Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Be alert and of sober mind. 1Pe 5:8a

From Bitterness to the life of freedom (12) and complete joy (15)

In today's daily bread (Deut. 16) the Lord commanded the Israelite to celebrate the festivals, celebrating the life that is in the presence of the Lord.

The Lord has seen the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10)

John saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain. Rev 5:6

The Lord knew Adam would fall and came up with the remedy from before the creation.

O, Poor Earthworm Jacob (Isaiah 41:14)

In reading the account of the Lord's creation in Genesis 1,2 a question arises, "Why did God put in the garden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?"

God did not create the universe and everything in it for his own good; by definition God is all sufficient, so he had no additional need to make him happy by creating something. He created the world only for one reason, that is, for the sake of bestowing upon his creation all that are truly good.. John thus says, "God is love" and love seeks the highest good of the one he choose to love.

Plus, by definition the created being (men and all other creatures) is limited on his own. For survival and thriving it is critical for one to be connected with his creator, which is accomplished through faith and obedience.

Faith and obedience

The Lord did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land, so the Lord could send a message, that is, faith in the Lord who is holy, is the only key to life to the full. In Numbers 27:14 in rejecting Moses' request to allow him to get in, the Lord bothered to explain the reason for rejection, that is, his failure to honor the name of the Lord as holy before the eyes of people.

The word holy (kadosh in Hebrew) means separate or different from. In what respect is the Lord (his name consisting of four letters) different from all other names? It is only in this respect: He alone is the creator, all the rest creation. Thus he alone is self-sufficient; all the rest are dependent upon him for survival or extinction. All the rest are deficient. We humans are therefore self-deficient; you are sufficient in the fullest sense of the meaning only by way of faith in the Lord fully, the Lord who can get water by speaking to a rock.

According to the Apostle Paul faith produces obedience.

Read manual and follow through it.

Now in regard to obedience consider the following:

Once upon a time (it was in 1983 summer I recall) I bought a 1970 Fiat for $500. The guy who sold the car told me that I needed to change the engine oil. In order to save money, instead of going to a mechanic, I decided to change the oil myself. So I put one quart of engine oil. Then I drove the car everywhere, not knowing that the car needed for quarts of engine oil. Lo and behold. After six months the car broke down. The engine melted down. I did not follow the instruction.

In Proverbs Solomon learned this truth firsthand in regard to the way the Lord created man. You need to follow the Lord's words for the enjoyment of full life, so he said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:6


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