Isaiah 49:23
… those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
____________
I’ll bet you have been disappointed by God. I know I have been. So how can this passage be true? While I was trying to figure that out I realized I was focusing on only one side of the passage – the”will not be disappointed” side. Maybe the answer lies in the other half of the passage.
To never be disappointed everything that comes my way will have to be wonderful, at least as good and perhaps better than I was expecting. Of course, that is not the way life is. Everyone, believers and the lost, suffer hardship, grief, loss, shattered dreams. So how can this promise, from the very lips of God, be true? When I focused on the other end of the passage – “those who hope in me” – I made an amazing discovery. Continue reading →
Something about the book of Job always troubled me. God allowed all Job’s children to be killed. At the end of the book it says the Lord gave him 7 sons and 3 daughters – like that would make it all right.
“Lord,” I thought, “I can’t believe that fixed everything. If You gave me 10 more kids that wouldn’t make up for the loss of even one of mine.”
In my heart I heard the Lord say, “I never said it made it right. I just told you what I did for Job so he did not grow old alone. Do you think he has any complaints about how I treated Him?”
Duh! I felt pretty foolish. Of course Job has no complaints about God’s treatment of him. For thousands of years he has been happily reunited with his whole family – those children before and after his trial. He wouldn’t complain about a few years of pain compared to the indescribable joy he has experienced for these thousands of years – and will continue to experience throughout eternity.
Life can be brutal. Why do some sink while others soar? I thought of a fellow who whined to me for two hours about how he was tossing out his faith in God because of a relatively minor problem he was having. Then I thought of a heroic friend who daily battles pain due to lupus but declares the goodness of God in the midst of it and even ministers to others every day she is physically able to.
Why are some of us like straw men that any tiny puff of adversity scatters to the wind and others like eagles that the storms lift to new heights of glory?
Acts 1:20 [speaking of Judas and how he betrayed the Lord] “For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no one dwell in it’; and, ‘let another man take his office.’
______________________________ Someone asked, “If Adam’s sin was all part of God’s plan then his disobedience was actually fulfilling God’s will and therefore, not really sin.” Can it be sinful to do the will of God? In the same way here, it was prophesied that Judas would deny the Lord. This was part of God’s plan of salvation for mankind and yet Judas is condemned for carrying out God’s plan. Doesn’t that seem unjust?
The answer isn’t really that difficult to understand.
It should be obvious it is never God’s will that man sin. God doesn’t even tempt us to sin (James 1:13). But God understands our hearts. He knows and remembers what we are made of – dust. Through His foreknowledge of future events and His complete understanding of our hearts, it is not difficult for Him to foretell our actions. Just as a parent can often predict which child will obey and which will disobey, God, who knows the hearts of all men, was able to predict how Adam would respond and Judas’ behavior. The idea of God knowing the hearts of me is even referred to later in this same event when deciding who would take Judas’ place. “And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, … Acts 1:24.
They were praying, Lord, just as you knew the heart of Judas and were able to predict his failure, you know the heart of these candidates to take his place. In your foreknowledge, guide this selection process and help us choose one who will not fail.
Finally, does God’s foreknowledge mean he is responsible for the actions that He predicts.? Not anymore than the weatherman is responsible for the rain when he predicts it. Knowing what will happen, even if it is a certainty, is not causal. I know for certain the sun will rise tomorrow but certainly I cannot claim to have made it come up because I know that it will happen. No, man is still left to follow the nature of his own heart and reap the reward or consequences of following it.
____________________ Job 40:8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
Romans 9:19-21
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?'” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
WEEKEND THOUGHTS: A little departure from the normal comments on Scripture:
With a big pleasant smile the agent said, “Your flight is cancelled.” What?! She was so cheery I thought I misunderstood.
A volcano in Iceland was spewing ash so Jana and I weren’t going to be able to get from Athens to Berlin. Being stuck in Athens is a pretty good way to “suffer for Jesus” but we did have missionaries waiting for us in Berlin. I couldn’t help but think how tiny our world is and how very microscopic we humans are. One little mound of dirt and rock in Iceland was affecting an untold number of lives thousands of miles away. All our magnificent technology was disabled, grounded, till an unseen mountain decided to release it.
We don’t often get reminded of our frailty as humans. We usually avoid situations that remind us of it. It is easy to marvel at the great accomplishments of man. It is easy to think we are powerful, evolving into some super race of invincible creatures.
Then the earth “burps” and cities crumble in seconds due to the earthquake. A resulting tsunami rushes across the globe washing lives into eternity. A mountain erupts and air traffic is halted around the world. How tiny and frail we truly are in this vast universe of ours.
_________________________ Job 14:1-2
“Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
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Isaiah 49:23
