Have You Begun to Sing?

We at Out of the Ordinary have another author in our ranks! Staci wrote The Organized Heart, and now Rebecca has written The Good Portion - God: The Doctrine of God for Every Woman. I have been looking forward to this book for a while.

In her very first post at Out of the Ordinary, Rebecca talked about how theology makes her heart sing. When I knew that she would be writing a book about the doctrine of God, I hoped that the sentiments she shared in that initial post would find their way into her book. And they did. In the conclusion, she exhorts the reader: "Theology should always result in doxology; the study of God should always lead to praise." Her very last question to the reader is: "Have you begun to sing?"

Becky's purpose in this book is to introduce the reader to God: "Most of all, it is my desire that each reader catch a glimpse of His glory. As you read and consider God's nature and His work, I hope you will see how glorious and delight him"

God is so magnificent, so glorious, and so infinite that as finite creatures, we cannot begin to understand everything about him. However, in this book, we are encouraged to seek the understanding God promises to give should we make the effort. To know God is to know ourselves. It is the beginning of worship:

Unless we know God as He is, we cannot see ourselves as we are. And as painful as it is to see an accurate picture of ourselves, it is also necessary for true worship. True worship comes from a heart that sees how glorious He is, and understands its own unworthiness.

Each chapter explains a different facet of God's character, ending with a prayer. Each chapter also includes a number of questions for thought and further study. I really enjoyed the questions. I could see them generating some deep conversation among a group of people studying together. This would be a great book for group study.

Scripture is the basis for this exploration of God, but Becky does not hesitate to use other resources, such as creeds, systematic theologies, and writings of scholars. The end of the book has a very good selection of resources for further reading, and they are accessible resources. Once the reader has given a glimpse of the greatness and scope of the study of God, she (or he!) will want to look further. I love it when authors give book suggestions.

The first chapter discusses the need to know God, the second on his triune nature. The third chapter emphasizes how God is not like us, followed by chapters on his wisdom and power, his holiness, his goodness, his creative power, sustaining power, and saving power. Becky explains things thoroughly and with clarity. The truths build upon each other. She is not afraid to use theological terms, and when she does, she explains them, giving the reader a vocabulary for this subject. I don't think anyone should be afraid to use theological terminology. All subjects we study, whether cooking, science, or economics have terms which give us a language to understand and explain. Theology has a language as well, and I was glad to see Becky introduce the reader to it.

Many of the principles in the book are illustrated through Becky's own experiences learning about God through the regular events of life. I was especially grateful for her wisdom and maturity; the kind one can only get through time and experience. We need more women like Becky speaking out; women who have raised their children to adulthood; who are grandmothers, and who have had the time to see the difference it makes to know who God is. And her illustrations are ones that both men and women can enjoy. Though this book's subtitle is "The Doctrine of God for Every Woman," it is a book men would find very readable. This is not a book for women alone, but a book by a woman for everyone. Everyone who is called "Christian" needs to understand God's character.

One of the things I found most helpful was the principle of God's aseity:

Aseity comes from the Latin a se, which means 'from or by oneself.' To say God is a se means He exists from himself. Nothing caused Him to exist, but He exists uncaused, 'by the necessity of His own Being.' In other words, God depends on nothing outside of Himself for His existence - and he can't not exist.

This is such a crucial truth to understand. That God is from himself means that he is not affected by external factors. His love is not affected by outside circumstances, because his love comes from himself. God's wisdom is not going to change over time because it comes from himself, and nothing from the outside can diminish it. God's power is from himself, and nothing can reduce that power. This is complete contradiction to humans who are tossed and turned by all manner of external factors. This is not only comforting, but convicting. This eliminates any tendency to see God as simply a bigger version of ourselves. I really believe that as Christians we need to know just how great God is, and how small we are.

Does theology make your heart sing? Do you find yourself so awed and amazed by God that you cannot resist the desire to praise him? If not, why not? Do you know him? If you don't feel you know him well, this book should inspire you to start seeking. Though the book is not yet released in North America, you can pre-order it here at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca. If you just don't want to wait (I didn't!), you can order it from The Book Depository. 

An Inexaustible Fountain of Goodness

The LORD is good to all, 

 and his mercy is over all that he has made.

The eyes of all look to you,

 and you give them their food in due season.

You open your hand; 

 you satisfy the desire of every living thing. 

(Psalm 145:9, 15-16)

The eighteenth century English Baptist pastor John Gill described God’s goodness as “an inexhaustible fountain” overflowing forever even as he continually shares his goodness with the living things he has made. In John Gill’s time, city fountains didn’t recirculate their water like the fountains we have now. They drew their water from a reservoir or some natural springs, and provided it to the people who lived around them. Fountains were a source fresh, clean water for drinking and washing. God’s inexhaustible fountain of goodness is this kind of fountain—one that constantly provides us with fresh goodness. But with his fountain of goodness, there is no danger the reservoir will run dry or the springs will dry up. He has an infinite, eternal supply of fresh goodness. There is no limit to his kindness and no end to his generosity, but his goodness flows from him forever in a never-ending stream.

From the abundance of his generosity, God grows mushrooms to feed squirrels and saplings to feed deer. He provides earthworms for robins and mice for foxes. The greens I grow in my garden come from his goodness, too. He could have created only one kind of salad green, or none at all, but instead, he created crispy romaine, buttery spinach, chewy kale, spicy arugula, and red leaf lettuce for extra visual punch, each variety increasing my pleasure as I eat my salads. Vegetables, fruits, grains, and meats—every different kind is a good gift from our good God.

Sustaining Us and Giving Us Joy

God directs everything in the universe, so every benefit we receive—every “good gift”—comes from him (James 1:17). Beyond our food, homes, and families, he gives us jobs, friends, vacations, sunshine, music, colours, and even the air we breathe. Everything that sustains us and everything that gives us joy—all are God’s gifts to us. Even when other people give to us, underneath their gifts is the goodness of God. He gave them enough to share (1 Corinthians 4:7) and the desire to share with us.

God is generous to everyone, even those who don’t acknowledge him or his gifts. “[H]e is kind to the ungrateful and evil,” Jesus said (Luke 6:35). “[H]e makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44-45). Even God’s enemies receive good gifts from him.

But for those who belong to him, God's generosity continues throughout eternity. Even in this life, every single circumstance is a good gift working an eternal purpose. All things, including life’s trials, are part of God’s benevolent plan to make believers more like Christ (Romans 8:28-29). Can you see why the apostle Paul reminds his readers to be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18)? Our generous God uses everything, even the hard things, to remake his people in his image.

Reflecting His Goodness

And as those who are being remade in his image, God’s people should reflect his goodness. Since he is good to all, even his enemies, we are called to do good to our enemies, too. And who are our enemies? When he commanded his followers to love their enemies, Jesus included a wide range of people in this category. According to Jesus, anyone who didn’t love them, anyone who wasn’t a brother to them, along with anyone who was actively persecuting them (Matthew 5:43-48), was an enemy. The grumpy neighbor who doesn’t like your family because she prefers silence to the sound of children playing in your backyard is, according to Jesus, your enemy. As a follower of him, you are called to not retaliate, but do good for her instead. If you take her fresh muffins, you are fulfilling his command to love your enemies. You are providing for someone who doesn’t love you or your children, just as God provides for those who don’t love him or his children. Likewise, when you treat your difficult co-worker kindly, you are imitating God’s kindness to both the just and the unjust. And if you pray for someone who is hostile to you because of your Christian faith, you are also reflecting God’s generosity to his enemies. You are following Jesus’s command to be like “your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:45).

But just as God is especially generous to those who belong to him, his people should be especially “good to… those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Yes, we should give to people in our neighbourhoods and across the world because our God gives to everyone, but the priority for our generosity should be our fellow-believers. Even as we donate to needy children world-wide, our first duty is to make sure the needs of the children in our own churches are met.

And whenever we give to others—to our fellow believers, to the community around us, or to people far away—we are simply giving from what we have already received from God. Any praise we receive for our generosity should be redirected to him, who gives to us so we can give to others. All the glory for both the gifts we receive and the gifts we give is rightfully his.

Even As Our Father Is Merciful

This year my church began sponsoring a family of refugees from Syria. The Canadian government will provide half the income they need for their first year here in our city, but we are responsible for the other half. This family was, of course, eager to leave the refugee camp behind for the safety of life in Canada, but they don’t know English, have no experience with winter — especially our extreme northern winters — and left all of their extended family and friends behind. Can you imagine how difficult their new life is? How lonely they can feel? It’s the job of a group of volunteers from the church to ease their transition to life here, and they need help with all these things and more. A few weeks after they settled into the home prepared for them, the mother spoke for the whole family and thanked the church. “We are not of your religion,” she said through a translator, “but you have shown us mercy.”

She was using the word mercy in the same way the Bible does. When the authors of scripture use this word, the focus is on the helplessness of those receiving mercy. In his mercy God is good to those who are in trouble and cannot help themselves. From his mercy he helps the helpless and gives hope to the hopeless.

Mercy includes God’s pity for those who are in trouble, but it’s much more than mere pity, because his mercy has all of his power behind it. A leper once came to Jesus, and asked to be healed. “Moved with pity, [Jesus] stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘. . . be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him” (Mark 1:41-42). Jesus saw this man’s predicament, sympathised with him, and used his infinite healing power to cure him. This is how it works with God’s mercy. From his mercy, he helps those no one else can help. His mercy accomplishes what is impossible for anyone but God.

In his mercy, God heals the sick, provides for the needy, and rescues those who are exploited and mistreated. From his mercy, he delivers people from affliction, oppression, and poverty. He is “[f]ather of the fatherless and protector of widows” (Psalm 68:5; see also Psalm 10:14; Hosea 14:3) because he is merciful. Since everything God created is dependent on him, everything he does to sustain his creatures is an act of mercy. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and everything else that keeps us alive, are gifts from the mercy of God. Can you see why David’s psalm says “his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9)?

God’s ultimate act of mercy was sending his Son to die to deliver people from sin. If you are a believer, you were once helpless and hopeless, but in his mercy God sent his Son to be your Saviour (Luke 1:76-79). Could you have saved yourself? Freed yourself from slavery to sin? Could you have opened your own spiritually blind eyes? Raised yourself from spiritual death? No, you were completely dependent on God to rescue you. In mercy Christ died for you, in mercy God cleansed you from sin, and in mercy the Spirit empowers you to obey (Titus 3:3-5). You had no hope until your merciful God “caused [you] to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). You have been saved because God is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4-5), and you belong to him because you have received his mercy (1 Peter 2:10).

There is no limit to the mercy of God. “His mercies never come to an end,” but are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Every day is a fresh opportunity to experience new mercies from his never-ending, never-run-dry supply. From God’s infinite mercy, there is always more help for you.

And every day is a fresh opportunity for God’s children to “be merciful, even as [our] Father is merciful (Luke 6:36).” Indeed, one of the reasons God chose to be merciful to us is so we will be merciful to others. He “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4). In his mercy, God saw our need and rescued us, and now he invites us to imitate him by helping those who need our help.

When you care for your sick children — rocking them to sleep, giving them medicine, wiping their noses, or mopping up after they throw up — you are reflecting the mercy of God. If you help your elderly neighbor with yardwork he’s too frail to finish on his own, you are showing him mercy. When people from my church donated clothing, furniture, or money to support the Syrian family, they were instruments of God’s mercy. And when we share the gospel, the story of God's mercy to sinners, we are giving hope to the hopeless like our merciful God gives hope to the hopeless. Any poverty, weakness, illness, pain, or hopelessness we see is an opportunity for us to show mercy because God has shown us mercy.

He who sits in the heavens

Due to the time constraints, this is a repost from nearly 4 years ago. But given the state of the world, I need to be reminded of this again...


Worry is one of my besetting sins. It can cover a wide range of subjects - immediate family concerns, the election in less than 2 weeks, or what's really happening in Tehran. I begin to worry because I don't like unknowns, and I don't like feeling out of control. To compensate, I often try to keep tabs on all the possible variables that could affect the outcome, deluding flattering myself into thinking that I can at least be mentally prepared for what could occur. But this is cold comfort. There are too many factors beyond my scope, and as I consider what is outside of my control, the needle on the worry meter goes up.

I have a less-than-robust background in the absolute sovereignty of God, so I could use that as an excuse. But even wholeheartedly embracing that doctrine, my thoughts of God are often "too human"¹, as if He who sits in the heavens "laughs nervously and wrings His hands in confusion."² 

If I dig deeper, there's a showdown taking a place - a face-off between the Bible's claims of God's supremacy versus my fallible thoughts and feelings. Who do I listen to? My worries? Or do I take my soul by the scruff of the neck, so to speak, turn off the news or whatever is feeding my anxiety, and turn back to the Scriptures?  Feelings go up and down. Circumstances change for good or bad. But neither feelings or circumstances are the arbiter of truth. God's Word is, and here's what it says about His authority over all things:

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 2: 4-6

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. 1 Chron. 29:11-13

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, Ephesians 1:11

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Psalm 115:1-3

The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting...Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. Psalm 93:1-2,5

From A.W. Pink:

The absolute and universal supremacy of God is plainly and positively affirmed in many scriptures... Before Him, presidents and popes, kings and emperors, are less than grasshoppers.³

God's supremacy over the works of His hands is vividly depicted in Scripture. Inanimate matter, irrational creatures, all perform their Master's bidding.⁴

God's supremacy is also demonstrated in His perfect rule over the wills of men... His own eternal "counsels" are accomplished to their minutest details. ⁵

I don't know about you, but this gives me great comfort. This answers my fear of the unknown because there are no unknowns to an omniscient God. He does not react to future events because He has already ordained what will take place by His decrees. We have a foundation that will never shift under any circumstance because we rest on the unchanging character of God Himself.

Let every man or, in this case, woman be a liar. The Lord reigns.

Here then is a resting place for the heart. Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity and is now ordered by the living and reigning God. ⁶

1. The Attributes of God, Chapter 5 The Supremacy of God, A.W. Pink, Baker, 1975, pg. 28.
2. Thanks to Zack for his open theist "version" of Psalm 2:4.
3. The Attributes of God, Chapter 5 The Supremacy of God, A.W. Pink, Baker, 1975, pg. 29.
4. Ibid. pg. 30.
5. Ibid. pg. 30-31.
6. Ibid. pg. 31.

The Need to Know

Unknowns are fine in mathematics, but I don't like them in real life. I feel much more secure knowing where my car keys are and what is going to happen today, tomorrow, and the day after that. Mentally keeping tabs on as much as possible gives me a sense of control, which is a comforting feeling even if it doesn't last very long. But in reality, there are too many factors outside of my control for me to be in control, and I don't like it.

Recently I was fretting over a very minor incident in the grand scheme of things. I was replaying the situation over and over in my mind and praying that I would stop worrying, when I asked myself,

"Is it enough that God knows even if I don't?" 

I can quickly rattle off the names of God's "omni" attributes. My pastor just finished preaching a series on the doctrine of God, but here I was denying with my mind what I would quickly affirm with my lips. I was denying God's omniscience because I pretty much assumed that if I didn't know what was going on, then He didn't either. If I was flustered, He was flustered, too. In short, I was breaking the 2nd commandment because I was imagining God to be something He was not, and I was convicted.

While it is good to be responsible and use wisdom and common sense, all the mental tracking in the world cannot protect me and my loved ones from the unknowns that are lurking ahead. But rather than expending my energies on a futile exercise, there is something or rather Someone I can know. By God's saving grace, through His Word, and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, I am able to know the One who knows the end from the beginning and everything in between. God's unchanging attributes can steady me when worry would confuse and cloud my mind. Letting these truths sink deep in my soul will also transform my thinking, so when an unknown strikes, I will remember who He is rather than imagine who He is not.

So it is enough that God knows even if I don't, but it doesn't end there. I can know Him.

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old for I am God, and there is no other I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ Isaiah 46:8-10

The infinite knowledge of God should fill us with amazement. How far exalted above the wisest man is the Lord! None of us knows what a day may bring forth, but all futurity is open to His omniscient gaze. The infinite knowledge of God ought to fill us with holy awe. Nothing we do, say, or even think, escapes the cognizance of Him with whom we have to do: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. 15:3). What a curb this would be unto us, did we but meditate upon it more frequently! Instead of acting recklessly, we should say with Hagar, "Thou God seest me" (Gen. 16:13). The apprehension of God’s infinite knowledge should fill the Christian with adoration. The whole of my life stood open to His view from the beginning. He foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet, nevertheless, fixed His heart upon me. Oh, how the realization of this should bow me in wonder and worship before Him!

The Attributes of God, A.W. Pink, Baker Book House, 1975, pp. 20-21. An online version is available here.