Do you?
August 26, 2011 (Friday)
I’m not writing about skyscrapers today, but the recent blog about a mile-high building got me to thinking about the Bible verse that says, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there” (Psalm 139:8 NIV). The Psalm makes the point that God is everywhere we go and knows everything about us as individuals.
The Psalmist is writing from the vantage point of faith. If you have faith, then you see God everywhere in all things. If you have no faith, you don’t see God anywhere or in anything. Faith makes the difference, and faith is a choice.
If you choose not to believe, that is your right. That’s the way God made us. From the very beginning of all things, free will has been a part of our nature as human beings. God set it up that way, and he rigorously abides by this condition. If you choose faith, however, you have made the correct choice, because “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God'” (Psalm 14:1).
How, then, can we say God is in control, if humans have the right to choose? Well, our freedom is within the scope of God’s sovereignty. I recall a diagram one of my professors put on the blackboard. First he put a dot on the board and said, “that’s us.” Then he made a line from the dot to a stopping point, then moved to another point, etc. until there were a lot of zig zag lines. He then said, “We have free will; we make choices.” After that he drew a circle around all those lines and declared, “But God’s sovereignty encompasses it all.”
If that’s not clear, never mind. Just make the right choices. It will all become clear when we get to heaven. We will understand it better by and by. Meanwhile, just do the right thing.
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting”
(Psalm 139:23-24 NIV)
God is everywhere and knows all about you; he loves you and is counting on you.
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Read Psalm 139 [Click the little speaker and listen if you like]