The joy of mortifying...

I'm still thinking about joy.  For a long time I always confused joy in the Lord with some kind of happiness that I could never put my finger on; like some feeling inside of me; but joy is more than a feeling of being happy; it is more like being satisfied, totally satisfied in God.  Jesus says in John 15:11  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

What things is He referring to?  The things He just said starting in verse 1, that He is the true vine and we are His branches; that the Father is the husbandman who is pruning the branches to bear more fruit, that we are clean by the words He has spoken, and that we will bear fruit; John 15:5-11  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  (6)  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.  (7)  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  (8)  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.  (9)  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.  (10)  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.  (11)  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

This is Christ's joy, that He abides in the Father's love and kept His commandments in order that we can abide in Him and bear fruit, and that the Father is glorified in this fruit producing process; that is what I see right there in those verses.  When I think about these branches in the vine, they are just there, connected to the vine, producing, bearing fruit; and they are bearing fruit, much fruit, because they are under the care of the Husbandman who prunes them and keeps them producing fruit, the ones without fruit are cut off and thrown into the fire.  The Father is in total control of the production, as is the Holy Spirit:  Gal 5:22-26  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  (23)  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  (24)  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  (25)  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  (26)  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

So in a sense I see this beautiful picture of the trinity involved in the process; Christ is the vine, we are the branches, the Father is the gardener, the Holy Spirit is the life flowing through the vine producing the fruit, like the sap of the vine.  The only thing external to us is the fruit itself in this sense, it is what can be seen of this life that is flowing through the branches; the branches remain attached to the vine because they are producing fruit and they are being pruned.

Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit, and it is intimately related to the rest of itself, in this case to love, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control; that is why Jesus says 'if you abide in my me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you', because abiding in Him is abiding in His words, which will always produce love, joy, peace, etc.  It is the natural progression of a vine that is being taken care of, and it is always the result of genuine salvation by grace through faith.

So this joy is always the result of being saved and understanding what that means; this is what really satisfies the soul in all its desires; anything that is not from this fruit of the Spirit is obviously from the flesh, as Paul says in Galatians, the works of the flesh: Gal 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,  (20)  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,  (21)  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Do you see the clear distinction?  The works of the flesh are in direct opposition to the fruit of the Spirit, it is obvious right?  There is no joy in any of those works, there can never be because Joy is of divine origin, and works are of human origin, and anything that is of human origin is totally opposed to what is divine, or of God, and it can never be in subjection to God, it is an impossibility according to Paul in Romans 8.  But "you", Paul says, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit is in you.

Rom 8:9-14  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.  (10)  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  (11)  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.  (12)  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  (13)  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  (14)  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

As you can see, and as I can see, it all depends on the fact that the Spirit dwells in us; and we can know this by the very testimony that is being borne in us who believe; our spirits and The Spirit bear witness inside of us that we are children of God, and you will be able to see this in a palpable way by the fruit that you are bearing and that, in fact, everyone can see.  Are you displaying the fruit of the Spirit in your life?  Are you patient, and loving, and meek, and do you have faith, and gentleness and goodness, and are you exercising self control?  Then you you should also have joy because of this, right?

I'm not talking about perfection, but if you really look at your life and you see these qualities in it, even if you are not displaying them all at the same time all the time, they are proof that you are a real believer, that you are a real branch, and that these things that you can see being produced in you are the fruit that did not come from you but from God Himself working in you through His Spirit.  This is reason for great joy in your life.  This is the joy Jesus is talking about; the joy of God doing what only He can do.

That is why I consider that it is useless to exert myself to do anything for God based on my own thinking; it is a completely futile activity to be engaged in, because apart from Him I can do nothing.  I cannot have self control apart from God producing it in me; I cannot be loving apart from God loving through me, I cannot be patient and meek apart from God working that in me, I cannot be joyful apart from God abiding in me; and still Paul says: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

This is the ever present side of human responsibility, even in the face of God's sovereignty.  God is working all the time, but we must also apply ourselves to the effort He is providing; in other words, the devil will not flee from me if I don't resist him; if I want to be patient, I must exercise self control; in order to advance in holiness and righteousness I must fight sin and reject it, and withstand temptation, all by the grace that God provides, but I must still do it.  Paul puts it like this: 1Cor.15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 

Do you see it?  He labored, or worked, more abundantly than they all, yet not he but the grace that was with him; that is what I was saying, this is the human effort always present in this sanctification process.  This is why he says what I already quoted above, I'll quote it again: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

You see, I have to mortify the deeds of the body, and to mortify means to kill the deeds of the body, or as he says somewhere else, the works of the flesh; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.  And 'such like' means any other sin, period.

It is very simple, if I'm getting drunk and living in adultery or fornication, I'm disobeying what God has told me to do, which is to abstain from sexual immorality and to not get drunk; If I am not exercising self control in the areas that God has already pointed out in my life in which I should be exercising self control, obviously this is something that requires more attention and effort on my part, even though God has already given me victory over some things, I still must fight for controlling other behaviours or ways of thinking that I know are in the way of true fellowship with God, it is obvious that when I'm angry or resentful I cannot have fellowship with God; He still loves me, He remains the same, always loving, and gracious, and merciful, but the wrath of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God, said James; it is clear why I cannot have fellowship with God that way, and there can be no joy in that.

John 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 

If I'm not killing the deeds of the body, I don't care how much I say, or think, I love Jesus,  I really don't, which makes me not only an idolater but also a liar and a hypocrite; and the same applies to the rest of the list.  I'm not the one making this up, this is what the bible clearly says; and if I live my life this way, I cannot see the kingdom of God, it is impossible, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.  Jesus said, John 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.  It takes that we hate this life to have eternal life; that is what loving God is, because He is the only one who can satisfy the longing of the heart for freedom in true holiness. 

Killing the desires of the flesh and of the mind is the work that I must do; the Lord grants His grace so that I can do it; He has also provided me with everything that I need to do it: 2Pe 1:3-4  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  (4)  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Lord has given me, by divine power, everything I need to live in a godly way, to the best of my ability, which accords with the grace of God that is always present to assist me; and this is possible through the knowledge of God who has called me to glory and virtue; it is through this knowledge and the promises it contains, by which we partake of His divine nature, which can never fail to achieve what God wants; this is the reason we can escape the corruption of this world, and of this flesh that is always lusting for something else other than God.

To me the clear path to kill the desires of the flesh and of the mind, is by operating in the knowledge of God's word; the more I read and think about what God desires in me, the more I want it; the knowledge of God always brings with it the knowledge of myself; the more I see how holy God really is, the more I see how depraved is my fleshly mind, which makes me run faster towards the cross of Jesus to find refuge from my own shame.  The better knowledge of Jesus the better knowledge of who I really am and how much I need Him; without Him I can do nothing.  There is nothing more pernicious and nocive than the self exaltation to which I am so prone to fall in; if I didn't know myself the way I do, I would naturally think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread; it is even funny to think that we can be cool in our own brains when in reality we are nothing but worms, at least I am.

Anyway, I kind of lost track of where I was going, and it doesn't surprise me.....Joy..that's what I was talking about.  This is what joy is, satisfaction in God for my existence, regardless of the circumstances that are present in my life, the belief that God created me for His glory, and even though I was born into sin and I still do battle with it, God rescued me from the darkness because He had so determined before the foundation of the world, to make me holy and blameless in His Son who died for my sins and who purchased me with His blood, and that nothing can separate me from His love; forever; this is exceeding joy, that Jesus will present me faultless before God, and that I will enjoy God forever in perfect union with Him and His people.  Imagine that, bliss eternal, in the presence of God; doesn't it fill your heart with joy to think of this as true for you?  It does mine, and I can't wait.

Everybody is going through something at one point or another, I'm talking about true believers, we are all dealing with various diseases or trying experiences; for some of us some of those things are pretty hard, for some of us what others are going through is always worse than what we are experiencing; but one thing that we can all experience is the joy of knowing God and knowing where we came from and where we are going;  and knowing we have the greatest treasure in the universe, God Himself.

Have a nice one....

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Rejoice in the Lord...

I read a book called "the dark night of the soul" a long time ago, I think it was written by an old monk in the 14 or 1500's; it was about this man's journey, or quest, for total union with what he called 'divine love', the love of God.  Back then I remember thinking how I have always read about people who had this amazing fellowship with God, I still think about it and I want it.

I think and I dream of not having this flesh and this mind, or better said, I yearn to have total freedom from the desires of the heart and the thoughts of the mind that are opposed to what God desires.  There is in me a deep desire to please God and to obey Him and do what His word says; this is deep inside my heart, deep where I cannot see, in the spirit, there is something like a fountain that wants to burst out, just like Jesus said in John.  I truly want to be holy, and righteous, and want to walk in humility with God, to do justice and have mercy.

Does this sound strange to you? It does to me, because I know that is something that I didn't want before when I was in the darkness; this desire has been there for a long time, since I became a believer in Christ.  The thing about it is that it has been growing for years, the more time goes by, the more I want it; and I know that it will be fulfilled one day, as Jesus promised.

The bible says this is what happens to a man when God gives him life.  This desire for holiness and righteousness can only come to anyone by the Spirit of God, it is a divine work, just like regeneration; we all know what it is called, it is called sanctification; this is what the Holy Spirit does in the life of all believers, and this is a fact, not only does the bible affirm this but experience confirms it.  This is a very easy way to find out if you are a real believer; that is what First John is telling me.  Anything good in us can only come from God Himself since there is nothing in us that desires to please God, we don't really want what God wants by nature, but God changes that sooner or later and I am glad He does.

The reasons I am saying all this is because if you are a real believer, you will find yourself desiring the same thing I desire, which is total freedom from the flesh and the mind in order to fellowship with God in His terms.  This is what glorifying God is all about.  While you do whatever you do, whether eating or drinking, or anything else that we do, we glorify God because of this new nature that He has given us by His Spirit.  And also I'm saying this because this is a very real reason to rejoice in this world, and I want you to rejoice if you want the same thing, because it points to Christ, it is His gift to us.  Delight yourself in the Lord, says David, (or rejoice in Him) and He will give you the desires of your heart; which I have always interpreted this way; His desires become yours.

I think we can find a lot of joy, what Peter calls joy inexpressible, thinking about this alone.  For me joy has always been related to what I am thinking about, it has always been like that and it will always be like that; no wonder the bible, and therefore God, constantly say to watch you heart and to control your thinking, in the words of Paul, I must put my mind above, where Christ is.  I think it is awesome that God gave us instructions in how to think, I have never read any other book like the word of God, it is pure truth.  It is awesome to me.

I am writing to encourage you; God says our labor is not in vain and one day we will reap if we don't lose heart; He calls it a labor of love; this is our labor of love, our life and our giving ourselves to others; that is what it's all about, really; Jesus is clear about this.  What else can picking up a cross to follow Him be but a labor of love?  Think about it and you will agree with me, I think.

Our lives are about dying to ourselves, according to Him, that is what the cross is for, about dying to this world and following Him; so everytime you go to work, you are dying to yourself, every time you love someone unlovable you die to yourself, every time you consider others better than yourself you die to yourself, every time you present yourself as a living sacrifice you die some more, every time you renew your mind with His word, every time you pray, every time you want to have fellowship with His people, every time you miss that fellowship, every time God comes into your thinking during the day, and so on and so forth, you are really dying to yourself; all these things are completely opposed to what the natural mind and heart desire, obviously all these are the work of God in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure, which has to be more of Him and less of you; this is what sanctification is; you shall be filled, and comforted, and satisfied, and you shall see God at the end.

All the heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 believed that what God promised He would fulfill, that is what made them heroes, they lived their lives by their faith in God; and the most beautiful thing about that is not only that you also believe, just like them, but that this faith belongs to Jesus in the first place; He is the one giving it to us and keeping us through it.

This kabod, this doxa that I mentioned before in another post, this glory, is feeling the weight and thinking about the splendor of the King, clothed in majesty, as the song says; it transcends all senses, it goes beyond mere thoughts and imagination, it springs up from the Spirit and reaches to the very heart of God in us; the first question and answer in the Westminster catechism brings it all down to earth:  Q. What is the chief end of man?  A. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

This is the main purpose of our lives, to glorify God, there is no other reason I can see for our existence.  It is even the purpose for all trials and difficulties, it is the purpose for which we breathe and our hearts keep on pumping all that blood through our veins, it is the purpose for our ability to think and reason; how can we miss it or deny that it is true?  And if it is true, how can we so easily forget it or ignore it?  May it never be so for you and I.

So here we are, with this desire for fellowship with our Creator, with this desire for holiness, with this thirst and hunger for righteousness, and in my case, I miss it by complaining about my circumstances, by placing my eyes on things that do not satisfy me, many times unwillingly, many times on purpose or just by plain laziness, I admit it; but I can still rejoice that I am not left to my own devices or the imaginations of my heart, and I can surely enjoy fellowship with my God if I seek Him with all of my heart, because it is in the seeking Him that the joy of fellowship is often found, and He promised that I will find Him; I know this because it is when I dive deep in the pool of His word that I feel the most satisfied.  Perhaps it is a different matter for you, but I doubt it because we are all the same, we are all walking the same path, and we all have the same flesh to deal with.

It is obvious to me that when Paul says 'rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice'; it is a command to rejoice in God, it is plain and simple, so it is up to me to rejoice in the Lord; this is a matter of choice for me, why else would he say that?  Why would David say to delight yourself in the Lord and He would give us the desires of our hearts? For me this is the way to satisfaction of the soul, and it starts with my thinking, it always does, and it always will start there.

Rejoice my child, and my brother and my sister, for you are destined for glory, you cannot fail to get there because God is the one in control of that process, He began the good work and He will be faithful to complete it; no matter how many times you think you are defeated by the world and your flesh, and the devil, you cannot fail to achieve your glorious destiny for Christ' sake; we are the bride of Christ and He will surely have a marriage supper one day, do you see what God is doing and has done?  Think about it, and think about it some more, it glorifies God because you trust Him and believe that He will fulfill what He has promised to do.

Psa 37:1-11  A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.  (2)  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.  (3)  Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.  (4)  Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  (5)  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  (6)  And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.  (7)  Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  (8)  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.  (9)  For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.  (10)  For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.  (11)  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Of faith and glory....

It is 80 degrees here right now, 98% humidity, it is 12:34 am and I can't sleep, my neck hurts, my back hurts, my legs are numb, and to finish it off, I have 75 dollars left to survive until the end of the month; that is the way the story goes, day after day, night after night.  I pray to God for patience, I read my bible for comfort, I read books to learn, I study to understand, I meditate on the words I read so I can write them on my heart, it's all Greek to me, but I remember what Jesus said: John 16:33  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

Paul says in Romans that we are more than conquerors, more than overcomers: Rom 8:35-39  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  (36)  As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."  (37)  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  (38)  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  (39)  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And John says: 1Jn 5:1-5  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.  (2)  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.  (3)  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.  (4)  For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.  (5)  Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

According to what I just quoted above, I have overcome the world through faith, this is my victory, God's victory; even though sufferings are present every day of my life, none of them, not a single trial, or anything else for that matter, can ever separate me from the love of God in Jesus; and this is the very reason I love those who have been born from God, because we all have overcome the world through this faith; the faith that God gave us to believe that it is a reality that even though we suffer in this world, the world has nothing in us.  I find this very comforting, and at the same time fascinating.  I understand it, but I don't, if that makes any sense.

For the last 25 years I have only had a few periods of rest from trials and tribulation; some of those times of trouble have been extremely hard to bear; many times I have felt like Job in many ways, probably not in the same degree of suffering since I haven't lost my children yet, but God has placed me deep in the furnace of affliction and turned up the heat; many times I have been at the brink of going back to the world and just give free reign to my flesh when I see the futility of my life, but I can't do it, there is nothing in me that wants or desires that to happen, so I remember that God is keeping me through this faith He gave me, I know there in nothing better than walking with Christ.

It is very clear to me what is happening: 1Peter 1:3-9  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,  (5)  who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (6)  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,  (7)  so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  (8)  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,  (9)  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The bible is replete with similar statements, for example James says the same thing in the first chapter of his letter; and I think hard about it, very often, this faith must be tested, or better yet purified like gold, being much more valuable than gold, which means that in this world there is nothing of more value than my faith in God because it will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  That is an awe inspiring thought.

The result of the trials is always a deeper desire for obedience, righteousness and holiness, and a very deep gratitude for what God has done for me; it is almost every day that I thank Him for sustaining me the way He does, I don't deserve this kind of treatment, I don't deserve this grace and mercy, this incomprehensible love, I don't get it, all I can do is thank God for it and adore Him with all of my being.

For me, all the reading, and the studying, and meditating; all the doctrine and the knowledge, and everything else that I have learned boils down to a simple fact, God loves me for His glory.  Everything He gives me and what He does not give me, all the trials, and all the pain, all the sleepless nights, all the pain, all the discomfort, all the mental anguish that I can't change sometimes, all my worries, my plans and dreams, my failures as a man, all my character defects, and even all the sin that so easily besets me at times, it is all for His glory and nothing else.

There is nothing else that matters but the glory of God, that is what the bible constantly affirms, so much so that Paul reduces it to the most simple and necessary acts in life, eating and drinking: 1Cor. 10:31  So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Have you ever consider what that means?  I have, and it boggles my mind.  I think I get it, and I don't get it, like so many other things in the bible.  How do you eat or drink, or whatever you do for the glory of God?  What does it mean to give God glory?  What is glory?

According to the dictionary glory is: very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown.  In the old testament there are various words that are used for glory, but the main one is H3519 (the numbers are the Strong's concordance numbers) which is Kabod, כּבד    כּבוד, kâbôd  kâbôd, kaw-bode', From H3513; properly weight; but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness: - glorious (-ly), glory, honour (-able).
What is H3513?  כּבד    כּבד, kâbad  kâbêd, kaw-bad, kaw-bade'
A primitive root; to be heavy, that is, in a bad sense (burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable); causatively to make weighty (in the same two senses): - abounding with, more grievously afflict, boast, be chargeable, X be dim, glorify, be (make) glorious (things), glory, (very) great, be grievous, harden, be (make) heavy, be heavier, lay heavily, (bring to, come to, do, get, be had in) honour (self), (be) honourable (man), lade, X more be laid, make self many, nobles, prevail, promote (to honour), be rich, be (go) sore, stop.

In the Greek it is : G1391 δόξα, doxa, dox'-ah, From the base of G1380; glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literally or figuratively, objectively or subjectively): - dignity, glory (-ious), honour, praise, worship.

What is the base G1380?  It is: δοκέω, dokeō, dok-eh'-o
A prolonged form of a primary verb δόκω dokō (used only as an alternate in certain tenses; compare the base of G1166); of the same meaning; to think; by implication to seem (truthfully or uncertainly): - be accounted, (of own) please (-ure), be of reputation, seem (good), suppose, think, trow.

Of course, all the possible meanings of the words in the original languages are determined by the context in which the word is being used, but you already knew that.  Is all this necessary to understand the meaning of glory?  Do you have to know Greek and Hebrew to get what it means?  Not really, just let the teachers worry about those things man, why do you have to make everything so complicated?  Good grief.

I don't have to know Greek or Hebrew to understand my bible, that's for sure, but how do you really know what it means to give God glory when you eat and drink, or whatever you do?  What is your first thought?  To make God look good?  To praise Him and honor Him?  Yeah, that would be my first thought; but as you can clearly see, the meaning is a lot deeper than that, don't you agree?

In other words, when I don't get what really means to give God glory when I eat, then I have to know what glory is, or what it is to give glory to God in the first place, if I don't know that, then the phrase, or the command in this case, just sounds pretty and spiritual but I end up having no idea how to do it; it just ends up in a nice cliche that I can blurt out at church and impress people because I memorized 1 Corinthians 10:31, or 13, or whatever the number is, and at the end I remain in my ignorance and the imaginations of my heart, so when I sit down to eat I have no idea how to give glory to God in my eating because I have no idea what it really means to do it; and the worse thing about it is that God is not really glorified, or is He?

But what do I know?  I was just trying to give glory to God for my afflictions in the first place, and here I am getting into a dissertation about what the Greek and Hebrew words mean.  I can't help it dude.  Maybe in God's wisdom and providence He deemed it necessary for me to get into all this because I have to make you trip out about my musings, and perhaps irritate you in the process, which is an evil thing to do, but only He knows how to bring good out of evil.

I am sure that if you carefully consider those definitions above, you will clearly see that to give glory to God means much more than what we might initially think; I will leave it up to you to come to your own conclusions; as for me, I am in pain and I'm going to bed soon, even if I can't sleep, maybe a cold shower will help freeze my brain and my thoughts.  The day has ended, and I have the victory through this faith God gave me, that glorifies God, that is the bottom line.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Providence 4....

I am here quoting Calvin again for your reading pleasure and for God's glory.  I told you I would do it and I am doing it, and I am doing it because I think that this will be useful to you in your struggles through this life.  It is somewhat surprising that after all these years and all these trials I still tend to freak out when some new difficulty appears in front of me, and I have to be constantly reminded that God reigns over all things, people and events.  The doctrine of divine providence, or that God reigns absolute in this universe, is a most useful doctrine, at least to me it is.  It is like a mighty rock that I can plant my feet on and trust that it will never give up, break, or dissolve, it might appear to shake sometimes, but it is mostly my legs that are shaking not the rock itself.

Like I said before, I think Calvin was brilliant, and he is for sure a gift from God to me, in the same way as many other godly men who have left their writings behind for us to be fed with; we are standing on the shoulders of giants of the faith, many of whom have even bled and died defending the truth; I see the day coming when we will be faced with the choice to either deny our faith in Christ or die by the sword, I think about this and makes me anxious for my children, but that is because I constantly step off the rock..

While not everybody agrees with Calvin, and sometimes I find myself in that group, his counsel is sound; it takes reading what he says with an open mind and with humility since we are naturally inclined to argue and to hold to our preconceived notions regarding what we believe is truth; we often deny that we can be so blind, arrogant and ignorant to accept what does not line up with our depravity.  But as you will see, his reasoning prowess leaves no room for arguments.

Here is Book 1, Chapter 17, sections 1 and 2; I will continue posting the following sections until I'm done with this chapter and then I will post chapter 18 and stop there; so expect at least three or four, or maybe  more posts with this kind of content; my recommendation to you, that is if you like what you read, is that you spend the 15 or so dollars and get the book for yourself, or download it from the net.  If you have ESword, which is free, the book is available for free in the resources section of the website.  I wish all my friends would have this valuable book and read it, but I know we are plagued with lack of motivation sometimes, we rather pay for and watch tv and then complain that we don't have money or the time to read, but we can justify anything that our flesh feels it needs, whatever, I'm not trying to rail anyone, I'm just saying...I have more problems than anyone I know.

Chapter 17. Use to be made of the doctrine of providence.
This chapter may be conveniently divided into two parts:
I. A general explanation is given of the doctrine of Divine Providence, in so far as conducive to the solid instruction and consolation of the godly, sect. 1, and specially sect. 2-12. First, however, those are refuted who deny that the world is governed by the secret and incomprehensible counsel of God; those also who throw the blame of all wickedness upon God, and absurdly pretend that exercises of piety are useless, sect. 2-5. Thereafter is added a holy meditation on Divine Providence, which, in the case of prosperity, is painted to the life, sect. 6-11.
II. A solution of two objections from passages of Scripture, which attribute repentance to God, and speak of something like an abrogation of his decrees.

Sections
1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered.
2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel.
3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of God in the government of the world, gives no countenance either to the impiety of those who throw the blame of their wickedness upon God, the petulance of those who reject means, or the error of those who neglect the duties of religion.
4. As regards future events, the doctrine of Divine Providence not inconsistent with deliberation on the part of man.
5. In regard to past events, it is absurd to argue that crimes ought not to be punished, because they are in accordance with the divine decrees. 1. The wicked resist the declared will of God. 2. They are condemned by conscience. 3. The essence and guilt of the crime is in themselves, though God uses them as instruments.
6. A holy meditation on Divine Providence. 1. All events happen by the ordination of God. 2. All things contribute to the advantage of the godly. 3. The hearts of men and all their endeavours are in the hand of God. 4. Providence watches for the safety of the righteous. 5. God has a special care of his elect.
7. Meditation on Providence continued. 6. God in various ways curbs and defeats the enemies of the Church. 7. He overrules all creatures, even Satan himself, for the good of his people.
8. Meditation on Providence continued. 8. He trains the godly to patience and moderation. Examples. Joseph, Job, and David. 9. He shakes off their lethargy, and urges them to repentance.
9. Meditation continued. 10. The right use of inferior causes explained. 11. When the godly become negligent or imprudent in the discharge of duty, Providence reminds them of their fault. 12. It condemns the iniquities of the wicked. 13. It produces a right consideration of the future, rendering the servants of God prudent, diligent, and active. 14. It causes them to resign themselves to the wisdom and omnipotence of God, and, at the same time, makes them diligent in their calling.
10. Meditation continued. 15. Though human life is beset with innumerable evils, the righteous, trusting to Divine Providence, feel perfectly secure.
11. The use of the foregoing meditation.
12. The second part of the chapter, disposing of two objections. 1. That Scripture represents God as changing his purpose, or repenting, and that, therefore, his Providence is not fixed. Answer to this first objection. Proof from Scripture that God cannot repent.
13. Why repentance attributed to God.
14. Second objection, that Scripture speaks of an annulment of the divine decrees. Objection answered. Answer confirmed by an example.

1. Moreover, such is the proneness of the human mind to indulge in vain subtleties, that it becomes almost impossible for those who do not see the sound and proper use of this doctrine, to avoid entangling themselves in perplexing difficulties. It will, therefore, be proper here to advert to the end which Scripture has in view in teaching that all things are divinely ordained. And it is to be observed, first, that the Providence of God is to be considered with reference both to the past and the future; and, secondly, that in overruling all things, it works at one time with means, at another without means, and at another against means.

Lastly, the design of God is to show that He takes care of the whole human race, but is especially vigilant in governing the Church, which he favours with a closer inspection. Moreover, we must add, that although the paternal favour and beneficence, as well as the judicial severity of God, is often conspicuous in the whole course of his Providence, yet occasionally as the causes of events are concealed, the thought is apt to rise, that human affairs are whirled about by the blind impulse of Fortune, or our carnal nature inclines us to speak as if God were amusing himself by tossing men up and down like balls.

It is true, indeed, that if with sedate and quiet minds we were disposed to learn, the issue would at length make it manifest, that the counsel of God was in accordance with the highest reason, that his purpose was either to train his people to patience, correct their depraved affections, tame their wantonness, inure them to self-denial, and arouse them from torpor; or, on the other hand, to cast down the proud, defeat the craftiness of the ungodly, and frustrate all their schemes.

How much soever causes may escape our notice, we must feel assured that they are deposited with him, and accordingly exclaim with David, “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (Psa. 40:5). For while our adversities ought always to remind us of our sins, that the punishment may incline us to repentance, we see, moreover, how Christ declares there is something more in the secret counsel of his Father than to chastise every one as he deserves.

For he says of the man who was born blind, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:3). Here, where calamity takes precedence even of birth, our carnal sense murmurs as if God were unmerciful in thus afflicting those who have not offended. But Christ declares that, provided we had eyes clear enough, we should perceive that in this spectacle the glory of his Father is brightly displayed.

We must use modesty, not as it were compelling God to render an account, but so revering his hidden judgements as to account his will the best of all reasons. When the sky is overcast with dense clouds, and a violent tempest arises, the darkness which is presented to our eye, and the thunder which strikes our ears, and stupefies all our senses with terror, make us imagine that every thing is thrown into confusion, though in the firmament itself all continues quiet and serene.

In the same way, when the tumultuous aspect of human affairs unfits us for judging, we should still hold, that God, in the pure light of his justice and wisdom, keeps all these commotions in due subordination, and conducts them to their proper end. And certainly in this matter many display monstrous infatuation, presuming to subject the works of God to their calculation, and discuss his secret counsels, as well as to pass a precipitate judgement on things unknown, and that with greater license than on the doings of mortal men.

What can be more preposterous than to show modesty toward our equals, and choose rather to suspend our judgement than incur the blame of rashness, while we petulantly insult the hidden judgements of God, judgements which it becomes us to look up to and revere.

2. No man, therefore, will duly and usefully ponder on the providence of God save he who recollects that he has to do with his own Maker, and the Maker of the world, and in the exercise of the humility which becomes him, manifests both fear and reverence. Hence it is, that in the present day so many dogs tear this doctrine with envenomed teeth, or, at least, assail it with their bark, refusing to give more license to God than their own reason dictates to themselves.

With what petulance, too, are we assailed for not being contented with the precepts of the Law, in which the will of God is comprehended, and for maintaining that the world is governed by his secret counsels? As if our doctrine were the figment of our own brain, and were not distinctly declared by the Spirit, and repeated in innumerable forms of expression!

Since some feeling of shame restrains them from daring to belch forth their blasphemies against heaven, that they may give the freer vent to their rage, they pretend to pick a quarrel with us. But if they refuse to admit that every event which happens in the world is governed by the incomprehensible counsel of God, let them explain to what effect Scripture declares, that “his judgements are a great deep” (Psa. 36:6). For when Moses exclaims that the will of God “is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea and bring it unto us?” (Deu. 30:12-13), because it was familiarly expounded in the law, it follows that there must be another hidden will which is compared to “a great deep.”

It is of this will Paul exclaims, “O! the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?” (Rom. 11:33-34). It is true, indeed, that in the law and the gospel are comprehended mysteries which far transcend the measure of our sense; but since God, to enable his people to understand those mysteries which he has deigned to reveal in his word, enlightens their minds with a spirit of understanding, they are now no longer a deep, but a path in which they can walk safely - a lamp to guide their feet - a light of life - a school of clear and certain truth.

But the admirable method of governing the world is justly called a deep, because, while it lies hid from us, it is to be reverently adored. Both views Moses has beautifully expressed in a few words. “Secret things,” saith he, “belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever” (Deu. 29:29). We see how he enjoins us not only studiously to meditate on the law, but to look up with reverence to the secret Providence of God.

The Book of Job also, in order to keep our minds humble, contains a description of this lofty theme. The author of the Book, after taking an ample survey of the universe, and discoursing magnificently on the works of God, at length adds, “Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him?” (Job. 26:14). For which reason he, in another passage, distinguishes between the wisdom which dwells in God, and the measure of wisdom which he has assigned to man (Job. 28:21, 28).

After discoursing of the secrets of nature, he says that wisdom “is hid from the eyes of all living;” that “God understandeth the way thereof.” Shortly after he adds, that it has been divulged that it might be investigated; for “unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” To this the words of Augustine refer, “As we do not know all the things which God does respecting us in the best order, we ought, with good intention, to act according to the Law, and in some things be acted upon according to the Law, his Providence being a Law immutable” (August. Quest. lib. 83 c. 27).

Therefore, since God claims to himself the right of governing the world, a right unknown to us, let it be our law of modesty and soberness to acquiesce in his supreme authority regarding his will as our only rule of justice, and the most perfect cause of all things - not that absolute will, indeed, of which sophists prate, when by a profane and impious divorce, they separate his justice from his power, but that universal overruling Providence from which nothing flows that is not right, though the reasons thereof may be concealed.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Disobedience is idolatry...

This is another long post with my ramblings, I warn you before you start reading because it could be worse...I think I wrote it months ago but I never clicked the 'publish' button for some reason, I think I thought it was not right to say these things, but now I know there is never a right way to say something unless it comes from God's word.  Good thing there is an icon that looks like a garbage can, and a key that says 'delete':

idolatry
/aɪˈdɒlətrɪ/
noun
1.
the worship of idols
2.
great devotion or reverence
Derived Forms
idolater, noun
idolatress, noun:feminine
idolatrous, adjective
idolatrously, adverb
idolatrousness, noun

Synonyms
2. obsession, madness, mania.

Based on that definition, I don't think that I know one single person who does not suffer from some form of idolatry, and that is including myself, mostly because most people I know, which are not many, suffer from great devotion and reverence to the only one true God, if I ever could call that suffering.  The idolatrousness of idolatry is that it is so deceitfully idolatrous that we have a tendency to idolatrously justify it (I had to use all those forms of the word, you know me, always thinking about how weird English is), at least I do, some times even try to trace it back to the will of God; anything can become an idol for me and make me an idolater, for some people is money, for others is the desire of it; for some is a sport or certain activity exterior to the person, for others is the internal feeling of an emotion.

For other people pleasure is an idol.  For some others is even another human being, or more than one, and for certain others the very striving to be better can become an idol. I'm just saying.  Now, do you agree with the synonyms above? They are directly from dictionary.com.

So to start with, is great devotion, or reverence, idolatry? Is idolatry madness?  Mania? Perhaps they are correct, but we are all obsessed with something, and when I say obsessed, which might not be the right word, I mean doing something constantly, or thinking about something constantly; some of these could be even the desire to not be alone with your thoughts.

For some people, being alone is insufferable, some people can't stand it when they are alone with their thoughts, their own mind drives them crazy; for some others who have no choice but to be alone with their thoughts it might not be a bad thing at all. It works in other ways too, you can be dedicated to something that you don't have to do but you do it because it makes you feel good about yourself, the very feeling good can be the idol; could the pursuit of happiness be considered idolatry?  Think about it.

How to define what an idol is in this modern age in which we no longer have carved images to bow down before them? Or maybe we do. Now we have i-devices, new cars, bigger houses, and a lot of made in China stuff.  Maybe the carved images have been images in the mind, and we bow down to them by giving obeisance to them by constantly speaking about them, we all think we don't have any, at least I don't think I have any, not that I can remember (yeah, right), but God knows all things, and He knows if I do have them or not; and no, I will not list mine; or maybe I will.  Am I wasting your time?

Do you remember that passage in Ezekiel where God shows him the temple and asks him to dig in the wall, and he finds a door, and when he opens it, he sees the abominations they were doing in the temple? It starts in chapter 8, when Ezekiel is snatched up by his hair between heaven and earth and he sees a vision, God takes him from the outside of the city and little by little shows him all the idols they had, and it gets worse as he is placed closer and closer to the temple, at each step God tells him, 'you shall see even worse', and then he sees all the way into the temple, he sees all kinds of creeping things engraved inside the walls; later God says this:  Eze 8:12  Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

Every time I have read that book, I see the same thing; these people had their idols engraved in the inside of their minds; then judgement comes.  God says: Eze 11:5  And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; "Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them".  It is obvious to me that, as all secrets sins, idolatry starts in the mind, and that is where it lives.

I'm talking about believers though, for an unbeliever everything in his life is idolatrous, on the top of the list is himself and his or her ego, so let's not go there, but we believers think that we are not idolatrous; that is what one would suppose to be true.  Imagine the level of proficiency needed in managing your thoughts to live a life that has no idols of any form, it is possible in a glorified state, but in this body and in this fallen world even in the thought life, the bible or the knowledge of it- I should say- can become an idol, I think; but for those who are indwelt with the Spirit it cannot be that way, on the contrary, the word of God is the seed that will necessarily reproduce after itself by the workings of the Spirit.  Still, it is true that for some people academic knowledge is an idol; some people have the right doctrine but it is only head knowledge, right?  Amazingly enough, believers, and I mean the real ones, are empowered by grace to defeat any idol, and to conquer any sin; that is what sanctification is all about.

Now, could it be manic idolatry?  For example, listening to Made of Tears by Joe Satriani in an obsessive way, like playing it every time there is a chance to play it, yeah I do that, lately it has been 'Always with me, always with you', I just can't get enough of that melody; but I'm not surprised because I get like that all the time; if I'm going to ride my motorcycle the first thing I crank up in the iPod is Neon Knights, and now that I think about it, it is every single time I get on the bike; to me that is obsessive, is it idolatrous?  Maybe. I need a few minutes to find a way to justify it, maybe I should be in the Harley ministry but I don't ride a Harley so I'm disqualified for that idol, I mean, that ministry.

What about reading Calvin's Institutes every night?  Or the bible three times a day?  Is that obsessive and idolatrous?  You tell me, I just dig it.  What happens is that in all the examples mentioned above, every single one makes me feel good, in fact when I listen to music I even experience some kind of elation when I listen very carefully and I visualize what the artist is doing with his fingers on the guitar, playing all of those sweet notes; Vivaldi's the Four Seasons is another obsessive one of mine, as it is Keith Jarret's 'The Koln Concert', but of course if you don't play guitar or music I don't think you will understand what I'm talking about, Vival-who?  I experience the same feeling when I read the Institutes, it has insights that open up my understanding of the nature of my walk with God, and knowing those things makes me feel very good, so I obsess about it.  Is that a form of idolatry?

The same thing happens when I write some times, not always, but some times; why is that?  I can find several reasons, but not all of them might be legitimately justified reasons; maybe it is just spiritual pride that is hidden in some dark recess of my heart, it is so dark in there that I cannot even see it myself.  Now in all honesty, I don't think there is a single real believer that wants to be idolatrous, the more when you understand the nature of idolatry and how offensive it is to God.

The definition that really blew my mind when I heard it was from John Piper, he was quoting someone else but I don't remember who; he said idolatry is also believing something about God that is not true and acting as if it was true, trip out on that.  Like thinking that God loves everybody in the same way; or that He will save everybody at the end, the list can get pretty big in that respect.

There is this verse in which Samuel talks to Saul about disobeying the the word of God, check it: 1Samuel 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.  What is Samuel saying?  You remember the context?  God sent Saul to slay the Amalekites, because of what they did to the children of Israel in the wilderness as they passed by on their way from Egypt: Deut. 25:17-19  Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;  (18)  How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.  (19)  Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.

That was the battle when Moses would lift his arms, he was holding his staff, and the Israelites would prevail over the Amalekites, but if he lowered his arms they started loosing the battle, so Aaron sat him on a rock and he and Hur lifted Moses arms until Joshua could finish the job, remember that? Exodus 17:8-16?

That section in Deuteronomy quoted above is right after God has told the Israelite people to keep just weights and measures, and God says:  Deut. 25:16  For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.  And then verse 17 starts "remember what Amalek did to you".  If you read the whole chapter, this section about the Amalekites seems to be out of place, but God is giving it as an example of what He has just said, and at the same time lets them know that He has not forgotten the Amalekites and the promise He made about them, to wipe them off from the face of the earth because they attacked His children.  Woe unto them that attack God's kids.

Later on in 1 Samuel, God had ordered Saul, through Samuel, that he should go and kill every living thing in Amalek's cities, 1Sam 15:3  Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. They were supposed to kill every one, even women, babies (yes, you have read that correctly, even children including babies, I thought God loved every body the same... I'm just saying) and all the animals, but Saul spared the king and the best of the sheep and the cattle, supposedly to sacrifice them in Gilgal to the Lord, when the Lord wanted them sacrificed in the Amalekites camp.

Think about it, what is wrong with this picture?  The first thing is Saul's flat out disobedience, then the rebellion of his heart to admit his guilt, then the pointing of the finger to the people, shifting the blame to them, and then creating his own worship in his own way, all of that combined God calls it disobedience and rebellion, and equates both to witchcraft and idolatry; what was Saul thinking?  'God will be pleased'?  Or maybe, 'I'm looking pretty good right now, I got the king and the best of the spoil, that's a good offering', I don't know, but the fact is that he didn't do as he was told by God.  He thought he did it, but he didn't.

I really don't think (and that is just me, maybe I should read some commentaries and find out what really happened, maybe you can do that for me:)) that Saul thought that he was disobeying God, in fact he sounds like he really believes that he did the right thing and that he obeyed the command he was given, and it is evident because that is the first thing he says when he meets Samuel, maybe he was even boasting about it.  Samuel tells him he has rejected God and rebelled from following Him, so Samuel shows Saul how to obey God's word, and he chops king Agag with the sword in the presence of all the people.

Remember the guy who would come out to vacuum the carpet at church when every one was trying to have fellowship after the service?  I don't know why he popped into my brain right now, but it was as if he wanted everyone to know he was vacuuming, but it was pretty annoying, that drove me crazy, what was that cat's name? I don't remember, okay, sorry, I'm getting side-tracked, is that bad? I have problems.

My point in all of the above is that for God, rebellion and stubbornness are put at the same level with witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry.  Can we carry that forward to the church and apply the same principle?  I think we can, and not only do I think we can, I think we should; because God still sees rebellion, disobedience and stubbornness as witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry.  What is the rebellion to?  God and His word. That is what Saul disobeyed, in fact Samuel tells him that he rejected the word of God.  If I give him the benefit of the doubt and think that he did obey but partially, plus he had good intentions in disobeying, I mean he was doing it to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal, he still fails the test, right?

So how do you bring this forward and apply it to us today?  I think like this, God says something in His word and we are supposed to obey it, not get hung up on trips about works, but simply do what the bible says to do in any situation; that is not being legalistic or works oriented, that is just being obedient to God and His word, which should be the maximum rule of life for a believer anyway.  Was Saul acting as if God was different and would settle for partial obedience?  Do I think that semi-obeying God is acceptable to Him?  Of course not, but do I really obey what God says to do?  Do I love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?  I think I do.  Do I rejoice always? No I don't think I do.  Do I ever worry?  Yes I do. Do I love my enemies? Maybe sometimes. Do I turn the other cheek? Sometimes. Do I love my neighbour as myself?  I usually don't, and saying 'not as much as I should' doesn't cut it. Do I keep His commandments? Do I put my mind above where Christ is?  Do I curse and jest, and speak foolishly?  Do I complain? You see where I'm going?

Our obedience to God is always an imperfect obedience, that is the very reason why Jesus came to die for us, because we cannot obey God perfectly as He did.  If you expect me to be perfectly obedient to God's word after being born from above and having been adopted into the family of God, then you are telling me that Jesus' life of perfect obedience was not enough to be freely imputed unto me, but that I now must provide what His obedience lacks, which is blasphemous.  If I can do it, why do I need Christ?  Why is justification by faith alone and by grace alone in Christ alone not enough anymore?  Am I going to the extreme?  I don't think so.

The fact is that we either obey or not, there is no middle ground, at least Jesus does not like lukewarmness, He says, I wish you would either be hot or cold in your devotion but because you are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth, and He is saying this to the church and therefore to individuals, every one of us who believe the gospel. Am I misapplicating, or as they say, misapplying, those verses of scripture?  You tell me.  The fact is that the bible is full of warnings, and exhortations, and appearingly impossible conditional statements; and they are there for our instruction, and as Calvin says, to cause us to shake off the vice of unbelief, and the sloth in our efforts to progress in holiness.

The bottom line is that God has started a good work in me and He will be faithful to complete it, He promised, and He always keeps His promises, always.  Am I to just hang out and wait for Him to finish the job, or am I supposed to be helping Him as if He was too weak to do what He promised?  Don't tell me the bible teaches both, it doesn't.  The word of God is very clear, and Jesus Himself is very clear, 'if you love me', He said, 'you shall keep my commandments'; is that a conditional statement or a statement of fact?  I think it is a statement of fact; you shall keep His commandments if you love Him, which if you are really born again, you do, and therefore you will.

Of course you cannot simply sit there as if you were helpless in regards to effecting a change in what you know needs to be changed; what I'm saying is that we have responsibilities before God in particular and before men in general; if you were a thief, then you are supposed to stop stealing; if you were a drunk, then you are supposed to stop drinking, and so forth and so on; that is what I mean.  But the peculiar thing is that after conversion, you really want to stop doing those things anyway, because you have been given a new heart that loves God now, and your heart of stone has been circumcised from you and turned into a heart of flesh. As God promises later on in Ezekiel:

Eze 36:25-28  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  (26)  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them.  (28)  And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

We are supposed to put on the new man, as Paul says, and put our minds on things above where Christ is; we are supposed to walk in the Spirit and not fulfil the desires of the flesh; and my point a few paragraphs ago was that you cannot do it unless God works in you to do it.  Yes, your sanctification is the work of the Spirit, but He works in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure.

Why does God accept our deficient obedience?  Is it your motives?  Does it depend on you?  Is it because you try real hard? Because you go to church?  Because you do good works? I don't think so, I think He does accept our imperfections because He sees us in Christ; our Mediator is the only reason why we are accepted in the beloved as Paul says, even if it sounds redundant.  There is absolutely nothing in us that would lead God to be propitious to us; that is why Jesus' perfect obedience has been imputed unto us, without Him we can do nothing.

Obviously, there is a scriptural warrant to support the fight against idolatry, or else John would have not said 'little children, keep yourselves from idols'; so I am writing all these words to remind me of the reality of my life; I was lost in darkness, and now I have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son; God is for me no matter how bad I blow it, because I will always come back to Him, or I should say, He will always bring me back.  I have a real Father who loves me, and He will use the belt when necessary to correct me; and then, just as a good Father does, He will take me in His arms and comfort me with His mercy and assurance, and nothing will ever be able to separate me from His love, which is in Christ Jesus; one day I will see Him face to face; so shall I strive to keep myself from idols, as I know you also will.

Have a nice day, idolater...

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Providence 3...

You don't have to read this, "that is what the delete button is for" I heard someone say one day.  I get it, this blog is too long, but I like long posts, mostly when the words do not belong to me in the fist place.  It is always the words that matter; the words are the reason people reject the truth, it is offensive; do you remember the words of Jesus?  After He said those words 'many of his disciples walked with Him no more': John 6:61-69  But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?  (62)  "What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?  (63)  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.  (64)  "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.  (65)  And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."  (66)  As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.  (67)  So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"  (68)  Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.  (69)  "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."

I don't think Calvin was inspired and spoke the words of God, but I believe that God made this man to bless me 500 years later, and so far I have not found anyone yet with the ability to reason as this man reasoned, and I like that a lot.  I have always believed in God's total control of the universe, even in my new-age distant past, so what I hear Calvin say just reinforces it, which means that I agree with him in this, even with his old English and the apparent misspelling of some words.

If what the bible says about God's sovereignty is true, and I believe it is, and if what Calvin says about what the bible says about God's sovereignty is true, and I believe it is; then it is also true that you are reading this by His eternal decree since there are no coincidences, so here is the next section for your enlightenment, which, by the way, is the last section in Book 1, chapter 16 (the next posts will be about chapter 17, I am sure you are going to like them, if you don't, just use the delete button).  I should remind you that if you read this via email you will see a different format, hopefully you can read this in the blog (link below at the end) so you can put your cursor above the bible references and it shall pop a window up with the content of such verse, since I know you don't have time to open your bible and read it, I'm just saying,:

7. "Nay, I affirm in general, that particular events are evidences of the special providence of God. In the wilderness God caused a south wind to blow, and brought the people a plentiful supply of birds (Num. 11:31). When he desired that Jonah should be thrown into the sea, he sent forth a whirlwind.

Those who deny that God holds the reins of government will say that this was contrary to ordinary practice, whereas I infer from it that no wind ever rises or rages without his special command. In no way could it be true that “he maketh the winds his messengers, and the flames of fire his ministers;” that “he maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psa. 104:3-4), did he not at pleasure drive the clouds and winds and therein manifest the special presence of his power.

In like manner, we are elsewhere taught, that whenever the sea is raised into a storm, its billows attest the special presence of God. “He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves.” “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still” (Psa. 107:25, Psa. 107:29 ) He also elsewhere declares, that he had smitten the people with blasting and mildew (Amos 4:9).

Again while man naturally possesses the power of continuing his species, God describes it as a mark of his special favour, that while some continue childless, others are blessed with offspring: for the fruit of the womb is his gift. Hence the words of Jacob to Rachel, “Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” (Gen. 30:2). To conclude in one word. Nothing in nature is more ordinary than that we should be nourished with bread. But the Spirit declares not only that the produce of the earth is God’s special gift, but “that man does not live by bread only” (Deut. 8:3), because it is not mere fulness that nourishes him but the secret blessing of God. And hence, on the other hand, he threatens to take away “the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water” (Isa. 3:1). Indeed, there could be no serious meaning in our prayer for daily bread, if God did not with paternal hand supply us with food.

Accordingly, to convince the faithful that God, in feeding them, fulfils the office of the best of parents, the prophet reminds them that he “giveth food to all flesh” (Psa. 136:25). In fine, when we hear on the one hand, that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry,” and, on the other hand, that “the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” (Psa. 34:15-16), let us be assured that all creatures above and below are ready at his service, that he may employ them in whatever way he pleases. Hence we infer, not only that the general providence of God, continuing the order of nature, extends over the creatures, but that by his wonderful counsel they are adapted to a certain and special purpose.

8. Those who would cast obloquy on this doctrine, calumniate it as the dogma of the Stoics concerning fate. The same charge was formerly brought against Augustine (lib. ad Bonifac. II, c. 6 et alibi). We are unwilling to dispute about words; but we do not admit the term Fate, both because it is of the class which Paul teaches us to shun, as profane novelties (1Tim. 6:20), and also because it is attempted, by means of an odious term, to fix a stigma on the truth of God.

But the dogma itself is falsely and maliciously imputed to us. For we do not with the Stoics imagine a necessity consisting of a perpetual chain of causes, and a kind of involved series contained in nature, but we hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things - that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, he decreed what he was to do, and now by his power executes what he decreed. Hence we maintain, that by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.

What, then, you will say, does nothing happen fortuitously, nothing contingently? I answer, it was a true saying of Basil the Great, that Fortune and Chance are heathen terms; the meaning of which ought not to occupy pious minds. For if all success is blessing from God, and calamity and adversity are his curse, there is no place left in human affairs for fortune and chance.

We ought also to be moved by the words of Augustine (Retract. lib. 1 cap. 1), “In my writings against the Academics,” says he, “I regret having so often used the term Fortune; although I intended to denote by it not some goddess, but the fortuitous issue of events in external matters, whether good or evil. Hence, too, those words, Perhaps, Perchance, Fortuitously, which no religion forbids us to use, though everything must be referred to Divine Providence. Nor did I omit to observe this when I said, Although, perhaps, that which is vulgarly called Fortune, is also regulated by a hidden order, and what we call Chance is nothing else than that the reason and cause of which is secret. It is true, I so spoke, but I repent of having mentioned Fortune there as I did, when I see the very bad custom which men have of saying, not as they ought to do, ‘So God pleased,’ but, ‘So Fortune pleased.’”

In short, Augustine everywhere teaches, that if anything is left to fortune, the world moves at random. And although he elsewhere declares (Quaestionum, lib. 83.) that all things are carried on, partly by the free will of man, and partly by the Providence of God, he shortly after shows clearly enough that his meaning was, that men also are ruled by Providence, when he assumes it as a principle, that there cannot be a greater absurdity than to hold that anything is done without the ordination of God; because it would happen at random. For which reason, he also excludes the contingency which depends on human will, maintaining a little further on, in clearer terms, that no cause must be sought for but the will of God. When he uses the term permission, the meaning which he attaches to it will best appear from a single passage (De Trinity. lib. 3 cap. 4), where he proves that the will of God is the supreme and primary cause of all things, because nothing happens without his order or permission. He certainly does not figure God sitting idly in a watch-tower, when he chooses to permit anything. The will which he represents as interposing is, if I may so express it, active (actualis), and but for this could not be regarded as a cause.

9. But since our sluggish minds rest far beneath the height of Divine Providence, we must have recourse to a distinction which may assist them in rising. I say then, that though all things are ordered by the counsel and certain arrangement of God, to us, however, they are fortuitous - not because we imagine that Fortune rules the world and mankind, and turns all things upside down at random (far be such a heartless thought from every Christian breast); but as the order, method, end, and necessity of events, are, for the most part, hidden in the counsel of God, though it is certain that they are produced by the will of God, they have the appearance of being fortuitous, such being the form under which they present themselves to us, whether considered in their own nature, or estimated according to our knowledge and judgement.

Let us suppose, for example, that a merchant, after entering a forest in company with trust-worthy individuals, imprudently strays from his companions and wanders bewildered till he falls into a den of robbers and is murdered. His death was not only foreseen by the eye of God, but had been fixed by his decree. For it is said, not that he foresaw how far the life of each individual should extend, but that he determined and fixed the bounds which could not be passed (Job 14:5).

Still, in relation to our capacity of discernment, all these things appear fortuitous. How will the Christian feel? Though he will consider that every circumstance which occurred in that person’s death was indeed in its nature fortuitous, he will have no doubt that the Providence of God overruled it and guided fortune to his own end. The same thing holds in the case of future contingencies. All future events being uncertain to us, seem in suspense as if ready to take either direction.

Still, however, the impression remains seated in our hearts, that nothing will happen which the Lord has not provided. In this sense the term event is repeatedly used in Ecclesiastes, because, at the first glance, men do not penetrate to the primary cause which lies concealed. And yet, what is taught in Scripture of the secret providence of God was never so completely effaced from the human heart, as that some sparks did not always shine in the darkness.

Thus the soothsayers of the Philistine, though they waver in uncertainty, attribute the adverse event partly to God and partly to chance. If the ark, say they, “Goes up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemish, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us, it was a chance that happened to us.” (1Sam. 6:9). Foolishly, indeed, when divination fails them they flee to fortune. Still we see them constrained, so as not to venture to regard their disaster as fortuitous.

But the mode in which God, by the curb of his Providence, turns events in whatever direction he pleases, will appear from a remarkable example. At the very same moment when David was discovered in the wilderness of Maon, the Philistines make an inroad into the country, and Saul is forced to depart (1Sam. 23:26-27). If God, in order to provide for the safety of his servant, threw this obstacle in the way of Saul, we surely cannot say, that though the Philistine took up arms contrary to human expectation, they did it by chance.

What seems to us contingence, faith will recognise as the secret impulse of God. The reason is not always equally apparent, but we ought undoubtedly to hold that all the changes which take place in the world are produced by the secret agency of the hand of God. At the same time, that which God has determined, though it must come to pass, is not, however, precisely, or in its own nature, necessary.

We have a familiar example in the case of our Saviour’s bones. As he assumed a body similar to ours, no sane man will deny that his bones were capable of being broken and yet it was impossible that they should be broken (John 19:33, John 19:36). Hence, again, we see that there was good ground for the distinction which the Schoolmen made between necessity, secundum quid, and necessity absolute, also between the necessity of consequent and of consequence. God made the bones of his Son frangible, though he exempted them from actual fracture; and thus, in reference to the necessity of his counsel, made that impossible which might have naturally taken place".

Did you get all that?  Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Providence 2...

This is the continuation of my last post, which in turn is the next sections (3 through 6) of Calvin's Institutes, book 1, chapter 16, entitled  "The world, created by God, still cherished and protected by Him. Each and all of its parts governed by His providence".

As you already know I am very grateful that God made John Calvin and caused him to write his greatest work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion; if you have read his biography, you know he wrote it as a text book to be used in the University of Geneva, which he founded, to train the future generations of pastors and teachers, and missionaries.  He finished the first edition in 1536 in Latin and the fifth and last in 1559.  Calvin was born in France in 1509 and died in 1564, he published the first edition at the age of  27.

Most of Calvin's life and accomplishments have already been documented by many people in the past; if you are interested, you can find a lot of free information about him in the internet, and in the many books that have been written about him and about his doctrine and teachings; the only reason I am posting this is because it has been extremely helpful to me and I want to share it with you.  Calvin's mind has deeply impacted my own thinking, and it has validated some things that I already believed from studying on my own; Book 1, Chapter 16 is one of my favorite sections in this book, so I have read it many times.  I really hope you have the time to read and think about what he is saying.  Enjoy.

Here it is:
3. "And truly God claims omnipotence to himself, and would have us to acknowledge it - not the vain, indolent, slumbering omnipotence which sophists feign, but vigilant, efficacious, energetic, and ever active - not an omnipotence which may only act as a general principle of confused motion, as in ordering a stream to keep within the channel once prescribed to it, but one which is intent on individual and special movements.

God is deemed omnipotent, not because he can act though he may cease or be idle, or because by a general instinct he continues the order of nature previously appointed; but because, governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel. For when it is said in the Psalms, “He has done whatsoever he has pleased” (Psa. 115:3), the thing meant is his sure and deliberate purpose. It were insipid to interpret the Psalmist’s words in philosophic fashion, to mean that God is the primary agent, because the beginning and cause of all motion.

This rather is the solace of the faithful, in their adversity, that every thing which they endure is by the ordination and command of God, that they are under his hand. But if the government of God thus extends to all his works, it is a childish cavil to confine it to natural influx.

Those moreover who confine the providence of God within narrow limits, as if he allowed all things to be borne along freely according to a perpetual law of nature, do not more defraud God of his glory than themselves of a most useful doctrine; for nothing were more wretched than man if he were exposed to all possible movements of the sky, the air, the earth, and the water. We may add, that by this view the singular goodness of God towards each individual is unbecomingly impaired. David exclaims (Psa. 8:2), that infants hanging at their mothers breasts are eloquent enough to celebrate the glory of God, because, from the very moment of their births they find an aliment prepared for them by heavenly care. Indeed, if we do not shut our eyes and senses to the fact, we must see that some mothers have full provision for their infants, and others almost none, according as it is the pleasure of God to nourish one child more liberally, and another more sparingly.

Those who attribute due praise to the omnipotence of God thereby derive a double benefit. He to whom heaven and earth belong, and whose nod all creatures must obey, is fully able to reward the homage which they pay to him, and they can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority, Satan, with all his furies and engines, is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends.

In this way, and in no other, can the immoderate and superstitious fears, excited by the dangers to which we are exposed, be calmed or subdued. I say superstitious fears;  for such they are, as often as the dangers threatened by any created objects inspire us with such terror, that we tremble as if they had in themselves a power to hurt us, or could hurt at random or by chance; or as if we had not in God a sufficient protection against them.

For example, Jeremiah forbids the children of God “ to be dismayed at the signs of heaven, as the heathen are dismayed at them” (Jer. 10:2). He does not, indeed, condemn every kind of fear. But as unbelievers transfer the government of the world from God to the stars, imagining that happiness or misery depends on their decrees or presages, and not on the Divine will, the consequence is, that their fear, which ought to have reference to him only, is diverted to stars and comets.

Let him, therefore, who would beware of such unbelief, always bear in mind, that there is no random power, or agency, or motion in the creatures, who are so governed by the secret counsel of God, that nothing happens but what he has knowingly and willingly decreed.

4. First, then, let the reader remember that the providence we mean is not one by which the Deity, sitting idly in heaven, looks on at what is taking place in the world, but one by which he, as it were, holds the helms and overrules all events. Hence his providence extends not less to the hand than to the eye. When Abraham said to his son, God will provide (Gen. 22:8), he meant not merely to assert that the future event was foreknown to God but to resign the management of an unknown business to the will of Him whose province it is to bring perplexed and dubious matters to a happy result.

Hence it appears that providence consists in action. What many talk of bare prescience is the merest trifling. Those do not err quite so grossly who attribute government to God, but still, as I have observed, a confused and promiscuous government which consists in giving an impulse and general movement to the machine of the globe and each of its parts, but does not specially direct the action of every creature. It is impossible, however, to tolerate this error. For, according to its abettors, there is nothing in this providence, which they call universal, to prevent all the creatures from being moved contingently, or to prevent man from turning himself in this direction or in that, according to the mere freedom of his own will.

In this way they make man a partner with God - God, by his energy, impressing man with the movement by which he can act, agreeably to the nature conferred upon him while man voluntarily regulates his own actions. In short, their doctrine is, that the world, the affairs of men, and men themselves, are governed by the power, but not by the decree of God. I say nothing of the Epicureans (a pest with which the world has always been plagued), who dream of an inert and idle God, and others, not a whit sounder, who of old feigned that God rules the upper regions of the air, but leaves the inferior to Fortune. Against such evident madness even dumb creatures lift their voice.

My intention now is, to refute an opinion which has very generally obtained - an opinion which, while it concedes to God some blind and equivocal movement, withholds what is of principal moment, viz., the disposing and directing of every thing to its proper end by incomprehensible wisdom. By withholding government, it makes God the ruler of the world in name only, not in reality. For what, I ask, is meant by government, if it be not to preside so as to regulate the destiny of that over which you preside? I do not, however, totally repudiate what is said of an universal providence, provided, on the other hand, it is conceded to me that the world is governed by God, not only because he maintains the order of nature appointed by him, but because he takes a special charge of every one of his works.

It is true, indeed, that each species of created objects is moved by a secret instinct of nature, as if they obeyed the eternal command of God, and spontaneously followed the course which God at first appointed. And to this we may refer our Saviour’s words, that he and his Father have always been at work from the beginning (John 5:17); also the words of Paul, that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28); also the words of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who, when wishing to prove the divinity of Christ, says, that he upholdeth “all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3).

But some, under pretext of the general, hide and obscure the special providence, which is so surely and clearly taught in Scripture, that it is strange how any one can bring himself to doubt of it. And, indeed, those who interpose that disguise are themselves forced to modify their doctrine, by adding that many things are done by the special care of God. This, however, they erroneously confine to particular acts. The thing to be proved, therefore, is, that single events are so regulated by God, and all events so proceed from his determinate counsel, that nothing happens fortuitously.

5. Assuming that the beginning of motion belongs to God, but that all things move spontaneously or casually, according to the impulse which nature gives, the vicissitudes of day and nights summer and winter, will be the work of God; inasmuch as He, in assigning the office of each, appointed a certain law, namely, that they should always with uniform tenor observe the same course, day succeeding night, month succeeding month, and year succeeding year.

But, as at one time, excessive heat, combined with drought, burns up the fields; at another time excessive rains rot the crops, while sudden devastation is produced by tempests and storms of hail, these will not be the works of God, unless in so far as rainy or fair weather, heat or cold, are produced by the concourse of the stars, and other natural causes. According to this view, there is no place left either for the paternal favour, or the judgements of God.

If it is said that God fully manifests his beneficence to the human race, by furnishing heaven and earth with the ordinary power of producing food, the explanation is meagre and heathenish: as if the fertility of one year were not a special blessing, the penury and dearth of another a special punishment and curse from God. But as it would occupy too much time to enumerate all the arguments, let the authority of God himself suffice.

In the Law and the Prophets He repeatedly declares, that as often as He waters the earth with dew and rain, He manifests his favour, that by His command the heaven becomes hard as iron, the crops are destroyed by mildew and other evils, that storms and hail, in devastating the fields, are signs of sure and special vengeance. This being admitted, it is certain that not a drop of rain falls without the express command of God. David, indeed (Psa. 146:9), extols the general providence of God in supplying food to the young ravens that cry to him but when God himself threatens living creatures with famine, does He not plainly declare that they are all nourished by Him, at one time with scanty, at another with more ample measure?

It is childish, as I have already said, to confine this to particular acts, when Christ says, without reservation, that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of his Father (Mat. 10:29). Surely, if the flight of birds is regulated by the counsel of God, we must acknowledge with the prophet, that while he “dwelleth on high,” he “humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth” (Psa. 113:5-6).

6. But as we know that it was chiefly for the sake of mankind that the world was made, we must look to this as the end which God has in view in the government of it.

The prophet Jeremiah exclaims, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). Solomon again says, “Man’s goings are of the Lord: how can a man then understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24). Will it now be said that man is moved by God according to the bent of his nature, but that man himself gives the movement any direction he pleases? Were it truly so, man would have the full disposal of his own ways. To this it will perhaps be answered, that man can do nothing without the power of God. But the answer will not avail, since both Jeremiah and Solomon attribute to God not power only, but also election and decree. And Solomon, in another place, elegantly rebukes the rashness of men in fixing their plans without reference to God, as if they were not led by his hand. “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:1).

It is a strange infatuation, surely for miserable men, who cannot even give utterance except in so far as God pleases, to begin to act without him! Scriptures moreover, the better to show that every thing done in the world is according to his decree, declares that the things which seem most fortuitous are subject to him. For what seems more attributable to chance than the branch which falls from a tree, and kills the passing traveller? But the Lord sees very differently, and declares that He delivered him into the hand of the slayer (Exo. 21:13).

In like manners who does not attribute the lot to the blindness of Fortune? Not so the Lord, who claims the decision for himself (Pro. 16:33). He says not, that by his power the lot is thrown into the lap, and taken out, but declares that the only thing which could be attributed to chance is from him. To the same effect are the words of Solomon, “The poor and the deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes” (Proverbs 29:13). For although rich and poor are mingled together in the world, in saying that the condition of each is divinely appointed, he reminds us that God, Who enlightens all, has his own eye always open, and thus exhorts the poor to patient endurance, seeing that those who are discontented with their lot endeavour to shake off a burden which God has imposed upon them.

Thus, too, another prophet upbraids the profane, who ascribe it to human industry, or to fortune, that some grovel in the mire while others rise to honour. “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down ones and setteth up another” (Psa. 75:6-7). Because God cannot divest himself of the office of judge, he infers that to his secret counsel it is owing that some are elevated, while others remain without honour."

Soli Deo Gloria, and have a nice day...

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