In Praise of God

For quite some time I’ve really appreciated the idea of creatureliness.  I’m not sure where I first heard the term;  I don’t recall ever seeing the idea discussed in print, though I suppose I may have–my memory is not the best.  However, I DID see the word this morning as I was reading The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul (a good book–I recommend it).  He has some good thoughts about the idea of creatureliness…some of which I had not previously considered in the way he does.  In fact, I would sort of say that, while I had previously understood one aspect of creatureliness, he presents a different but very important way of thinking about this concept.  Here, then, is a brief discussion of creatureliness, in two parts. 

Part 1 (the part of creatureliness I previously understood):

God created all things in the way that He chose.  When created things (i.e. creatures) live according to the way He designed, we not only bring glory to Him but also find blessedness, peace, and fulfillment.  One way we live according to God’s design is by flourishing and growing in the places He puts us and the ways He tells us we should.  For instance, we can:

• pursue wisdom
• pursue the knowledge of Him
• pursue spiritual growth
• be fruitful and multiply
• love and serve others
• be creative
• MANY more!

Another way we live according to God’s design is by accepting–even embracing–our limitations.  This means that we can bring glory to God and rejoice in doing things that we might not otherwise think about in that way:

• going to sleep on time and resting our bodies properly (side note: C. J. Mahaney’s book Humility: True Greatness has a brief but very good discussion of this.)
• stopping work for rest, food, and of course worship
• taking care when we are sick
• not trying to take on more work than we can handle, and not thinking of our work as over-important (i.e. limiting self-imposed stress)

In these ways, recognizing and embracing our creaturely status can help us to live well in the ways that God intended for us.  It brings Him glory because by doing these things, we demonstrate that we recognize His wisdom in giving us all that we need for life and godliness. It brings us peace because we are rejoicing in what God has given us to do, and not attempting to reach beyond our limits.  (Of course, I do not mean we must settle for complacency and mediocrity!  We can reach far, and pursue true human greatness while still recognizing the bounds of our humanity!)  There are a variety of exciting implications for recognizing and living according to our creaturely status.

Part II (another side of creatureliness):

After reading Sproul, I think the above understanding of creatureliness, while important and correct, is just a little bit too one-sided.  Even though it acknowledges God as creator, it focuses on us:  what we do (or should do), and why we can rejoice in our limitations.  Yet our understanding of creatureliness should begin not with the creature, but with the Creator.  Sproul writes:

…the clearest sensation that human beings have when they experience the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness.  That is, when we are aware of the presence of God, we become most aware of ourselves as creatures.  When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute.  When we meet the Infinite, we become acutely conscious that we are finite.  When we meet the Eternal, we know we are temporal.  To meet God is a powerful study in contrasts

Being reminded that we are creatures is not always a pleasant thing.  The words of Satan’s original temptation are hard to erase from our minds. “Ye shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5, KJV).  This ghastly lie of Satan’s is one lie we would dearly love to be able to believe…

Death reminds us that we are creatures.  Yet as fearsome as death is, it is nothing compared with meeting a holy God.  When we encounter him, the totality of our creatureliness breaks upon us and shatters the myth that we have believed about ourselves, the myth that we are demigods, junior-grade deities who will try to live forever.  (R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 2nd edn.  Tyndale, 1998, 54-55)

Thus, understanding God and His holiness implicitly makes us understand our creatureliness.  This is good and right–but not easy!  It is easier, I think, to start with our lack and then think about ways we can excel.  Yet when our focus is on God, it still brings the peace and joy of creaturely living that I described above in Part I–but, I would say, it brings that peace and joy more fully because the joy is not in our life, but in God’s power and our participation in His plan for all things.I am sure there is more to be said about creatureliness.  But perhaps this is a good start.  May God grant that we see His holy transcendence and have a correct estimate of ourselves in comparison–nevertheless rejoicing because He has bountifully given us His favor and an inheritance forever with Him through His Son.

Recently, I was asked to share what I do when I do not feel close to God.   In the hope that you may be encouraged (as I was as I formed my answer), here is how I responded.

When I find myself not feeling close to God…

First, I remind myself that this is a frailty common to man, and while it should not be treated lightly, it is not unexpected.   God will work this, too, for my good!

Next, I thank God for making me aware of this lack of closeness and causing me to care about it (because I know there are many who are not close to Him and do not even realize it or care much).   As I pray, I recall former times when there was a sweet intimacy and I ask Him to work in my heart, pulling me away from whatever is currently usurping or disturbing my affections, and again moving my heart toward Him.

I read works written by people who know/knew God well.  I find many Puritan works especially helpful, such as those by John Bunyan, John Flavel and Jeremiah Burroughs.

I spend time meditating on the greatness of God–          

His sovereignty

His power

His love for His people

Etc.

I tell someone close to me, such as my husband, how I am feeling and ask him to pray for me (sometimes I will ask a few others as well).

I review all I’ve learned from the psalmists who felt far away from God.  I read and reread psalms such as Psalm 73, 77 and 88 and review the notes I made when I first studied and wrote lessons on these psalms.

Finally, I wait on God.  Intimacy with God is not just something I can wish into being or produce on my own . . . as with everything else, it is a gift from God.  I know He is faithful and will bring me into greater intimacy with Himself in His own timing.  So, as I thankfully and expectantly wait,  I do the things I know to do which foster intimacy (Bible reading and study, prayer, meditation, confession, talking about God with others, etc.) and I constantly remind myself that even though I do not feel close to God, He is close . . . and my lack of feeling does nothing to diminish the reality of His care and love for me.

Over the last few weeks I have been surrounded by grief.  This weekend I have listened in shock to a woman who escaped very recently from Iraq, after having suffered through the unjust imprisonment of her husband, the looting of her home, threat of death, loss of family with no hope of returning to be reunited with many of her family members.  She describes the scene to me of hearing the screams of families being killed around her in her apartment complex in Baghdad. . .her neighbors on both sides, killed by terrorists.  Though she is now in America, I grieve for her soul, loyal to a false god, her eyes yet unopened to the truth of the gospel.

A friend, who is younger than me, has been told that she will live the rest of her earthly life in chronic pain (at best), one friend has a terminal illness that could end her life before most would expect, and she grieves that she will most likely bear no more children, and I have wept with a woman who was confronted with the sin of homosexuality.

Last year I grieved through a separation from my husband due to a military deployment.  Trusting God to make good out of what I saw as evil has been a hard work of obedience: even after he has returned, I still struggle.  This weekend, as Jeremy and I were given the opportunity to meet and begin building a relationship with a refugee family from Iraq, in a matter of twenty minutes or so, the eight months our family was separated began to make sense.  I step back, and suddenly 2008 looks so different to me!

So what is the difference between someone who struggles in agony under suffering and one who is still in agony but endures it with grace?

An understanding of redemption.  When God rules a heart, he rules a life and asks us to hold comfort with open hands.  Sometimes He gives the gift of comfort, but sometimes He does not.  This is for our good and His glory, of course.  So, when I take my comfort so seriously that I chase it at the expense of God’s priorities, God’s will and God’s glory, often the result will look like an adult temper tantrum.  Just like a toddler, we ask “why,” sometimes we even punish those around us with our bad attitudes, ungodly and unkind treatment of them, some of us even throw a physical fit, shouting and demanding our way.  Though we frown on this behavior in children, we excuse and justify it in ourselves as we shake our fists at the Holy God who gave us life in the first place!

Am I trusting in the grace of the One who saved me, the One who is sanctifying me, and the One who will call me home to Heaven…or am I trusting my heart, myself, my plans, my, my, my?  If I step back and gaze at my circumstances with eyes and heart that hope ultimately only for heaven and in the glory of God who is carrying me there, suddenly, everything is different.  When I back up from my daily pursuits and ask God how HE sees the things I have been spending the most time on, often, they are revealed as worthless.  The life-altering concept of the heart is that of obedience: are we willing to trade our priorities for God’s, our desires for His delights, our glory (ouch!) for His glory, and ultimately, our end (which is death, if we are without Christ - and this is proved by how we spend our earthly lives, 1 John says) for His end, which is heaven for those are given eyes to see their sin, and who place their faith, by God’s grace, in the blood Christ poured out for them on the cross.

What am I willing to trade for the glory of God?  My plans, my ideas, my comfort, my money, my very life?  Do I realize that the trade is actually unfair?  What God has in store (here on earth AND in heaven) for those who trust Him far outweighs whatever I throw away!

This I  know: better is one day in your (God’s) courts than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10). . .God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. . .God’s ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8), no ear has heard, no eye has seen the things God has planned for those who love him (1 Chronicles 2:9).  Though we suffer for a while, these things produce growth and maturity in us now, and an eternal weight of glory (1 Peter 1:6-9).  What will I do today to walk in submission to the glory of God?  What comfort will I lay down today for the joys of willful obedience to the One who obediently laid His very life down for my own soul?

If you are a regular visitor to our blog, I am sure you have noticed that this time of year is busy. (In other words: it has been awhile since any of us have posted!) For days now, I have been thinking “I have got to write something for the blog.” Then today, as I was checking e-mail and once again thinking, “I really have got to write…,” I ended up reading a blog by Tim Challies.

Challies’ thoughts were on parenting, but they served a further purpose. I was reminded of what a precious privilege it is that believers get to come together and share thoughts about God, whether in person or through the means of a blog.

No matter what activity you are thinking you have got to do, I think you will find encouragement and challenge from Challies’ blog post today (September 24: “Got To’s and Get To’s” at http://www.challies.com). I know his thoughts have impacted the way I will think about many things…but especially about what a gift it is that I get to blog about the works and ways of God!

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,

And the LORD listened and heard them;

So a book of remembrance was written before Him

For those who fear the LORD

And who meditate on His name.

Malachi 3:16

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.

Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Once God has spoken;
twice I have heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man according to his work.

Ps. 62:8-12

When facing very difficult trials, it can be hard even to know what to do next. As one of my friends goes through a hard time, I have been considering how to encourage and exhort her. One way, I believe, is to help her come up with specific, biblically-based “action points” (if you will).

Here are a few I’ve thought of so far. Feel free to add more in the comments!

• Fix your eyes on Jesus, who endured the cross in our place and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. (Heb. 12:2)

• Tell Bible stories to yourself and others that demonstrate God’s great faithfulness to His people. (Ps. 119:90; Ps. 145:4-12)
  • Daniel living among godless people and surviving the den of lions (Daniel 1-6)
  • The children of Israel having food and clothing throughout 40 years in the wilderness (Deut. 8:1-4)
  • Mary gaining blessing as she joyfully submitted to God’s will even though it meant personal hardship and loss of reputation (Luke 1)
  • Elisha receiving a double portion of Elijah’s spirit as he was about to begin ministry alone (2 Kings 2)
  • Esther being granted favor with authorities to help her people overcome a deadly enemy (Esther)
  • David, who was commended as a man after God’s own heart, still gaining forgiveness for sins again and again (1 Sam. 13:14; Psalm 32, etc.)
  • Job never being out of the sight or control of God even through prolonged suffering–and gaining an ultimate reward (Job)
• Serve others in practical ways - even small ways. (Matt. 20)
• Guard against a root of bitterness taking hold within your heart. (Heb. 12:15)
• Sing. (Ps. 30:4-5)
  
• Get wise counsel. (Prov. 19:20)
• Know that this will not last. (1 Peter 1:6)
• Encourage and exhort one another; stir up one another to love and good deeds as the Day approaches. (Heb. 10:24-25)
• Go about the daily business of life. (Make the bed. Write the report. Change the diaper. Cook the dinner. Discipline the children.) (Gal. 6:9)
• Sleep enough. (As my dad always says, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”) (Ecc. 5:12)
• Honor God by how you take care of your body: Eat enough, and eat healthily. Exercise. (1 Cor. 6:19)
• Fast and pray. (And no, fasting is not in opposition to the previous direction!) (Matt. 6:5-18; 1 Thess. 5:17)
• Give soft answers (Prov. 15:1)
• Listen and think before you make judgments and before you speak. (Prov. 18:2, 13, 15)
• Listen to sermons. (Rom. 10:18; 2 Tim. 4:1-2)
• Read the Word, as well as Christian books. (For a book suggestion, perhaps start with C.J. Mahaney’s book Humility: True Greatness. Chapter 11 is “Responding Humbly to Trials”). (Jos. 1:8; Neh. 8:8; Ps. 119:92-94)
• Meditate on the things of God long enough that, over time, your “head knowledge” begins to affect your feelings, thoughts and actions. (Jos. 1:8; Ps. 1:1-3)
• Thank God for the trial, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance - character - hope. (Romans 5:3-5; 1 Thess. 5:18)

Those who know me best know that I love books.  At any given time I will be in the midst of reading three, four, even five books with several waiting in the wings (or more correctly, waiting in the bookshelves).  One of the “in the wings” books has recently been advanced to reading status, and a sentence in it has caused me to pause and spend time in praise of God.

The book is The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies.  The quote is at the bottom of page 39.

“Were it not for  God’s grace, none of us would make any progress in this Christian life.”

Not a new thought, but one which bears faithful remembering.  It is only by the grace of God that anything good comes from my life or efforts.  And so it should be.