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Thursday,聽December 19

Psalm 80:1-7; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 10:10-18

My son loves solving puzzles. Stubbornly practicing the same movement over and over to hone a skill and overcome a challenge? Not his cup of tea. But poring over a riddle for hours or troubleshooting a workaround for a Lego design? He鈥檚 there for that. So, when I tell him Bible stories, I don鈥檛 focus on the ones that I found exciting as a child, like the ones about David, in which faith and courage defeat impossible odds; I portray the heroes of the stories as problem-solvers with ingenious ideas.

It seems to me that the trilogy of passages for today set up a problem and then look to God for a solution. Psalm 80 cries out to God for deliverance from tears and mockery. The problem is suffering, and the solution is for God to forgive and 鈥渃ome and save us鈥� (v. 2). Then in Jeremiah 31, God promises to solve Israel鈥檚 problems by making a new covenant with them.

Interestingly, the problems that God promises to solve are not exactly the same as the problems the psalmist decried. They include the psalmist鈥檚 problems, but God also wants to avoid Israel鈥檚 chronic unfaithfulness (v. 32). God鈥檚 solution is to create a new covenant, write the law 鈥渙n their hearts鈥� (v. 33), and forgive the people鈥檚 sins (v. 34). The author of Hebrews takes up this language and interprets Jesus as the fulfillment of God鈥檚 promises.

According to Hebrews 10, Jesus has enabled God鈥檚 forgiveness (v. 14) and the gift of the Holy Spirit, who writes the law 鈥渙n their minds鈥� (v. 16). As in Sunday School, so in Hebrews: Jesus is the answer. Because of Jesus, who is both sacrifice and high priest, God forgives our sins and gives us innate knowledge of the way to life. In the incarnation, God solved the problem.

But . . . but I still need forgiveness. I still cry real tears. People I know are still mocked. People, presumably with God鈥檚 law written on their hearts, still fall away. Is there a bug in God鈥檚 solution?

Later in Hebrews 10, the author warns the audience what will happen if 鈥渨e deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth鈥� (v. 26). The author seems to think that sin is possible after conversion, and he certainly knows that suffering is possible: he refers to persecution and martyrdom the readers have witnessed (v. 33). Yet, this discussion of the dangers and hardships of post-conversion life comes in the context of an exhortation to persevere in faith, good works, and mutual encouragement (vv. 19-25). At the end of chapter 10, the author quotes from Habakkuk, 鈥淗e who is coming will come鈥� (v. 37), looking forward once again to when tears and suffering really will be erased for the faithful.

God鈥檚 solution seems not to have taken effect yet. We are left with faith and hope, not as a sentimental or facile answer, not as a fully realized present, but as a desperate recourse. Things can get bad, but where else can we turn but to the promises of a faithful God? The world is not yet fixed forever, but God promises that it will be. Though knowing the Messiah, we still await the Messiah as fervently as the prophets did. With all the saints before us, we wait and hope and live into the reality that we believe, because we must, that God will grant us.

May God give you desperate, ferocious faith and hope.

Joshua Pittman
Assistant Professor of English Language/Literature