Serving On God’s Jury Duty

God has a distinct sense of humor. Have you noticed? I sure have. I’ve been preaching through the book of Malachi recently and marvel at the ability of a prophet who preached 400 years before the birth of Christ to convict the hearts of us who live 2,000 years after His resurrection. But God’s word is good and it always accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Malachi speaks of God’s electing love upon the people of Israel. He speaks of God as a Father who deserves honor and a master who deserves our fear, reverence and obedience and respect. He warns us to repent of hearts harboring careless worship of our awesome God and reminds us to be faithful to one another in the church and in our marriages.

Then, last week I preached through a great text in Malachi 2:17 where the prophet’s audience asked, “Where is the God of justice?” I went on for a while about how God is the only just being in the universe and our pitiful ignorance of the totality of injustice, suffering, crime and evil happening at any given moment on our planet makes us pitiful judges and unworthy of questioning God at all. That’s all true. I didn’t make it up.

But back to God’s sense of humor…

I remembered on Monday that earlier this month I got a summons for jury duty. The instructions said to call the Maricopa County Court on Wednesday, April 30 to see if I needed to report for duty the following day. So I called today. And I have been summoned for jury duty tomorrow.

I wanted to complain. But God, don’t you know how much work I still have to do? I need tomorrow to study for Sunday’s sermon. I’m behind as it is already. Nobody likes jury duty. Then God reminded me of a sermon I preached with my own lips on Sunday and my heart was changed. I was rebuked.

So where is the Sovereign God of Justice? Seated securely and majestically on His throne. Perhaps with a smile on His face. Perhaps speaking to me. “Yes Heath, you are correct.” “No human can question me. I am just and holy because I AM! But I have called you to me and chosen you just as I chose Jacob. I have placed my Holy Spirit within you. So, quit complaining and go. Go and reflect my justice. Judge well according to my laws. Remember that you will someday judge the angels and all who’ve rebelled against me. (1 Cor. 6:2-3) So go in my Name and do my will on earth, in the Maricopa County Courtroom, just as it is done in Heaven.

I have my marching orders. Straight from the throne room of God. He has called me to glorify Him by reflecting the infinite greatness of His laws, commands, statutes and measures. (see Psalm 119) Tomorrow. In a courtroom. In His presence. I need to practice. The angels are waiting.

God Uses Potty Training for my Sanctification

God is good. Not because I say He is. He is good because He is and He proclaims it as truth. That pretty much settles it.

But He has shown me recently that He is. He humbles me in humorous ways.

My family is trying to potty train our two year old daughter, Natalie. It’s been interesting. Last week she took off her diaper in her room, pooped, and then paraded through it before letting me know. After her bath, and scrubbing her poopy footprints off the carpet I let her know of my displeasure concerning her actions. No, No Natalie! No pooping on the floor! That’s just a good rule for all of us at the Taylor household.

The next morning, our four year old woke me up at 7:00 a.m. to tell me that Natalie had pooped on the floor again. Again? You’ve got to be kidding me. Before breakfast?

So I walk into the family room to discover her discarded but clean diaper. As I walked into the bathroom I saw her waste prominently displayed on the rug as if it were a work of art. Really? She had to do it right there? Two feet either to the right or left and cleaning up the tile would have been much easier.

At this point, I’m angry. Not mad, angry! I began to pick it up and clean the floor. She was three feet from the toilet. Why didn’t she just keep going? She knows that this is wrong. I had made it abundantly clear the day before that the Taylor’s DO NOT poop on the floor. It is simply unacceptable. Why did she do this? What was she thinking as she looked at the potty and shook it off like a pitcher determined to throw a fast ball rather than the curve?

That’s when God used the moment for my sanctification. He clearly said this to me. “You do this every day Heath.” “My commands are clear. You know them well. Yet you continue to ‘poop on the floor’ every day with sin in your life don’t you? I ask you why and you give me your daughter’s little shoulder shrug and downcast eyes. As if to say I don’t know why I did it. I don’t know why I chose to disobey. Sorry. And what is my response to you? How do I interact with you when you poop in your pants or on the floor or in your bed?”

God’s words cut deep into my soul. Because rather than fierce deserved wrath or anger, He makes His mercies new every morning. He has said so in His word. (Lam. 3:22) He passes over my sin and pardons my iniquities. (Micah 7:18) He removes my sin as far as the east is from the west. (Ps. 103:11-12) He forgets my sin and remembers it no more. (Jer. 31:34)

He simply requires my confession and repentance. He is good, not only because I see and experience it in my life, but because He is. An because He is, I do see and experience His love, goodness, grace and mercy. I have come to agree with David that it is sweeter than honey and better than life!

By the way, Natalie was sorry. She owned up to it and confessed her poopy disobedience. And repentance? Well, we’ve gone three days without discovering her waste scattered about and displayed on the floor. That my life, and obedience to God and purging of sin in my soul would go so well. I encourage all of us to embrace sanctification and the refining fire of a loving God in your life until the great day of glorification when sin will no longer have a place in our lives. He is good! (Ps. 119:65-68, Lam, 3:25-26) He has said so. And I agree!

Beginning the Blog

Does the internet or the world for that matter need another blog?  Of course not!  Is the world crying out for me to share my thoughts, passions and opinions with it?  Probably not.  Why then is Heath Taylor beginning a blog?

Well, Abraham Piper convinced me a few weeks ago that every pastor should blog.  He listed a few very good reasons that you can read here: http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1156_6_reasons_pastors_should_blog/

I started thinking about it and asking God if He was talking to me through Abraham Piper, a man I’ve never met.  God began to show me that He frequently speaks to me through men I’ve never met.

Consider Adam.  God says to me through Adam, “I did not create you to be alone Heath.”  “I have given you a help-meat in Lisa your wife.  Love her.  Cherish her.  Protect her and provide for her.  Remember that I love her more than you ever will and one day I will speak to you face to face as I did with Adam in the garden and you will give an account so take this sacred responsibility seriously.”  God says this to me through Adam in Genesis 2 and 3.

He speaks to me through King David in Psalm 51. He says, “Your sin is against me and me alone, and I consider it evil!” “Ask me for mercy and I will hide my face from your sins.”

God speaks to me through Micah. He says, “There is none like me Heath!” “I pardon your iniquity and pass over your transgression. I do not retain my anger forever but delight in steadfast love.”

He has spoken to me through Peter and Paul and the New Testament writers. He speaks to me through dead saints who knew Him and honored His name such as Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield.

So God speaks to me through His word and through men who love His word and I think God spoke to me through Abraham Piper. So I will begin a blog. Not because we need another one and not because the world wants to know what I think. I begin this blog because I want to reflect the glory of God in all things. Because I was not created to be alone. Because God may use you to sharpen my thinking about Him and to grow me more in knowledge and love for Him.

Feel free to interact, to complement and contradict. Just speak the truth in love and in all that you and I do, may we seek to bring glory and praise to our incredible Creator. The God that Nahum reminds us is ‘slow to anger, great in power and jealous for our affections’. (Nahum 1:2-3)