James 1:16-17 “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

God knows how to give only one kind of gift to his people. James has two words to describe it: good and perfect. “Good” does not necessarily mean “pleasant.” It means wholesome, helpful, beneficial.

I run for exercise. This is good. It is rarely pleasant, at least not exclusively so. Sure, I enjoy fresh air and sunshine and scenery, and at first even the invigoration of my body in motion. But some days it is really cold, and the wind stings my cheeks, maybe blows down my collar and chills me. Some days it is really hot, and the sunshine beats on me, and the humidity presses all around. It feels like I’m carrying a hundred extra pounds in the heat, and the sweat stings my eyes. A couple miles down the road my lungs may burn no matter what kind of day it is, and my knees may ache a little, and I just want to be done. But do you know what? The benefit for my heart, and my health, and my mind is always the same. It is good.

So God doles out experiences, situations, the content of our lives, and James tells us everything that comes from him is a gift, and a good one at that. Sometimes this is obvious. Friends, family, love, a little feast to celebrate some happy milestone, new things to make our lives a little easier–we practically feel God smiling on us.

Sometimes this seems impossible to believe. An illness you will carry to your grave, people who break your heart, persecution for what you believe– we don’t see that these serve any good purpose, so it is hard to see how James can call them “good” or classify them as gifts.

But that is what he does. And he says even more. “Every good and perfect gift is from above…” As is so often the case, there is more than one Greek word for “perfect.” The one James uses here emphasizes that God’s gifts are “complete.” He gives you the whole package, just the way it is supposed to be.

Maybe you have bought something that required assembly before, and what you got was good so far as it goes. But there were parts missing. It couldn’t work right because of the missing parts. The life content God is giving you has no parts missing. They are all there in every situation, doing what they are supposed to do. As his gifts, they are perfect, even if that is hard for us to see.

And that is mostly hard for us to see. I could give you a hundred stories at this point that attempt to find God’s good and perfect gifts in situations that seemed to have evil written all over them. Christian author and editor Marshall Shelley once wrote about the short life of his little girl who was born with much of her brain having failed to develop. She lingered through various health problems for about two years. On the last day of her life, he writes about the procession of people who visited her hospital room and confessed the impact that this wordless, sightless little girl had had upon their spiritual lives–people learning to deal with their own loss, wanting to reconcile broken relationships, and especially moved to renew their relationship with God. “I sat there amazed,” he writes. “In the presence of a dying child, a child who couldn’t speak, we had a small revival–people confessing sins and drawing nearer to God.”

Our God knows something about “good” and “perfect” not adding up to “pleasant” or “easy.” Jesus is his ultimate gift. Much of his earthly life and ministry were difficult. Everything about his trials, crucifixion, and death were painful. But from this sacrifice God brought us the greatest good, the greatest gift of all—our salvation from sin and death. He invites us to trust that every other gift is good and perfect as well, no matter how hard that might be to see.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12 “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

This is not an evaluation that my pride likes to hear. Though in theory we may admit that we don’t know everything, in practice we tend to forget it. We easily fall into making sweeping generalizations and drawing universal conclusions based upon the relatively thin slice of knowledge even the smartest of us possesses. Isn’t that why so much of so-called “modern science” is in such a mess?

Even our Bible knowledge is only partial knowledge of God and his will. It may be accurate knowledge. It may be useful knowledge. It may be saving knowledge. But it isn’t everything there is, only what God has chosen to reveal.

And don’t we struggle to comprehend the most fundamental truths God has revealed–Father, Son and Holy Spirit as One God; God becoming a man in the person of Jesus Christ; God’s promises of daily bread and protection when so much human experience seems to contradict them? “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

In its present, incomplete form this knowledge, too, is passing away. It is not like the greater knowledge of heaven to follow. Because this is hard for us to get, Paul supplies three illustrations to help us. First, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” Many of the things we knew as children were not false. They were just profoundly incomplete. That fragmentary information of our childhood isn’t always very useful for the way we view things and behave as an adult.

As a child I knew that my toys were my toys. Believe me, I knew the word “mine” well. As an adult, I still know what it means that something is mine. But I also know what it means to be a husband, a father, a friend, a neighbor, and a citizen. The concept of “mine” has gone through some profound changes, just as our present knowledge of God will become something greater and different in the life to come.

Second, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” Ancient mirrors were usually fuzzy compared to our own. Even when their clarity rivaled those we use, the image was still indirect and incomplete. Depth perception can be difficult to determine in a mirror. What’s the little phrase printed on the side-view mirror of your car, “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear”?  Peripheral vision is limited in a mirror. The picture it reflects is only so big. That’s why, after you check your car’s side view mirror, you still have to look in the blind spot or risk an accident. So our face to face view of God will clear up the fuzzy, hard to judge, and limited view we presently possess.

Third, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” I may think I know myself, but I don’t know me anything like my Lord does. I know almost nothing of my own life between 11 o’clock last night and 6:30 this morning. I don’t know what disease might be lurking deep within my body. I know I have hair, but I have no idea how many. I know my tastes in food or music, but I don’t know why mine are not exactly like everyone else’s. But my Lord knows all these things.

Can we even begin to fathom what it will be like to know the Lord so completely and so intimately as he now knows each of us? Doesn’t that point to a difference between what we know now, and what we will know then, that is so vast as to demand that our present knowledge will pass away, and give way to something unimaginably greater and better? And doesn’t that help us to regard our current spiritual gifts with a proper sense of humility?

Perhaps your spiritual resume isn’t filled with fantastic abilities and impressive knowledge. But in his grace, in his forgiveness, in his Son, God has loved you. He has poured that love into your hearts. And that love will go with you, both his and yours, into eternity, long ages after what we think we know has passed away.

Ezekiel 34:28-31“They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Let me share with you part of a remarkable e-mail I once received: “My name is Mr. Abdul Wade, the Auditor General of Standard Chartered Bank and Security Company, Medina, Dakar, Senegal (West Africa). There is a consignment containing the sum of 12 million, five hundred thousand United States Dollars. The said box was deposited by Mr. Mark Francis Roderick, an American who died on Sept. 11, 2001 in a plane crash. Going by the usual rules governing our operation, the box shall be handed over to the relevant government authorities as an unclaimed deposit. Details shall be made available to you as soon as I hear from you. Please kindly send me (your contact information). At the conclusion of the transaction you will be given 25% of the total fund. I shall furnish you with all the necessary information you need in this transaction.”

Apparently if I had helped the man get the money into the hands of the proper authorities, I would pocket a little over 3 million dollars! All my money problems would have been solved!

But you already recognize that this is something known as a “Nigerian Bank Scam.” The only person who would make any money from this deal is Mr. Abdul Wade (if that is his real name). The offer is, as they say, “too good to be true.”

Do God’s promises ever seem that way to you–too good to be true? Through Ezekiel God promised Israel a very special relationship with him. They would be his people, his sheep. He would be their God, be with them, and care for them like a shepherd. They could be sure they would have enough to live on. They could live in safety, because he claimed them as his own.

Today you and I are his people, the people God claims as his own. Like Old Testament Israel, we can take this promise for ourselves. Do you see why that is so important for us, that he claims us so? In war, it may be good to have mercenary soldiers on your side because it adds to your troop strength. But mercenaries can present a problem. There is only so much one will do for pay. Mercenaries have been known to flee the field of battle because they are willing to fight for money, but they aren’t willing to die for it.

But when men are fighting to protect their own children, their own families, their own communities, their own people–there you have a soldier faithful to the very end. Our God is not a mercenary we have hired to protect us. We are his family. He claims us as his sheep, his children, even his bride. He joined our family as a real human being. He died to save our family and spare our lives. He lives to assure us we live in safety, and all the more so when we finally reach the family home.

If something looks too good to be true, it probably is–except for the promises of God. Because he claims us, we can be sure of his providence, protection, and care. We are his sheep, and we can live securely.

Lamentations 3:24 “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’”

“Portion” is an important Old Testament word for understanding God’s loving relationship with his people. When forty years of wandering in the desert were over, and Joshua finally brought the people into the land we know as Israel, each family received its own piece of land. This was that family’s “portion,” a kind of gift and inheritance from God. Your house, your yard, your farm were to be constant reminders that you had a place in the Lord’s extended family.

One tribe didn’t receive the same kind of “portion” as everyone else. The families from the tribe of Levi received much less land. They got scattered towns and villages all across the country. But God had chosen them as temple workers. Every one of them had a job to do in supporting the worship and sacrifices. Because they had been given this special connection with his work and worship, the Lord told them that he himself was their “portion.” They had something more direct than a piece of property to remind them of their place in God’s family. More than anyone else they were immersed in the system of worship that kept God’s love and promises in front of their eyes. In the message communicated in the preaching and sacrifices, the Lord was giving them himself. He was their “portion.”

Of course, the other people also went to the temple. They heard the preaching and participated in the sacrifices, if not as much. The idea grew that God gave himself to the people of this nation in a special way, that he was the “portion” for all of them. For Jeremiah, remembering “the Lord is my portion” was an important reason for hope.

This is no less true for us. By describing himself as our portion, the Lord shows us that he is a self-giving God. He makes himself a “self-gift” to us. That finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. In telling the story of Jesus’ birth, the gospel writer Matthew reminds us that Jesus is “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” God was giving himself to us when Jesus came to earth. During his ministry Jesus taught his disciples about the reason he came. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He came to give us himself as the ransom that sets us free. He kept that promise months later when he let himself be arrested without cause, refused to defend himself at his trial, and allowed himself to be falsely convicted and crucified. His death on the cross, and all the many spiritual blessings flowing from it–forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, power for faith and a new life, admission to heaven, life that never ends– this is our portion. In Jesus God is giving us his very self.

Now Jesus promises to be with us always. He is here, even if we can’t see him. The Lord is my portion. He gives his people the Holy Spirit and he lives in our hearts by faith. The Lord is my portion. He comes to me in his word, he spends time with me when I receive his body and blood in his Supper. The Lord is my portion.

Someday he will welcome me into heaven. He will wipe the very last tear from my eyes with his own hands. He will sit me at his table, and we will feast forever and ever. The Lord will be my portion forever and ever.

The God Jeremiah worshiped, the God we know as Jesus, give us more than property, money, health, family, friends, a life to enjoy. He says, “Here. I am yours.” He gives himself. That is the chief part, the great blessing, of the portion he has given us.

Lamentations 22-23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Let’s talk for a few minutes about “the Lord’s great love.” Many, if not most, Christians are familiar with a distinctive kind of love described in the New Testament. The Greek word “agápe” often refers to God’s unconditional love: love not based on some attractiveness, some worthiness, in the person God loves. The Lord loves us because he chooses to love us, and our behavior cannot make him stop.

The Old Testament has its own word to describe unique characteristics of the Lord’s love for us. It is the word behind “great love” here, “chesed.” It brings together two things: God’s faithfulness and God’s mercy.

The Lord loves his people faithfully. Human love is like a roller coaster ride. It gets pushed all around by all the competing emotions we have going on inside us. How many books and movies don’t make use of that to keep the story interesting? It may make for good entertainment, but it doesn’t make for very happy experiences. Hearts get broken. People get mistreated, even abused. Human love is chaotic and unreliable.

 The Lord’s love is faithful. He doesn’t have good days and bad days. He is never confused about how he feels about us. He is the unchanging God. You remember that when the Lord revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush on Mt. Sinai, he referred to himself as the “I am.” He is never, “I was.” He is never the “I will be.” That would mean change. He is always, has always, and will always be the same as he is right now. And that applies to his love for us.

Our circumstances may change. They change every day. Our behavior may change. One day we are full of passion and zeal for God. We make all kinds of resolutions for improvement. We are going to be the parent, spouse, sibling, employee, Christian servant, godly role model we always said we would.

But we are like the weather. Give it a few minutes. It will change. We wake up on the wrong side of bed one day. We have a few things go the wrong way. People cross us and stick a pin in our balloon full of good intentions, and out come the claws. The stress and mistreatment put us on the warpath. Get out of the way before I run you over, and curse God for letting my day, or letting my life, be ruined!

Remember, Jeremiah says. Remember that you, that we, are not consumed. We have just poked our Lord in the eye. We have practically begged him, dared him, to come and dish out some pain and hurt. We have given him reason to throw in the towel and give up on us altogether. That’s not what happens. Why? “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed.” “His compassions never fail.” “Great is your faithfulness.”

I said that chesed brings together two things. One of them is this absolute faithfulness of God’s love. The other is his compassion. When we pray at the dinner table, “O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever,” that word “mercy” is chesed.

This says that God is moved to do something about our misery. Feeding us when we are hungry is just one small example. Practically the whole history of the nation of Israel before Jesus was God looking down from heaven at the misery of his people and being moved to action. He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. He brought them food and water in the desert. He rescued them from invading nations time after time. He kept the people who went into exile in Jeremiah’s day together as a nation, and seventy years later he brought them home. They were not consumed. They were spared as a result of the Lord’s compassion.

This compassion isn’t limited to nationwide events of historical significance. Your personal misery moves him, too. He may allow it. He may even initiate it. That doesn’t mean he likes it. As soon as it has served its purpose, he wants to remove it. He is not a sadistic God. He is compassionate and merciful. Together with his faithfulness, he gives us what we need to survive each day.