Sometimes in the confusion of trying to understand how God works in our lives, we create an image of God that best fits our comfort level. There are those that picture God as a mean and ferocious being that seeks ways to destroy the ones he does not like. At the other end of the continuum there are those that see God as nothing more than a cosmic Santa who is only here to grant our every wish. Still others see God as an aloof and distant being who made a great creation but then lost interest.
The truth is that we will never fully understand the great God of the universe. His plan is so much more complex and intricate than the most profound minds could contemplate. What we know is that God does want to be in relationship with us, and He has sacrificed His only Son to provide salvation and redemption for us. When we set about trying to rationalize the why’s of life, we grow frustrated and disheartened because we would not have managed things the way God manages them.
First, we have to embrace the idea that God is God and has sole right to call the shots. Whether Jew or Gentile, as God’s chosen, we have to accept His leadership trusting in His flawless execution of life’s plans. It is difficult to accept, because we want to control our lives. That is what many scholars would call sin and rebellion. God calls us to trust Him, follow Him and allow Him to guide us to a full and meaningful life here, and an eternity in His presence.
We do not get to second guess God. Many have, and they have lived a miserable life. Faith is trusting in the things we cannot see and hope for God to do. Like Abraham on Mount Moriah, we have to believe that God will provide, and walk accordingly. It is neither easy nor instantly gratifying. It requires a patience only derived from trial and from faith.
We do have to accept that no matter what we feel. We simply must allow God to lead and trust His plan to carry the day. Otherwise, we will be grasping at a futile image of faith that only ends in our own self-doubt and self-righteousness. That mix is a concoction that leads to disaster and chaos.
God Bless You
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f]
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[i]
26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[j]
Walking With God 