I heard something the other day that made me stop and think. Some fellow of some offbeat religion had decided that Jesus was going to come on some given date. One of my brethren immediately said, “Well, I guess we know one day Jesus won’t come.”
Now wait just a minute. I understand that concept comes from the passage that says no one knows the day of the Lord’s return except God, but God can choose any day he wants to choose, even one I choose, if I were of a mind to. Before long, someone is going to come up with the ridiculous notion that if everyone takes turns choosing a day, then we can keep the world from ever ending. No wonder the world makes fun of us when our thinking is as shallow as that.
Sometimes in an effort to explain the unexplainable we overstate our case. We talk about what God would and wouldn’t do, how He would and wouldn’t feel, what He just could not do if He were really a loving God, and I want to cringe just waiting for the lightning to strike. Behold God is great and we know him not, Job 36:26. God is so far beyond our comprehension we truly cannot understand Him. We need to be careful not to be so presumptuous as to declare what He will and will not do, how He does and does not feel. Yes, I can gauge His reactions to my life based upon how He reacted to others, but making unqualified statements about God’s will is pretty arrogant for the created to say about the Creator.
Sometimes we say things like, “I know we’ll understand some day.” Frankly, I don’t know any such thing. God never promised that I will understand everything, or even that I would be able to. Have you not known, have you not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary; there is no searching [no measure] of his understanding, Isa 40:28. It may be that once I live on a plain of spiritual existence, inhabiting eternity along with Him, that many things will become clear on their own, but God does not owe me an explanation for anything. We seem to have forgotten who holds the IOU.
This is what I know. God loves me. He sent his Son to save me. He has given me every spiritual blessing. I can talk to Him any time I choose, not just when I need help. But when I do need help, He will be there. Those things alone should amaze me and give me plenty of motivation to be faithful to Him.
He is the all-powerful Creator. He owes me nothing; I owe Him everything, including my obedience and loyalty in a life that is sometimes sad, sometimes grueling, sometimes problematic—and He is not required to explain why I must put up with those things—but a life that is also joyous because of the peace I have now and the promises He has given me for the future, even though I don’t deserve them. That is all I need to know.
For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite, Isa 57:15.
Dene Ward
Now wait just a minute. I understand that concept comes from the passage that says no one knows the day of the Lord’s return except God, but God can choose any day he wants to choose, even one I choose, if I were of a mind to. Before long, someone is going to come up with the ridiculous notion that if everyone takes turns choosing a day, then we can keep the world from ever ending. No wonder the world makes fun of us when our thinking is as shallow as that.
Sometimes in an effort to explain the unexplainable we overstate our case. We talk about what God would and wouldn’t do, how He would and wouldn’t feel, what He just could not do if He were really a loving God, and I want to cringe just waiting for the lightning to strike. Behold God is great and we know him not, Job 36:26. God is so far beyond our comprehension we truly cannot understand Him. We need to be careful not to be so presumptuous as to declare what He will and will not do, how He does and does not feel. Yes, I can gauge His reactions to my life based upon how He reacted to others, but making unqualified statements about God’s will is pretty arrogant for the created to say about the Creator.
Sometimes we say things like, “I know we’ll understand some day.” Frankly, I don’t know any such thing. God never promised that I will understand everything, or even that I would be able to. Have you not known, have you not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary; there is no searching [no measure] of his understanding, Isa 40:28. It may be that once I live on a plain of spiritual existence, inhabiting eternity along with Him, that many things will become clear on their own, but God does not owe me an explanation for anything. We seem to have forgotten who holds the IOU.
This is what I know. God loves me. He sent his Son to save me. He has given me every spiritual blessing. I can talk to Him any time I choose, not just when I need help. But when I do need help, He will be there. Those things alone should amaze me and give me plenty of motivation to be faithful to Him.
He is the all-powerful Creator. He owes me nothing; I owe Him everything, including my obedience and loyalty in a life that is sometimes sad, sometimes grueling, sometimes problematic—and He is not required to explain why I must put up with those things—but a life that is also joyous because of the peace I have now and the promises He has given me for the future, even though I don’t deserve them. That is all I need to know.
For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite, Isa 57:15.
Dene Ward
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