He truly is our refuge.  I think we forget about that when we are going through tough times, but He is ALWAYS there for us.  He never sleeps, he never slumbers.  God knows what is best for us ALL THE TIME.  We just need to trust in him and seek his guidance and is wisdom and cling to him.  He truly is the God of the impossible.  We just need to continually remember that.

Skeletons in God's Closet, Book Review

For BookLookBloggers, I am reviewing The Skeletons in God's Closet by Joshua Ryan Butler. For agreeing to read it in its entirety and posting a review about it on my blog and a commercial site, I was given a complimentary copy of the book.

Here is a description about the book:

How can a loving God send people to hell? Isn’t it arrogant to believe Jesus is the only way to God? What is up with holy war in the Old Testament?

Many of us fear God has some skeletons in the closet. Hell, judgment, and holy war are hot topics for the Christian faith that have a way of igniting fierce debate far and wide. These hard questions leave many wondering whether God is really good and can truly be trusted.

The Skeletons in God's Closet confronts our popular caricatures of these difficult topics with the beauty and power of the real thing. Josh Butler reveals that these subjects are consistent with, rather than contradictory to, the goodness of God. He explores Scripture to reveal the plotlines that make sense of these tough topics in light of God’s goodness. From fresh angles, Josh deals powerfully with such difficult passages as:

• The Lake of Fire
• Lazarus and the Rich Man
• The Slaughter of Canaanites in the Old Testament

Ultimately, The Skeletons in God's Closet uses our toughest questions to provoke paradigm shifts in how we understand our faith as a whole. It pulls the “skeletons out of God’s closet” to reveal they were never really skeletons at all.

My thoughts about the book:

It was really well written and very in depth.  The author used a lot of scripture to back up what he was writing about.  He listed the popular caricatures about the three main subjects in the book, hell, judgment, holy war and then broken the caricatures down extensively and replaced them with what he believed the scriptures were saying about them.

Like I said above, it was well written and very in depth.  I had to re-read sections of it to make sure I understood what he was saying as I had trouble at times comprehending it. I think it is a book that would be more appreciated by someone that had a lot of knowledge about the Bible than someone who would just pick it up curious about the topics he writes about.  

I did enjoy reading it, but felt I needed to read it again to fully get what all he was writing about.  Some of the things he said, especially in reference to holy war, led me to think about and do some more reading about the topic.  

I would recommend it for those curious about these skeletons in God's closet, but who also have a knowledge of the Bible and some of the many characteristics of the God.  Otherwise, I think someone without this type of knowledge might find the book confusing.  

Walk as Jesus walked

1 John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him, must walk as Jesus did.

How did Jesus walk:

Confidently in the will of his father.
Unconditional love to the brokenhearted, the least, the lost, the last. 
Grace extended to the sinner. 
Wisdom in his actions and words. 
Merciful, compassionate, kind, boldly, purposefully.

Jesus knew exactly who he was.  He knew his father and the greatness and love of his father.

Jesus  didn't worry about money or needs.  Jesus did not care about acquiring possessions.

Jesus did experience heartbreak.  Rejection by family.  Rejection by his very people. Grief over death of loved ones.  Yet he continued to rely and trust on his father.

Jesus knew to spend time with his father, knew the importance of prayer.

I must learn to walk as Jesus did.  I must walk as he did in my life to glorify him and make the father known.

do not

James 1:22  Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself, do what it says.

Don't merely listen to God's word or read it and tuck it away, saying it is wise, it is good.

BUT

do what it says

act on it

put God's word to use

if  the word says love your neighbor and your enemy as yourself

do it

if it says to serve others

do it

if it says honor your mother and father

do it

if it says don't lie, cheat

don't do that

if it says be kind to others

do it

if it says to love God with your whole heart, soul and mind

do it

will these things be easy to do?

no, not all of them

maybe not even some of them

but what does God want us to do?

to act and not just listen

to do and not be passive

God's word is alive

it requires action on our part

don't just think about his word

but do it

act upon it

live it

love it

use it to glorify the Lord God.

Job

Job 1:1 In the land of Uz, there lived a man whose name was Job.  This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

Job was

blameless - innocent, without guilt, no one would find anything hidden in his past

upright - moral, honorable, righteous, a person of integrity

he feared God - he held God in highest honor, esteem, awe, reverence, respect

he shunned evil - he avoided sin

Yet he lost everything but his life

oxen/donkeys carried off by others (enemies), stolen, servants killed (Job 1:13-16)

sheep/servants burnt by fire from sky (Job 1:16)

camels stolen/servants killed by raiding parties (Job 1:17)

all 10 children killed by mighty wind knocking house down (Job 1:18-20)

Events happened by man and nature

bad things will happen to good people

good things will happen to bad people.

Its how we deal with the bad things that defines us.

Do we wallow in self pity?

Do we curse God?

Do we lose hope?

Do we give up?

Do we blame ourselves or others?

Job praised God (Job 1:21).  He got that.  It just wasn't all about getting the the good things and praising God for that, but also praising God when disaster and calamity hit.

That didn't mean that he didn't hurt.

That didn't mean he didn't cry.

That didn't mean he didn't wonder why.

But he would not curse God.

He would not blame God.

He continued to hold him in highest esteem.

I need to do the same.

Praise God - no matter what is going on around me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

meaningless or meaningful

Ecclesiastes 12:13  Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter.  Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

Solomon - known as the wisest man on earth - given wisdom by God in addition to riches and peace in the land during his reign.

Yet despite that - looked back at the end of his life and saw so much of it was meaningless, lacking any apparent purpose.

He had it "all" but it still wasn't enough.

Money
Possessions
Relationships (300 wives/700 concubines)
Wisdom, knowledge
Peace in his country
Prosperity

But he was not content - still was not fulfilled, still questioning his purpose, the meaning of life.

Saw it all - good people suffering, wicked people prospering

Saw death come - the finality of it; we are born naked, we die without taking with us what we toiled for so hard - leaving it behind to someone who might not appreciate it.

He sums it up - to eat, to drink, to be satisfied with one's work, to be glad in their days, then joy will accompany him in the days God has given him.

To simply be content with what God has given him and to be grateful for it.

And his final conclusion that I believe one must sear into their mind, heart and soul.

Fear God (honor him, revere him, respect him, glorify him)

Keep his commandments (his laws, precepts, word)

For this is the whole duty (purpose) of man (me).

Without doing so - one's life is meaningless (lacking any apparent purpose, empty, worthless, futile).

No matter what we achieve in fame, fortune, possession or the good we may even do to others

because all of that will be forgotten after we die, subsequent generations will not know us or remember us, but where we stand with God, what we think of him, whether we accept Jesus as our Savior, that is eternal worth, that is meaningful, that is is purpose and that is how we should live (loving God and making him known) in our days under the sun, of which there really are so few, no matter how many years we live.

May I live a meaningful life, Lord, for your glory.

When I'm afraid

Psalm 56:3  When I am afraid, I will trust in you.

When I am anxious, I will trust in you Lord

When I am in despair, I will trust in you Lord

When I am worried, I will trust in you Lord

When I am fearful, I will trust in you Lord

One of my default settings in my life should be trust.

I should immediately go to it.

Trust in God.

When I am anxious, worried, afraid, in despair, fearful. 

That is when I need to immediately default to trust in God.

Trust is how my days should be directed, how they should be lived.

When I am afraid, Lord, I will trust in you.

Help me to sear these words into my heart so they are my default mode, Lord.