Wise Men, Wise God

So I am making my way through the Gospels now. I stumbled across the coolest footnote when reading the first few chapters of Matthew...

As many people know, the wise men who traveled from the East to visit baby Jesus most likely did not arrive to the manger scene as nativities so often portray. Most likely they came 1-2 years after Jesus' birth, which is why Herod orders the killing of all boys two and under in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). The funny thing about the wise men is that they most likely were quasi-pagan guys who were familiar with OT prophesy, and therefore came to find a long awaited Messiah of a belief system they probably didn't even closely follow. They were appropriate in their desire to worship Jesus, but they probably didn't truly understand His divine nature. However, God used the visit of the wise men, who "offered him gifts, gold and frankincnese and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11), to protect His son, Jesus. Soon after the wise wen visited (an because they refused to return to Herod to rat out Jesus' location), Herod ordered all the young boys killed and Mary and Joseph were forced to flee to Egypt to save their Son's life. As Joseph and Mary were extremely poor (as one learns when they go to the temple to dedicate Jesus with pigeons - the lowest form of sacrificial animal, only acceptable by poor worshipers), they were probably able to fund their esacape with the extravagent and expensive gifts brought by the wise men. God used the wise men to give an example of what it looks like to worship Jesus, and He also used their generous gifts to financially support Joseph and Mary, in order to perserve Jesus' life. This is just one small example of the wisdom of our great God!

9 months later....

No, I don't have a baby, but approximately nine months after beginning this journey through the Bible, I am done with the Old Testament. It's true! When reading the Bible chronologically, you don' reach the New Testement until late September. That means the OT is long!!! But it is good...

Sticking with the 9 month theme, friends of mine just had a baby this month as well. Yes, her gestation period was my OT reading period. I was just looking through their slideshow of birth pictures and was so struck by God's love for us. Watching these two new parents glow with love for their new baby boy made me think of God, our Father, and his love for us, His children.

Of course, we know the love of God through His Son, Jesus, who does not show up in human form until the New Testament (I'm two days in and it's sooo good. Post about the Wise Men coming soon!). But we know the love of God long before Jesus' earthly arrival through the Old Testament (I say earthly arrival, because Jesus has existed for all eternity with His Father in heaven, and actually may have visited some of our OT friends briefly in supernatural form....). God created us. He created this world for us to enjoy. He set in motion a plan for our salvation before we even existed (Genesis). He has given us an example of His deliverance through the story of Israel's escape from Egypt (Exodus). He has painted us a picture of heaven in the peace and blessing of the Promised Land (Joshua). He has shown us that He would someday send a great and mighty king through David (I Samuel, Psalms, etc). He has proven that His patience and steadfast love will outlast our rebellion with the example of the hard-hearted Israelites during the time of the prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel). Through the exile, He has shown us His loving discipline in order to refine us and bring us back to Him (Daniel, Lamentations, etc.). And, finally, God has revealed that He is always true to His promises even when worldly circumstances are horrible and beyond our own control (Ezra and Nehemiah). God loves us.

He loves us so much that after all the sin of the OT - after God's people turned away from His goodness time and time again in order to lie, steal, kill, worship idols, hoard material items out of greed and complain to God constantly (sins that sadly describe my own life as well) -  He sent His only Son... more about that to come!

God's Goodness

Sometimes when I think about God's goodness, I cry. Not like bawl-my-eyes-out cry. But I think about God's goodness in my life and how I don't deserve it AT ALL and I get teary-eyed. I don't bawl my eyes out, because these moments are bittersweet. I realize my own depravity, but then I am overwhelmed with God's power and overjoyed by his goodness. This causes tears to well up that never actually fall. I remember on my wedding day, when I was waiting downstairs with my dad, about to walk down the aisle, and "How He Loves Us" by David Crowder came on. I was so overwhelmed by God's goodness in that moment. I got teary-eyed just thinking of God's relentless love for me, a love I do not deserve.

Ezra and Nehemiah also knew of God's goodness. Although Ezra and Nehemiah's books come fairly early in the Old Testament (before Psalms and Proverbs), they actually record some of the very last events of the OT. Ezra and Nehemiah were prophets who returned to Jerusalem after the exile. They were both granted permission to return by the Persian king (the empire that ousted Babylon), and were two of the main leaders in the rebuilding of the desolated Jerusalem. Ezra arrived first and was responsible for encouraging the Israelites to rebuild the temple. He also studied Mosiaic law, and taught the people the specific commandments of the Lord, which had long been forgotten. Nehemiah arrived about fifteen years later and orchestrated the building of a wall around the new, much smaller, city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah also played a part in praying on behalf of His people and convicting them of sin. He also acted as a liason between Persia and Jerusalem, and was eventually appointed governor of Jerusalem.

The thing is... both these men were faithful to the Lord and their people in Jerusalem during a very difficult time. Faced with the task of rebuilding and repopulating a city, restoring proper temple worship, reinforcing the law of God, cleansing the people from sin (including mixed marriages again), dealing with opposition from surrounding peoples, and trying to live independently while under Persian rule, Ezra and Nehemiah did not have the easiest life of ministry. However, they knew that God was good. When Ezra was released by the king of Persia, Artaxerxes, to return to Jerusalem, it was because "the good hand of God was on him" (Ezra 7:9). When Ezra realized that there were no Levites in the group returning to Jerusalem, he sent for some. When a faithful group of Levites arrived to join them on their journey, Ezra knew this was done "by the good hand of our God on us (Ezra 8:18). Years later, when Nehemiah felt the call of God to go and rebuild Jerusalem, he asked King Artaxerxes for leave to return to Jerusalem. When the king granted his request, Nehemiah knew that "the good hand of the my God was upon me" (Nehemiah 2:8).

There is lots of talk of God's goodness in the Old Testament. From the very beginning, the things God created on earth were "good." There are also countless references to God's hand and his arm. His "outstretched arm" is a figurative term for God's absolute power over the proceedings of the earth. Moses and the Israelites knew all about God's outstretched arm in the wilderness, when God provided for them and saved them again and again. Here, at the end of the Old Testament, when things are bleak and uncertain for the Israelites as they return to their desolated city, God is still good. Ezra and Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem can trust God's goodness, His provision, His care for His people, because His good hand acts upon the goodness of His heart.

The Day of Small Things

So I have made it through the exile of the Israelites, and they have now returned to Jerusalem with a decree from the new governing powers of the Near East (Cyrus and the Persian Empire) that they can and should rebuild their temple that was desecrated by the Babylonians decades ago. It's funny how after all the years of warning that the Israelites received about their sin and the possible consquences of it, the exile seems short. I have spent the past month or two reading about the years leading up to the exile, as prophet after prophet preached and begged Israel to repent, and now I feel like I read about the entire exile period in the past week or so.

Of course, it didn't seem short to them at the time. Living in captivity for 70 years, basically an entire lifetime, and knowing you will probably die before you ever see your homeland again, or realizing that you will never again get to worship your God freely... that experience can never be short enough. I just think of Daniel who lived faithfully in Babylon from his teenage years until the end of his life, just praying the whole time that God would have mercy so that his people could someday return home. And God was gracious and allowed Daniel to see, as an old man, the decree announced that the Israelties may go back to the Promised Land and rebuild their temple. God is meriful. After centuries of warning Israel to turn from their sin, their punishment lasted only decades.

So, now the Isralites are back in their homeland, faced with the task of rebuilding a temple that they feel will never compare to its former glory, facing opposition from local officials who don't want to see the Israelites get too powerful, and feeling like strangers in their own land, as many foreigners have settled there during the years of exile. The Israelites are discouraged and feel like they are living in "the day of small things" (Zech 4:10). Their task with the temple is daunting and slow, their heritage appears to be damaged forever, and they are strangers in their own land, just trying to get by day to day.

How often do we feel like that? I mean, I am not having a crossing the Red Sea on dry land-pillar of smoke-water springing from a rock-killing a giant with a stone-worshiping in a huge temple-defeating armies three times my size kinda day every day. Often my day seems like a day of small things. Doing my work diligently, learning to be a loving wife, challenging myself to serve with joy, smiling at the non-believer when all you really want to do is share the Gospel, but can't seem to find the words... the small things. And the small things aren't bad. Simplicity is a gift from God. God has called us to glorify Him in daily tasks. I Corinthians 10:31 says "whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." Well, the things I do, most of the time, aren't really that cool. I unload the dishwasher, grade papers, make dinner, go runnning, read my Bible. Yet, God says I am to do these things for His glory. Unload gladly, grade thoroughly with feedback that is helpful and encouraging to my students, provide a meal for my husband, run with a thankful attitude for the fully functioning, healthy body that the Lord has blessed me with, read my Bible with gratitude that I have Scripture available to me and with eagerness that the Lord will lovingly teach me through His word. This is my life. I am to take joy in the day of small things.

And, yet, I never know what the day of small things may bring. As the Israelites were struggling to build the temple, they had no idea what God had in store. Their work had been hindered. They had a foundation to a building and nothing else, and God promised "whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice" (Zech. 4:10). God's glorious conclusion to this time of struggle, was that the temple WOULD be rebuilt, a king of David's line would return to the throne eternally (Jesus!), and that God would "remove the iniquity" of his people (Zech. 3:9) and would sow "peace" in his Holy city (Zech. 8:12).

God uses the days of small things to do big, glorious things for His name and His kingdom. Years from now, I hope to look back and see that those nights of unloading the dishwasher and making dinner led to the legacy of a Godly family, that my tedious paper grading led to being able to be a light for Christ in the dark world of today's universities, that the smile I gave to a non-believer eventually turned into a conversation and an authentic relationship in which I was able to share my faith in the Gospel of Christ. If all of my days are a day of small things, I rejoice in that. But I know that God has big things in store, and I am thankful for any way that I get to be a part of them.