About Me

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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.
Showing posts with label counsel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counsel. Show all posts

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Does God Need Backup?

"The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation"  (Psalm 33:11, NASB).
"...Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You"  (2 Chronicles 20:6, NASB).
"I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted"  (Job 42:2, NASB).
"There is no wisdom and no understanding
And no counsel against the LORD" (Proverbs 21:30, NASB).
"[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure"  (Philippians 2:13, ESV).
"But will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?'" (Romans 9:19, ESV).
"...Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?" (Job 9:12, ESV).

Some believers may ponder whether God can be frustrated by their personal failures:  O no, I messed up and will have to suffer for my mistake all my life! Or, you might say, "I blew it, and I'll pay for it the rest of my days."  God cannot be thwarted by man  (cf. Job 42:2) because He is omnipotent or almighty and has all power and authority over His creation, such that there isn't even a single maverick molecule doing its own thing apart from His providence.  That's limiting God!

To even suggest that God needs a backup plan is almost blasphemous because it implies that God is in need and insufficient to meet our needs and that God is not El Shaddai or God All-Sufficient--He needs no one or nothing.    God doesn't need us and He is self-existent and needs no one and is dependent on no antecedent cause--He is the sole primary cause of the cosmos and if He weren't sovereign overall, what kind of God would He be?  "Can anything happen without God's permission? (Cf. Lam. 3:37).  God truly orchestrates history for His glory and consummation in Christ's Second Coming.  He can even turn the heart of the king to do His will (cf. Proverbs 21:1).

Christ will not barter away His right to be Lord of all, and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth to do His will (cf. Matt. 28:18).  When Christ was training just twelve disciples, someone might've asked Him what He would do if these men failed Him:  He would've said that He has no other plan!  God is great and knows all and never learn anything new, so why would He need to have alternate plans?  He knows the future and all that possibly could be, so He is in a position to make the one all-wise plan and has the wisdom to fulfill it and bring it to fruition.

 God's decrees will be brought to pass, with or without our cooperation!  Note these verses:  "The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand... For the LORD of hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it?  and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?"  (Isaiah 14:24,27, KJV).  "... My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed, it, I will also do it." (Isaiah 46:10-11, KJV).

God knows what He's doing and doesn't need our counsel!  He didn't ask us for advice and doesn't need our feedback.  He took every one of our failures into account when He made His decrees.  "Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it?  now have I brought it to pass..." (Isaiah 37:26, KJV).  There is nothing too difficult for God (cf. Jeremiah 32:17,27), including bringing about His will and there is no Plan B!  Everything is going according to plan and we are privileged to be part of it as vessels of honor.  God cannot fail and we cannot fail when we join God.  Don't even hint or suggest that God doesn't know what He's doing! "With God all things are possible" (cf. Luke 1:37).  This includes the success of His divine decrees! As it is written:  "... [W]hose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent"  (Isaiah 28:29, NIV).  

It's never too late for God's best and all tragedy, adversity, trial, tribulation, and discipline comes to pass as Father-filtered, or with God's permission, and all proximate evil has ultimate good as the result (as Romans 8:28, NKJV, says, "... [All] things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose").  Let me mention John Wycliffe's famous tenet that "All Things come to pass of necessity.  "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will"  (Eph. 1:11, KJV, emphasis mine).  Soli Deo Gloria!