom of Jesus would not come through violent force, but through a humble sacrifice. Our Darwinian intuition, that might makes right, had blinded us to the beauty of a better way. What we really needed, more than a political Savior, was the forgiveness and new heart that only a resurrected Jesus could offer. Our sights were set too low -- why would Jesus defeat one Roman ruler when he had the power to destroy death itself for all time and open up eternal life to any one who believes in him?

What does this mean for us today? Even for those who know and love this upsidedown gospel message, are we quick to put our trust in political promises? Or even more likely, do we forget to turn the other cheek, and instead hold a grudge or take revenge on others in small subtle ways? Each day we are offered choices between the way of the Cross and the way of the world. If our King was willing to swallow his pride and take a hit for us, surely we should expect to do the same. He even promised it would be so.

Lord, give me grace today to be more like Jesus. Help me to love even my enemies who are right now working to hurt and ruin me. Let me be a faithful citizen of that kingdom which is not of this world.

When Jesus Prays for Us

John 17:1‭-‬5

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,  since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

...............

John 17 is called the High Priestly Prayer, and that will only matter to you if you have a deep appreciation for what a priest is meant to be. As the book of Hebrews repeatedly claims, Jesus took the role of priest and did so in a way far superior to the earthly priests of Israel. He not only intercedes for us before a holy God, but does so in a way that is perfect and permanent. He is also unlike the human priests in that he did not offer an imperfect lamb -- he offered the perfect gift of himself to atone for our sins completely.

So, what does this prayer tell us about the priestly role of Jesus? And what does this matter in our own lives?

First, in this prayer, we are given a rare glimpse into the intimacy between Jesus and his Father. The Gospels have so far described Jesus' prayer life from the outside, but here we get an emotional peak behind the curtain. We are given an idea of what else Jesus was thinking and feeling in Gethsemane, just hours before his trial and execution. Jesus twice refers to his relationship with the Father existing before the world began, confirming again his divine nature. So, we are seeing Jesus' divinity, his special relationship with the Father, and all in the context of him facing the ultimate sacrifice. We see a man deeply concerned for his friends who are about to face many fears and threats of there own. We see the heart of Jesus toward his Father and toward us his followers. This is the only kind of priest we can put our hope in.

Second, we are shown some of the specific things which Jesus prays for, which include some incredible life-changing promises for you and I. These include eternal life, which he says consists primarily of knowing the Father and Son personally. He prays for his friends, for their protection in the face of a hateful world. He prays that they would be sanctified in the truth, set apart to know and proclaim the good news. He prays for those who would believe through their preaching, including us reading this today centuries later. He prays for our unity, and the means of that unity -- that we would know the love that is shared between the Father and Son.

This last part of the prayer is worth focusing on, because it is requested as if it were already guaranteed:

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.  I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:24‭-‬26)

What initially sounds like a prayer request ends up sounding like a guarantee. Jesus desires us to be with him, to see his glory that has existed from all eternity. And he promises to continue making this glory known to us. What a promise! And what does it mean to know his glory? It means experiencing the love which the Father has for his precious son. It means having Jesus himself in us, the object of God's eternal affection.

What could possibly matter more to our daily life? What fear, what anxiety, what disappointment could possibly stand up in the face of such a phenomenal promise that is ours today? Christ in us, the hope of glory! Consider the great exchange Jesus has made with us. He is our priest and our sacrifice, and in his place we now stand -- forgiven, accepted into God's family, filled with his power and presence, and promised an inheritance we didn't deserve.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Talk to Yourself

Psalms 42:9‭-‬11

I say to God, my rock:
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?"
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
"Where is your God?"
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

............

Psalms 42 and 43 together form one song with a repeating refrain. This is one of the few Hebrew poems with a chorus, making it suddenly familiar and similar to our modern pop songs and worship ballads. What makes it a little different than most Christian worship songs is that the psalmist is talking to himself. Rather than addressing God directly or even addressing fellow believers, he is talking to himself. And since he repeats it three times, it's worth focusing on this verse as the key phrase in the passage:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Notice there is a question and an answer. This reflects the turmoil the psalmist is experiencing within himself. The surrounding verses include reference to feeling desperate for God's help, thirsty for God, aching for relief. Verse 8 describes a man so oppressed by enemies that he goes around mourning, wondering why God has abandoned him. But the chorus turns the question from God to himself. It is a turning point, a step away from despair and toward resolution. And the resolution is an effort of faith:

Hope in God for I shall again praise him.

I call this an effort of faith because believing in the midst of trials can be a real effort. Some circumstances can be so loud that they drown out other voices. His enemies are asking "where is your God?" And he is tempted to ask himself that as well. But, notice that the psalmist instead chooses to remember times past when he felt closer to God and enjoyed his blessing (verse 4). This is part of the effort to fight despair and believe in God's goodness. When we recall better days, we can hope for future blessings with more confidence.

For another example of this practice of talking to yourself, consider Lamentations, where Jeremiah was facing terrible trials of his own:

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
(Lam. 3:21‭-‬23)

So, talk to yourself. Instead of just listening to your surroundings or your own doubts, fire back with the objective truth of the gospel. Once you've voiced your fears to God, go a step further and choose to remember the truth of God's goodness and preach it to yourself. This is more than the power of positive thinking. This is exercising real choice in what you think about and applying the truth to your own heart when you need it most. Call him your Rock, your salvation, your God. Sing along with the saints the words that your heart desperately needs to hear.

Here's another example from the hymnal to keep you talking to yourself:

Arise, my soul, arise,
shake off your guilty fears:
the bleeding Sacrifice
in my behalf appears:
before the throne my Surety stands,
before the throne my Surety stands,
my name is written on his hands.

My God is reconciled;
his pard'ning voice I hear;
he owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear;
with confidence I now draw nigh,
with confidence I now draw nigh,
and "Father, Abba, Father!" cry.

(Charles Wesley 1742)

Why Did He Leave?

John 16:5‭-‬7

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

...............

Christians believe some pretty strange things. The most peculiar is also the most important to us: that God the creator became a man. And not just any man at any time, but a particular Jewish carpenter in first century Palestine. And that he not only lived a life of truth and love and holiness, but that he was actually God. And not only that he was God, but that he died a sacrificial death and then defeated death itself by rising again. We believe all this.

And yet sometimes the hardest thing to believe is that he did all this and then chose to leave! He didn't stick around. It seems like believing and following him would be much easier if he was physically here to lead us and protect us.

Of course, we know that the disciples saw Jesus in person and still had many doubts and fears. Even here in John 16, they were very confused by Jesus' teaching. "A little while? We won't see him for a little while? What's that mean?" So belief is hard even when Jesus is standing right in front of you. Remember John 6? Most of his followers gave up and walked away, even when the miracle maker was right in front of them.

So we come to chapter 16 and we find that Jesus warned his friends that he would be leaving and he even explains why. He tells them that it's actually better that he leave. Why? So that instead of seeing Jesus, they could receive the spirit of God into their very selves. Jesus makes some incredible promises about the benefits of this indwelling presence of God's Spirit. Here are just a few:

1. Conviction of sin. The hatred of sin that we so desperately need must come from within.

2. Conviction of righteousness.  Likewise, the love for holiness must also come from within.

3. Conviction of judgment. Specifically judgment on the ruler of this world, which comes through his spirit-filled people.

4. Timely reminders of truth. Notably, Jesus says there are things we should know, but we cannot bear to hear them until the time is right and we are ready. Lifelong learning directly from the Spirit within us.

5. Answered prayer. A new kind of access to God and assurance of answers comes only when he himself lives within us.

6. Joy and peace. When God himself lives in you, you experience his joy and his contented peace, even in the face of the most difficult circumstances. And those trials are promised in this passage as well.

And there are countless other benefits which explain why Jesus left and why the Spirit had to come. One more passage comes to mind, which reveals that this indwelling experience of God was no afterthought, but was in fact the plan of redemption all along. Lord, help us to treasure this incredible privilege of knowing you so truly and intimately.

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:31‭-‬34)