Category: Apologetics

Is the Old Testament God Different? God’s Grace to Murderous Cain

Doug RumfordLeave a comment

Bible Heart Grace Greek shutterstock_62678347

One factor essential for us to be strong and resilient in any circumstance, especially in times like the COVID-19 crisis, is our view of God. Irrelevant, you say? Not practical? Too abstract and theoretical? Not in my experience of counseling and spiritual direction.

An anemic view of God leads to an anemic faith. A distorted view of God leads to a confused faith– or no faith. A robust understanding of God leads to a tenacious faith anchored on firm foundations.

My conviction is best expressed by A. W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing  about us…..We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.”

When we create our own image of God…

That second sentence intrigues me most: “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.” What does that look like? Permit me a few broad-stroke examples that don’t exist in pure form. Each of us is a mixture of feelings, thoughts, experiences, and assumptions, but in general terms:

Perfectionists tend to view God as a taskmaster who drives them relentlessly. They rarely taste grace.

Wounded people view God as uncaring, blaming God for causing or allowing their pain. Bitterness and resentment drown out the whisper of grace.

Ambitious people view God as a competitor who would try to thwart their plans. God is an obstacle.

Pleasure-seekers view God as a “Kill Joy,” like a cantankerous old man who doesn’t want anyone to have fun. They ignore God.

Sentimental people view God as a Santa Claus who hopefully fulfills their list of wants. They come to God only when they have needs.

I could list more, but you get the idea. People have constructed images of God as sentimental, demanding, irrelevant, malevolent, or worse. And, most significantly, their belief about God truly shapes their behavior and priorities.

One of the most troubling characterizations of God comes from people (even some who are earnest followers of Jesus) because they are offended by some accounts of battles and judgement in the Old Testament. They draw the conclusion that “that God” is an angry, vengeful tyrant to be avoided.

One of my passions is to show the grace and love of God in the Old Testament. “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). A careful reading of Scripture reveals that God is consistent. God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

A powerful illustration of God’s grace can be seen in the story of Cain and Abel, the children of Adam and Eve, in Genesis 4:1-16.

God searches our hearts for connection.

“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So, Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” (Genesis 4:3-5).

When God informed Cain that Cain’s offering wasn’t acceptable, it need not be viewed as wrath on God’s part. It was likely a gentle word on the Lord’s desire for sincerity, not empty ritual (see Isaiah 1:11-17). God was paying attention to the heart of the offer-er, not the nature of the offering. But Cain reacted with anger. He strongly resented God’s correction.

God assures us falling short is an invitation to draw near.

God responded patiently to Cain’s unfounded anger. God assured Cain he could correct the situation and be acceptable. Hear God’s grace in these words, “’Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?’” (Genesis 4:6-7).

God warns us destruction threatens.

Then God warned Cain there would be dreadful consequences if Cain didn’t pay attention to his anger and resist his dark desires. “’But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it’” (Genesis 4:7).

Like a tiger ready to spring, temptation and sin were ready to devour Cain.

But Cain ignored God’s warning and proceeded to murder Abel.

God invites us to turn back for reconciliation and restoration.

Following the murder of Abel, God asked Cain where Abel was. This was not because God didn’t know. God was providing yet another gracious opportunity for Cain to “come clean.” To confess and repent.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain replied with calloused insolence.  

Cain showed no remorse, no regret, no humility whatsoever. He was rude and antagonistic toward God.

God releases us to the consequences we have chosen.

And so, finally, God spoke the judgement Cain had brought willfully upon himself.

Then the Lord said, “’What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”

Was God justified in speaking words of judgment against Cain? Any rational person would agree.

Review the process of grace and mercy:

God’s counsel,

God’s reassurance,

God’s correction,

God’s warning,

and then God’s “care-frontation” (David Augsburger’s term for “confrontation”) even after the murder.

All these preceded any expression of what we would call wrath. And even God’s judgment on Cain was not the stereotypical response we would expect.

“The Lord said, ‘Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth’” (Genesis 4:11-12).

God’s judgement was allowing Cain to have what Cain wanted, but without God’s continuing hospitality. God did not actively avenge Abel’s death. Instead, God gave Cain up to Cain’s selfish desires (see Romans 1:24, 26).

Ironically, those who most question God’s just judgment are quickest to judge God.

When we think wrongly about God, we limit God’s love, lessen God’s grace, cheapen God’s demands, and diminish God’s direction for our lives.

Where’s God in all This?

Doug RumfordLeave a comment

Question Mark Puzzle shutterstock_1578593254

The question is as old as the human experience of suffering: Where’s God in all this? Where’s God in this pandemic? Where’s God in the midst of our confusion, uncertainty, fear, and grief? Our faith is tested at times like these.

Behind these questions often lies the assumption that, if God loves us, everything should go our way. Petty annoyances, sure, we may have them. But no major problems. God “owes” us a great life. Or at least one without much in the way of problems and pain.

We wade into waters that soon rise over our heads when we delve into these questions, assumptions, and problems. Still, though we cannot address them all, we can gain some clarity. For instance, can people see the inconsistency of excluding God from their lives and yet expecting God to provide all they need and want? If God is loving, then, above all, shouldn’t we enter into that loving relationship? And if we are suffering, shouldn’t we look around for other considerations instead of blaming God?

But let’s focus more specifically on what we learn about God’s presence in our suffering from Jesus’ resurrection. I once again turn to the story of Lazarus for insight.

Jesus Waited: The Call to Holy Anticipation

If I asked how you really feel about God, and you were candid, you might say, “God has let me down.” That’s the way many felt when Jesus didn’t come immediately to aid Lazarus.

When Jesus received word of Lazarus’ illness, his response makes us wonder. “So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days (John 11:5-6 NLT). Jesus loved Lazarus, but his actions seemed to show undo casualness.

Why did he wait? Jesus said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this” (John 11:4 NLT).

How could illness reveal the glory of God?

The word “glory” in John means the visible manifestation of the invisible God through mighty acts of power. We read the same words in John 9:3, concerning the blind man.  God’s action in his suffering revealed God’s glory in his healing.

A careful study of the passage leads us to believe Lazarus had already died before the messengers even reached Jesus. Jewish tradition taught that the soul lingered near the body until the third day. So, by the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus was dead, really dead!

Jesus made a promise they would see God’s glory. They couldn’t imagine how.

Based on Jesus’ promise, I’m learning to ask this question in dark times: “Lord, what are you going to do with this mess?” I cultivate holy anticipation, consecrated curiosity.

Jesus Wept: The Assurance of Holy Empathy

While many Scriptures testify to God’s compassion for us (Exodus 3:7-8; Isaiah 49:15), the ultimate expression of God’s compassion is the incarnation. Jesus entered fully into human experience. He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

Bottom line: God cares. The ultimate evidence is the cross.

Because I’ve already touched on this in my previous blog Easter Changes How We View Death I’ll move on.

Jesus Worked: The Revelation of God’s Power and Glory

The third message is one of hope in the way God’s unexpected power overcomes death.

In his book, The Resurrection of the Son of God, Bishop N. T. Wright explained,

“The early Christians did not invent the empty tomb and the ‘meetings’ or ‘sightings’ of the risen Jesus in order to explain a faith they already had. They developed that faith because of the occurrence, and convergence, of these two phenomena. Nobody was expecting this kind of thing; no kind of conversion-experience would have generated such ideas; nobody would have invented it, no matter how guilty (or how forgiven) they felt, no matter how many hours they pored over the scriptures.”

Though Mary and Martha thought Jesus had let them down, they soon saw him work a miracle greater than they could have ever asked or imagined.

God is bigger than any problem we have! The ultimate enemy has been disarmed!  If death doesn’t stop God, then truly nothing is impossible for God.

What looks like tragedy to us may bring a revelation of God’s glory we could have never known any other way.

Instead of saying, “God has disappointed me,” or “God has let me down,” we can learn to say, “I am not sure what God is doing yet… but I trust the Lord!” or “I don’t understand what God is doing yet…. but I trust the Lord.”

Where’s God in all this?

Where’s God? God is warning the world. These situations, while not caused by God, remind us of our vulnerability. They remind us of our need for God, for God’s direction, instruction, and support. They call us to repent of ingratitude, nonchalance, neglect, and presumption.

Where’s God? God is working in his people. God’s humbling us. God’s comforting us, fortifying, and strengthening us. God’s providing for us.

Where’s God? God is working through his people. God’s people are often on the front lines of caring and compassion in times of crisis.

Where is God? Right here! Working, weeping and walking with us.

An Inkling: Haunted by a Sense There’s More

Doug RumfordLeave a comment

Manger Scene shutterstock_765246166

“If you were God, how would you have come into the world?” This question from one of my Young Life leaders has stayed with me for years.

He said he would have gone the dramatic route of having the Navy’s Blue Angels precision flight demonstration squadron do a fly-over at the biggest sports stadium in the world. He would parachute out and land in the middle of the field, dressed in a black leather flight suit that had zippers everywhere. He’d silence the cheering crowd with a wave of his hand and say, “Now that I have your attention—it’s time you listen to me…”

The world has changed a lot since I first considered this question. James A. K. Smith gives a sobering portrait of our religiously-disinterested culture.

Your “secular” neighbors aren’t looking for “answers,” for some bit of information that is missing from their mental maps. To the contrary, they have completely different maps. You’ve realized that instead of nagging questions about God or the afterlife, your neighbors are oriented by all sorts of longings and “projects” and quests for significance. There doesn’t seem to be anything “missing” from their lives – so you can’t just come proclaiming the good news of a Jesus who fills their “God-shaped hole.”

Smith describes how our neighbors have no idea they are failing to ask some very important questions.

They don’t have any sense that the “secular” lives they’ve constructed are missing a second floor. In many ways, they have constructed webs of meaning that provide almost all the significance they need in their lives (though a lot hinges on that “almost”)… No, it seems that  many have managed to construct a world of significance that isn’t at all bothered by questions of the divine – though that world might still be haunted in some ways, haunted by that “almost.”

(James K.A. Smith, How (Not) to be Secular, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014, p. vii-viii).

I realize these are meaty quotes, but I encourage you to read them again slowly. They describe both our toughest challenge and our greatest hope. The hope is in that word, “haunted.”

Scripture assures us that all people have an innate sense of that there’s “Something” or “Someone” more out there. They try to ignore it or dismiss it (see Romans 1:18-20), but it lingers. The preacher in The Book of Ecclesiastes says,

God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 New King James Version NKJV).

The wonder of Christmas, of the incarnation, of Jesus coming as the Word of God in flesh, is that God gives us much more than an argument for his existence. God gives us much more than a dramatic, coercive confrontation. God stirs that internal, eternal longing.

God’s strategy leaves us in awe because it so very “down to earth”—literally!

God’s response to human longing was more than a sentimental message.

Yes, God continued to give his message through Jesus, as he had through his prophets;

But in Jesus Christ, God gave (and gives) his Living Word– a message not only to hear, but one humans could touch and watch and know.

God’s response to human longing was more than a philosophical proof.

Yes, there are many reasonable proofs for the existence of God.

But in Jesus Christ God gives us much more than a reason to believe; God gives us a person to trust.

God’s response to human longing was more than a show of power.

Yes, God showed his power through Jesus’ miracles: water changed into wine, loaves and fishes multiplied, bodies healed and, above all, his own resurrection.

But Jesus’ powerful acts point beyond themselves to what the fullness of love and the gift of salvation in him look like. God hates suffering and evil and death. Jesus shows us how much more God intends for us.

You see, God gave us nothing less than his very best: God gave himself.

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

    and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  (Isaiah 9:6 English Standard Version)

The message of Christmas is this: God exists, and God’s strategy is to win the heart– and with it the whole person through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pay attention to that inkling. Doubt your doubts and follow them to faith.