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What’s the Best Medicine for Your Circumstances?

March 2021. A year ago this month, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down society. Schools went remote. Churches stopped gathering. Remote school became a thing. Daily virus updates began. The list could go on. By now, we are very familiar with the changes that have affected each of us during this past year.

For many, the change in circumstances has been intensely personal and difficult. Some of us have dealt with sickness and disease. Some with Covid-19 and some with other illnesses. Some have lost loved ones. Some have experienced isolation. Some of us have battled demons we thought were long gone. Some of us have faced new temptations. Some of us have been devastated by our fears. But all of us have been affected.

In light of the circumstances of the past year God spoke to me through my devotional reading, and I wanted to share these thoughts with you.

I’m reading through the book of Exodus. One of the most powerful verses in the Bible comes from God speaking to Moses in Exodus 12.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 

Exodus 12:12

The people of Israel have been in Egypt for more than 400 years. Most of those years they were enslaved. God sent Moses back to Egypt from the wilderness to lead the people of Israel out of slavery. At this point in the story, Moses and Aaron have been back and forth in front of Pharaoh requesting permission to leave Egypt to worship God in the wilderness. Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to relent even after 9 devastating plagues on Egypt. So God promised a final plague of judgment on Egypt’s gods. Pharaoh himself was a god in Egypt, so the act of judgment against the firstborn is God’s judgment on the worship of Pharaoh. The truth of the text is that God executes authority over false gods. The LORD alone is sovereign.

What stood out to me was considering this text in light of how the people of Israel had to feel. They were enslaved, burdened, beaten, and treated poorly. They did not have freedom. They suffered greatly even after Moses’ arrival and promise of rescue. Israel’s experiences of suffering and difficulty kept them in a place of unbelief. From the rest of the Exodus account, it is clear that even God’s miraculous interventions and judgments were not enough to keep Israel believing in the Lord.

What is the most important lesson in this text? What is the best medicine for our circumstances in life?

It is the statement, “I am the LORD.” This affirmation is the name of God, Yahweh, that God gave Moses in an earlier conversation (Exodus 3:14).

The LORD, when used in all caps in the Bible is the personal name for God, Yahweh. It is literally, “I AM that I AM.” The LORD is. He alone is God. He is sovereign. He rules. He can be counted on.

In the context of Exodus 12, God is affirming his existence, reality, and sovereignty over the supposed deities of Egypt. And the LORD proved these through the plagues and judgments on Egypt.

The Psalmist picks up on this very idea as well when he pens the beautiful affirmation of the LORD’s love and goodness in Psalm 100.

Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100:3

The Psalmist uses the personal name for God, Yahweh. His point is the same as God speaking to Moses in the book of Exodus. The LORD is in control, and he wants us to know him and trust him.

Are you struggling with isolation? Know the LORD, and know that you are his. You are never alone.

Are you worried about powers, circumstances, and politics that have changed our lives so drastically? Know that the LORD is the one who defeated Egypt’s deities and rescued his people from slavery. The LORD alone is God.

Are you afraid of what’s going on around you? Know that the LORD is God. He cared for his people in Egypt, as they left Egypt, as the wandered in the wilderness, and as they entered the promised land. He will care for and keep you wherever you are.

Are you unwell and facing physical illness? Know that the LORD is Creator. He made you, and he is able to heal. And if he does, then you will be well. And if he doesn’t, then your illness cannot separate you from the Lord.

Are you confident in him today? Know that the LORD is with you. Remember that if you are his, he will never lose you or let you go.

Pause and thank God today that you know him. Pause and praise God today that he knows you. And trust that he is LORD.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Word of the Week: Election

Election is sometimes debated and misunderstood. And no, I’m not discussing the election of public officials. I’m referencing the doctrine of election as it is found in the Bible.

According to the Lexham Bible Dictionary, election is “God’s choice of a person or people group for a specific purpose, mission, or salvation.”

To be elect means that God has chosen us out of this world, to journey through this world as exiles, in order to find our home with him in the next world. 

The doctrine of election is associated with Calvinism or the five points of Calvinism. Without going into much detail here, election is more than a term used by a theological system. It is a biblical concept. Election refers to God’s choice of a nation (in the Old Testament) and a people (the church in the New Testament) as his own. Election is important as it underscores the importance of God’s sovereignty and work in salvation.

Several passages of Scripture refer directly to the doctrine of election:

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 

Deuteronomy 7:7-8, (emphasis mine)

“You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Amos 3:2 (emphasis mine)

 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia,Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,  who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

1 Peter 1:1-2 (emphasis mine)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 

Ephesians 1:3-6 (emphasis mine)

These passages are but a sample, but they make it obvious that election is a biblical doctrine. It did not come from the minds of men, but rather from the plans of God.

Election in this biblical sense is unconditional. God did not choose Israel because they were good. Indeed, the prophet Amos above reflects that God would punish Israel because as his chosen people, they had rebelled. God did not choose Israel because they would be good. They never really were good. God chose them to reveal his grace and kindness in redemption.

How does election work? God elects according to his foreknowledge. See 1 Peter 1:2 above. This is another oft misunderstood term. How does God foreknow? The term foreknowledge implies intimate, personal knowledge. See God’s statement to Jeremiah below.

God knew us before he formed us, and God’s knowing of us formed the basis for his election. God knows us in a personal sense. So according to God’s foreknowledge, he elects us to be part of his family.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:5 (emphasis mine)

I realize that divine election as an aspect of salvation is a thought-provoking subject. It has also spawned much debate over the centuries. But it is not a fatalistic doctrine. Rather it is a doctrine that encourages the greatness of God’s work in our salvation. Robert Letham helpfully observes the following in his Systematic Theology:

Election cannot be understood biblically and theologically in abstraction from Christ. It is a Trinitarian decree, bears an inseparable connection to the person and work of Christ, cannot be severed from the gospel, and is the root of all the ways union with Christ is worked out in the life experience of the faithful. It is as far from fatalism as could be imagined.

Robert Letham, Systematic Theology, 409.

The doctrine of election should encourage us in our faith.

  • The doctrine of election reminds us that our salvation was in the mind of God before our lives began.
  • The doctrine of election encourages us to give God the appropriate glory for our salvation.
  • The doctrine of election inspires us to thankfulness for the Father’s planning of our salvation, the Son’s accomplishing our salvation, and the Holy Spirit’s bringing us to salvation.
  • The doctrine of election motivates us to share the good news of Christ’s salvation to everyone we can.

The doctrine of election should not divide us. Rather it should encourage us that God has acted in salvation to make us a part of his family.