Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7 KJV)
I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11 BSB)
The Lord answered Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them." (Exodus 7:1-5 CSB)
So Joshua took all this land - the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel with its foothills - from Mount Halak, which ascends to Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death. Joshua waged war with all these kings for a long time. No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites who inhabited Gibeon; all of them were taken in battle. For it was the Lord's intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:16-20 CSB)
Did God ask Moses to tell a lie when He asked Moses to ask the Pharaoh for a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God? No. If the Pharaoh had accepted the request, it would be so. But it was God's will that the Israelites were to leave Egypt. So God hardened the Pharaoh's heart and he did not accept the request. Finally after the death of all the first born in Egypt, the Pharaoh expelled all the Israelites from his land.
Likewise when the Jews were offered about 50% of Palestine in 1947 by the United Nations, they accepted. If the Arabs had also accepted it, it would be so. But it is God's will that the Jews are to get all of Palestine. He stated it in the Bible and the Koran. So He hardened the hearts of the Arabs, who now called themselves Palestinians, to fight both the Jews and Allah, until they are driven out of the land.
The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (Proverbs 16:4 ESV)
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:18-21 NLT)
A friend told me that his Wesley Methodist church pastor had once preached the Christmas story through the eyes of Joseph.
Joseph was a troubled man. First, he thought his wife was unfaithful and an angel had to appear in a dream to convince him otherwise. Then the birth of Jesus coincided with the census and he had to bring his family back to his hometown in Bethlehem and there was no lodging available and Jesus was born in a manger. Later the family had to flee to Egypt to avoid the wrath of king Herod. While so much were happening, Joseph was definitely doing God's will.
So you can be in the centre of God's will and still be full of trouble.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7 KJV)
When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up!" he said. "Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him." (Matthew 2:13 BSB)
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV)
How do we know God's will for us? We always want to know the answer, especially when we faced a dire situation not specifically mentioned in the Bible. Although we know our ultimate destiny of eternal life, sometimes we may lose all we have on earth, just like what happened to Lot, who lost everything in Sodom and Gomorrah but kept his life (Genesis 19:29). So if we place a lot of value on our present life, we may be very disappointed with God when unpleasant things happen to us.
So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived. (Genesis 19:29 BSB)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)
He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God] - yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 Amplified Bible)
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans - that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. (Habakkuk 1:6 BSB)
Men love to set KPI. They even set KPI for God on how a perfect God should be like. Did God accept the KPI?
Crime and Punishment
When Israel sinned, God ought to use a more righteous nation to punish Israel or punish Israel Himself. But God raised the cruel Babylonians to punish Israel (Habakkuk 1:6). And then God later punished the Babylonians for punishing Israel (Jeremiah 25:12).
Word Transmission
Until heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass away from the law (Matthew 5:18) but in the course of transmission of text of the Bible, there are some minor changes in the jot and tittle. It is less than 0.01%, but still, it is one missing jot or one additional tittle. But the KJV-only believers cannot believe that the almighty God could not preserve a perfect original text for us. God would fail our KPI for Him if He cannot do that. In fact, He did more than that. He even divinely inspired the KJV translation. God passed our KPI for Him with flying colours. Did God really care about our KPI for Him?
Word Accuracy
It is appointed for man to die once (Hebrews 9:27) but Lazarus died twice (John 11:43). Did the Bible contradict itself? Is the mustard seed the smallest of all seeds (Matthew 13:32, Mark 4:31)? If Jesus was to be in the grave three days and nights (Matthew 12:40), how do we fit those between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Did Bible meant it to be 72 hours exactly because God is very precise? Three days and nights must be 72 hours because God is perfect to the jot and tittle. Are we celebrating Good Friday and Easter Sunday wrongly? Or are we interpreting the Bible more strictly than God Himself?
Christian Witness
The Bible recorded that God use holy men like the apostles to spread the gospel. But in our days, God chose to use the colonialist, the slave traders and drug traffickers to spread the gospel. Africans were enslaved, taken from their home and sold to Christian lands to be given the opportunity to hear the gospel. Opium traders humiliate China to bring the gospel to their land. Shouldn't a perfect and holy God do better than that? Maybe He should roll out the red carpet to welcome the Africans and Chinese into the Kingdom of God and today, there will be no Black Life Matter movement and there will be no Chinese Communist party harping on the century of humiliation by Western imperial powers. Looks like we have better ideas than God.
World Creation
Then the ultimate KPI, the favourite of unbelievers and atheists, why can't the perfectly good, almighty and all-knowing God create a world without sin? Then Jesus would not need to come to the world to die for sin. Atheists use God's failure in this KPI to prove His non-existence. If God exists, why are there evil and sufferings in the world? Why can't the One who knows the end from the beginning think ahead?
What are you going to do with a God that fail your KPI?
From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. (John 6:66 BSB)
So Jesus asked the Twelve, "Do you want to leave too?" Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God." (John 6:67-69 BSB)
The Lord is near. Be anxious about nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:5b-6 Berean Literal Bible)
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3 CSB)
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 ESV)
Pray. Do not be anxious. Our God will answer. When He has answered, glorify Him and give thanks.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)
He even has a free Seven Eleven Convenience Store for you.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26 ESV)
God sends His Holy Spirit to help us to pray. What more can we ask for?
You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3 CSB)
Prayers not answered? Here is a list of items prayed by Paul the Apostle pray for his fellow Christians and you can follow his example:
To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 ESV)
Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18 CSB)
Prove God to be true by praying according to His Word and His Will.
Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases. (Psalm 115:3 CSB)
The LORD does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths. (Psalm 135:6 CSB)
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.' (Isaiah 46:10 NIV)
All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:35 CSB)
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:27 KJV)
But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26 ESV)
I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2 CSB)
Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:13 NIV)
Some people think that God has limitations, for example, He cannot lie. But we noticed that what the scriptures are saying is God does whatever that pleases Him. If you are a vegetarian and have the power to do as you please, would you organize a barbecue or force everyone to eat grass? Lying does not please God. Thus God will not lie.
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19 ESV)
So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. (Hebrews 6:18 NLT)
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4 ESV)
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 ESV)
Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:23 ESV)
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live." (Ezekiel 18:32 ESV)
It is God's desire that all people be saved. So He sent His only begotten Son to die for the sin of the world so that all who believe in Him shall be saved.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:40 ESV)
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. (Titus 2:11 NET)
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10 ESV)
Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." (Genesis 50:25 ESV)
If we read about Joseph in the Bible, especially in Sunday School context, our focus will probably be his father's favouritism, his God-given wisdom in interpretation of dreams, how his brothers sold him to Egypt as a slave, how he became the vizier of Egypt and how Jacob and his sons went to Egypt.
There is an aspect of Joseph which is likely to be missed when we study about Joseph. He was a great manager. When he became a slave of Potiphar, Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care and he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate (Genesis 39:6). Likewise for the prison warden who left everything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did (Genesis 39:23). It was the same with Pharaoh, who put the whole Egypt under Joseph (Genesis 41:40).
We noted the Bible's emphasis on God being the source of Joseph's wisdom. Like Daniel (Daniel 2:28) later, Joseph told the Pharaoh that his ability to interpret dreams came from God (Genesis 41:16). The same he told the cupbearer and the baker of Pharaoh (Genesis 40:8). He did not take credit for his wisdom and ability.
So if you are a great manager and a good man who never harmed a fly, do not think that you will be going to heaven because of that. The Bible, which looks at things from God's perspective, emphasized on Joseph's faith in God, his belief and execution of God's will and not his managerial abilities.
For all of Joseph's great capabilities and how well he could run a country, God's commendation of Joseph was that he believed that God would bring the Israelites out of Egypt. This is God's KPI.
So likewise, God's commendation of you, if any, may be not what you expect it to be.
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. (Hebrews 11:22 NIV)
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 NIV)
Many seek God's will when they come to crossroads of life. Whom shall I marry? Which course should I take in school? Where should I stay? What job should I take? But most of the time, there will be no direct answer in the Bible for these questions.
It is good to know God's will in our life. You will know God's will if you know God. The best way to know God is to obey His explicit will given in the Bible. When you find that God's commandments in the Bible is true, you will know Him and increase your faith in Him. You will become convinced that God has your best interest at heart. Your worldview will change and you will seek to please God.
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 ESV)
Did God ask Moses to tell a lie when He asked Moses to ask the Pharaoh for a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God?
"The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.' (Exodus 3:18 NIV)
God did not ask Moses to lie. If the Pharaoh had accepted the request, it would be so. But the Pharaoh had not accepted the request. Finally after the ten plagues, the Pharaoh expelled the Israelites from his land.
During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. (Exodus 12:31 NIV)
After that, the Pharaoh regretted his action and decided to pursued the Israelites.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, "What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!" (Exodus 14:5 NIV)
God had foretold to Moses that the Pharaoh will expel them.
So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. (Exodus 3:20 NIV)
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." (Exodus 6:1 NIV)
Now the LORD had said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. (Exodus 11:1 NIV)
In the same manner, the LORD hardened the hearts the enemies of Israel during the time of Joshua so that they could be destroyed completely.
So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death. Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:16-20 NIV)
The LORD is treating the Palestinians the same way. When offered up to 50% of the land in 1948, the Palestinians refused the offer. As they continued to fight, the land offered got smaller and smaller.
A different perspective on finding God's will.
| Finding God's will | Pleasing God |
|---|---|
| Starts with me | Focused on God's preference |
| Concerned with methods - what do I do? | Concerned with Scripture - what has He revealed? |
| God's will is lost, I must find it | "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;" Micah 6:8 |
| The goal is to have a nice life | The goal is to live well - honoring God |
From Joel Arnold 2020-12-17 JSM Family Conference
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21 ESV)
Did I always say that we are saved by who we believe and not what we do? Well, the Bible says you also can be saved by doing stuff.
What must you do?
You must do the will of God.
What is the will of God?
To believe in His Son.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:40 ESV)
