Jon Bloom's Blog, page 51

How Jesus Exposed the Idol of Self-Glory

The love of our own glory is the greatest competitor with God in our hearts. And sometimes we cloak this idol in a pious disguise. In Matthew 21, Jesus exposed this idol in the hearts of a few men with a single question.

It was the final week before Jesus’s day of judgment — the day he would stand before his Father’s bar of justice bearing the sins of all who ever had or would believe in him, and in their place be crushed by the Father’s wrath.

He no longer avoided the treacherous Jewish political and religious leaders. He openly confronted their errors and duplicity, pouring fuel on the fire of their fear and hatred of him.

As the Jewish leaders saw it, Jesus was out of control. He had been a growing problem for a couple of years. But Sunday, he had wreaked havoc in the temple, driving out the sacrifice merchants as if he owned the place. And this after he rode into Jerusalem like a king to the wild cheers of thousands — many of whom proclaimed him the Messiah. And he did not refute them!

Trying to Win the People

The leaders rejected Jesus as the Christ. After all, he was from God-forsaken Galilee. And he was a blasphemer and a chronic Sabbath-breaker — yet he called them hypocrites!

Now he had spawned a full-blown crisis. If they didn’t take decisive action soon, the Romans would get involved.

The problem was the crowd. They had to find a way to win the people to their side.

Jesus’s Stunning Response

After some deliberation, they conceived a question that would surely hang Jesus on the horns of a dilemma. Either answer would incriminate him, divide the crowd, and give them cause to arrest him.

On Monday morning, as Jesus was teaching in the temple, the appointed delegation made their way to him through the crowd. The spokesman loudly asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Jesus, sitting, leaned back a bit and squinted up at them. The tension was thick.

Then he answered, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where did it come from? From heaven or from man?”

This was a stunning counter. They faltered. The crowd began to murmur. Their hesitation was humiliating.

Their Politically Expedient Lie

They huddled for a quick conference. “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” How had Jesus managed to flip the horns around on them?

They decided to retreat. “We do not know.” It was a politically expedient lie.

Restrained anger flashed in Jesus’s eyes. “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The question the Jewish leaders asked, had it been sincere, would not have been wrong. They were supposed to guard God’s truth and God’s people. That’s why Jesus was willing to answer it. But his prerequisite question revealed that their apparent truth-guarding was a sham.

John the Baptist’s love for God’s glory and truth had cost him his head. Jesus’s love for God’s glory and truth would get him crushed by God’s wrath. Jesus’s question was designed to reveal whether these leaders loved God’s glory and truth more than public approval. If they answered him straight, he would give them a straight answer.

But they were “afraid of the crowd.” In other words, they loved human approval and their own reputations more than they loved the truth — more than they loved God. So they “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25).

Rigorously Truthful in What We Profess

We must remember that we do the same thing every time we distort or deny the truth for the sake of people’s approval. Self-glory is revealed to be an idol in our heart when the Lord presents us with an opportunity to glorify him by speaking the truth about our convictions or our sins, yet we are unwilling to do it for fear of what someone else will think of us.

Now, we have all done this. So thank God for the cross that covers such sins! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

But today, let’s resolve not to be afraid of the crowd. Rather, let’s love God’s glory more than our own by being rigorously truthful in what we profess or confess.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Seven Ways to Pray for Your Heart

Lay Aside the Weight of “Not Feeling Like It”

Watch Your Mouth

Seven Ways to Pray for Your Heart

Over the years, as I’ve prayed for my own heart, I’ve accumulated seven “D’s” that I have found helpful. Maybe you’ll find them helpful as well.

With seven you can use them a number of ways. You might choose one “D” per day. Or you could choose one “D” as a theme for a week and pray through these every seven weeks. You’ll also note that I have a verse for each prayer. But over time as you pray more verses will come to mind and you might find it helpful to collect them so they are right at hand as the Spirit leads.

I begin each prayer with the phrase “whatever it takes, Lord” because the Bible teaches us to be bold and wholehearted in our praying, not reticent. I also use the phrase because it tests my heart. How much do I want God and all he promises to be for me in Jesus? Do I really want true joy enough to ask for my Father’s loving discipline to wean me from joy-stealing sin? And how much do I trust him? Do I really believe that he will only give me what is good when I ask in faith (Luke 11:11–13)? “Whatever it takes” prayers help me press toward and express childlike trust in the Father.

Delight: Whatever it takes, Lord, give me delight in you as the greatest treasure of my heart.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Desires: Whatever it takes, Lord, align the desires of my heart with yours.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9–10)

Dependence: Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my awareness of my dependence on you in everything so that I will live continually by faith.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Discernment: Whatever it takes, Lord, teach me to discern good from evil through the rigorous exercise of constant practice.

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)

Desperation: Whatever it takes, Lord, keep me desperate for you because I tend to wander when I stop feeling my need for you.

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” (Psalm 119:67)

Discipline: Whatever it takes, Lord, discipline me for my good that I may share your holiness and bear the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

“He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:10–11)

Diligence: Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my resolve to do your will with all diligence.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16)

These are just suggestions. The Lord may lead you to pray in other ways. But however he teaches us, whatever means we find helpful, may God cause us all to grow in faith until we pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and never lose heart (Luke 18:1).

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Lay Aside the Weight of “Not Feeling Like It”

Lay Aside the Weight of Self-Preoccupation

Lay Aside the Weight of Sluggishness

Lay Aside the Weight of “Not Feeling Like It”

What do you not feel like doing today?

You know what I mean. It’s that thing that’s weighing on you, which you know would honor God because it obeys his law of love (John 15:12), or is a work of faith (2 Thessalonians 1:11), or puts “to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). You know it would be good for your soul or body or family or vocation or neighbor or church.

But you don’t feel like doing it. You know that God promises you more blessing if you do it than if you don’t. But you’re struggling to believe it because it feels difficult. It’s like you have weights on your ankles. You don’t want to muster the energy, and every distraction glows with attraction.

The Strange Pattern of Progress

While it’s true that this is our indwelling sin of which we must repent and fight to lay aside (Hebrews 12:1), the experience of “not feeling like it” also can become for us a reminder of a gospel truth and actually give us hope and encouragement in this battle.

Think about this strange pattern that occurs over and over in just about every area of life:

Healthy, nutritious food often requires discipline to prepare and eat while junk food is convenient, tasty, and addictive.

Keeping the body healthy and strong requires frequent deliberate discomfort while it only takes constant comfort to go to pot.

You have to make yourself pick up that nourishing but intellectually challenging book while popping in a DVD is as easy and inviting as coasting downhill.

You frequently have to force yourself to get to devotions and prayer while sleeping in or reading the sports or checking Facebook is almost effortless.

Learning to skillfully play beautiful music requires thousands of hours of tedious practice.

Excelling in sports requires monotonous drills ad nauseum.

Learning to write well requires writing, writing, writing and rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. And usually voluminous reading.

It takes years and years of schooling just to make certain vocational opportunities possible.

You get the idea. The pattern is this: the greater joys are obtained through struggle and difficulty and pain, while brief, unsatisfying, and often destructive joys are right at our fingertips. Why is this?

Why the Struggle and Difficulty and Pain?

Because God, in great mercy, is showing us everywhere, in things that are just shadows of heavenly realities, that there is a great reward for those who struggle through and persevere (Hebrews 10:32–35). He is reminding us almost everywhere to walk by faith in a promised future and not by the sight of immediate gratification (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Understood this way, each struggle becomes an invitation by God to follow in the faithful footsteps of his Son, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Those who are spiritually blind only see futility in these struggles. But for those who have eyes to see, God has woven hope (faith in his future grace) right into the futility of creation (Romans 8:20–21). Each struggle becomes a pointer saying, “Look ahead, past the struggle itself, past the temptation of the puny, vapor joys to the great, sustained, substantial Joy set before you!”

Endurance, Not Indulgence

So today, don’t let “not feeling like it” reign as lord (Romans 6:12). Rather, through it see your Father pointing you to the reward he has planned for all who endure to the end (Matthew 24:13). Let it remind you that his call is not to indulgence but endurance.

Then lay this weight aside and run with faith the race he has set before you.

This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17–18)

More “Lay Aside” posts from Jon Bloom:

Lay Aside the Weight of Self-Preoccupation

Lay Aside the Weight of Sluggishness

Lay Aside the Weight of Fear

Lay Aside the Weight of Doubt

Lay Aside Every Weight

Watch Your Mouth

It is humbling to remember that as Christians we are still vulnerable to Satan’s deception. One moment we can speak glorious truth and the next moment destructive, satanic words. We must be on our guard, something Peter learned the hard way. The following meditation is from Matthew 16:13–27.

Why Jesus had led his disciples up to Caesarea Philippi, they weren’t sure. At the foot of Mount Hermon, in the far north of Palestine, the population was mostly pagan. Legend told that the Greek god, Pan, had been born in a nearby cave housing a great spring of water. Temples and shrines were built into the cliffs. Philip the Tetrarch made the city his capital, which he named in honor of Tiberius Caesar — and himself.

But for Jesus, Caesarea Philippi was likely a refuge from the pressing crowds and controversy he generated among the Jews, a peaceful retreat where he could ask his disciples a defining question.

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

“John the Baptist,” answered one. There were a few muted laughs because John had only died a few months ago. But the strange rumor made Philip’s half brother, Antipas, tremble.

Another said, “Some say Elijah.” This made more sense, since the prophet, Malachi, had said Elijah would come (Malachi 4:5). But in that sense, Elijah had died a few months ago.

“Or one of the other prophets, like Jeremiah,” said a third.

Jesus seemed to be lost in thought for a few minutes. Then he looked around the group and asked, “But who do you say that I am?”

This question pierced right to their deepest hope. It was a hope their ancestors had nurtured for centuries — one that had been dashed many times. It was a hope so dear that, even after all of Jesus’s signs, most were hesitant to actually say it.

But not Peter. For right or wrong, he was bolder than the rest. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he answered with characteristic passion. The words echoed off the rocky walls. Every man felt his diaphragm tighten. This was the moment of truth. Their hopes rested on Jesus’s response.

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

Awe permeated this holy moment. Before this Jesus had all but proclaimed himself the Messiah. But now the line had been officially crossed. Peter had said what they all desperately hoped was true. And Jesus had affirmed it.

And in that moment, Peter earned his name. From then on he was a memorial stone of the mammoth, Mount-Hermon-like truth of Jesus’s person and his mission — the indestructible truth on which the church would be built.

But then irony struck. The rock of truth quickly became a stumbling block.

Having declared himself the Messiah to his disciples, Jesus immediately began explaining to them that his mission required his capture, death, and resurrection. This did not land on them as good news. How in the world could the messianic kingdom be established if the Messiah dies?

This really disturbed Peter. It wasn’t like Jesus to sound so resigned to being overcome by evil. There was no way that God would allow his Son to be killed and leave all the prophecies unfulfilled. Hadn’t they experienced God’s omnipotent power? And if it was a matter of protection, well, Jesus needed to know that no one would lay a hand on him, except over Peter’s dead body!

So at the next opportunity, bold Peter took Jesus aside and said, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”

Jesus cut him off with intense authority. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter stepped back, confused. This was the last thing he expected to hear. Satan? He was being used by Satan? And he thought he was trying to help.

Peter might have recalled this moment later in life when he wrote this exhortation: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him” (1 Peter 5:8–9).

As Christians who have received the Holy Spirit, some of the most glorious truths that exist are revealed to us and pass through our lips. Yet we still must watch our mouths (Psalm 141:3), not only to refrain from harsh words of impatient irritability or selfish ambition, but also, as in Peter’s case, to keep ourselves and others from our sincerely held misunderstandings. Satan is very subtle. He is very good at deceiving us where our understanding is limited or partial. If we are not careful, we can be fully convinced that we are advancing God’s kingdom when we are really opposing it.

This is why it is so important that we be “quick to hear, slow to speak” (James 1:19) and clothed with humility, because, as Peter both experienced and wrote, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

Lay Aside the Weight of Restless Work

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

July marks my 20th year working with John Piper and many precious colleagues in this mission of Desiring God. It is a privilege so great that it surpasses my power to comprehend it.

Twenty years. That’s a generation. When I began, I hadn’t been alive much more than twenty years. Now I’m in my forties and fifty is on the horizon.

During this generational span I’ve gotten to be a part of Desiring God’s birth and growth, a church’s re-birth and growth,1 and the birth and growth of five children. These have all been graces, overwhelmingly more than I deserve.

But they each have also required a lot of work, and more so as each has grown in size and complexity.

Work Is Good and So Is Rest

Now work is a good thing. God designed us to work with him (Genesis 2:15) and to work with all our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Yes, the futility to which we are all subjected (Romans 8:20) increases the difficulty and grief that infect our work this age (Genesis 3:17–19). But work is not evil (unless for evil ends); it’s just accompanied by evil.

The great news is that despite dogged futility, God promises to supply the strength we need for all the work of service he calls us to (1 Peter 4:11), even if it’s extraordinarily hard (1 Corinthians 15:10). So it is very good to present our bodies as living sacrifices in the holy labor of the kingdom (Romans 12:1), which encompasses everything God entrusts to us.

But God also designed and instructed us to rest. In fact, God considered it so important that his people rest that he built a rhythm of Sabbaths into the individual and corporate lives of Old Covenant Israel every seventh day (Leviticus 23:3), every seventh year (Leviticus 25:3–4), and every fiftieth year — the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–17).

This rhythm was intended by God to give his people regular and repeated experiences of receiving from him refreshment and provision so that they would not trust wholly in their own labors either for tomorrow’s survival or the next generation’s material security. It was a built-in spiritual discipline of laying aside works and laying hold of faith. If they observed his Sabbaths he promised them blessing (Deuteronomy 15:4–6), if they ignored them he promised them curses (Deuteronomy 28:15–68).

As New Covenant Israel, we now know that the fulfillment of the Sabbath is Jesus, who is both Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5) and himself our Sabbath rest (Matthew 11:28). We are no longer required to keep the Old Testament Sabbath laws (Acts 15:28–29).

But this does not mean that we are not to rest. It means that our rest is even more profound. We rest from trying to attain holiness and God’s acceptance through keeping the requirements of the law by trusting that Jesus kept all the requirements of the law for us (Romans 8:3–5). In fact, Jesus stressed that our most important work is to believe him — a form of resting in his promises — not producing a lot of stuff for him (John 6:29). All our productivity is to flow from the rest of faith, otherwise it’s just sin (Romans 14:23).

But this more profound rest still must include rhythms of ceasing from work activities for the purpose of refreshment, reflection, renewal, and recalibration.

A Failure to Rest

Now for a confession: I have not done this consistently or faithfully enough over the last 20 years. As I look back, I have had too much (misplaced) faith in busy-ness (self-sufficiency) and insufficient faith that prayerful, reflective rest would result in greater blessing and more effective work. As a result, I think I’m seeing areas of my life — family, Desiring God, church — where, though there are no crises, changes need to be made.

Laying Aside Restless Work

So what am I going to do about this? I’m going to seek to lay aside the sin of restless work by:

Resting. I’m laying aside vocational work for a season. The DG board of directors has very graciously granted me a three-month sabbatical from July through most of September as a 20th anniversary gift. During these months I plan to pursue…
Reflection. It’s necessary to occasionally step out of the harried blur of laborious activity, maybe for an extended season, to pray and think carefully about what we’re doing with these vapor-lives we’ve been given (James 4:14). They’re passing quickly. We dare not waste them. One thing I plan to continue during my sabbatical is writing these Friday morning blog posts (at least most weeks) because they are very helpful reflection moments for me. So you’ll still hear from me! I’m also pursuing spiritual…
Renewal. That’s a significant reason for the biblical Sabbath. Rest and reflection serve the soul’s renewal and encouragement in the faith. And out of this I will be pursuing…
Recalibration. Insufficient rest and worshipful reflection lead to things getting out-of-whack. My wife, Pam, and I are looking forward to praying, discussing, and implementing ways our family can more effectively live for God’s glory in rhythms of both work and rest.

I wonder if you’re like me and need to lay aside the weight of restless work? Persistent weariness, faith-wrestlings, confusion, and/or discouragement are signs to pay attention to. If so, it doesn’t require a sabbatical (although you might pray about it). Take a look at your rest and reflection habits and ask a few trusted counselors for feedback. It may be that a recalibration is in order for the purpose of spiritual renewal.

Something John Piper said to me sticks in my mind: “work hard and rest well.” I am finding that the latter is very important for the former.

1 In 2000, Bethlehem Baptist Church sent a group of us to help re-plant a sister church that is now called Sovereign Grace Church where I have had the joy of leading the worship team ministry for the past thirteen years.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Lay Aside the Weight of Self-Preoccupation

God Will Never, Ever Break His Promise

Lay Aside the Weight of Sluggishness

Lay Aside the Weight of Self-Preoccupation

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

Want to refresh your soul? Want to run with more endurance today? Cease to be the focus of your attention.

The state of your soul depends on what occupies your mind. If your self is occupying your mind, forget peace and contentment. You don’t find those in a vacuum of needs and sinful cravings. And forget loving others. A self-preoccupied soul might like the idea of being viewed by others as loving, but ends up finding others obstacles that plug up its craving vacuum.

And forget joy. The soul does not find satisfaction in the self. It’s not designed to. It’s designed to find supreme satisfaction in Someone else (Psalm 107:9), and then to enjoy everything else because of that Someone else (1 Timothy 6:17).

The Self Will Never Satisfy the Soul

The soul is designed to worship, but not to worship our self. The self is not glorious enough to captivate the soul. We know this. Yet our fallen selves don’t want to believe it. We’re drawn again and again into the hopeless labyrinth of deception that is self-worship. We know we’re not worship-worthy—no matter how many self-affirming pop psychology mantras we chant. And yet we try over and over to satisfy our souls with other people’s praise—and if possible, worship—of our self. Our fallen natures seem to believe that if enough people admire us we just might believe we’re admirable.

Self-preoccupation is disorienting, because when we’re looking at ourselves we aren’t looking to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and we aren’t looking at the road we are running on (Hebrews 12:1). It’s disappointing because we never find in ourselves what we’re looking for. Therefore, it frequently leads to discouragement and despair. Ironically, we are then often lured into self-centered introspection, which leads us into a vicious cycle of self-improvement efforts, self-indulgence, self-disillusionment, new self-resolves, etc., etc.

How to Lay Aside the Old Self for the Sake of Joy

Self-preoccupation really is a sin that “clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1). It’s hard to lay it aside. It’s so much a part of us that we can despair of ever really changing. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). The Bible tells us how to do this:

1. Deny yourself by getting your eyes off yourself. But remember, Christian self-denial is hedonistic because you’re denying yourself of what robs life in order to gain life.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24–25)

2. Look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and all that God promises to be and do for you through him. Only he will satisfy your soul (Psalm 63:1-3) and only he has the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2)

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

3. Serve others. Strike a blow at self-preoccupation by focusing on others’ needs and concerns. Our Lord’s commands to love one another (John 13:34) and serve one another (John 13:14) have a double-edged benefit for us: they give us the blessing of giving and liberate us from the tyranny of self.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3–4)

Worldly hedonists believe that narcissism is the path to joy. That is a horrible lie. Christian Hedonists know that narcissism is the death of joy, because only God is our “exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4, Psalm 16:11).

So join me today, for the sake of God’s joy, our joy, and others’ joy, in laying aside the weight of self-preoccupation by denying ourselves lifelessness, looking to Jesus who is our life (John 14:6), and giving life to others by serving them.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

God Will Never, Ever Break His Promise

Lay Aside the Weight of Sluggishness

Two Kinds of Regret, One Kind of Hope

God Will Never, Ever Break His Promise

How might Isaac have explained to his young sons, Jacob and Esau, why God had commanded his father, Abraham, to offer him as a burnt offering (Genesis 22)?

Eight year-old Esau sat on his bed-mat firing imaginary arrows in the dark at his younger twin, Jacob, who could hear him making his “pheoo” sound with each shot. They were hitting the target.

“Esau, stop!” pheoo. “I said, stop!” pheoo. “Stoooooop!” Jacob’s protests were aimed at his Father’s ears. They were hitting the target. Soon the familiar scraping footsteps approached the tent. Esau lay down quickly, pretending to sleep. Father Isaac swept the flap aside, “Sons of mine, that’s enough. You’re disturbing the whole camp. It’s late. Go to sleep.”

“Father, tell Esau to stop shooting at me!”

“You have a shield, Jacob. It’s called ignoring him. Use it.”

“He’s just doing it to make me mad!”

“Yes, and you’re rewarding his effort. Esau,” Isaac said. Silence. “Don’t pretend you’re sleeping, Son. Answer me.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Stop,” Isaac couldn’t help letting a chuckle slip, “stop shooting your brother.”

There was a giggle in the darkness. “Yes, Father.”

“Father?” Jacob asked.

“Yes, my Son.”

“Was Grandfather Abraham really going to stab you with the knife?” The boy had been pondering the strange, disturbing story his father had told them the previous night.

Isaac walked in and knelt between the boys. “He would have if God had wanted him to.”

“Did God really want him to?”

“That’s a good question. What God really wanted was for Father Abraham to trust him, even if it meant sacrificing me.”

“Did you know Grandfather Abraham was going to sacrifice you?”

“No. I noticed we didn’t have a lamb. But when I asked him about it he said, ‘God will provide for himself a lamb.’”

“Did that mean you were the lamb?”

“Well, it looked like I was the lamb. But the main thing is that Father Abraham trusted that God would provide the lamb and was willing for me to be the lamb if that’s what God required.”

“But if you had died, Esau and I wouldn’t have been born.”

Isaac paused thoughtfully. “I don’t think that’s true, Jacob. Because God had made a promise to Father Abraham. Do you remember? He said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named’ (Genesis 21:12). When God makes a promise, he never breaks it. That means he knew I would grow up and have offspring and that you two scoundrels would be my offspring.”

“But if you died, you couldn’t have offspring!”

“I know it sounds strange. Here’s how Father Abraham explained it to me: he believed so strongly that God would keep his promise that even if God was asking him to sacrifice me, then God must have planned to bring me back to life from the dead.”

Esau interjected, “Like a ghost?”

“No, not like a ghost. God would have healed me and made me alive again, just like I am now.”

Jacob continued, “But he didn’t do that. God made a ram get caught in the bushes.”

“That’s right. God provided a sacrifice just like he promised. And it wasn’t me, God be praised!”

“But why did God tell Grandfather Abraham to make you the sacrifice if he knew he was going to provide the ram?”

“Well, I don’t know all of God’s reasons, Son. He always has more than he tells us. But remember what I told you last night. After Grandfather Abraham had offered me, God said to him: ‘By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.’ (Genesis 22:16-18) So, Jacob, you tell me: why did God tell Father Abraham to offer me as the sacrifice?"

Jacob thought for a moment. “To see if Grandfather would obey him?”

“Yes. Good. But it was also to show us — me and you and Esau and your children someday and their children — what it means to trust God. Father Abraham trusted God so much that he was willing to even sacrifice the fulfillment of God’s promise — me — because he believed that God would still fulfill his promise. That’s important to understand because the promise God made to Father Abraham he’s also making to you: 'in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' Someday you’re going to have to trust that God will keep his promise even when it looks like he won’t. When that happens, remember Father Abraham and say with him, “The Lᴏʀᴅ will provide” (Genesis 22:14). Does that make sense?"

“Yes, Father,” said Jacob.

“Now, what the Lᴏʀᴅ wants to provide for you tonight is sleep. So let’s have it quiet.”

Two tired voices responded, “Yes, Father.”

As soon as Isaac’s footsteps faded away Jacob heard a sound in the dark: pheoo.

As he walked toward Moriah with Isaac, Abraham must have felt conflicted and heartbroken beyond words. He didn’t understand all that God was doing. He didn’t know he was illustrating for God’s people for all time what justifying faith looked like (James 2:21–23). He didn’t know this act would foreshadow the sacrifice of God’s only Son — a Son who would not be spared because he was the provided Lamb (John 1:29).

He only knew that God knew what he was doing and that God could be trusted to keep his promise even if it appeared like the promise was going to die (Hebrews 11:19). And God proved himself faithful to Abraham.

He will prove himself faithful to you as well. If it doesn’t look like it right now, God has his reasons and they are more than you know. Trust him.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Lay Aside the Weight of Sluggishness

Two Kinds of Regret, One Kind of Hope

God’s Mercy in Messed Up Families

Lay Aside the Weight of Sluggishness

“And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:11–12)

Sluggishness in a runner signals danger to a coach. Something isn’t right. Something is causing ambivalence, draining confidence. The runner is losing heart. Half-hearted running is a forerunner to quitting.

That’s when a caring coach intervenes. Every athlete, even a premier one, loses focus or desire and at times wants to give up in the stress and strain of training and competition. I have never heard of a successful athlete who didn’t have a coach who pushed him (or her) when he got discouraged, lost confidence, wanted to quit — pushed him beyond what he thought possible.

The best coaches don’t just encourage; they also exhort. They come on strong. They get angry if they must. They warn against the dangers of foolishness, indolence, or losing resolve. And that’s because they know that humans are not only motivated by reward, we are also motivated by fear. It’s how we are designed. God is the ultimate reward (Hebrews 11:26) and the ultimate terror (Luke 12:4–5) and we are equipped to understand, be awed by, and be motivated by both aspects of him.

And Jesus is the best, most caring coach there is. When we are injured, helpless, legitimately tired, or ashamed, our Coach is almost always comforting and encouraging (Matthew 12:20). But he also loves us enough to get in our face when we need it. And that’s usually what we need when we feel sluggish.

Spiritual sluggishness is a manifestation of unbelief. It’s a sign that there’s something about God that we doubt and it’s draining our hope, which means it’s draining our energy and drive. We’re not giving it all we have because we doubt it’s worth the effort.

When we feel like this we typically want an arm around the shoulder and a gentle word of understanding and commiseration. What we typically need are loving reproofs, like these:

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12)

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” (Hebrews 4:1)

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27)

Spiritual sluggishness is not to be tolerated; it’s to be fought. It’s potentially a faith-race abortifacient (Hebrews 3:19). It’s a weight that needs to be laid aside (Hebrews 12:2). So how do you do that?

Identify the doubt. Sluggishness has a cause. What is sapping your faith?
Repent. Unbelief is a sin. Seek to actively turn from it.
Target that unbelief with biblical truth. Stop whatever else you may be doing for devotional reading and focus on and pray through texts that deal directly with this issue. Lay aside your other book reading and read things that address this doubt.
Don’t go it alone. Humble yourself and share your struggle with trusted counselors God has given you. Our great Coach often speaks through assistant coaches (Hebrews 3:13).

Spiritual sluggishness is common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13). We all experience it. In the slog of our long faith-race and the adversity we encounter from the world, our flesh, and the devil (Ephesians 2:2–3), there are times the reward gets obscured by confusion and discouragements.

Though we may not want them, these are when we most need our Coach’s exhortations. They may sting, they may humble us, but they are laced with mercy because they help clear our muddled minds, shake off the lethargy, and run again with endurance.

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12–13)

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

Two Kinds of Regret, One Kind of Hope

God’s Mercy in Messed Up Families

God’s Mercy in Making Us Face the Impossible

Two Kinds of Regret, One Kind of Hope

What do you regret? That question can trigger some vivid memories. I don’t like to think about them. I wince as I remember things I wish I had never done—terrible, wounding words I spoke, confidences I betrayed, dark lusts I indulged.

We’re supposed to feel regret (feel sorry) for evil things we do. But not all regret is godly.

Judas and Peter both committed heinous sins on the same night. Judas led the guard to Jesus in Gethsemane. Peter publicly disowned Jesus in the courtyard. Both were betrayals. Both men regretted what they had done.

Peter was forgiven and went on to preach at Pentecost and lead the church. Judas was not forgiven and ended up committing suicide.

Why?

What Is Godly Grief?

A clue is in the nature of each man’s regret. Paul helps us in 2 Corinthians 7:10:

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

The context is that the Corinthians had sinned grievously and Paul had rebuked them in a previous letter (probably 1 Corinthians).

The rebuke produced “grief”—a kind of regret;
their sad regret over their sin produced repentance;
repentance brought about forgiveness and removal of their guilt through Jesus’ atoning death;
forgiveness brought about salvation;
salvation meant they did not have to live (or die) in regret.

This meant no condemnation! 1 John 1:9 was applied to them: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When Grief Is Godless

But a person who has godless, worldly regret grieves over the terrible thing he has done without believing that Jesus’s death will atone for him.

A person who has godless grief believes he is either beyond forgiveness or that he must atone for his own sin in order to please God. His regret leads to death—a living death of condemnation (sometimes suicide) and eventually spiritual death.

This was Judas. His guilt was real and terrible. But he did not believe in Jesus and was condemned.

Turn Toward God in Faith

A person who has godly regret grieves over the terrible thing he has done and believes that only God can help him. God is his only hope. So he turns toward God in faith, confesses his sin, and looks to the cross where the penalty of that sin was placed on the Son of God.

He believes in God’s promise to forgive those who trust in his Son, and receives God’s free grace of forgiveness. Then he leaves his sin and lives in the freedom of the forgiven and not in the regret of the unforgiven.

This was Peter. His guilt was real and terrible. But he believed in Jesus and was forgiven. And the same can be true for you and me.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

God’s Mercy in Messed Up Families

God’s Mercy in Making Us Face the Impossible

When Harsh Words Are Kind

God’s Mercy in Messed Up Families

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find an example of what we would call a “healthy family” in the Bible? It’s a lot easier to find families with a lot of sin and a lot of pain than to find families with a lot of harmony. For example, here’s just a sampling from Genesis:

The first recorded husband and wife calamitously disobey God (Genesis 3).

Their firstborn commits fratricide (Genesis 4:8).

Sarah’s grief over infertility moves her to give her servant, Hagar, to Abraham as a concubine to bear a surrogate child (Genesis 16). When it happens, Sarah abuses Hagar in jealous anger. Abraham is passive in the whole affair.

Lot, reluctant to leave sexually perverse Sodom, his home, has to be dragged out by angels and then weeks later his daughters seduce him into drunken incest (Genesis 19).

Isaac and Rebecca play favorites with their twin boys, whose sibling rivalry becomes one of the worst in history (Genesis 25).

Esau has no discernment. He sells his birthright for soup (Genesis 25), grieves his parents by marrying Canaanite women (Genesis 26), and nurses a 20-year murderous grudge against his conniving younger brother.

Jacob (said conniver) manipulates and deceives his brother out of his birthright (Genesis 25) and blessing (Genesis 27).

Uncle Laban deceives nephew Jacob by somehow smuggling Leah in as Jacob’s bride instead of Rachel (Genesis 29). This results in Jacob marrying sisters — a horrible situation (see Leviticus 18:18). This births another nasty sibling rivalry where the sisters’ competition for children (including giving their servants to Jacob as concubines) produce the twelve patriarchs of Israel (Genesis 30).

Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is raped by the pagan, Shechem, who then wants to marry her. Simeon and Levi respond by massacring all the men of Shechem’s town (Genesis 34).

Jacob’s oldest son, Reuben, can’t resist his incestuous desires and sleeps with one of his father’s concubines, the mother of some of his brothers (Genesis 35).

Ten of Jacob’s sons contemplate fratricide, but sell brother Joseph into slavery instead. Then they lie about it to their father for 22 years until Joseph exposes them (Genesis 37, 45).

Judah, as a widower, frequented prostitutes. This occurred frequently enough that his daughter-in-law, Tamar, whom he had dishonored, knew that if she disguised herself as one, he’d sleep with her. He did and got her pregnant (Genesis 38).

That’s just the beginning. Time would fail me to talk of:

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10),

Gideon’s murderous son, Abimelech (Judges 9),

Samson’s un-Nazirite immorality (Judges 14–16),

Eli’s worthless sons (1 Samuel –2-4),

Samuel’s worthless sons (1 Samuel 8),

David’s sordid family (2 Samuel 11–18),

Wise Solomon who unwisely married 1,000 women, turned from God, and whose proverbial instruction went essentially unheeded by most of his heirs (1 Kings 11–12),

Etc., etc.

Why is the Bible loud on sinfully dysfunctional families and quiet on harmonious families?

Well, for one thing, most families aren’t harmonious. Humanity is not harmonious. We are alienated — alienated from God and each other. So put alienated, selfish sinners together in a home, sharing possessions and the most intimate aspects of life, having different personalities and interests, and a disparate distribution of power, abilities, and opportunities, and you have a recipe for a sin-mess.

But there’s a deeper purpose at work in this mess. The Bible’s main theme is God’s gracious plan to redeem needy sinners. It teaches us that what God wants most for us is that we 1) become aware of our sinfulness and 2) our powerlessness to save ourselves, as we 3) believe and love his Son and the gospel he preached, and 4) graciously love one another. And it turns out that the family is an ideal place for all of these to occur.

But what we often fail to remember is that the mess is usually required for these things to occur. Sin must be seen and powerlessness must be experienced before we really turn to Jesus and embrace his gospel. And offenses must be committed if gracious love is to be demonstrated. So if we’re praying for our family members to experience these things, we should expect trouble.

Family harmony is a good desire and something to work toward. But in God’s plan, it may not be what is most needed. What may be most needed is for our family to be a crucible of grace, a place where the heat of pressure forces sin to surface providing opportunities for the gospel to be understood and applied. And when this happens the messes become mercies.

My point is this: if your family is not the epitome of harmony, take heart. God specializes in redeeming messes. See yours as an opportunity for God’s grace to become visible to your loved ones and pray hard that God will make it happen.

Recent posts from Jon Bloom:

God’s Mercy in Making Us Face the Impossible

When Harsh Words Are Kind

Jesus Came to Reverse the Curse