God gave me something this morning in my bible reading. Something I have pondered for a long time. My reading plan has me in Proverbs right now, and I came to Proverbs 16:4 which says 'The Lord has made all for Himself, Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom'. Let me say that I have a bible with no commentary. I like to read without distraction, so that the Lord can speak to me with His words. Let me also say that I have a number of bibles with commentary in case I don't understand something, I can look and see what scripture means. Proverbs 16:4 was very interesting to me so I got out my MacArthur study bible to see what John had to say about the verse. John MacArthur is incredibly knowledgeable, so if you don't have that study bible, get it.
In the commentary it says that the wicked will bring glory to God and referred me to Romans 9:17-23. You can read this for yourself to better understand what I will say next. Verse 18 stuck out to me here because it says 'whom He wills He hardens'. You see I was very obsessed with something I noticed in Exodus. Over and over it says that the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart. Sometimes it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. I always wondered why God would do that. Why would He harden Pharaoh's heart?
This morning I finally got my answer. In the study bible, MacArthur says "This does not mean that God actively created unbelief or some other evil in Pharaoh's heart, but rather that He withdrew all the divine influences that ordinarily acted as a restraint to sin and allowed Pharaoh's wicked heart to pursue its sin unabated."
He withdrew.
That's all. He didn't create the evil. It was already there. He just withdrew.
I was once asked why I thought God didn't just stop all the suffering in the world. Stop the babies from dying, the murderers from living. Why doesn't He just remove the sin? Simply put, we'd all be goners if He did. You see we are born into sin. We have sin in us. Every good and perfect gift is from above. The dirty disgusting vile mess that's left, that's all you.
God is God. Sit in that for a minute. He gets to create whatever He wants, and He created you. Did he create you for destruction or mercy? I used to think that God was a supplement to my life. He would help me get through things when I needed, and mind His own business when I didn't. Looking back now I apologize to Him for being such a fool. This is His world. I am to supplement His Kingdom. That's my sole purpose. That's what I was made for. I think we cannot realize how merciful He is, until we realize how truly dirty we are.
I think what trips most people up is they don't truly believe they need Jesus. Too many times I've heard "well I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person." Good people don't go to heaven. Forgiven people do.
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You cannot earn your way to heaven by being a good person. Faith through Christ is the only way.
That verse reminds me of a very well-known poem by Robert Frost, which says-
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
In the commentary it says that the wicked will bring glory to God and referred me to Romans 9:17-23. You can read this for yourself to better understand what I will say next. Verse 18 stuck out to me here because it says 'whom He wills He hardens'. You see I was very obsessed with something I noticed in Exodus. Over and over it says that the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart. Sometimes it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. I always wondered why God would do that. Why would He harden Pharaoh's heart?
This morning I finally got my answer. In the study bible, MacArthur says "This does not mean that God actively created unbelief or some other evil in Pharaoh's heart, but rather that He withdrew all the divine influences that ordinarily acted as a restraint to sin and allowed Pharaoh's wicked heart to pursue its sin unabated."
He withdrew.
That's all. He didn't create the evil. It was already there. He just withdrew.
I was once asked why I thought God didn't just stop all the suffering in the world. Stop the babies from dying, the murderers from living. Why doesn't He just remove the sin? Simply put, we'd all be goners if He did. You see we are born into sin. We have sin in us. Every good and perfect gift is from above. The dirty disgusting vile mess that's left, that's all you.
God is God. Sit in that for a minute. He gets to create whatever He wants, and He created you. Did he create you for destruction or mercy? I used to think that God was a supplement to my life. He would help me get through things when I needed, and mind His own business when I didn't. Looking back now I apologize to Him for being such a fool. This is His world. I am to supplement His Kingdom. That's my sole purpose. That's what I was made for. I think we cannot realize how merciful He is, until we realize how truly dirty we are.
I think what trips most people up is they don't truly believe they need Jesus. Too many times I've heard "well I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person." Good people don't go to heaven. Forgiven people do.
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You cannot earn your way to heaven by being a good person. Faith through Christ is the only way.
That verse reminds me of a very well-known poem by Robert Frost, which says-
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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