Psalm 33:12-22
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Suppose.
That the Holy Spirit directed you to write down about God dividing the sea depths in circles. So you did. And you decided that was 'pretty'. Later, people would find God was directing Good News about His creation.
Suppose.
You were given an island. To develop. To put your name upon. And your children would look at your work to see how you did for them. And their children's children.
Would you pick people with lots of gods. Image worshipers. People who say "Goddamn" a lot. Or "Jesus Christ". People who don't ever go to Church and actually prefer to do something profane on Sunday. People who dislike their mother and father. Murderers. Adulterers. Thieves. Liars. Coveters. Fornicators. Drunkards. Haters. Swindlers. Haughty looks. Plotters. Evil cravers. Creators of dissension. People who love money. Unclean people. Lasciviousness. Sorcerers. Emulators posers. Outbursts of wrath. Contentions. Selfish Ambitions. Haters. Heretics. And such like.
It's the good man test. How did you do?
Would your island have people with self-plucked out eyes. Cut off arms? Because thinkers of sin - according to Jesus - are sinners.
Looks like - if you don't want to live alone - forgiveness and discernment needs to occur. God says guard your heart and flee from - sexual sin.
Suppose.
You were the Creator of the Universe. Father God Almighty.
And you got tired of having Aaron come over and make blood mess in Your House.
You lived in a rust house because it did hide the nasty stains.
And your rust house was called "Sheol" The Old Testament teaches life after death, and all people go a place of conscious existence called Sheol. The wicked were there (Psalm 9:17; 31:17; 49:14; Isaiah 5:14), and so were the righteous (Genesis 37:35; Job 14:13; Psalm 6:5;16:10; 88:3; Isaiah 38:10). An equivalent of Sheol is Hades.
And it's all rather blah. Perhaps you'd want distinction and a stellar place.Filled with Light.
Jesus created a New Heaven. And a new earth.
We could expand on this, but mostly we instinctively know this. Psalm 11 says God wants us to prove our make up to Him.
Psalm 11:4
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.
Genesis 18:23
Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?"
Job 23:10
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
James was the brother of Jesus Christ
James 1:12
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Why would we deliberately want to give our Hero Jesus a broom to clean up our deliberate messes? Or treat Him as a waiter with our prayer lists? Or as a distant unloving father begging for his favor?
Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in Him,
because we trust in His Holy Name.
Let Your steadfast Love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in You.
Suppose.
Being surrounded with people who seek Him. Worth the hassle? God says so in the New Testament. And the people arguing, debating, learning in the New Testament agree. Worth the way, the truth, the life.
Unsuppose.
Because God tells us to work out our own lives. Our own salvation. And gives us that little project which causes some consternation for our own selves.
Genesis tells us we want to decide. Instead God is God. Thank God. Not even Bruce Almighty did a great job of being God. We cannot find the quote that lets us help God do Salvation. That is too vast a job. We need God to be God and rest on His mercy in Jesus Christ. Our concerns for each other and ourselves are placed in the hands of One who would die for us. We can trust God.
1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.
Suppose
How Big is God?
Acts 27:28
In Him we live, move and have our dwelling.
He is that Large.
He paid the admission price. No one had to tell Jesus what was in the hearts of mankind. His Mission Statement? To save the world in Jesus Christ.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
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