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6-8 The Restless God
In our hard times and weak moments, there’s the tendency to think
that the skies are made of steel and God looks the other way, some sort
of indifferent, as He awaits the day of judgment when He will open our
books and consider what we’ve been up to in this life. This
couldn’t be further from the reality. Because God is God and we
are but men and women, there inevitably has to be some appropriate
‘distance’ placed between God and man. But don’t let
that distance fool us into thinking that God’s distant from us
personally. The God who in one sense is so ‘far’ repeatedly
urges upon us His ‘nearness’, His attention to every micro
event in our lives, and His unbelievably active involvement in our
lives. It seems He even works out for us a large number of possible
futures, knowing as the master chess layer that if we decide X then
events Y and Z will then occur; if A, then events B- K. Man is not
alone. You are not alone, I am not alone; “For I am with
you”. God is with us for us in His Son. Of course, we must draw
near to Him (Ps. 73:28); and yet He is already near, not far from every
one of us (Acts 17:27). David often speaks of drawing near to God, and
yet he invites God to draw near to him (Ps. 69:18). Yet David also
recognizes that God “is” near already (Ps. 75:1). I take
all this to mean that like us, David recognized that God
“is” near, and yet wished God to make His presence real to
him. Truly can we pray David’s prayers. So often, prayer is
described as coming near to God (Ps. 119:169 etc.)- and yet God
“is” near already. Prayer, therefore, is a way of making us
realize the presence of the God who is always present. God's people are
told to "keep not silence" in their prayers to God (Is. 62:6). But the
same Hebrew word is translated "Give Him no rest" in the next verse
(Is. 62:7). Insofar as the voice of prayer is never silent world-wide,
so far God is never, in that sense, at rest. The extent of His activity
for us is simply huge. Just consider all the apparently
insignificant details added in to God's plan for making Saul king:
"Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor.
Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying
three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another
carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two
loaves of bread..." (1 Sam. 10:3,4). One of this, two of that, three of
those... why such detail? It's the same question as to why is the
cosmos so vast, the range of plant and animal life on earth so huge and
varied. Perhaps in Saul's case all the detail was necessary in order to
try to build faith in him, and to demonstrate for all time the
capability of God to have micro level involvement and control in human
experiences.
The Man Will Not Be In Rest
The lovely story of Ruth speaks of our redemption. Her “kinsman
redeemer” [Heb. Go’el] was the “mighty
one”, Boaz. We find this word especially used in Isaiah’s
prophecies to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, urging them to return from
that Gentile land to Judah, and take the Gentiles with them. They had
the impression there in Babylon that God had somehow forgotten them.
The book of Ruth appears to have been written up [perhaps in Babylon]
in order to encourage them to return- after the pattern of Naomi and
Ruth returning to the land and being redeemed by their Go’el.
But this Go’el is none less than God Himself. So many
passages in Isaiah allude to the Ruth story: “I Yahweh am your
Saviour and your redeemer [Go’el], the mighty one
of Jacob” (Is. 49:26). Judah were urged in Is. 55:6 to call upon
God “While He is near”- the same Hebrew word
translated “kinsman”. The servant songs go on to explain
how Yahweh could become our kinsman through His Son, our
representative, of our nature. Judah in captivity were likewise
encouraged by Jeremiah to return to the land- with full allusion to
Ruth: “Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy
cities... for the Lord has created a new thing in the earth: a woman
shall compass a man” (Jer. 31:21,22). This refers to the way in
which Ruth summed up the courage to ‘go after’ Boaz, to
present herself to him for marriage- reflecting the spiritual ambition
of all those who seek redemption and restoration in Christ.
And so likewise the statement that God will not "rest" for Zion's sake
(Is. 62:1) must be understood in the context of the faithful at that
time urging God not to "be still" [same Hebrew word
translated "rest"] for His people (Ps. 83:1; Is. 64:12). This is an
allusion to Boaz not being at rest until he had redeemed Ruth and
Naomi. God is not at rest, He is not distant from
us; and yet His people in Babylon felt that He was. It's no wonder that
we are tempted to feel the same. Yet we must give Is. 62:1 it's full
weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that
no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He
that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps. 121:4). The
fact that God will never 'hold His peace' for His people's
sake (Is. 62:1) means that we should likewise not 'hold our
peace' for them (the same Hebrew is used in Is. 62:6). In our prayers
for them, we are to give God no rest (Is. 62:7). And so the connection
between Is. 62:1 and 6 socks us with an amazing challenge: His
restless activity and concern for His people should be ours. It must
be ours, if we are His children. Being bored from having ‘nothing
to do’ just isn’t part of the believer’s life; His
huge activity, the endless surging of His Spirit, is to be replicated
in us as we too seek the good of others. If this connection is firmly
established between His activity and ours, His Spirit and ours…
then quite naturally we will seek to maximize our time for Him and be
minimalists in the hours we spend upon the things of this life. As He
never slumbers nor sleeps in His restless activity and thought for His
people, so we shall likewise be in the Kingdom age; and our desire to
be there is not because we fancy an eternal tropical holiday with palm
trees blowing in the mind, but because we wish to be more closely
aligned with His activity, with His Spirit, and not be held back by the
limitations of our current natures.
Ongoing creation
The cosmos hasn't been created, wound up by God as it were on
clockwork, and left ticking by an absent creator. There are many Bible
verses which teach that God is actively, consciously outgiving of His
Spirit in the myriad things going on in the natural creation, every
nanosecond He is sensitive to the needed input from Him- and He gives
it. The Lord Jesus defended working for His Father on the Sabbath
because "My Father works hitherto, and I work" (Jn. 5:17).
"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them"
(Mt. 6:26)- God consciously feeds the birds with their every mouthful.
"If God so clothe the grass of the field. . . shall He not much
more clothe you?" (Mt. 6:30). In the same way, God individually and
consciously cares for each blade of grass. Fundamentally, they do not
grow so much as a result of chemical combination or photosynthesis, but
due to the conscious care of God using such processes. - One sparrow "
shall not fall on the ground without (the knowledge of) your Father"
(Mt. 10:29). God is aware of the death of each bird- He does not allow
animals to die due to their natural decay (the clockwork mechanism)
without Him being actively involved in and conscious of their death.
Again, Jesus shows how God's knowledge and participation in the things
of the natural creation must imply an even greater awareness of us.
“The very hairs of your head are all numbered. . . ye are of more
value than many sparrows" (Mt. 10:30,31). God "makes His sun to rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust"
(Mt. 5:45). God consciously makes the sun rise each day- it isn't part
of a kind of perpetual motion machine. Hence the force of His promises
in the prophets that in the same way as He consciously maintains the
solar system, so He will maintain His Israel. Ps. 104 is full of such
examples: " He waters the hills. . causes the grass to grow. . makes
darkness (consciously, each night). . . the young lions. . . seek their
meat from God. . . send forth Your Spirit (Angel), they are created"
(not just by the reproductive system). There are important implications
following from these ideas with regard to our faith in prayer. It seems
to me that our belief that the world is going on inevitably by
clockwork is one of the things which militates against faith. To give a
simple example: we may need to catch a certain train which is to leave
at 9 a.m. We wake up late at 8:30 a.m. and find it hard to have faith
in our (all too hasty) prayer that we will get it, because we are
accustomed to trains leaving on time. But if we have the necessary
faith to believe that each individual action in life is the work of
God, then it is not so hard to believe that God will make the action of
that train leaving occur at 9:30 a.m. rather than at 9 a.m. when He
normally makes it leave. The whole of creation keeps on going as a
result of God having a heart that bleeds for people. “If he
causes his heart to return unto himself”, the whole of creation
would simply cease (Job 34:14 RVmg.). His spirit is His heart and mind,
as well as physical power. Creation is kept going not by clockwork, but
by the conscious outpouring of His Spirit toward us. In times of
depression we need to remember this; that the very fact the world is
still going, the planet still moves, atoms stay in their place and all
matter still exists… is proof that the God who has a heart that
bleeds for us is still there, with His heart going out to us His
creation. And the spirit of the Father must be in us His children.
Angels
One insight beyond the [apparent] steely silence of the skies is to be
found in the visions of Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation.
Don’t just turn off when you read of monsters, cherubim, Angels
and incense. Half close your eyes and see it all at the broad outline
level. Quite simply, events here on earth are related to huge mega
movements of Divine power in Heaven. The sky, the trillions of
kilometers between Heaven and earth, are in fact no ultimate distance.
That’s the simplest message of those visions. In Revelation we
see the incense of human prayers arising into Heaven, resulting in
Angels coming to earth, pouring out bowls, blowing trumpets, and major
events happening on earth (Rev. 5:8; 8:3). Prayer is noticed; it brings
forth quite out of proportion responses. The Angels discuss their
plans for us in the court of Heaven, coming up with various
possibilities of how to act in our lives, discussing them with God (1
Kings 22:20-22). They play some part in the whole process of our
prayers. When we read that “Surely the Lord does nothing without
revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (Am. 3:7), we
might tend to take that as a statement of absolute principle that is
obvious to all the Angels. But we find an Angel discussing with others:
“Shall I hide from Abraham [who was a prophet] what I am about to
do?” (Gen. 18:17). My point quite simply is that the Angels have
more debate, expend more mental and physical energy than we surely
realize, in order to operationalize things which we might consider to
be standard and automatic in God’s work with men. In our context,
what this means is that when men reject the machinations and schemings
of God’s love, they reject an awful lot; and it grieves and
disappoints Him, and appears tragic to those like the prophets who see
things from His viewpoint. Dan. 10:2 records that Daniel prayed for
three weeks, presumably for his people’s restoration. In v. 12
Daniel is told by the Angel that "from the first day... your words were
heard, and I am come for your words". So because of his prayer ("words"
- perhaps put like that to emphasize the power of the 'mere' words
uttered in prayer), an Angel was sent from God to give him the
understanding he had asked for. His very first prayer for this was
answered- but the actual answer came three weeks later. The reason for
this was that the Angel had been withstood by the prince of Persia for
21 days (v. 13). Three weeks is 21 days. So Daniel's first prayer was
answered, but it took the Angel three weeks to work out the answer in
practice; but during this time Daniel kept on praying, although at the
time it must have seemed to him that no answer was forthcoming. God
wasn’t silent- although Daniel may’ve been tempted to think
so. His Angels were earnestly working out the answers during the
apparent ‘silence’.
Fatherhood
The Father restlessly watching for the prodigal's return matches the
woman searching for the lost coin “till she find it” or the
unusual shepherd who searches for his lost sheep “until He finds
it” (Lk. 15:4,8,20). This involves God in huge activity- setting
up providential encounters, nudging consciences through circumstance.
The huge amount of ‘work’ is one thing; but the mental
energy of concern and thoughtfulness is phenomenal beyond our
comprehension. God rises up early seeking His people- rather like us
somehow being able to wake up early in the morning without an alarm
clock, because our internal clock is restlessly wanting to be up and on
our mission for the day. In all this we are to manifest God- for we too
are to seek and save the lost. In all this, I’m not so much
saying ‘We ought to be the more active, focused, better managers
of our time’… as appealing to us to align our heart / mind
/ spirit with that of God. And quite naturally His priorities and
passions for the lost become ours. We will have a life to live, rather
than mere existence to be existed through until the time comes when old
age forbids us frittering any more time online or completing the latest
Sudoku. This is how a lost world spends its lostness; it is for us to
go seek them.
Judgment Now
Let’s quit forever the idea that God is somehow indifferent to
human behaviour and experience now, and will only open the books and
consider it all at judgment day. No. The essence of judgment is ongoing
now; “we make the answer now”. God’s present judgment
is often paralleled with His future judgment. Thus “The Lord shall
judge the people...God judges [now] the righteous, and God is
angry with the wicked every day...he will whet his
sword; he has [right now]bent his bow, and made it
ready.” (Ps. 7:8,11-13). We are come now “to God
the judge of all” (Heb. 12:23); God is now enthroned
as judge (Ps. 93:2; Mt. 5:34 “the heaven is God’s
throne”). We are now inescapably in God’s presence (Ps.
139:2); and ‘God’s presence’ is a phrase used about
the final judgment in 2 Thess. 1:9; Jude 24; Rev. 14:10. Hence
“God is [now] the judge: he putteth down one and setteth up
another” (Ps. 75:7) – all of which He will also due at the
last day (Lk. 14:10). So “The day of the Lord is coming, but it
is even now” (Mic. 7:4 Heb.). God isn’t passive to human
behaviour- right now “To every matter there is a time and a
judgment (krisis)” (Ecc. 8:6 RVmg.). He perceives our
actions right now as critically important. And this should highlight to
us the crucial importance of life and right living today. For God
isn’t a God far off; ultimately the High and lofty one who
inhabits eternity also inhabits the heart of the humble today. Prayer
makes a difference; the words of prayer really do ascend to Heaven and
are heard. Are we merely muttering the same trite phrases to God, half
asleep as we drift into our nightly unconsciousness? Rattling off the
same sentences over meals...? Several times we’ve seen that it is
our serious prayer which makes Almighty God so restless for us. His
restless, creative Spirit is to be ours. Not for us the mire of
mediocrity, existence rather than life...
1.What It Means To Be In Christ
1-1-1 What It Means To Be In Christ
1-2-3 The Certainty Of Salvation
1-4-1 Christianity And The Greek Language
1-5-1 Separation From The World
1-5-2 Will "All men" Be Saved?
1-5-3 “Condemned with the world...”
1-5-4 "The kingdoms of this world"
2. The Principles Of Devotion
2.2 "The love of Christ constrains us"
2-4-2 Examples Of Selflessness
2.5 Loving The Appearing Of Christ
2-7-1 Concessions To Human Weakness
2-7-2 Living On Different Levels
2-7-3 The Biblical Ideal Of Marriage
2-7-4 The Jephthah's Vow Principle
2-8-1 The Two Roads In Proverbs
2-8-3 Unfulfilled Believer Syndrome
2-11-2 The Danger Of Materialism
2-12-1 The Problem Of True Humility
2-13-7 Humility And Bible Reading
2.14 “When Israel was a child...”
2-15-2 The Positivism Of Jesus
3. Ecclesial Life
3-1-3 Trumpet Sounding Priests
3-2-2 The Meaning Of Priesthood
3-3-3 Forsaking And Confessing Sin
3-3-4 Forgiveness Without Repentance?
3-3-7 Works Meet For Repentance
3-7 Youth For Truth: Biblical Examples For Young People
3-8-2 Converting The Converted
3-10 Private People: The Problem Of Introverted Christians
4. Bible Study
4-1-1 The Meaning Of The Manna
4-3-2 Spiritual Paradigm Shifts
4-4 Are Christians Too Academic?
4.6 Why Is The Bible Confusing?
4-7a How To Interpret The Bible
4.8 The 'Boring Bits':
4.9 Bible Students:
4.10 Bible Studies:
4.10.1 Types: Joseph And Jesus
4.10.2 Things You Can Only Ponder: Did Israel Eat The Passover?
4.10.3 Things You Can Only Speculate: What Happened In Eden?
5. The Lord We've Scarcely Met
5-1-1 A Personal Relationship With Jesus
5-1-2 Relationships In The Kingdom of God
5-1-3 Mutuality Between God And Man
5-1-4 The Parable Of The Talents
6. The God We Hardly Know
7. Some Christian Problems
7-1-2 Self-Righteous Christians
7-1-3 Believers Aren't Good People
7.2 "It's OK in my conscience"
7-4 Christian Disillusion With Christianity
7-5 Is A Social Gospel Biblical?
7-7 Are We The Only Ones Who Have Truth?
7.10 The Single Life
7-10-2 The Singleness Phenomenon
7-10-3 Some Christian Myths About Marriage
7-10-4 Spiritual Dangers Of The Single Life
7-10-5 1 Corinthians 7: An Exposition
7.12 Conscientious Objection
7-12-1 Words To A Christian Brother At A Russian Military Tribunal
7-12-2 Conscientious Objection To Military Service
7-12-2-1 Christadelphian Conscientious Objection
Endpiece: Enduring To The End
Questions or Comments? email the author
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