Human Dilemma – What Is Our Hope? (Psalm 90:1-17)

Is there any meaning in life? Is there any joy? Is there any purpose? What is gone wrong in humanity? Why are we been telling the stories of misery and cry over and over again? Why are there so much hurts and sorrows in our lives? Why are there troubles and sufferings? Why do we feel emptiness and meaninglessness? Why are we good in one day and not well the other day or most of our days? Why are we so easily frustrated and stressed out? Why do we feel fleeting and passing? Why aren’t we accomplishing much though trying hard? Why do we feel lonely and deserted though surrounded by many? Is there an answer for all that? Many claim that they have all solutions, even boast of. But at the end of the day, all turns out futile and fruitless, even the mighty efforts of the United Nations. Why is it so? So many problems and troubles have been piling up like huge mountains after mountains, telling truthfully that our pompous endeavors are not working at all. What is the cause? The Psalmist tells that it is the wrath of God. That is human dilemma. Is there any hope in humanity? If so, what is it? God is our eternal hope in Christ Jesus the Lord.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place

throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the whole world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn people back to dust,

saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.' A thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night. Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—

they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new,

but by evening it is dry and withered. We are consumed by your anger

and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath;

we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years,

or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger!

Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, LORD! How long will it be?

Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants,

your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;

establish the work of our hands for us—

yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Psalm 90:1-17)

The Psalmist sighs that our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures, yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow and all our days pass away under the Lord’s wrath and we finish our years with a moan. How true it is! Time is fleeting and passing so cruelly non-stop, seemingly not concerning any moment of our lives either good or bad at all. It just keeps going and flowing. Months and years are like just a moment. We cannot stop or pause the beautiful memories of ours, not a second. Why so? The relentless wrath of God is upon every human beings since the fall of man. He is the mighty God who brought forth the whole world and commanded man back to dust for they are mortals. We are like the grass which springs up new in the morning and is dry and withered by evening.

Why does God reveal wrath upon humanity relentlessly? Is he angry at us? No, he is not angry against us. Rather, he is love always as the Scripture tells. If he is always love, why do we experience his wrath so severely? It is because he is love. His divine jealousy breaks loose immediately when we violate the Law of God because otherwise we will be ever closer to the eternal judgment. God acts immediately and relentlessly because otherwise it is too dangerous to be saved. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20) One thing God is hesitant to do is to judge his people. Here the judgement means the second death which is the eternal condemnation and separation from God. “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) Prophet Isaiah calls God’s act of judgment as a strange work and alien task. “The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.” (Isaiah 28:21)

So, before too late, God issues a warning call to stop and think it over and eventually repent and change our mind to accept his loving and gracious invitation. It is still time remaining to come unto grace that we may fall into the broken hands of the Lord Jesus Christ who bore our transgressions and without finding faults who forgives those who come by faith in him. Our Lord Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem for they stubbornly refused to accept the long-suffering loving hand of God. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:37-39) There will be a dreadful day of the Lord for those who continue to refuse the stretched and bruised hands of Christ. “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:30-31) Our life on earth is a school time! Our God knows what we are in need and want much better than we do. He is teaching and instructing us to lead to the green pastures where we can find true bread of life. We have a whole set of truth to learn but one at a time. Hebrews warns of being remaining in the infant stage too long though it is way over time to move on to maturity.

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” (Hebrews 5:11-6:2)

There is a way to eternal life available to all believers in Christ. But it is up to our choice to take it or not. Until we choose to take it by faith, it is there but not ours. Yes, troubles and aches are there. At least our experience honestly agrees with the Psalmist. But in the midst of all pains and struggles, there is the invisible hand of God. He knows what he is doing for he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is in control of all things and watches over us. “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 123:3-4) Behind all our experience of outcry, misery, disappointment, sigh, sorrow, brokenness, emptiness, meaninglessness, and many others, the love of God shed abroad into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Right in the midst of our sufferings and troubles, the Spirit in us assures that the unfailing love of God is holding us firm and secure. “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5) God is our shield and shelter and anchor even in the midst of sufferings and troubles.

Why do we have to learn the truth through pains and heartaches? Because we do not have what it takes. We are not made to handle our lives without God. Rather, we have been made to live in him. The sin in us is pride and self-confidence, saying that we have what it takes, so we can handle our lives like running the world by tail. That is the lie. There is nothing in man to offer to God. We are dead broke before him. That is way Paul says this: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Philippians 3:7-9)

Man is not an independent being apart from God. Mankind is made as holy vessel of God, the temple of the Lord Almighty. We desire to run our lives whatever we wanted to. But it is not possible to do unless we completely depend on him. The failures and troubles and sufferings will bring us to the point where we surrender to the One who is ready to give us power, the Spirit. So, Apostle Paul says, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) Our confidence is not from us, but from God in entirety. We live by the Spirit, even the power of resurrection. Sufferings and pains are working together to mold and shape us up to be like him who made us so before the creation of the world. Human sufferings are complicated and complex to describe and it is impossible to find a single solution no matter what. However, we know that all things are working together for the good, even the failures. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Our God is generous and just and righteous. He is faithful today, yesterday, and forever. He will keep his promise even the world disappears like wind. He will reward his servants who kept the faith in Christ to the end. He will reward and fill with the joy and righteousness of him as much as we were put in sufferings and troubles. Is it not our hope? God is our eternal hope in Christ.

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants,

your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;

establish the work of our hands for us—

yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Psalm 90:14-17)

2017. 10. 26.

© 2011-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

Rejoice in God through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1-21)

What has happened to believers in Christ the Son of God? Is there anything we boast of since we have believed in him? What do we boast of? What does the world say when troubles and difficulties come? Do whatever you feel, complain and murmur. What does God say? Rejoice in the Lord! The theme of Romans Chapter 5 is to ‘rejoice in the Lord Christ.’ First, we rejoice because we have peace with God since we have been made righteous in Christ Jesus. The hostility has ended in Christ. Second, we rejoice in our sufferings for we know that suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope in heaven. God demonstrated his love for the sinners like us through the sufferings of the Son on a cross. Third, we rejoice in God who reconciled us in Jesus Christ. Is there more blessings than we have already received? Why is it that we are not experiencing the riches of Christ in our midst? Why is it that we are not more rejoicing than being bitter and anxious and complaining? God teaches and reveals the truth why to boast in him and how to rejoice in the sufferings by the pen the Apostle.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)

Until man is born again in Christ, they have no access to the throne of grace, which means no peace and rest. But those who are justified by the blood of Christ can stand in the presence of Holy God with confidence and boldness. God is our home and welcomes anyone to his indwelling place through the faith of Jesus Christ the Lord. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39) Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) In Christ Jesus the Lord, we have been united with him. We are in Christ and he in us.

In order to access into this grace we don’t need to go up to heaven to bring Christ down nor need to cross the sea to bring back Christ from the dead, because the word of God is in our mouth and heart. We are the temple of God, says the Scripture. We have been made and blessed as his holy residence. Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23) So, we boast in the hope of the glory of God. It is a mystery of God that he indwells in man whom he made in his image and in his likeness. The mystery has been hidden for ages and generations but now revealed by the Son Jesus Christ. “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27) So, strive to approach the throne of God by faith to take his grace and mercy as needed. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

Not only we rejoice in the hope of glory of God, but we rejoice even in our sufferings. What we see is not all, but what we do not see is reality. We believe that there is a God who knows what He is doing according to the words of promise. Christ is the pattern of real man God intended man to be even before the time began. The secret of the Son’s life on the earth is to fix his eyes on the Father in heaven. “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (John 5:19-20a) The Father and the Son is in the perfect communion forever, even during the earthly life of Jesus. Likewise, we who have been made alive by the cleansing blood of Christ are in the perfect communion with Christ Jesus the Lord.

God comforts us in our tribulations so that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble, with the comfort with which we are comforted by God. What is tribulation? It means a great suffering, especially internal pressure with no way of escape. Often sufferings are caused by the external troubles, but not necessarily. Tribulation may come when you get up in the morning suddenly and out of nowhere that your heart’s pressured and stressed heavily. You may be overburdened when you go to work. You may encounter an angry boss or coworker. You may be cut in line while driving. In fact, no one can deny that life is full of troubles and heartaches.

Why do we experience the thuds and bumps in our midst? Do we ever want to get free from troubles and sufferings. No wonder everyone is dreaming of early retirement. There is something terribly gone wrong in our humanity regardless of whatever it may be called like sin, destiny, fate, or doom. Here is an amazing statement God spoke after the fall of man. This is the ultimate prescription for the restoration process of humanity.

“To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

‘Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19)

God knows us much better and deeper than we know ourselves. There is a reason why we cannot escape the troubles of lives like distress, anguish, despair, misery, sorrow, pain. No one is exempt from troubles because trials are common to mankind. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) All sufferings are designed and given unto his children to be disciplined and trained in order to produce patience, character, and hope. The hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Spirit. It is the reason to rejoice in sufferings. No sufferings, no consolations. “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:5) Just as we partake of his sufferings, so also we will partake of his consolation sealed by the resurrection power of God.

Our hope is on things above, not on earthly things. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1-2) The earthly things are perishable, rotten, and fading away. Treasures on earth are destroyed by moth and rust and thieves (Matthew 6:19). But the hope in heaven never make us ashamed because it never perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4). With such a hope, we have confidence and boldness to venture out, offering our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord when the doors are open (Romans 12:1). Obedience is full submission to the Lord, just as Christ did on the cross to the Father in heaven (Hebrews 5:8). God knows how much we can take. The sufferings are not coming without purpose.  

When we are suffered and tried, we immediately protest, saying “Why is it happened to me?” It is so easy to tend to think that I am the most suffering person in the world. But it is not true, says the Scripture. All temptations are common to man. No trials come to man, which they cannot take. How do we know? It is because God is faithful and knows what we can take. So, God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are not able to take. Furthermore, in the midst of temptations God surely will make the way out. Our God is compassionate and merciful in love. Our God is faithful and just. In Him, there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17).

God chastises and disciplines us out of love and grace. “’My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.” (Hebrews 12:5b-8) The trials and temptations are the opportunities designed for our lessons to understand and grasp the mysteries of God. We are not able to see the whole picture yet, the depth, the height, the width, the length hidden in God who sees and knows all things. So, we trust and live by faith on the foundation of truth, Christ Jesus. Walk in Christ daily and give thanks for everything. There is no confusion or uncertainty in Christ because there is no darkness at all. Those who are in Christ shall walk in the light, full of light.  

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverb 3:5-6)

How can we be sure of that the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Spirit in the midst of troubles and travails? Apostle Paul explains for us how we can be certain of God’s love. He reminds us of the unfailing fact that God gave His begotten Son Jesus Christ when we were the enemies, running away from him further and further. God loved us first even when we were still sinners. The demonstration of God’s love has been manifested in the death of the Son Jesus Christ with blood on a cross in Calvary. God reached out his long stretched loving hands to all people who were aliens and strangers, standing far away from the righteousness of God through not an angel but the Son Jesus Christ.

 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)

Paul concludes the infallibility of God’s love. Eugene Peterson renders, “Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life!” (Romans 5:9-10, The Message) We have the undeniable reason to rejoice in the sufferings because we are in Jesus Christ who suffered and died in our place when we were still sinners. God loved us first, which means he let his Son to suffer much in our place. Even the Son learned obedience through what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus says, “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:20) Because it is the way to life, to the Father, to salvation, to glory, God was pleased to crush the Son who obeyed the Father. “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10) So also we boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation. His grace is sufficient to overcome the world since Christ in us defends us before the Holy God (Romans 5:12-21). “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17)

What do we get out of this? What is holding us back from experiencing the riches of Christ? One, the promises of God is too good to be true. It may be working for others like the patriarchs but not for me. So, there is no expectations to receive and experience the promise in the hope of glory. Two, unrealistic expectations. Our journey in Christ is not a day, month, or year, but lifetime long. We obey a small thing and God will reveal another truth. The more we obey, the more God will give and reveal the secrets of life. We know God is faithful, so we wait patiently, believing that his ways are different, higher, deeper than our ways. Hebrews tells us we are in the race of faith and commands to follow to run the race on track. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1) Judge is not human but God. These two, too good to be true and unrealistic expectations, may be the things that hinder our race. Three, pretense or hypocrisy. It is the sin that easily entangles us. We know that we have a lot of problems in our lives. We know that we are tempted and failing in many ways. At the same time, we don’t want to admit. We don’t want to be ashamed and humiliated. We want to avoid as far as we can. But the more we try to avoid the more we are entangled with the sin, not being able to run the race.

Jesus said to a Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10) What does God want us to do? Ask for a drink. That is it. Ask! God is ready to give us whatever we ask in the name of the Son Jesus Christ. Why does our God want to give us whatever we ask? Are we any better than others? Is anyone to deserve for his loving care and blessings? No, no one deserves. But because he is love, he gives and gives, even the Son for the sin of the world. With such a love, our God invites us to come unto him with open arms and drink the living water welling up to eternal life. God is asking us to respond to his love through the faith in the Son Jesus Christ, the pioneer and finisher of faith. Jesus doesn’t say that she should first clean up and ask. If it is required for anyone to clean up first no one is able to ask because it is impossible to clean up by ourselves. We have been made righteous by the blood of Christ, so we simply ask through the faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Hebrews says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Our God is compassionate and merciful, taking care of his children as the Father and Shepherd. “Are you asking for help?” Maybe do we think that we need to do more to God? More prayers, more service, and then ask. What does it pull us away from asking like a child? Guilt may deeply be embedded in our hearts for not doing more. But there is no way to do more. If there is a way to do more, then Christ doesn’t need to die for us. We have been made righteous, so we may ask for God with confidence by faith. Then, the heavenly Father who is merciful and compassionate rewards us. Listen to what our Lord Jesus says:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

October 9, 2017

© 2011-2017 David Lee  Ministries – All Rights Reserved.