Finding Hope in Chaos: Isaiah 6:1 Reflection

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1, LSB)

Over the last couple of days, I have watched as the world ponders what could have been, and what might be.

  • A former US President and current candidate for the United States Presidency was almost assassinated.
  • Today, the headlines are swirling around a major tech upheaval as computer systems all over the world are causing problems for airlines, 911 emergency systems, banking, and a host of other issues related to our hyper-networked world.
  • And if that wasn’t enough, the calls for the current President of the United States to step out of the race due to growing concerns within the Democratic party over his ability to win his race against Donald Trump.

If I may, I want to jump back to the days that the words of Isaiah were written to connect some dots for my Christian readers. King Uzziah’s fall is described in 2 Chronicles 26:16-23. Although this king of Judah had started off well, his latter days were lived in the hous of a leper because he forgot who he was before God. This is a point we all need to watch for in our own lives. Our success is a matter of God’s grace upon us, and we need to watch our own hearts lest we well up with pride, the downfall of so many.

However, a more significant point touched my heart this morning as I meditated on the current events in our world, particularly in the US. The downfall and death of Uzziah must have been a shocking blow to the kingdom. This king, who was undoubtedly loved because of his faithfulness and care for his people, reigned over his kingdom for 52 years, taking the throne at the tender age of 16 (2Chron 26:3). America has never had a president reign in office for anywhere close to that time. The news of how he was stricken by God with leprosy in judgment must have been a severe blow to the nation, and then his eventual death must have brought the whole kingdom into a deep sense of mourning.

But Isaiah 6:1 is a passage that we need to ponder for our days. We could insert our own national calamities…

  • “In the year that Donald Trump was almost assassinated…”
  • “In the year that computer systems crashed and left our nation paralyzed…”
  • “In the year that two planes were flown into the twin towers in New York city…”
  • “In the year that…”

Who knows what will come tomorrow or next week? It seems like so much is coming quickly that we hardly have any time to breathe. How does the Christian faith deal with such chaotic times? Let’s read the rest of Isaiah 6:1: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple.“

While the kingdom of Judah was reeling in national grief and possibly confusion and fear for what would happen next, we read that the Lord God was sitting upon His throne, exalted. How does the Christian faith deal with an assassination attempt, a tech meltdown, a coup, war, a terrorist attack, or any other tragedy and upheaval that might come? We look to the heavens and recognize that our God is still in control and that He never lost it.

I am praying for America–for our current President, Vice President, and every other elected official. I am also praying for the many candidates who are running for office, including former President Donald Trump. I’m not simply praying for healing and protection for Donald Trump, but I recognize that all men will die one day in some manner. I am praying that America will look beyond the red, white, and blue into the heavens above and see that there is a Throne and He who is sitting on it is still in control. No matter what happens here in America or elsewhere on this planet–He knows, and He rules over it all. I pray that our president–whoever he is, bows his head in humble submission, recognizing that his every breath is given to him as a gift from God, and He alone sustains and removes it.

So, dear Christian friend, don’t fret. God is firmly seated upon His throne. No matter what comes, place your trust–not in men, nations, money, political parties, or any other idol–no, put your trust in Jesus Christ because He alone holds all power and authority.

The Blessings of Hardship

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.” (Deuteronomy 8:2–3, LSB)

Who would choose to be “humbled?” I wouldn’t and apparently Israel didn’t choose this path either, but the Lord God chose it for them as He led the people through the wilderness and forty long years of lessons for the greater good of His people.

The word “humble” can stir up different connotations in people’s minds. You might picture a quiet person, someone who looks down at the floor to avert their eyes away from direct contact. Perhaps they are poorer, and a little ashamed of their status in life. Whatever your picture of humility might be, the word used in Deuteronomy 8:2-3 would better be understood as “humiliated.” The Hebrew verb (‘nh) can refer to one who is “bowed down, afflicted, wretched, emaciated.” Such a person fits with the person who is described above–except the passage above states that it was the Lord who actively brought about this humiliation. It is connected to the testing of Israel for the Lord to know the true condition of their heart as a nation.

There is a lot to unpack here, such as why God, who knows all things, would seek to discover the heart condition of His people. What I want to focus on has to do with the fact that God actively allowed the hardship and difficult conditions of Israel in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Why would He do that?

During that time, Israel needed to learn some lessons that can only be learned by experience. The people had been in Egypt as slaves for a long time and they had picked up some bad habits and practices. Although God had promised their forefather Abraham that He would save them out of slavery, they had grown accustomed to their situation and dependence upon their captors. Their exposure to the gods of Egypt also apparently had an impact upon them as well since they seemed alarmingly prepared to put pagan gods in the place of their God, as they did with the golden calf incident.

In addition to their longing to return to slavery in Egypt, they had also become proficient in discontentment and complaining. As slaves, we would think that they would be happy to be free, but the biblical record shows that this wasn’t the case. Even as slaves, they felt their lives were easier than they were in their freedom.

To help rid them of these sinful habits and attitudes, the Lord gave put them in a place where they had nothing. No homeland, no farmland, no buildings, no water, no food, no clothes, nothing. When they became hungry, they couldn’t go to the garden, the river, or the market. When they became thirsty, they couldn’t go to the well or the river. They could not plant crops because they constantly were on the move, and the wilderness was inhospitable and waterless. When they cried that it was better in Egypt, this wasn’t an exaggeration.

But the people of Israel needed to have everything taken away so they could be “bowed down, afflicted, wretched, emaciated.” As weak and broken people, they were needy. Even in their slavery, they were a proud people. Don’t believe me? When Jesus told the Jews that the truth would make them free, they answered this way: “They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s seed and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, You will become free?’” (John 8:33, LSB). Never been enslaved? They had been enslaved many times! But to the proud people of Israel, their physical captivity did not reflect their outlook.

This was why God needed to humble them. Their hunger and thirst made them dependent in a way that they had not been dependent upon their Egyptian masters. But their Master, the Lord God was using this humiliation for their greater good. When they needed water, He richly supplied it. When they needed food, He gave it to them daily. He did not allow their clothing or shoes to wear out for their entire captivity, and He gave them godly leaders in Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel.

The lessons learned in the wilderness were more than the fact that God supplied their needs. The biggest lesson that they were taught, and one we need to learn as well, is that we need God. Not “need,” like we need wifi internet service. No, “need” like we need oxygen to breathe. We are dependent upon Him moment by moment for everything. And for life, this especially means we need to hear from Him, from “everything that proceeds from the mouth of Yahweh.” And if that requires going through some humbling circumstances so He can get our attention, we shouldn’t grumble and complain, but rather we should thank Him for the fact that He cares for us so much that He pursues us even when we have become distracted by so many other things in this world.

Restoration Without True Repentance

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“Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us.…What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.” (Hosea 6:1, 4, LSB)

There is a type of emotional response that happens when one is caught in the consequences of one’s sin. The prospect of facing jail time or an imminent divorce will often bring the guilty to their knees. I was surprised to see a young man at the door of my office that I hadn’t seen in many years. His father came to our church, and as a younger teen, he had accompanied him. This man expressed to me that he knew that his life needed to change and that we would begin once again attending church services. His words seemed to be genuine, but I could sense there was more to this sudden devotion that appeared out of thin air.

Following that morning’s service, the young man came with his father to my office gain and once again spoke of the changes he was feeling regarding his desire to “get right with God.” After a few moments of this, the real motivation for his return emerged. He had been caught printing and using counterfeit US bills and was soon going to be facing a judge for his crimes. He and his father wanted to know if I would be willing to write a character letter that stated that this man had frequently attended church (which he had not in many years) and that he had good moral character (which he did not have). After listening to his appeal, I shared with him that if his return to Christ was true and sincere, then he should speak truthfully at this court hearing about his guilt, entrusting himself to the mercy of God. If he was imprisoned, then God would be with him. If God showed mercy and he was given a lesser penalty for his crime, then God’s grace was the source of this reprieve from the consequences he deserved. Whatever the case, if he was sincere, he needed to continue in his profession of faith and walk with the Lord since he claimed his faith was genuine and not simply a ploy to escape the consequences of his sin. I then shared that I would not write the letter he asked for since to do so would be lying. I never saw that man again, and his father soon left our church, angry that I refused to help his son escape prison time for counterfeiting money.

In the above passage from the book of Hosea, God’s people are acting similarly. They are feigning an attitude of repentance from their sin, but there is not much below the surface. Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us.” Notice that the people never say what they are guilty of doing. They speak about the consequences of God’s hand upon them, but they do not address their own sin. Like Cain’s response to murdering his brother Abel (Gen 4:13-14), nothing is said about guilt, only the desire to remove the burden of the consequences.

Did God see through their plot and refusal to truly deal with the source of God’s displeasure? Absolutely! In Hosea 6:4, God responded with these words: “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.” Like dew that vanishes with the rising sun, so too did the love of Judah. Once the consequences were lifted, the Lord knew that the people would return to their sinful ways.

So what is the solution? True repentance and faith. The words that are spoken by Judah are true. God will heal and bandage what he has torn and damaged, but he will not bring about that restoration if we still conceal our deception and sin. We might be able to play games with people, hiding our intentions and true heart attitudes behind emotional appeals, but God knows the heart (2Chron 6:30; Acts 1:24).

The Reluctant Pastor

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“…shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion, but willingly, according to God; and not for dishonest gain, but with eagerness;” 1 Peter 5:2 (LSB)

I think that possibly every child runs into a school teacher who has had it with children. When I say this, I don’t mean the teacher that has had a rough week, or even a rough year. I mean that teacher that no longer loves teaching, and has moved beyond the loss of love to an actual disdain for students that borders on hatred. In the children’s book Matilda, this person is portrayed in the character known as Agatha Trunchbull, whom the children fearfully refer to as “The Trunchbull.” I wonder if Roald Dahl went to my high school…

I think it is tragic when a teacher reaches this stage, where what was (I assume) once a love for teaching has become drudgery and buying time until retirement. But this danger is not one that only school teachers face; pastors can fall into the same trap and patterns of ministry. No longer loving people or ministry, just buying time until retirement or Jesus returns, but mostly retirement.

As he writes to the church that is scattered abroad, Peter warns pastors, as a fellow pastor, that there is a danger of overseeing the church in such a way that one feels that they do so “under compulsion.” The calling of God has been overshadowed by a sense of duty, which has devolved into buying time until retirement. Slowly pastoral duties are left off for someone else to do, or not done at all. Small ways of serving others are replaced with complaints and a bitter heart. The pastor who reaches this stage can sometimes be heard reliving the “good old days” when people really cared about things, and how now “nobody” has a passion anymore.

The vision has died in many of these churches because it has died in the heart of its leader. No longer can the disenfranchised pastor see the crowds of people as an opportunity to proclaim Christ. Instead, the oceans of humanity are seen as a trial to be endured. The traffic, the graffiti, the constant cries of those needing help. It seems never-ending, and the burnout grows each day. There is no “eagerness” anymore. Instead, some hang on, knowing they need a few more years to reach their retirement funding goals, or maybe because they don’t have retirement funds, and so they keep pastoring in order to provide for their daily needs. The ministry has become a job, and the paycheck is the motivation as much as anything.

I write this to both young and old in ministry. Be careful. If you find yourself in ministry for the money (no matter how little or much you receive), then it’s time to leave. It would be better to serve as a volunteer while working a secular job than to serve God for financial gain. By this, I don’t mean that being supported financially is wrong–because motivation is the heart of the issue here. Peter is warning about the motivation. Do we serve King Jesus willingly, even through the hard times, long hours, and dry years, or do we put up with the Church because we think we can’t do anything else, or do we find that the path of least resistance means to stay in ministry until something easier or better comes along?

I hope that no one reading this finds themselves in this place. If you are there, take some time for prayer, seek wise counsel from a good friend who can point you to God and help you as you examine your heart and motivations, and then see where God leads. You might find that the Lord brings a refreshing breeze back to your life and ministry that will once again restore you to a place of renewed usefulness in the Lord’s house.

Christian Leaders with a Bullseye on Their Back

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“Then Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”1 Chronicles 21:1 (LSB)

A few quick thoughts I had as I read the above words:

1. When Satan wanted to attack a group (in this case, Israel) he went t after their leader.

2. Satanic attack often comes in the form of temptations. For David it was pride.

3. Satan didn’t cause David to act. He simply presented an opportunity to trip himself up. David was completely guilty for his actions.

4. Although not stated in the above verse, the consequences of David’s actions don’t only hurt him, but affect a large group of those who depend upon his faithful leadership.

If you’re a Christian leader of any kind, be wary. Our enemy is looking for someone to devour. Don’t let it be you or those entrusted to your care.