SelahV's QUESTIONS

WHO IS ISAIAH CALLING A FOOL?

"A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.  The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others.  Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray."  Isaiah 35:8

There's going to be a road and there's going to be a highway.   The highway is "the Highway of Holiness".  Yet, the road must be pretty significant too.  Even fools who walk it "shall not go astray".

Who is a fool?  selahV

Added Note of interest posted August 2nd:  C'mon folks.  Someone has to have an opinion here.  selahV

CAN WE MESS WITH GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY?

I DON'T THINK SO.  Below is a situation which occurred on this blog that I've seen occur other places.  Words are shared and expressed and assumptions are made and responses are posted in accordance to presuppositions and miscommunications.

I believe this is what happens in life every moment of every day with people around the globe.  I think there are ways to prevent some mishaps, and ways we must consider to avoid them.  But ultimately, we are only human and until the Lord takes us home to be with Him we shall inevitably fall prey to ourselves until then.

So I'm thinking.  What does one do when faced with a dilemna regarding utterances--profound or idle?  We can regret them, forgive them, forget them, and repent of them.  But can we erase them?

I wrote a post on this subject on SelahV Today.  Please take a few minutes later and read it.  I think it is quite germane to this post:

Dear Readers:  There are times in life we all regret things we say.  We may even be embarassed for having allowed our thoughts to become words to be read, hashed over and examined by another.  I am definitely guilty of having moments like these.  Are you?

In the previous posts of SelahV's Questions, I've had multiple readers who never commented on the posts I've written.  They were simply readers.  I encourage folks to email me personally in response to my posts because they may have thoughts or questions they'd rather not make public.  Many just read and I never know who they are. Some comment on the commenters. I hold emails in strict confidentiality and only disclose some of their questions as questions in this blog.  Sometimes their thoughts plant a seed of inspiration for another post.  Just as this post is being written due to the dilemna I faced today.  I enjoy interaction via comments or email.  I'm writing this post due to a request made to me regarding recent comment threads.

A fellow blogger, and sibling in Christ, has asked that I remove comments from several threads in various posts in this blog.  Because I am strongly determined as a Christian to show mercy when mercy is requested, I have done my best to comply with the request.  It is my joy to do so because of the mercy shown me by Christ Jesus my Lord.   For anyone who hasn't read the stream of comments in the past few days, no one will be the wiser as to who is who in the threads.

To totally remove all comments would, in my opinion, do injustice to the value of blogging and the view I have of God's sovereignty.  Sovereignty, after all, is the main thrust of my questions on this site.

My interest in Sovereignty has been embedded in my heart since I first became a Christian 31 years ago.  I have dined on God's Word, and relied on His Holy Spirit to guide me and teach me manners.  I've tested the words of man (pastors, teachers and authors) and in some cases I have not eaten of the proverbial bread that was served.

I haven't always liked the meal the Lord served me, either.  I've literally not eaten at His table at times.  His appetizers were not always appetizing, and my fleshly nature often found His entree's less than palatable.  O but His forebearance and constant concoctions in His heavenly kitchen, finally produced enough savory smells to my spiritual nostrils that I followed my nose to His table.

Through heartache, joy, strife, and ease--God's Sovereignty has led me to understand how perfect His will is meant for my life.

I understand and believe that God's sovereign hand brings all folks into contact with one another for His purpose in their individual lives.  Me for you, you for me, us for others, others for us.  How we interact within that sphere of contact is our sole responsibility and held accountable by God.  I believe each action or inaction is for our growth as Christians.

That said, I have no idea what others have learned from the recent thread conversations on Sovereignty questions I've posed.  Some just write what they think and go their way.  Some interact with other commenters.  Some just talk to me.  However, I do hope all will ponder what they read and glean from them as a lesson from God--whatever it may be.

What the previous comments and interaction is to you, may be the same as it was for me.  But most likely it will be different.  Why?  Because as I understand God's working in my life, I see Him as a very specific and very personal God.

I do not believe He works out things in my life as He is working out things in yours.  I believe He is working out things in my life to teach ME a specific lesson or truth.  Sometimes what I learn I share with others and they, in turn, learn something of value for their lives.  But ultimately God uses circumstances and situations to work some specific thing out in their life that is different than my specific thing.

In the events which we encounter together, God is working out things in your life which may or may not be at all what He is working out in me.  We are each on our own journey, growing as He so chooses for us to grow.   We either accept the sunshine, rain and fertilizer or we wilt, whither and die spiritually.  Likewise, we either accept the sunshine, rain and fertilizer or we grow spiritually.

So, as you read (if you so choose) the comments and previous posts in this blog, bear in mind, that I truly believe God is using the words to work out something in your life as well as mine.  Otherwise, I would have completely deleted each and every word.  May you find God's grace sufficient to meet all your needs and abound.

Let me know if anything you read is worth sharing.  Email if you so choose.  selahV 

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]

DOES SATAN KNOW OUR HOT BUTTONS?

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  I Peter 5:8.

Remember when God pointed out his servant Job?  satan had been roaming the earth in search of folks he could destroy.  What does Peter urge us to do in the event satan comes knocking on our window panes, stirring up strife and trouble?

"Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."  Then, "after you have suffered a while", Christ Jesus will "perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you." {9, 10.

Yeah, I think satan knows our hot buttons.  And he uses them against us.  He uses them to destroy relationships, sever ties and disrupt our lives.  Why?  To render our witness ineffective.  To weaken our faith.  To darken the light we deliver.

Are arguments between Christians simply satan worming his way into lives with diversionary tactics to take our minds off Jesus?   Does he have power to threaten?  invalidate?  unjustly accuse?  How do we resist him?  How do we remain steadfast?  Do we have more power than Job?   selahV 

DOES GOD MAKE ME SIN?

According to some, God ordains every single solitary thing.  In the most general of ways I can agree with that statement.  Some say that because God allows thus and such to happen, that He, infact, causes it to happen.  I don't see God that way.  Why would God cause to happen what He abhors.  Why would God debase the proud but exalt the humble, when He is the one who made the proud to be proud and arrogant?

Why would He cause us to sin and then tell us to repent of our sin and then force us to repent or force us not to repent?  Perhaps I have it all wrong what folks mean when they say God ordains man to sin.  If so, please correct me.  selahV

CAN WE CHANGE GOD'S WILL?

We pray, "not my will, but Thine be done."

I consider how Moses prayed that God not wipe out the people when He was fed up with their grumbling and disobedience, so God relented.  Did God know He was going to change His mind?  Did God have His mind made up but honored Moses' request?

Jacob wanted a blessing and so he wrestled all night with God, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me."  Did Jacob really have any power over whether God would go?

I wonder if the real crux of things is Moses and Jacob were actually seeking the will of God.  They wanted what God ultimately wanted--so it was God's will, not that He was changing it.  What do you think?  selahV