God's Questions to Us.

Over the years of reading the Bible, I’ve come to appreciate the questions God has asked people. His questions are always deep with meaning and sometimes a call to repentance. I like that he asks people to explain themselves to him. The questions make them either make excuses or say they are sorry.

When man first sinned, God gave him the chance to explain himself. The Bible says, “Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”  and later, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"   Genesis 3:9

Instead of repenting, Adam and Eve blamed each other and the serpent. But God was merciful to them. The next person God questioned was Cain.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"   Genesis 4:9

God gave Cain a chance to tell him what he had done and repent. He didn’t, in fact, he was flippant about it. This was the first human death and it was a murder. God gave him a punishment, but when Cain complained about it, God helped him.

Moses didn’t want to go back to Egypt to bring God’s people out of slavery. He made many excuses, and one of them was that he was not an eloquent speaker. God wouldn’t accept any of his excuses and asked him this:

Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?   Exodus 4:11  God is telling him to trust him because he is the mighty God who can do anything.

Balaam was a prophet of God. But as Israel was coming into the promised land, King Balak of Midian, asked him to come and curse the Israelites. He was afraid of them because he knew they were coming to take his land. When the messengers came to ask Balaam to do this he said he would ask God what to do. God told him, “No.”  The men went and told the king his answer, but he sent them again with more money. Balaam told them to stay another night and he would ask again.

And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”   Numbers 22:9

Balaam explained and God gave an answer Balaam didn’t like. He ended up chasing the messengers and going to King Balak. His heart had become greedy.

Job, the man of God who suffered the loss of all things, questioned God. He didn’t understand why God was letting all these terrible things happen to him. God’s question is a stark one.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Job 38:4

This was a question to make Job think about whom he was questioning. God is Almighty, all-knowing, all-seeing. Can we humans make a flower out of nothing? No. But God can. Look at the vastness of the universe. Look at what God can do and what he has made. Study the human body and how it works and you will be in awe.

We may not like this question and answer of God’s; but that’s too bad. Lol.

Jonah was the prophet God sent to the wicked city of Ninevah. They were a brutal nation, killing thousands of people to take their lands. God told Jonah to go there and tell them he was going to destroy them. Jonah didn’t want to and ran away, but later he went since God wouldn’t let him get away with that.

The people of Ninevah repented! How wonderful! Jonah should have been happy, but he wasn’t. He probably hated these people and also thought he might be considered a false prophet. God asked him a question to teach him compassion:

“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left (this means children), and also much cattle?”  Jonah 4:11

Elijah was one of the greatest prophets in the Bible. But he ran away in fear when Queen Jezebel threatened him with death. He was in the wilderness and tired and asked God to take his life. Instead, God sent an angel to give him food, water and comfort. Elijah was wandering in the wilderness for 40 days.

There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”   1 Kings 19:9  I love this question. Elijah told God about all his troubles. But God told him he still had many people in Israel who still worshiped him. He told Elijah to go back, and he did. Eventually, he was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. Good old Elijah.

These are some of God’s questions in the Old Testament. I’m going to continue next post about the questions Jesus asked of People.

A Letter.

Heather with her niece.

Awhile ago, I posted something about not getting enough sleep and waking up startled. I don't know if anyone has been praying for me, but ever since that post I have been sleeping deeply and feeling good when I wake up. So, thank you and thank God.

My sister has a girlfriend who has been diagnosed with incurable cancer. Her name is Heather and we all love her as part of our family. Heather is a believer in God, but she was overcome with so many feelings when the doctors gave her this news. A few days ago, I received a letter from her and she told me I could share it here.

"So, I've come to the conclusion that satan is attacking me. He is killing me with cancer. I have told him to do his best. It doesn't matter what he does with this body, he will never get my soul. He is trying to get me to turn from God. He's trying to get me to to get angry and question God. He is trying to get me to turn from God. It isn't going to happen. I say let him do his worse. If I die, then I will be with God and my family who has died before me. My mom had 2 girls who died before I was born, so I will get to meet my sisters. I will get to see my great granny, my aunt Nell and my aunt Betty Jean again. Those 3 women were 3 women I loved more then anything. My cousin had an 11 month old son, Connor, who died. I helped raise him. I will get to see him again. That has made me pretty excited actually. If I don't die, then God has won the battle because satan has lost his grip. Either way I win. What do you think about that?"

Love you,
Heather

I told her I think God and the angels are rejoicing. It is a wonderful thing for a person to accept God's will in their lives and to keep on loving him no matter what happens. This is the path to peace and happiness. This is what Job, Joseph and Daniel did.

We are praying for healing, and God may heal her, we are waiting to see. Meanwhile, we are all trusting God to be with us.

Everything is Beautiful.

Photo by: Linschoten pinx; Nicolaas Verkolje fec et exc

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. 
He has also set eternity in the human heart; 
yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."  Ecclesiastes 3:11

For a believer in God, everything can be beautiful. No matter what our situation, he is there and makes it beautiful. 

 "Life exhibits a changing succession of weeping alternating with laughing, war with peace, and so forth. For each of these God has appointed its time or season, and in its season each is good. But man does not recognise this; for God has put in his heart an expectation and longing for abiding continuance of the same, and so he fails to understand the work which God does in the world."
Ellicot's Commentary

The world doesn't understand how God can make everything beautiful. There is so much evil in the world; how can God make it beautiful? 

Joseph was hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, falsely accused of rape, sent to prison. How could God bring beauty out of that?

"But Joseph replied to his brothers, "Don't be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."  Genesis 50:19,20

Most of us don't understand why bad things happen to us or other people. Apparently, we don't have to understand. When Job complained bitterly to God about his life, God didn't come and explain to him why it was happening. He did however say this, "Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding." Job 38:2-4 God was saying he wasn't a mere man, he was the God of all creation and he knows what he is doing.

"Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?"   Job 40:7,8

What was the beauty that came out of Job and Joseph's suffering?  It was a witness to the world, the angels and the universe that a man can stay true to believing in God even when he has terrible suffering. Is this important? Yes, very important, because Satan is not just an accuser of the brothers and sisters in the church, he is an accuser of God. He tells us God is cruel to let us suffer, and many believe it. I used to believe it myself. He doesn't want us to know it was he himself who brought suffering to this world and is the prince and god of this world. Humans chose Satan, and because of freedom of choice, God must give Satan some freedom to rule this world. Jesus bought us back with his death. We now have a choice to choose Evil or Good. We can choose who will rule over us.

When Christians were being burned at the stake by the many thousands during the dark ages, the Christians said, "Our blood is seed." They said this because as they suffered from persecution, other people saw it and were impressed by their courage and beliefs. The more believers died, the more were converted. God did bring something beautiful out of being burned alive, out of being thrown in prison, out of losing all your children. 

I read recently about a man who was with some Christians when ISIS took over a city. ISIS soldiers told the Christians they must renounce Christ or they would lose their heads. The Christians said they would not renounce Christ. A man who was not a Christian was standing by watching. He walked over and said, "I am also a Christian." He became a Christian in a moment of time when he saw what the Christians were doing. He probably knew about Christ; but now he wanted Christ." They were all beheaded. 

God spoke to my heart once and said, "You have need of endurance." Yes, I did. I wanted out of this ugly world. But after months of praying about this I have come to see my life as beautiful. It was the pain in my life that led me to God. Without it, I would have gone my merry way being happy but hurting others; thinking only of myself and wanting my own way all the time. In my opinion, that is what a life without God looks like.

"Paul said,  "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  2 Corinthians 12:7-10

I never thought I could delight in my weaknesses and hardships. But I do delight in them now because when I realize how weak I am, it is then I am strong.