| Author | Message | ||
| Ladylittle Registered user Username: Ladylittle Post Number: 12 Registered: 4-2004 |
Someone dear to me presented recently the story of Joseph and his brothers. Many beautiful lessons were pointed out: Joseph's forgiveness, God's ability to redeem mistakes, etc. Then near the end in the summary he noted that God had brought good out of evil, but how much better it would have been for all involved if Jacob had never defrauded his brother in the first place and set off the chain of events that happened. Good (I think) so far as it goes. The point brought out though was that our mistakes mess up God's will. That God somehow has to compensate. That the Joy He would like to bring into our life is somehow tarnished and not complete because of our mistakes. This bothers me somehow. Does it sound right to you? Mary | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 263 Registered: 12-2003 |
Mary, I don't believe we can mess up God's will. If we could, he would not be sovereign over us; we would be sovereign over him. Being able to "mess up God's will" is similar to thinking that Jesus's return depends upon us--as we were taught! Jesus said that only the Father knows the day and the hour of His return. but He KNOWS it! It doesn't depend upon us! Our mistakes and bad judgments may not be inside God's will for us, but they don't "mess up" his overarching will. He does not waste anything that happens to us. Further, he redeems everything we submit to him. God knew before our births what our lives would be like. He knew our mistakes; he knew what our blind spots would be. I've come to believe that God's purpose for all of us is to teach us to trust and surrender to him. He also knew the ways we would be broken through no fault of our own. He knew before we were born exactly what we would need from him in order to become aware of our self-deception and sinfulness. You know what? This whole issues is again related to the question between God's sovereignty and free will. both are at work. In the story of Joseph, it was absolutely God's will that Joseph end up in Egypt. And God knew Joseph and his brothers; he kjnew that Joseph would be arrogant and his brothers angry. Yet Joseph had a heart for God, and God arranged circumstances for Joseph so he ended up where he needed to be--including his experiences in Potiphar's house and in prison. God redeemed the whole sinful mess between Joesph and His brothers and saved the chosen seed that became the nation of Israel. God could have gotten Joseph into Egypt another way. Butg God honors our choices; he allowed Joseph to reap the results of his brothers' scorn; He also honored Jospeh's choice to spurn Potiphar's wife. God accomplished His will by redeeming Joseph from his mistakes as well as by ultimately redeeming his brothers from their treachery. No, I do not believe our mistakes mess up God's will. God's will is accomplished through us and around us and in spite of us. As we submit to Him, we become active in honoring Him as His will works itself out through our lives and in creation at large. Our joy is not increased because we make right choices. Our joy is increased becaue we trust and honor Jesus. It is intimacy with Jesus that gives us joy, not living lives with no mistakes. I hope I've made sense! I just am amazed that it's possible to love Jesus and feel His love--that is where joy comes from! Colleen | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 576 Registered: 11-2002 |
About bringing good from evil-I recently asked the minister (not SDA. Lutheran.) to explain the story of Sanuele appearing before Saul when he was conjured up by the witch on Endor, or is it Endor the witch. The SDA teach that it was a demon manifesting itself as Samuele. I never did believe the SDA interpertation of the story because otherwise it would have said it was a demon. The minister told me that even tho God admonishes us in the Bible to stay away from sorcery that He is the Almighty and He can even turn our poor decisions even from doing thing specifically forbidden (such as sorcery) into good. Finilly I got an explaniation that made sense. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 87 Registered: 3-2004 |
Seeing as God knows us before we were born, that tells me He knows the decisions we are going to make. He did give us free will. He will try to influence us to do differently, but God uses our bad decisions and choices for our good. After all we are sinners and we were born this way. He will teach us, admonish us and help us. One thing I have learned is that God does not make mistakes or junk and just because I do make mistakes and bad decisions, I am not a mistake or junk. Where I am in my life today is exactly where God wants me. As long as I honor Him and give Him credit for all the good in my life I am on the right path, no matter what happens in my life. I just want to thankful in all things and all situations. Diana | ||
| Cindy Registered user Username: Cindy Post Number: 561 Registered: 7-2000 |
Diana, I appreciate your words above... Yesterday I heard a very good sermon on Acts 17:26, on being in the very place God had set for us. His plan being for us to glorify Him in the midst of whatever circumstances we have been given. Cindy |
