How to Know God Is In It

On a week when it rains as much as it has while this hurricane turned tropical storm has dumped it’s payload of the Gulf of Mexico onto the interior of the US, I wish I truly had a garden to which I could go now that the sun has broken through.  Hallelujah for being able to see that there is a universe beyond the clouds.  We so needed the rain that I am thankful, but I need a flower to help me smileJ

While closed in this week, the Lord has been repeatedly giving me glimpses into the subject of how to know for sure when it is He not the deceiver who is leading my life.  He keeps slipping me different angles on the same subject: the basic truth of opposites.

There is a uniqueness in the Character of God that helps me see clearly His hand in the circumstances of life.  The concept is a bit difficult to explain, but is worth the attempt at the discussion.  It is the truth of opposites.  The simplest scriptural example that comes to my mind is the story of Abraham who took his son to the mountain top to sacrifice him to God, even though this was his only son through whom God had promised the future of a nation, and a Messiah for the people of Israel.  In addition, it was so unlike God to ask for a human sacrifice.  Everything about it seemed to be the opposite of what scripture teaches us about God. The story ends with God providing another sacrifice and seemingly changing His mind about expecting Abraham to sacrifice His son.  The whole experience leaves the reader asking why,  or what was God saying or doing in this very strange story?

On the surface, the story is about trusting God, to the point of being willing to do whatever He asks, unto the extreme of sacrificing your own child. This goes against everything we believe about God, because we believe one thing that separates our God from the gods of the world is that He doesn’t ask such things of us.  In fact, anyone who declares God has told him to do such a thing, would be confined as mentally deranged.  We thankfully know that if such a thought should cross our mind, we know it is not from God.  Why in fact would Abraham even indulge himself to accept such a thought as being from God?  Why would he follow the command to do such a thing?  Except that he fully believed that God had promised this son would be the father of a great nation, and therefore, even at the expense of his death, God would somehow, miraculously keep His promise.

There are of course so many other lessons learned in this story, including the picture type of our Savoir being the only son of God, who actually was sacrificed on our behalf. However, this story always bothered me until I learned the principle of discerning opposites.  A large part of this principle is tied up in God’s willingness to allow us to choose.  Choose life, choose faith, choose salvation….the ability and freedom to choose. God does the opposite of what it seems a God should do. If we are truly His creation, why does he allow us to choose to accept or reject  Him.  Why not just save everyone and make it so we all are one with Him?   Check in tomorrow as I begin to sort out what the Lord is sharing with me on “How to Know God is In It”.