CAUGHT UP IN HUMANITY

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Why, Lord, do You stand far off? Why do You hide yourself in times of trouble?

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; Your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? But You, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; You consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to You; You are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from His land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them, and You listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

Psalm 10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Here’s a question to ponder:

Does becoming a Christian change the fact that you are a human?

The question seems simple to answer. Of course, we’re still human beings – but I wonder sometimes if others, or even ourselves, sometimes forget that. Let me explain.

First, let’s look at others. I have seen, read, and heard others criticize Christians first hand after they have erred in some way, as if the expectation when someone gives their life to Christ somehow magically changes the fact that they are human and still of the flesh. Maybe you have witnessed this. Or maybe you have been on the receiving end of an attack.

Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation with old things passing away and giving way to new ways. This is true as the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, transforms us spiritually toward His righteousness but it doesn’t change the fact that we are human and sinners at heart. Therein lays the war that rages within us, the war between the Spirit and the flesh that Paul writes about in his letter to the Galatians. Consider his words:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Galatians 5:13-25

Paul clearly sums up the human experience for a Christian. We have received the Holy Spirit and are under its influence but we’re also still in the flesh and tempted by sin that will cause us to fall if we don’t carefully allow the Spirit to guide us in every way toward bearing fruit. In the end translation, Christians are human just like anyone else. They’re not perfect in any way. Others need to realize this. We need to as well.

For it’s not just others that don’t realize that our humanity remains although we are transforming ourselves spiritually. We tend to forget it ourselves.

I have ministered to many people who simply won’t let go of the guilt of their failures. They continuously choose to beat themselves up to the point where they are living life in despair instead of the joy the Lord intends us to live by. They seem to forget they are human and prone to failure through the flesh that still draws them toward sinful behavior. They also seem to forget that God forgives the sinner who comes before Him in repentance. We should remember the words of the prophet Micah:

“There is no God like You. You forgive those who are guilty of sin; You don't look at the sins of your people who are left alive. You will not stay angry forever, because You enjoy being kind. You will have mercy on us again; You will conquer our sins. You will throw away all our sins into the deepest part of the sea.” Micah 7:18-20 (NCV)

God understands that we are human. He created us that way. We need to understand that as well. And because we are human and imperfect, we are not anywhere like God. He made us in His own image but not exactly like Him. In our Psalm today, even David, a man after God’s own heart, gets caught up in his humanity and begins to wonder whether God is truly in the midst of his circumstances. Let’s look at his words:

Why, Lord, do You stand far off? Why do You hide yourself in times of trouble?

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; Your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

Life wasn’t always easy for David. He had times of prosperity and success but he also had times of distress and danger. He made choices in life that were pleasing to God but he also was tempted by his flesh and sinned terribly as a result. And as we see in today’s psalm, although God had delivered him and others through the history of mankind, still David wondered if God was present during times of trouble – if God truly judged the wicked, those who chose to not follow God and instead fully gave way to sin and the evil it manifests.

Maybe you have wondered this as well during difficult life experiences. Maybe you, like David, have found yourself caught up in your humanity and wondered where God was in the midst of your circumstances, forgetting that He is ever with us and always working for our good, even if we are to persevere through hardship. Our trust must always remain in the Lord.

Yes, none of us are perfect. In fact, there was only one person who ever fully human and yet fully perfect like God. His name was Jesus Christ. The scriptures affirm this through these words:

We know that God did not put the future world under the power of angels. Somewhere in the Scriptures someone says to God,

“What makes You care about us humans? Why are You concerned for weaklings such as we? You made us lower than the angels for a while. Yet you have crowned us with glory and honor. And You have put everything under our power!”

God has put everything under our power and has not left anything out of our power. But we still don’t see it all under our power. What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Because of God’s wonderful kindness, Jesus died for everyone. And now that Jesus has suffered and died, he is crowned with glory and honor!

Everything belongs to God, and all things were created by His power. So God did the right thing when He made Jesus perfect by suffering, as Jesus led many of God’s children to be saved and to share in His glory. Jesus and the people He makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn’t ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters. He even said to God,

“I will tell them your name and sing your praises when they come together to worship.”

He also said, “I will trust God.”

Then He said, “Here I am with the children God has given me.”

We are people of flesh and blood. That is why Jesus became one of us. He died to destroy the devil, who had power over death. But He also died to rescue all of us who live each day in fear of dying. Jesus clearly did not come to help angels, but He did come to help Abraham’s descendants. He had to be one of us, so that He could serve God as our merciful and faithful high priest and sacrifice Himself for the forgiveness of our sins. And now that Jesus has suffered and was tempted, He can help anyone else who is tempted. Hebrews 2:5-18 (CEV)

Is there not good news here for those of us caught up in our humanity?

Indeed, God knew that we are people of flesh and blood. He also knew we needed saved from our flesh and its sin temptations – from the death that awaited us. And so He sent Jesus to become one of us, fully human, fully tempted, fully prone to suffering, and in the end, fully victorious over all of it. Jesus came to rescue us from our humanity and remove our fear of dying. He sacrificed Himself for us and entered into God’s glory so we too might follow Him to that glory one day. And because of His experiences of suffering and temptation during humanity, He is fully able to help you and me through those experiences when we encounter them. In other words, Jesus can relate to all we are going through because He too was at one time caught up in humanity.

So if we, like David, find ourselves asking about where God is in times of trouble, we need to also remember the following as David did:

For the Lord has been, is now, and will be our King forever. He will always hear the desires of the afflicted, encouraging them and listening to their cries, defending the fatherless and the oppressed. He will never leave us nor forsake us and He is ever with us, through good times and bad. And He has offered, is offering, and will continue to offer us the gift of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, who understands what it’s like to live in the flesh.  

Yes, God is very much alive, very much present, and very much at work. He is truly Emmanuel, God with us, even when we find ourselves caught up in our humanity.  

That’s why He sent His Son Jesus to live among us, human in every way but yet still perfectly holy and righteous. God loves us that much.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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