Who shall stand?

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.  Psalm 130:3-4

The answer, no one.  Without the merciful forgiveness of God, there is no hope, no standing,  for any man.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

What does God’s forgiveness look like?

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.  Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.  As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.  For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.  But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;  Psalm 103:8-17

Does our forgiveness towards one another resemble God’s?  Do we deal with one another after one another’s sins?  Are we plenteous in mercy?  Do we remember that we are all dust?  Do we remove transgressions as far as east is from west?

Why weep?

For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.

Lamentations 1:16

We see that Jeremiah was clearly weeping.  The immediate answer to why his eye was running with water is that he sensed an alienation from the source of comfort.  The theme of there being “no comfort” is repeated five times in Lamentations 1.  It was that sense of estrangement from God, the source of all comfort, and man that caused him to weep.

Walter C. Kaiser’s commentary, Grief and Pain in the Plan of God, contains some excellent insights into Lamentations.  And it is needed.  We need the whole counsel of God, and this grief filled portion of His Word should not be neglected.

So, looking at the whole chapter, why was Jeremiah weeping.  Well, read the chapter.  There is total desolation, both physically and emotionally.  What else to do but weep?

Well, there are some things that accompany the weeping.  Kaiser notes that the chapter is really just telling God how things are.  It is pouring out the reality of the situation before God, even when His comforting presence is not experienced.  And that is painful and real.  It is plainly admitting the sin that has been committed.  It is begging God to look on the distress, even though it is a result of rebellion.

There is another thing that must merge with weeping in time of grief.  It is recognizing that God is righteous, as declared in verse 18.  Whether our grief and apparent abandonment by God and man is a result of disobedience, as in Lamentations, or not, we must recognize that God is righteous and just and loving in all His dealings with us.  And we can weep as we recognize this.  Kaiser wisely concludes, “Jeremiah teaches us in Lamentations 1 that such emotions, properly controlled, are not obnoxious to God.  He, in fact, planted the ability for such emotions in us.  Romans 12:15 commands us in the normal affairs of life to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.  Steeling oneself against the misfortunes of life may lead to a heart of bitterness, revenge, and permanent loneliness.  Weep, then, we must.”

There is a time, a season, of weeping.  Joy will come, but often God works tremendous things in the night of weeping.

What is it to seek God?

I am quite sure I barely know the answer.  We talk about it. Men preach about it.  Books are written about it.  But do we do it? Can we understand it?  Why do we seek God?

The answer seems barely known because the God who is sought is so great.  And even in writing that, the sentence, the words, seem so infinitesimally small for such a God as ours.

But He is to be sought.  He promises to be found.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”  Deuteronomy 4:29

That “all” part is perhaps part of our problem.  There are so many distractions, so much busyness.  How many of us have truly decided, as James Fraser did, that seeking God is he most important part of our ministries?  Do we really agree with, “I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third place, and teaching the fourth?”  Is seeking God first, second, and third place to most of us?  Is it truly?

Can we understand it?  Yes.  We are told to do it, thus is must be within the realm of our comprehension.  Yet, the magnitude of the One we are seeking, I think, makes human understanding seem minuscule.  Yet, He, think about that...He wants us to seek Him.  He wants us to seek Him.

What is our motive?  This is a concerning question.  I almost hear a panic in many voices as they proclaim their fear that they will not be used of God.  Is being “used” the chief motive?  Is having the appearance of His blessing upon our life what we are after?  Or are we after Him and Him alone?  Do we seek Him even when all, all, all around us suggests nothing of His goodness?

Is He what we really want to find?  I fear, if we are completely honest, what we really want is Him plus some other “blessing,” whether small or great.  And, God in His mercy and grace, very often gives those things.  But, what should our heart be?  Simply and only seeking Him.  Him.

He is there.  He is good.  He is healing.  He is might.  He is love. He is sufficient.  He is.  And He is to be found.  Seek Him.