Do We Know More Than God Does?
Have any one of you had the sense that you have pursued your
children, your husband or your friends, when after a period of time you
realized that they didn't really want you, but were being polite without a
desire to be a true or close friend?
If you have lived this as many of us have, then you have an
inkling of how God feels when we do the same to God. Often we claim to love
Him, while ignoring His principles. The
saying "I love Him", seems to
be enough for us, the doing it is absent from our testimony.
Notice too, that these people mentioned claim to know more
than God does in verse 5. They are so
arrogant that they believe they know more than God knows. When we encounter
those who argue with us when we quote God, are of this sort. They think they know more than God knows.
Because of this rebellious mentality, they will not listen to those who walk
with God, nor will they listen to Scripture when it is quoted to them. They are arguers, fighters and
non-listeners. They have so much to say
they have no time to listen to anyone else.
It has been my experience that those who are intent on
following the Law of the OT, often regularly negate the principles and commands
for living given by Christ. They desire
to appear righteous through outward expressions that can be seen by men,
without honoring the clearly stated principles of God in the New Covenant that
was instituted by Christ.
Here is what God think of our futile and fruitless words.
We are seeing more and more of this stiff necked response
than ever before, the generation of the 70's and beyond, have been trained to
be this way through the self esteem teaching, they actually think they are born
knowing all things without the need for godly teachers or correction from those
who have lived longer than they.
Isaiah 65:1-5
A Rebellious People
65 “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask
for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’
To a nation which did not call on My name.
2 “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious
people,
Who walk in the way which is not good, [a]following their
own thoughts,
3 A people who continually provoke Me to My face,
Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on
bricks;
4 Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places;
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots.
5 “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My [b]nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.
Acts 7:51
""You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as
your fathers did."
Psalm 95:8-11
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of
Massah in the wilderness, "When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me,
though they had seen My work. "For forty years I loathed that generation,
And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My
ways. read more."Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter
into My rest."
Psalm 28:14
"How blessed is the man who fears always, But he who
hardens his heart will fall into calamity."
Hebrews 3:13-19
"But encourage one another day after day, as long as it
is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast
the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said,
"TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY
PROVOKED ME." read more.For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed,
did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom
was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies
fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His
rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to
enter because of unbelief."
If we are to grow in holiness, walk uprightly as the witness
for Christ that we should be, then we must be willing to listen, confess, heed
and follow the principles of Christ as brought to us by those who care enough
to admonish us. A stiff necked person
cannot learn and will eventually regress in their walk. Those who listen, ponder and pray when
corrected, will grow in holiness.
Do we want to remain spiritual babies our entire life, or do
we desire to grow more useful for God's kingdom?
