I just found a great chapter in Isaiah. (19)
So God comes to judge the Egyptians. He does all this stuff, making them turn on each other, and bringing their plans to nothing and making the wisdom of their wise men foolishness.
God all brings all this destruction and judgment down upon them and we would typically think that that is a bad thing. But its not!! The whole point of the chapter becomes clear in verses 21-22:
21 So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
God has done all the things in verses 1-18 so that he is able to call them to himself and save them! He strikes them with a plague WITH THE PURPOSE OF healing them and calling them to himself.
This seems wrong, but it's not. He is opening their eyes to the useless idols that can not save them by destroying those idols with the purpose of him showing himself to them so that they can understand HIS greatness and HIS glory. Then they will turn from their useless idols and turn to the true God who will save them. It’s like throwing away a kid's crib so that he can sleep in a big-boy bed. Yes, he may think that you are cruel because he liked the crib. But you know that the old things must pass away before the new better things can come.
Shouldn’t we WANT this to happen to us? Shouldn’t we desire that God blast away the useless trash in our life so that we can focus more on him? Shouldn’t we beg him to scrape away the rotting moldy flesh and material toys we cherish so that we can be more like Christ and more like God? YES!! Phil 2 says that we hold all things to be rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ!!
Yes, this is backwards from what the world thinks, but its God says is right. And in the end, are we seeking after worldly things or after Christ? Are we looking for the praise of men or of God Almighty?
1 comment:
I thin kit's time to update your "about me" section.
"What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles."
Romans 9:22-24
"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?"
Romans 2:4
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