romans-1

The Blessing of No

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

In my daily Bible reading, I ran across a bit of a strange event in the life of David. The text says that God was angry with David, so He incited David to to a count the number of people in Israel. Even Joab, the commander of David’s army who mostly looked out for himself, didn’t think this was a good idea. But why would God incite David to sin?

I think by this point, David has become a bit prideful and probably had the idea of taking a census so he could feed his own ego about how strong he was militarily. What God did was allow him to get what he wanted and to find out how bad that would turn out.

I think one of the hardest yet most worthwhile lessons we can ever learn as believers is that sometimes God not giving us what we ask for is a blessing rather than a punishment. He knows that if we got what we wanted when we were not ready for it, it would destroy us. Or He has something different and better in store for us that we would ask for if we knew what He knew.

Conversely, God often disciplines us by allowing us to have our own way for the sole purpose of seeing where our own desires lead us apart from God. One of the major points of Romans 1 was that one of the consequences of rejecting God was that they got everything they wanted and it only further alienated them from God, each other, and their very selves.

Sometimes, a NO from God is a blessing. He’s protecting you. He knows that you’re not asking from a place of faith but of lustful desire or a thirst for power or selfish ambition. He also knows that ultimately He can’t give you peace or security apart from Himself because He is our peace and security. He is the ultimate fulfillment of every longing and desire, even though we may not see it at the time.

Thank God for every time He says no or not yet. Trust that what He has for you is better. Believe and live in the knowledge that He is enough. Seek Him and His kingdom first above all else and everything else will fall into place.

Knowing God

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“We know God but as men born blind know the fire: they know that there is such as thing as fire, for they feel it warm them, but what it is they know not. So, that there is a God we know, but what He is we know little, and indeed we can never search Him out to perfection; a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite” (Thomas Manton).

As I grow older, I become increasingly thankful that God has made Himself known. I realize more and more that apart from that revelation, I could never hope to know about God, much less know Him.

Romans 1 says that there is enough evidence in nature to prove there is a God. Romans 1 also says that because of sin, our minds are corrupted to the point where we can’t seek after God unless He seeks after us first. Until God shines a light on our hearts, we remain in the dark.

I love the idea that in heaven, we will never fully exhaust all there is to know about God. That’s what will keep our worship from becoming dull (plus having the experience of being in the presence of the living God).

Every time we worship God in heaven, He reveals another aspect of His character. Because God is infinite, there is no end to the joy of learning new things about God. After each time, our worship grows deeper and fuller and richer.

Here on earth, we’re still learning as well. Often because of the old sin nature that’s still within us, we have to unlearn some bad thinking about God in order to be able to fully grasp who He is. But God never tires of us or grows impatient with us or decides that we aren’t worth the effort anymore.

That should make Sunday worship a little sweeter. That hopefully will help you to sing a little louder and live a little bolder as you and I draw closer and closer to our faith one day being made sight.