1 Peter 1:3-9 – 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
They mysteries of God are never ending. Here we see that we have received new spiritual birth only by the great mercy of God. To that we heartily and thankfully echo the opening doxology of verse 3. As in Ephesians 2:8-10a we are saved entirely by the grace of God. Yet, we have our part in it, we must have faith. These verses in Ephesians clearly state that we are saved by the grace God has extended to us. John 3:16 clearly states that this grace was extended to the whole world, but John 3:18-21 clearly show that not all will receive this grace because of unbelief. Because of a lack of faith. So this grace from God is freely given to all who will come. All are invited, but not all come (Matthew 22:1-14). How could all not come if we are all invited. Obviously man has a free will that God has chosen to not overrule. The fact that believers have a free will is manifest. If man does not have a free will, if believers do not have a free will, then why do we sin? We have a choice to sin or not. We are not automatons that merely act and speak as programmed. There is no true love and no true beauty in that. In fact, thinking that we have no free will, but are preprogrammed robots makes God to be a being who is either not confident that He will be loved by a free-willed people, or it means that He is an egotist who merely desires the words of praise regardless of their sincerity. But we know that God lacks no confidence (not arrogance but sure knowledge) because He is omniscient and being omniscient means that is also fully self-aware and that would mean that He knows He is omnipotent and that with Him, all things are possible (Mark 10:27). God is not proud but is humble. He has revealed to us that He hates pride, it was the first sin in the devil, and we are called to eschew it at any cost (Proverbs 6:16-17, Isaiah 14:13-15, 1 John 2:15-16). Our God has no unrighteous pride, but rather a sure self-awareness. God knows who He is and is confident that Believers will step forward and love Him purely because of who He is. In Job, the devil challenges that knowledge of God (Oh liars think everyone else lies! How detestable and disrespectful the enemy is to our God. His time is coming!). The devil says that Job will not love God purely for who He is. The devil claims that Job only serves God because He loves the blessings that He receives from God. But God knows better (as always!) After the devil strips Job of all earthly blessings, except life itself, the love of Job for God, and His trust in Him, remains strong. In fact, Job was stronger afterward than he was before. The devil, unbeknown to himself, was tool of God to prove Job’s love for Him and thereby strengthen and deepen Job’s love of, and faith in, God. Oh, the Lord is so beyond anything and anyone else! Praise God!
God is confident that He can give man free will and that men (not all) will love Him rather than all that the world (and the devil) has to offer. And here is the mystery, if we have a choice, does that mean that we have a part in our salvation, because we have chosen to respond in faith. No! Not at all! Remembering that Ephesians 8:8 states that we have been saved by grace, through a faith, that is not of ourselves, but is a gift of God. A parent calls his child into the living room of their home and gives his child a bicycle with training wheels. The parent teaches the child how to ride the bike. Though the bike has training wheels, the parent runs beside the child to make sure the child is not hurt and does not give up. The parent knows that he can teach the child and that the child will learn to ride, and that by learning to ride the child will be blessed by it. Soon, with the training wheels on, the child can ride the bike with confidence. After a period of time, the training wheels come off and the parent runs beside the child again. Soon, the parent lets go and the child is riding on his own. The parent called the child. The child responded to parents call. The parent gave the bike as a gift. The child accepted the gift but didn’t know how to use it. “No worries” said the parent, “I will be with you and teach you.” The parent was always at the side of the child, with a hand steadying the child, and trained the child. The child learned to ride the gift the parent had given. Similar to this, God has worked in our life to prepare us to respond to His call. He called us and we responded to His call. He offered us a free gift of love, Himself. He taught us to get on this gift, trust Him and enjoy the gift. The child takes no credit, he was called to receive the gift, shown how to ride and enjoy the gift, and protected and encouraged all along. This is an example of an infinitely more profound truth. God knows who He is, He knows how He made us, He knows that His creation needs Him, and those who respond He calls His own. He knows that free-willed people (not all) will love Him.
We want to completely understand everything. We expect to understand everything. Yet we are not capable of completely understanding the ways of God, and even of our salvation. We look deeply into the endless that our eyes and understanding are incapable of fully viewing or knowing. Yes, we have a free will. The will is a gift from God. Yes, we have faith, it also is gift from God. The mercy and grace we received from God are a gift that come from His love, grace and mercy that are part of His love, are a part of Him. We have done nothing for our faith, we have been called, welcomed, and had everything provided. In appreciation for who God is, we gradually learn to love God solely for who He is. In appreciating the wonder, the beauty, the love, and the eternal superiority of God we praise and glorify Him as we bow our heads to God while looking up and adoring who He is. Job did this. Oh how the devil must have been furious and angry that Job did what he could not do. Job loved God for being God and trusted Him without fully understanding. So are we called! Praise the Lord! How awesome is our God! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God.