New Every Morning

In the last blog post, I said I write to encourage those who are asking where God is in the midst of tragedy. As much as I love apologetics, academic arguments can seem irrelevant to this postmodern generation. Thomas Umstattd’s latest episode of the Christian Publishing Show addresses this very thing.

Postmodernism is very cynical. It rejects objective truth. Postmoderns don’t care if Christianity is true in a scientific sense. They don’t care if it could win in a court of law. Nor do they care if Christianity could win a debate because they have their own truth. They believe that happiness comes from standing in your own truth.

So how do we take on the “my truth” generation? By making them thirsty for THE truth.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. – John 14:6

But the God of the Bible can be perceived as harsh and judgmental. (Judgmental. Gasp. The greatest perceived evil by many.) Newsflash. He is the Judge of the earth, our Shophet. What kind of judge is He? A righteous, just one. In fact, in Hebrew, righteous and just are the same word. He’s also merciful. In the midst of judgment, He lavishes those who turn to Him with mercy.

The Book of Daniel

In the Book of Daniel, we see how his judgment and mercy go hand in hand.

• As a youth, Daniel was sent into captivity to Babylon which was ruled by a ruthless and cruel dictator. BUT the Spirit of the Lord was with Daniel, and he rose to prominence in the empire.
• God allowed three righteous men to be thrown into the fire, BUT He met them there, and they weren’t harmed.
• God gave Nebuchadnezzar the mind of a beast for 7 years, BUT once his pride was humbled, he was restored.
• God used Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and kill many Jews, BUT He saved a remnant, prospered them in Babylon, and restored them after the captivity.

And what was the result of the harsh and sometimes deadly judgments in Daniel?

• I believe Daniel’s position in Babylon gave him influence with the king. Could he have been the one to propose bringing exiles to Babylon, paving the way for a remnant to be spared?
• In sparing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, God showed his superiority over the gods of Babylon. How many Babylonians chose to put their faith in El Elyon because of it?
• Nebuchadnezzar could no longer deny YHWH’s authority. No, in fact, he praised, honored, and exalted the melek semayin, Aramaic for the King of heaven.
• God used the bleakest time in Israel’s history, the Exile, to save a remnant to Himself. In Babylon, finally, the Jews forsook worship of foreign gods. Unfortunately, many of them began to worship the Law rather than the Lawgiver, but that’s another blog post.

And what about Jeremiah, the weeping prophet?

He saw it all. From his youth, he knew he would walk a hard road through Judea’s chastisement. But through it all, YHWH was with him, and Jeremiah could say with absolute sincerity that His mercies were new every morning. In the midst of tragedy, the only hope we have is to cling to the One whose compassions never fail.