If It Must Be Done

I found this quote by one of the early church fathers years ago ... "God afflicts not willingly, but if it must be done, let Satan do it."  This thought is taken from Lamentations 3:33, and over time I have come to believe that it is true.

Satan delights in bringing as much misery and affliction as he can to man and will never miss a chance to do so.  Albert Barnes, the old theologian from the mid 1800's made this comment about Satan's role in God's plan for Job ...

"It is to be observed, that Satan, no less than the other fallen spirits, is subject to the government of God, and uses the ministry of this demon to execute punishment, or when from any other cause it seemed good to Him to send evil upon men.  But he, although incensed against the race of mortals, and desirous of injuring, is yet described as bound with a chain, and never dares to touch the pious unless God relaxes the reins.  Satan, in walking round the earth, could certainly attentively
consider Job, but to injure him he could not, unless permission had been given him."

Really?  My question then becomes ... "Does God use Satan to send evil upon men?"  Job certainly thought so with this answer he gave to his wife ...

Job 2:10 ... "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

Going back to my opening statement, read what Jeremiah said about God in Lamentations 3:32-33 … "Though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.  For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."

It seems to me ... that in the past, God would send (for lack of a better word) evil, or trouble of some kind to the nation of Israel to bring their hearts back in line when they turned away from Him and entered into sin.  I offer these scriptures as an example of God's sovereignty and authority over them. 

Isaiah 45:7 … "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."

Isaiah 46:9-11 … "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning … saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure … yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."

Amos 3:6 …"Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"

Notice I said ... in the past.  I don't believe God works that way anymore.  I suppose He could if He wanted too ... but there is no reason for Him to do that now, because God poured out all His wrath upon His Son Jesus while He hung on the cross in our place. 

May I remind you that the following scripture to Christians is still in the Book though.  It's one that most of us would just as soon forget because it doesn't seem to fit our doctrine of a kind and loving father full of mercy and grace.

Hebrews 12:5-6 … "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, (disciplines) and scourgeth (flogs) every son whom He receiveth."

So, whatever a man's lot in life is, it is God that orders it.  But does that include discipline?  And ... if it must be done ... does God still give Satan permission today to afflict His children for their spiritual good? 

I give you the Apostle Paul's instruction to the church concerning two men in 1st Timothy 1:20 ... "whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."

And then we have Paul, because of the sin of fornication in this church saying to them in 1st Corinthians 5:5 ... "to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved." 

I'm not going to pretend to know the reason why or how that the Apostle Paul was directed by the Holy Spirit to recommend this type of action against these men.  Evidently they refused to repent of their actions, so ... if it must be done, let Satan do it.  God can use any and all means, including the devil himself to fulfill His plans.

The Apostle Peter writes of something similar, though not because of sin ... his words are of testing or the trying of faith ...

1st Peter 1:6-7 ... "greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be ... through various temptations (discipline by adversity) that the trial of your faith ... be tried with fire ..." 

So, be assured that God, as the Creator of all things, upholds, directs, disposes, and governs … all … creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest event to the least.  All things come to pass according to the decree of God.  He is the cause of all things and has sovereign dominion over them.

What else will God do ... if it must be done?  Amos 9:9  … "I will sift the house of Israel …"

May I quote Albert Barnes again?  He wrote ...

"What is said here of Israel, God does in each of His elect.  God sifts them by afflictions and troubles, in youth, middle age, old age, whoever they are, and proves them again and again."   

In Luke 22:31 ... "Jesus said to Peter, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat …"  

Satan desired to have Peter under his power and in his hand … just as he got permission to have Job in his hand, and would have taken Job's life and soul too, if he could have obtained God's permission.

Satan desired, and asked God for Peter … for he can do nothing without permission … not even tempt man.  Satan desires to do all the evil he can; but he is only permitted to do some.

From this we need to know and understand that God has a purpose for what He does and what He allows to be performed.  Yes, God governs the world, but we cannot always see … the reasons for His conduct.

If there is one thing I have learned about God … His conduct … should never be called into question.




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In Secret

The words of Jesus ...

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."  (Matthew 6:6 KJV)

The premise here is that you pray.  Jesus is showing clearly, expressing emphatically ... "when you pray" ... as if this act of prayer is part of the natural state of the believer.  Whoever you are, Jew or Christian, enter into your closet.  Jesus was speaking to both of you.  Prayer is the conversation between your heart and God's heart.

God already knows what's in your heart ... prayer is how you get to know what's in God's heart.  It's a bonding time.  If parent and child never experienced talking together, or laughing together, spending time together they would never bond as they should.  It's the same with your Heavenly Father.

Every Jewish house had a place for secret devotion.  The roofs of their houses were flat, well adapted for walking around as they lifted their hearts unto God in conversation and meditation unto Him.  It is here, in secrecy and solitude, the believing Jew might offer his prayers, unseen by any but the Searcher of hearts, God Himself.  It is to this type of setting Jesus directed His disciples to enter when they wished to communicate with God.

I found this by Albert Barnes (1798-1870) an American Presbyterian biblical scholar and theologian.  He writes ...

"The meaning of Jesus is, that there should be some place where we may be in secret, where we may be alone with God.  There should be some place to which we may go where no ear will hear us but His ear, and no eye can see us but His eye.  Unless there is such a place, secret prayer seeking His heart will not be very long maintained."

Jesus does not specify the times when we should pray in secret, or how often it should be done.  Why should we pray in secret?  Because He instructed us too.  It also helps to block out all the distractions around us so we can look to the Lord in the stillness and peace of the secret place, where it becomes easier to hear His voice.  Jesus Himself often needed to get alone with His Father in secret prayer.

The Lord had the same time restraints that we have.  As a man, He had all the same problems and difficulties that we might have, but yet He lived out the practice of maintaining secret prayer.  To be alone, He would often rise up early in the morning and go to a solitary place ... a mountain grove of trees or a garden spot He found as He traveled throughout Israel.  Jesus was always on the move, was among strangers most of the time, had no house of His own, but still ... He lived in the habit of secret prayer.
 
What excuse then can we have for not praying, we who have a home, we who spend the morning hours asleep instead of practicing a little self-denial so that we may be alone with God in secret.  I'm speaking of myself here.

In my minds eye, I can picture a young David caring for his sheep, turning the rolling hills into his secret place of meditation and prayer.  Later as the Psalmist, David declares what he learned and practiced as a young shepherd boy when he was out alone with his sheep.

Psalms 5: 1-3 ... "Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.  Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.  My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct (my prayer) unto thee, and will look up."

As a shepherd boy, David didn't need a rooftop to be his secret place of prayer.  But later as King, David used his palace rooftop as his secret place of worship ... until one evening his eyes strayed to a woman next door bathing ... and God was forgotten.

So, as you ... "enter into thy closet ... (the secret place of prayer, wherever it is) ... pray to thy Father which is in secret (unseen by us) and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

God sees what the human eye cannot ... the heart and soul of man.  He sees all that is in the heart.  The desires, the hurts, the disappointments, the failures and the messes that we make in life.  When you are in that secret place, just you and Him, no one else ... ask for His heart to be yours ... and then your joy will be full and you can say just like David, "my cup runneth over." 

Prayer should always be offered, whatever the reason, but I don't believe it's the words of prayer that are the most important.  It's what is in the heart and soul that drives us to seek Him and be with Him ... in secret.



Comments are welcome.

But If Not

I try to teach what I believe the Word of God has revealed to us in the Scriptures.  I can honestly say I have never intentionally tried to mislead anyone into error who reads my essays about the intent and heart of God.

Since I am capable of being wrong and making mistakes, anything I write without Scripture to back it up, should be looked at as only my personal opinion.  Usually I try to tell you when my belief is just that ... my opinion ... formed through my understanding of the whole counsel of God's Word.

What I want to address today ... hopefully ... will not be opinion, but rather the time tested truth found throughout the entire Word of God.  In the past I have shared many times about unanswered prayer.  No one can say truthfully, that God answers every prayer, every time, in every situation the way we want.

We expect an answer every time, so we pray believing He will take care of our problems and needs ... health, safety, wisdom, protection, etc.  We trust God.  That's why we call ourselves ... believers.  We believe, even if many times our faith is no larger than the grain of the mustard seed that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 17:20.

Which leads me to The Book of Daniel, Chapter 3:1-18 and the problem Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had after they were captured by Nebuchadnezzar and shipped to Babylon.  As the story goes, these three young men would not bow down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had made ... even with the threat of being thrown into the fiery furnace for failure to do so.

Considering and knowing what was ahead of them if they refused to bow to this golden image, these three Hebrews stood strong in their resolve to only bow to Jehovah, the one and only true God.

Some have supposed that the forty foot high statue was an image of Nebuchadnezzar himself, since he thought of himself in his own narcissistic mind as a god.  He knew of the Hebrew God Jehovah that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego worshiped, but when he was told they refused to obey his command, he had them brought before him to hear their reason for himself.

Almost as if he couldn't believe anyone would refuse his command, he said to them ... "Is it true, that you do not serve or worship the golden image which I have set up?"

Reminding them again, he said ... "If you do not bow and worship, you will be cast into the furnace" ... and thinking of himself as invincible he says to them, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"
 
All three answer him ... "If it be so, (meaning, you may cast us into the furnace, but hear O King) our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fire, (either to prevent their being cast into it or to bring them safely out of it) and He will deliver us out of thy hand."

Many believers today might say that the next three words out of their mouths just destroyed their confession of faith in God when they said ...

"But if not."

Oh no, that sounds like doubt.  We must not say anything negative or God won't answer.

No, what they were saying was ... "But if not, (if God should not deliver us) be it known unto you O King, we will not serve thy gods."

Yes, while it is always true that God has the power to deliver us from harm of any kind, can anyone say with absolute certainty that He will?  You might believe that He will ... but past history is filled with the bodies of other believers who also thought so and woke up in Heaven.

I have no problem with ... "But if not."

What's my reason for such thinking?  Because I have found that it's not so much what I say or don't say that counts, but rather ... what's in my heart and soul ... knowing that I don't control what happens.  God does.  He gives or withholds as He pleases.

I talk to God about a lot of things.  I only receive what He wants me to experience.

Perhaps the most important truth I have learned in this life I have been handed is this ...

"There is a God, and I'm not Him." 

"But if not" ... I'm still okay with it, because His eye is never off of me, therefore His care never falters.



Comments are welcome.