The Spirit SHARES in our weakness

Romans 8:26 says, "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our infirmities." In the words of my father, the word "helps" is very weak according to the original meaning of the Greek text. In the Greek text, it is more accurately translated as "shares."

The Spirit shares in our weakness: this is a new concept for many Christians. Most of the time, Christians hear that Jesus came to earth and experienced what they go through. That is then used as an encouragement to say, "Jesus knows what you are going through." However, this, like what was mentioned above, weakens the truth of what actually happens. Jesus did not just experience the hardships that Christians go through today. His Spirit shares in their weaknesses and experiences their hardships as they go through them.

This is also explained by Matthew 11:29 which starts out, "Take my yoke upon you." A yoke was the device that enabled two oxen to share the load that they were pulling. This is so symbolic of what Jesus' Spirit does with Christians today. Christians may complain and say, "God doesn't care about what I'm going through!" But, in fact, the opposite is true; for God really cares about what Christians are going through because He is actually enduring it alongside of them.

Keep that in mind the next time life throws you some pain.

God's Sovereign Right to Do as He Pleases...while reading poetry

Perhaps the hardest journey a human being will endure in his or her lifetime is the journey through understanding the depraved nature of his or her own rights and the sovereign nature of God's rights. Nevertheless, from the Biblical perspective of God having rights over His creation as the potter has a right over the clay, one can analyze the human perspective of this issue as presented through popularized poetry and see the similarities between the poetry and the Bible (NASB Romans 9:20-21). Therefore, "Yet Do I Marvel" by Countee Cullen, "On His Blindness" by John Milton, and "Out, Out—" by Robert Frost contribute to a small presentation of God's sovereign right to do as He pleases, the human perspective on that right without any understanding, and the human perspective on that right with understanding.

God's sovereign right to do as He pleases is taught in "Yet Do I Marvel" and "On His Blindness" as well as in the book of Job. In "Yet Do I Marvel," Countee Cullen makes some significant points by, first, exalting God to an "inscrutable" position that is "immune to catechism" and, second, decreasing the status of man's understanding to that of one who is perfectly contained in a dimension well below God's dimension. Therefore, Cullen concludes that man has not even the slightest ability to understand God's ways; and consequently, Cullen assumes that man has no ability to manipulate God. In "On His Blindness," John Milton states that God does not need man at all thereby making God sufficient in His own abilities. Both of these instances confirm the doctrine found in Job 42:2 which says that God can do whatever He so desires (NASB). (Arp 783-4)

The human perspective on God's right to do as He pleases without any understanding is presented by the poems "Out, Out—" and "Yet Do I Marvel." In "Out, Out—," Robert Frost begins by establishing a tragic circumstance in life and concludes by satirizing the human nature of treating such tragedies with flippancy. Yet in emphasizing this satirical nature, Frost alludes to a scene from Macbeth by Julius Caesar which colors Frost's work with the perspective of a human being who has no understanding of the ways of God. One portion of Macbeth that summarizes this perspective states, "[Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (Arp 780). In addition, "Yet Do I Marvel" contributes to shaping this perspective by expressing frustration in understanding different anomalies in life. Clearly, the perspective of one without any understanding of the ways of God is enveloped with vanity, resistance, and hopelessness.

The human perspective of God's right to do as He pleases with divine understanding is especially evident in "On His Blindness" and "Yet Do I Marvel." In "On His Blindness," John Milton expresses an emotional yet humble submission to God when Milton questions the fairness of God's decision to keep Milton at an apparent disadvantage; but by being patient, Milton ultimately finds God's answer that "[Those] who best bear His mild yoke, they serve him best" (Arp 784). Furthermore, Cullen subtly portrays this human perspective by acknowledging the unfathomable nature of God's ways within the boundaries of submission when Cullen says, "Yet do I marvel" (Arp 783). Finally, these examples confirm what is taught in Job 42:2 by agreeing with Job's reaction in which he says, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (NASB). Therefore, an understanding human perspective does not disregard discrepancies in life haphazardly but responds really, emotionally, and submissively within the yoke of understanding God's sovereign right to do as He pleases.

The selected poems by Countee Cullen, John Milton, and Robert Frost portray an accurate depiction of God's sovereign right to do as He pleases as presented in the book of Job. By showing the vanity of life without understanding God's will, "Out, Out—" provides a contrast for the godly perspective presented in "Yet Do I Marvel" and "On His Blindness" which teaches that human beings are to be submissive to the God who is so holy that no one can understand His ways. Therefore, human beings should be edified since bad circumstances in life do not occur without meaning but as an intricate design of a holy and sovereign God.

Works Cited

Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson. Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 9th ed. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

NASB Compact Reference Bible: New American Standard Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000.

God cuts off, but He also joins

Hosea was an unusual prophet in that he was called by God to marry a harlot and bear children by her. Despite his unusual task, Hosea's ministry effectively called out the children of promise Israelfrom the children of flesh Israel which is an applicable message to the modern day church. In addition, through the unfaithfulness of Hosea's wife, God showed Hosea how God felt with Israel's spiritual adultery. Therefore, the book of Hosea humbles the proud who call themselves a holy city but lean on God unrighteously and expresses God's heart of brokenness that He feels when people are unfaithful to Him.

All of the prophets in the Old Testament were simply ordinary men subject to passions just as every man on earth is subject to passions; yet because of the sovereign grace of God, these prophets including Hosea were used by Almighty God to accomplish God's work (Holy Bible James 5:17). Consequently, Hosea felt all that any other human being would feel when he married a harlot named Gomer and endured her unfaithfulness to him. Furthermore, this was exactly what God wanted him to feel; for God felt all of the enduring unfaithfulness of the Israelites; and God wanted to use that feeling of brokenness to provoke Hosea to preach the Word from God about Israel's unfaithfulness with purpose. Thus, a great part of Hosea's life consisted of his learning a little of how to see what God sees, hear what God hears, and feel what God feels.

An overview of Hosea's message to the Israelites can be understood by examining a portion which compares Israel's unfaithfulness to four different illustrations (Arnold 442). First, in Hosea 9:10,Israel was compared to fruit, specifically grapes, that had spoiled; and second, in 10:1, Israel was compared to a vine that produced fruit for itself. These two comparisons go hand in hand; for althoughIsrael produced fruit, it was bad fruit, a depiction of Israel's heart; and this bad fruit was produced out of selfish desires rather than seeking God's desires. Third, in Hosea 11:1, Israel is compared to a child who was taught how to walk and taken into the arms of the LORD but still turned to idols. This illustration of Israel is even expressed in the song "Collide" by Jars of Clay which says, "I taught you to walk, but then you ran away from me." The appalling nature of such a rejection accurately displays a portion of the perverseness of a creation rebelling against its Creator. Finally, in Hosea 10:11,Israel is compared to a trained heifer that loves "to tread out the corn" because she can eat while she works (Holy Bible; Arnold 442). Obviously, this is not a picture of eating of the Bread of Life. Therefore, the LORD is describing Israel as a people who performs righteous acts with an unrighteous heart.

An interesting insight appears in Hosea 1:9-10. First, the LORD has Hosea to name his third child Lo-ammi, which means "not my people" (NASB). Therefore, the LORD was declaring that Israel, who had fallen into unbelief and hypocrisy, was no longer His people. Yet how could God do that and remain faithful to His promise? Would not the people shout back at the prophet that they are God's; and therefore, God cannot be unfaithful? Indeed, the prophet meets this argument by stating the promise the hypocrites refer to: "The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea" (NASB Hosea 1:10). To better understand the prophet's response, the apostle Paul presents an insight into this subject in Romans 9:6 which says that "it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who have descended from Israel" (NASB). Therefore, Paul asserts that God's election was not limited to just the Israel of the flesh but to the Israel of the faith; and consequently, God has the right to cast out the Israel of the flesh. Furthermore, since God has the right to "have mercy on whom [He has] mercy" and since "it does not depend on the man who wills…but on God who has mercy," God spoke in Hosea 1:10 of the people He would soon graft into the true vine (NASB Romans 9:15-16, 11:17). This lesson that God was using Hosea to teach Israel was that God's blessing was obtained by pursuing God out of faith and not out of works that depend on the flesh (NASB Romans 9:32). Yet this pursuit out of faith is not a zeal by itself, but a zeal in accordance with the true knowledge of God's righteousness (NASB Romans 10:2-3). This is what Israel lacked. They had zeal, but they were hypocrites, for they lacked the knowledge of God's righteousness.

Yet what does this teach even further? If God were not able to disown a hypocritical Israel, then He would also not be able to own the Gentiles. If Israel were able to lean on God without the knowledge of truth or righteousness and somehow hold Him down by His divine shirttail and not let Him do all that He pleased, then there would be no room for Gentiles in heaven (NASB Isaiah 48:1-2, Psalm 115:3). But hallelujah, God has the right to disown those who are not of the faith of Israel and graft in those who are not of the flesh of Israel (NASB Romans 11:17). John Calvin in his Commentaries presents a good view of this subject:

For, since hypocrites in a manner tie to themselves the power of God, the Prophet [Hosea] says, that God can, if he chooses, raise up in an instant a new Church, which would exceed in number the sand of the sea. How so? God will create a Church for himself. From what? From stones, from nothing: for, as Paul says elsewhere, 'he calls those things which are not, as though they were,' (Rom. iv. 17.) (15)

Therefore, by God's right of sovereignty alone is salvation able to be offered freely to all who will come and drink (NASB Revelation 22:17).

Works Cited

Arnold, Bill T. and Bryan E. Beyer. Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey. Grand Rapids,MI: Baker Books, 1999.

"Collide." By Jars of Clay. The Eleventh Hour. n.d.

Commentaries on the Prophet Hosea. Grand Rapid's, MI: Associated Publishers and Authors Inc. The Minor Prophets. Vol. 6 of Calvin's Commentaries. 7 vols.

The Holy Bible and Reference: Authorized King James Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.

NASB Compact Reference Bible: New American Standard Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000.