"Appointed Decisions"

"He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD." (Psalms 147:20)

  Be that as it may, is something that is sometimes used in response to an excuse; at least it was in my house, when ever I told my mom a reason I did something that I should not have done. As if my reason was going to change the punishment; when, in most cases, the punishment just got worse! I could help but think of Saul, when he told Samuel why he disobeyed God, by not killing everything; saying, "They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed." (1 Samuel 15:15) You have got to take notice of something here, because Saul said, "thy God," and not, "our God." That is what this verse is speaking into my heart this morning, which falls very close to the reaction of the Pharisees, as they instructed Jesus, saying, "Master, rebuke thy disciples." (Luke 19:39) The first thing we need to understand, more than anything else, is that God makes the rules! We don't get to decide what the rules are, and we don't get change the rules to fit our desires. What we want really does not matter, unless what we want is what God wants! God really does not leave anything out, because He tells it like it is: You do what I say, and you will be blessed; you don't do what I say, and you will be a mess! Personally, I believe that counts for everyone, including each and every one of His children! The question might be, Can you be saved and still wreck your life? Oh, my goodness; that doesn't even require much thought at all: because it happens all the time! If you need a little example, look no further than Samson; who is actually listed in the Hall of Faith. There is absolutely nothing that we can do that God does not already know, even before we think about doing it; He already has an appointed decision, ready to answer for the things that we have done. Case in point, was the answer Jesus gave to those Pharisees, saying, "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." (Luke 19:40) Immediately after that, Jesus was coming near to the city, and beholding it, He wept over it...

"Saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."" (Luke 19:42-44)