Merit Badges
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11 NASB
Grace and glory – Ah, what we so desperately want! Joy. Joy of life. Joy of relationships. Joy that satisfies our deepest longings for acceptance, recognition, community. And YHVH promises this—and more. Hen ve’kavod. Favor and honor. Grace and glory.
But here’s the rub. Not for everyone. Hen ve’kavod is promised to those who walk uprightly. “Prov. 3:4 teaches that keeping the commandments and practicing other virtues will give one hen in the eyes of God and human beings. The wicked person, says Isa. 26:10, should not be shown favor, for it will not help him earn righteousness. . . . This shows again that the OT has no aversion to merited favor.”[1] So while we can set aside the idea the righteousness isn’t earned (for in the context of the Semitic world it most certainly is), we are still left with an insurmountable obstacle. We are not righteous. In fact, we break the commandments—often, and as a result, we should not expect YHVH’s favor. Grace is withheld. Joy is absent. All because we acted in ways that opposed His requests. What are we to do now? We see the ultimate object of our lives. It’s there, hanging in the presence of the One true God, waiting to be grasped. But our hands are stained with the fruit of another tree, slippery with consumption of personal acquisition. And the real object lies just out of reach because we have moved just out of grasp.
If this were the end of the story, if measure-for-measure were the only scale in divine government, then who among us could ever be fulfilled?
There is only one hope. It is found in Numbers 23:19.
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
God is not a man. He is not bound by the ethical rules of men. He is not subject to our concepts of fairness, justice and governance. He is something entirely different. “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;” (Exodus 34:6). God is not a man. He offers grace to the wicked—to you, to me. He erupts in kindness, mercy and hesed. Hen is His middle name. Joy is possible, real, available—not because we have earned it but because it has been given. Then we go about learning to earn it. Day 15.
Topical Index: joy, grace, hen, kavod, honor, glory, Psalm 84:11, Numbers 23:19, Exodus 34:6, Isaiah 26:10
[1] D. L. Freedman and J. R. Lundbom, hanan, TDOT, Vol. V, p. 31.
It took me most of my life before I noticed that, in Psalm 23, goodness and mercy are the things that FOLLOW me. Why, I had been chasing that stuff all my life! But they are results: the after effects; not primary causes; not goals to attain. I found that, in the process of trying to capture them, I had been chasing my tail, literally, most of my life. Why, they are supposed to be chasing me! They are the side effects of righteousness, if you will. When I reach out for Him, in all the ways He has given me to do that (and all the reaching, from repentance to longing, from trying and failing to gratitude for all that He provided that I did NOT ‘earn’ – all, even the failing – is counted as righteousness – relationship), goodness and mercy are how He responds to me. There’s no use trying to want the good stuff without Him, for He IS the good stuff. He cannot bless me without showing up, for there is no good thing apart from Him. It is a package deal, and this is why the wicked rage, for they want to commit highway robbery, and intercept the mail coach BEFORE it reaches the bank. They desire the good stuff without its Owner.
When I long for love, and attempt to reach out, He counts my pitiful attempts as the real thing, and does the rest. I am connected – which is what righteousness IS – ultimately, not because I am an expert at connecting, but because He met me, when I did try, ALL THE WAY. He gave me the motive force, He supplied the power to change, He even freed me up from the impotent bondage to sin so that I could choose and my choosing would actually result in something real; He met me all the way. He saw me when I was afar off and ran to meet me. I was stuck on the ledge, and He came and got me. AND, then, amazingly, He counted my miserable stuff as righteousness! Astounding!
I cannot get myself to the place where love goes down – where I can love and be loved – on my own. I have to repent for not being there, and accept the offer of a ‘lift’. What is that lift? Why, I must leave behind my sins. I must be saved from fracture. How does that happen? I have to accept the invitation to, literally, be where He is, but where is He? On a cross. And He said that if He were lifted up, He would draw – would attract, would invite, us all. But I still have to accept the invitation. If I am to be saved FROM my sins, I have to crawl up there on that cross with Him, for repentance is where I take the responsibility back for my sins. I have to die to sin. I have to be crucified to my lusts. Self has to die so that the magnetic connection to the curse (death) that my sin (fracture) created can be broken. I have to die to live. He came to literally show me the Way to do that. Dying to self – how few know what that is! Self has to die before before the true me can live. Sin has to go before I can be pure. I have to quit doing wrong before I can start doing right. I have to forsake the devotion to putting me first before I can start putting Him first. The correct order of operations is salvation, then obedience: repentance, then righteousness. As long as I think there is a ghost of a chance that I can ‘earn’ salvation, however, I am going to continue to get it backwards. What am I going to continue to forget up front? It is that I cannot choose obedience BEFORE repentance. I have to be sorry before I can be saved, and I have to be saved before I can be free. Free to do what? Obey. The children of Israel requested a three day journey into the wilderness so that they could obey their G-d. They had to be saved out of Egypt before they could get to Sinai. They had to quit being forced to make monuments to false gods before they could be free to worship the True One. I have to quit going the wrong way before I am able to turn around and head in the right direction. I am not going to be able to do right until I quit doing wrong. Hey, I am already fractured! No use pretending I ain’t! I am already separated from goodness and mercy: forget the grace and glory! I have to be moving in the right direction (righteousness) before all that can show up in my life. I have to at least be wiggling so that He can show up to push and steer. Frozen in my sin, I need the shackles of my sins to be struck off before I am free to obey. Why do I need to be free? To obey. I need a Saviour to put my feet on higher ground so that I can walk. Halleluah! I have One!
“Then we go about learning to earn it.”
Am I ok to compare this to the young man who inherits the fortunes of his late father’s hard work and then proceeds to learn how to walk in, reflect and own his fathers good name, thus walking worthy of his gift of inheritance as opposed to spending the inheritance frivolously, selfishly and arrogantly bringing shame to the memory of his father’s good grace toward him?
If so, merited favor has a necessary role in our lives, me thinks.
X Marks the Spot
The Centerpiece of Civilization
and
The Reward of Right-Relationship
Is your heart right with God? How may a man (any man) the creature, known to be a Sinner (Yes, – all have sinned, save One), become rightly-related (righteous) with our Creator and Father who is (thrice) holy?
There is a Way. One way. — and One Way only. Is it by works of righteousness which we have done? Would the best five minutes of my limited life “qualify” me before YHWH? Or do I need, as Adam and Eve did, a “covering?” “O wretched man that I am,” — Rabbi Sha’ul declared, — “WHO shall deliver me?” Yes, Paul, (formerly known as Saul) “WHO” shall deliver me? I wish to know this also.
Real, genuine, glorious, eternal Salvation, dear friends, is found in a Person. His very Name IS salvation. And yet no mention is made of this Name, THE NAME which IS (not will be) far above every other Name!! God has given, (no) God HAS GIVEN unto Him this Name. His Name IS Salvation! or “Deliverance.”
And yet, there is still, no mention of tHis Name. Buried, with dirt thrown on top of Him, along with his Name. Neither is made any mention of an execution stake. A cross,the beam upon which the Lamb of God “WHO” takes away the sins of the world, was cruelly, purposefully, maliciously crucified.
Rabbi Sha’ul, your words fall upon deaf ears. We simply don’t want to hear what you have to say — we choose the sacrifice of Cain, (the best “I” can do) rather than the acceptable, well-pleasing unto God, offering of Abel, —an atoning sacrifice of blood. Is anyone listening? Friends.. “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us!” (1 Corinthians 5.7)
Salvation is not “DO!” It is DONE!! Finished,final,full and free!!! “TETALESTI!!” Our Sponsor? — bought for us, wrought for us, — where? On a hill called Mt. Calvary,
Paul (formerly known as Saul) the Persecutor, has been redeemed, renewed, and recreated and is now Paul the Preacher!, — declaring clearly unto “whosoever will” the “Good News” of the Gospel! And yet, mysteriously, the gospel message seems to be entirely ignored by us. Isaiah, how did you know? “He was [and is!] despised and rejected by men,” still stands and stays as a rotten blight within today’s society.
~ THIS IS a faithful saying that deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus (the Messiah) came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 4.9)
He breaks the pow’r of canceled sin,
Blessed be the Name of the LORD!
His blood can make the foulest clean,
Blessed be the Name of the LORD!
Blessed IS the Name of the LORD!!
And?
~ He [the One] who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ~ (Romans 8.32)
Highest heights or darkest deep
Be there pain or poverty
There is nothing that can keep
My Redeemer’s love from me
All alone though I may feel,
all the world my enemy
Still there’s no one that can steal
my Redeemer’s love from me
O the love of my Redeemer
Never failing, come what may!
— He has purchased my forgiveness
And has washed my sins away!
Although burdened by the weight
of great trial or tragedy
None of these can separate
my Redeemer’s love from me.
Though the earth’s foundations shake,
driving wind or raging sea,
Neither death nor life can take
— my Redeemer’s love from me!
Through this world’s few passing days
and through all eternity,
I will never cease to praise
my Redeemer’s love for me!
(Joshua Caterer)
“Then we go about learning to earn it.”
Isiah 26:10 learn in NASV is really earn ? is there something I’m not understanding?
I see it not as earning salvation as that is provided by his grace toward us. Rather, as walking and reflecting that which he has given freely. Walking in a manner that reflects the gift of grace. Walking otherwise is a blatant repudiation to the freely given gift. After all, isn’t salvation being freed from the influence of sin, that is, walking off the path of life. Life is the place on the path of torah, the path Yeshua chose to emulate for us to follow in, the way.
Isn’t it fair and accurate to say that as I learn to walk in his ways, in the way of torah, his instructions to and for life, that I have earned a place of demonstrating that I have heard what he tells me. My actions, my earned and learned place is the very actions that demonstrate that, yes, I have received his gracious gift, I heard his voice and I have then learned what he has said to me and told me to do to walk in life.
Talk is cheap. Walking in a manner worthy of the calling directed and accepted by me is made evident by what I do in response. If I say “you can trust me” to someone, I’d better be faithful to that statement, otherwise it is just words. There is such a place that we earn that qualifies what we say. Saying without doing is deafness and blindness, is it not? Am I a man of my word? Only as much as I have earned a place that reflects them via actions, correct.
As I’ve said before I don’t even treat my kids like I was taught in my western christian evangelical upbringing. When I teach them how to act, I expect them to do so in a manner that reflects my wishes. I don’t tell them to go do whatever they want so as not to worry about it because they can just ask for forgiveness later, after all, he has paid for it all already! I don’t give them instructions on how to live and then allow them to do anything. I love them no matter what, however, I demand they act a certain way. WHEN they do, I say “Well done!” When they don’t, our relationship suffers and I suggest they do better, work harder. They must earn, by their actions, an acceptable place within the boundaries of my teachings. Out of love I will stay on them until they do. My concern is to provide them with a course that will give them life in their following remaining years. Conformity to my rules for life is earned by them. At some point, hopefully, they will conform and ‘earn’ an acceptable and righteous place as a living person in a living community. At that point, they will have matured in to adulthood.
I don’t care if they kill a hundred people, I will still love them and surely suffer the pain of their actions in my own life watching it destroy their lives. Yet, my love for them remains, unmovable for they are my flesh and blood, regardless. They didn’t earn my love or my obligatory favor of them. I choose to do that. That came at the moment of their conception.
Today, my children are my children. They hold bruises from many of the poor, stupid and debilitating choices of their younger years. Yet, they did eventually earn a place, by their actions, that reflects well on themselves, their parents and the society in which they reside and move about. Glory! They chose well. They did well. They learned it and earned that place that I had already given them. It was theirs for the choosing and the doing. They finally began walking in the place I had given them. They are reflecting the image I had of them the moment they popped out in to this world with their first breath.
My heart is warmed. Now I introduce them proudly to others. Hey, look. Come and meet my daughter and my sons. I am so proud of them all. Look at who they are. Look at what they do. Look at how they live.
I am pleased.
Excellent, Michael. Thank you for the analogy of the children. That hits closest to home for me, too.
🙂
Well said Michael C! Thank you for a great commentary.
In context Isaiah 26 also says this:
2 “Open the gates that the righteous may enter, the one that remains faithful.”
3 “The steadfast of mind You shall keep at prefect peace because he trusts in you!”
7 “The way of the righteous is smooth, O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.”
8 “Indeed while following the way of your right-rulings(judgments), O Lord, we have waited for you eagerly; Your name, even Your memory is the desire of our souls.”
9 “At night my soul longs for you, Indeed my spirit within me seeks you diligently, for when the earth experiences your right-rulings(judgments), the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
10 “Though favor is shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the beauty of YHWH!”
Absolutely beautiful! The whole chapter leaves me in awe!
I don’t suppose that joy can be earned because earned seems to indicate equivalence. But perhaps one can come to a state of being that can be considered worthy, as in accordance with…
🙂