19\u00a0Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,\u00a0and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\nWe say that a man is good because of what He does or says.\u00a0 God is not good because of what He does or says, but He does good because of who He is. We, as an inferior example, reflect this truth of God.\u00a0 We in Christ do good works not because we want to have Christ within but because we already have Christ within.\u00a0 In us, we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit within (Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18<\/b>), but God who does not change is not transforming into a greater or better good because He is already perfect in all His ways.\u00a0 The goodness of God does not depend on our acknowledgement of His goodness, it is true of Him even if no-one or nothing else acknowledges it.\u00a0 God is so pure, so good, so perfect that all persons or things cannot help but bear witness to His goodness.\u00a0 Jesus said that if the people did not praise God then the rocks would cry out in praise (Luke 19:40<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0 The goodness of God is eternal truth from a past with no beginning to a future with no end.\u00a0 He does not change because He is perfect.<\/p>\n
He is good all the time and all the time He is good and so it is not possible for Him to do or say evil.\u00a0 He cannot tell a lie because He is Truth and there is no deceit in Him (1 Peter 2:22<\/b>).\u00a0 What God says is eternally true (Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:25<\/b>).\u00a0 What God states is eternal knowledge both past and future.\u00a0 His Words cannot be challenged or changed.\u00a0 To challenge or desire to change even the seemingly most minute part of what He has said is to doubt not only His Word, but the very essence of who and what He is.<\/p>\n
So, do we believe that God is good all the time and that all the time He is good, as His Word states (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 25:8, Mark 10:18<\/b>)?\u00a0 Do we believe that He loves us now and has loved us into eternity past and into eternity future (Jeremiah 31:3, 1 John 3:1, John 15:12<\/b>)?\u00a0 Since we believe those things, what place in our knowledge of God, in our faith in God, does doubting God\u2019s goodness, kindness and knowledge have within us?<\/p>\n
Furthermore it is common to hear from the pulpit and the radio pulpit that, being human, it is acceptable to doubt the goodness of God.\u00a0 That is not scriptural.\u00a0 If it is, bring that scripture forth as evidence that it is okay to doubt God\u2019s goodness.\u00a0 I dare say that such a scripture will not be found.\u00a0 It is not acceptable, but like most sins, is forgivable.<\/p>\n
As Englishman Alexander Pope famously stated \u201cTo err is human, to forgive, divine.\u201d\u00a0 So err we do.\u00a0 To be tempted is also human.\u00a0 To be tempted to doubt the goodness of God is human and not a sin.\u00a0 Sinning only occurs when one succumbs to temptation.\u00a0 We need to resist temptation, even to run from it as necessary.\u00a0 Being tempted to lust is not a sin, being tempted to hate is not a sin, but giving in to what we are tempted to do is a sin.\u00a0 So, when the opposite of what we have prayed for happens, the enemy is quick to tempt us to doubt the goodness and love that are inherent qualities of God.\u00a0 Being tempted is not sin.\u00a0 However succumbing to and dancing with the temptation transforms it from temptation to sin.<\/p>\n
Is it possible to resist this sin?\u00a0 Is it possible to grow to a point where this sin rarely, if ever tempts us?\u00a0 It depends on what we trust in and what truth we hold dearest.\u00a0\u00a0Proverbs 3:5-6\u00a0<\/b>\u201cTrust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Nothing about who we are prepares us to never doubt God.\u00a0 We want to trust what we can understand, what we can figure out.\u00a0 We expect the finite to comprehend the fullness of the infinite.\u00a0 How silly!\u00a0\u00a0 If we know beyond all doubt and beyond all arguments that God is good and that He loves us, then that knowledge will crush any supposed fact and argument that is contrary to it.\u00a0 The key is to know and trust God infinitely and eternally beyond anything that any person may say and beyond any demonic reasoning.\u00a0 Should a supposed physical law seem to contradict what God has done or declared, even that is a weak argument against God and who He is.\u00a0 Since God supernaturally created all of creation, that being bringing everything out of nothing, He certainly can temporarily interrupt natural laws to bring about His will.\u00a0 From His Spirit and His Word we know who and what God is.\u00a0 His goodness and love will become a rock that cannot be moved, not ever, not by any means or any argument.<\/p>\n
If our knowledge of the goodness and love of God is what we know above all else, then nothing can cause us to doubt who He is or what He does.\u00a0 Furthermore, since our lives are based on that knowledge where does a demand for personal understanding come into play?\u00a0 Since we are convinced of these two facts, do we need to understand the \u201cwhy\u201d of God\u2019s actions?\u00a0 Certainly Abraham must have wondered at God\u2019s instructions to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19<\/b>).\u00a0 However at the end of the matter he did not know why God ordered what He ordered, neither did he need to.\u00a0 He was confident in the goodness and love of God and so he would obey (Hebrews 11:17-19<\/b>).\u00a0 Simple as that.\u00a0 Family, since we are convinced of the goodness and love of God, why do we need to know the \u201cwhy\u201d of His will.\u00a0 The fact that He ordains a thing, isn\u2019t that enough?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t doubt caused by trust of self rather than trust in God?\u00a0 If doubt enters our garden, shouldn\u2019t we resist and chase it away as Adam and Eve should have done.\u00a0 Questioning God does not originate from God or heaven, but as in the Garden of Eden from he who is the enemy of God and of us.\u00a0 Family, we need not know why God wills what He wills, we only need to know what is His will and then we need to do it without doubt.\u00a0 To us who are called by His name, doesn\u2019t the truth of this ring out from within our spirit? Let us not heed our flesh and earthly nature, but rather be transformed by the Spirit of God to obey because of our knowledge of Him. We obey, whether we understand of not.\u00a0 Great if we understand, and if God so desires, great if we do not.\u00a0 He is perfectly good, He know us, He loves perfectly and we do not. \u00a0Nothing changes that, and there is never a reason to doubt that.\u00a0 Let us trust and obey and in that we find the peace and joy of God.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Proverbs 3:5-6\u00a0\u2013 Trust in the\u00a0Lord\u00a0with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;\u00a06\u00a0in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths\u00a0straight. Hebrews 11:17-19\u00a0–\u00a0By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.\u00a0 He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,\u00a018\u00a0even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[2453,129,1865,104,103,99,100,106,93,94,90,88,17,10],"class_list":["post-1693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-chronicles","tag-corinthians","tag-genesis","tag-hebrews","tag-isaiah","tag-jeremiah","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-mark","tag-micah","tag-peter","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1694,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693\/revisions\/1694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}