At the beginning of September 2008 we had an opportunity for a short break at the seashore with both our sons and daughters in-law. It was a pleasant and restful time, just what we needed after the extreme stress of the conferences and my subsequent stent insertion. I felt good, strong and refreshed.

As soon as we returned from our break, we had a tour group arrive for a guided trip to the seven churches of Revelation. Such tours were part of our business venture; this was to be our last one.

Barbara and I traveled with them by bus for ten days, giving them the inside story of what Turkey was like spiritually in Paul’s time and what it was like now. We walked on the marble paving stones of the streets of Ephesus, the same ones the Apostles Paul and John had walked on. We sat in the amphitheater where the crowds who rioted against Paul’s preaching shouted, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

We stood in the ruins of the synagogue in Pisidion Antioch and read from Acts the sermon Paul gave on that same spot.
In Iconium, we visited one of the old city gates, perhaps the one Paul walked through. These were, for me, spine tingling connections with biblical history.

It was a stimulating trip, but also a strenuous one, what with spending every night in a different hotel, traveling long distances and having continual interaction with people.

During the tour Barbara and I also made a side trip. Our visas would run out a week before our scheduled departure for Germany, so we wanted to make a quick exit to a Greek island to extend them. However, we discovered that the harbors in Greece were all closed by a strike, so we could not get that accomplished. This meant we would have to leave our apartment and Turkey a week earlier than planned.

If you have ever completely closed down a house, disposing of everything in it, leaving it repainted, empty and swept clean, then you know how much time that takes. It is a much more difficult process than just moving. And we were now under a time crunch to get this completed a week earlier than planned.

The Lord helped us with the good help that Josh and Sarah, Robert and others gave us. We stored some things with Robert in faith that we would sometime come back. The rest we were able to sell, give away or put on the street so we were fully moved out in time to have the apartment painted.

The Lord even worked it out so that the landlady gave back all of our sizable deposit—something she rarely did for her renters. We then moved in with Josh and Sarah for the last few days before our departure.

One of our teammates very generously offered to loan us his van to drive to Germany, and Nat and Abby agreed to go with us and drive the van back. The thought of spending some extra days traveling with Nat and Abby made the prospect of our trip much more pleasant.

Our visa expiration dates forced us to leave in the midst of a major four day Muslim holiday, but that turned out to be a gift from the Lord. First, there was little traffic on the roads, and second, all the tolls on the turnpikes and the bridge over the Bosporus were waved. We zoomed our way out of Turkey and into Greece in record time where we had to negotiate difficult roads through the mountains.

Is God Fair? Part 3B

God knows what challenges each person requires to see his or her need for a Savior, and then to grow spiritually. He does what is best for each, individually tailoring circumstances and events.

This is very “unfair” from the politically correct perspective, but very loving and wise from God’s perspective of Truth, of Heavenly Wisdom. For it is his ultimate goal to eliminate evil, to save all who are willing and to bring in a new and perfect heaven and earth.

God has also distributed roles as He sees fit, much to the consternation of many today. This includes roles in the spiritual (gifts), intellectual, physical and relational realms. Here are some very obvious, yet in our society, often rejected examples of the roles He’s given to men and women.

–Men are to procreate. Women are to bear and nurse babies.

–Men are to voluntarily, wholeheartedly love their wives, to be understanding, nurture & encourage their wives. Women are to voluntarily respect and follow their husbands.

–Men are to lead their families. Wives are to be helpers to their husbands. Men are to listen to women’s perspectives and take them into account in making decisions.

–Men are to teach and lead mixed groups in the Kingdom. Women are to teach and lead women and children in the Kingdom.

In this “unfair” distribution of roles, God knows and does what is best. We can trust Him in His wisdom, love, grace and sovereignty to give to each person what that one needs to come to Him, to live a useful and meaningful life, to develop in a healthy and effective way.

So is God fair? “No,” “Yes,” and “No.” Does God have the right to be so? Absolutely: He is the Creator of all, the Most High, the Almighty, the Beginner and Ender of time. There is no one who can challenge Him (as Job found in chapters 38-41 of his book), for the Lord God is perfect in every way.

No human could think up such a wonderful God whose character is multifacetedly perfect and beyond comprehension in His Wisdom, Power, Grace and Love. He is totally independent of His creation, he has no need of us; for in His triuneness there is perfect community, love and completeness, which have existed from eternity. This is the God who knows what He’s doing and I choose to trust Him! How about you?

Is God Fair? Part 3A

In answering the question, “Is God fair?” (meaning, in today’s thinking, “Does He give everyone the same things?”), we have looked at the first two parts of the answer: “No” and “Yes.”

The third answer to this question is another, “No.” God, humanly speaking, is divinely, magnificently and magnanimously unfair in His dealings with us, in what He gives to His creatures in general and His beloved children in specific,.

God loves diversity and we see this in how He works in our lives. He is able to take the negative effects of the Fall, where all creation was twisted, and use them for good in us. In this scheme of things each gets what he or she needs to come to know Him and then to serve Him.

–Some people He creates with great intelligence, others with simple minds.

–Some are born beautiful, others plain, the rest are somewhere in between.

–Some are born healthy, others with birth defects or serious illnesses.

–Some grow up strong and live long, some die as babies, others die in between.

–Some grow up with many opportunities, some with few, others with none.

–Some have wonderful parents, some are totally neglected and abused, most have average ones.

–Some live in wealth, some in poverty, some in middle class income.

–Some have prominent spiritual gifts, like teaching, or leading, while others have gifts used in the background, like mercy or service.

Humanly speaking God is unfair in this, but divinely speaking, we know that He is wise and has a purpose for each in what He gives and allows; we can trust Him to do and give what is best for each.

He knows what challenges each person requires to see his or her need for a Savior, and then to grow spiritually. He does what is best for each, individually tailoring circumstances and events.

This is very “unfair” from the politically correct perspective, but very loving and wise from God’s perspective of Truth, Wisdom, and his ultimate goal to eliminate evil, to save all who are willing and to bring in a new and perfect heaven and earth.

Is God Fair? Part 2B

Here are more ways in which God is “fair,” offering the same things to everyone, regardless of any differences in them or their situation.

–God watches over each person, is aware of the heart condition of each, and loves each with the same great love. (Psalm 33:13-15, Psalm 145:10-16,)

–God has the same desire for everyone: that all be saved, although because of their unbelief, many will refuse His salvation. “God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4, also 2 Peter 3:9, John 1:7)

–God will condemn all sin, and anyone who clings to it rather than accepting His offer of grace and protection, will condemn themselves, along with the sin they chose and loved. (John 3:18)

–God offers all an escape from the dominion of darkness in the Land of Light; redemption from destruction; rescue from evil; relief from fear; salvation from condemnation.

In this non-exhaustive list of Scriptural points, showing that God offers to all the same possibility of having eternal life, of becoming His child, of entering His Kingdom and Family and of receiving the same gifts and privileges He has for them. And the way to accept them is the same for all: by faith, a gift He also offers to all.

In His mercy God is fair in offering salvation to all, and I am thankful for it! This is the God we can trust wholeheartedly. Help us to do so today, Lord!

Is God Fair Part 1B

An entry in my worship journal expands on how God is not fair, but full of grace.

You, Lord Jesus are faithful: faithful to Your righteousness, to your holiness, to your justice, to perfect judgment of evil. And you, Heavenly Father, being love itself, are faithful to your hatred of sin, of evil, of anything contrary to your character.

In your love, you judge sin, rebellion, and all that does not measure up to your perfect righteousness; if you didn’t judge them, you would not be love, for love that is righteous, pure and perfect cannot abide with anything that is tainted by anti-love: selfishness, pride and evil.

I praise you, O Lord God, that you rise far above our ability to comprehend. How could One who hates sin so profoundly, provide–against all logic we know–a pardon for your creatures who are so thoroughly sinful, selfish, evil and rebellious–so contrary to you?

Yet, in your wonderful, rich grace, you refused to be fair and instead had mercy triumph over justice. You opened the way, at great personal expense, to provide reconciliation through crushing your Son without mercy, that mercy might flow to all your enemies, giving us the potential for redemption, reconciliation, transformation, and eternal life with you.

Praise you that you are forcefully faithful to your character—that you are Light, you are Love and you are Life itself. You are altogether lovely. In this, you have not been fair, but merciful and gracious; you have given us the opposite of what we deserve—the very definition of grace–and we praise you for it!