"Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:7 KJV)
"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News." (Philippians 1:3-7 NLT)
As many of you should know, the children of Israel are there, going through all that is written within the Scriptures, to show us God's great mercy and grace, even though we don't deserve it; much as they too didn't deserve it, God never stopped loving and caring for them, even in the times that they were taken away to other lands, God was always with them! This is what He does for all of His children!
Yes, they rejected God, wanting a king as the other pagan people around them had; even though it was God that was their King, they wanted a king they could see, who would represent them, and that they could show off, as if he was something to enhance their image. I know, it sounds totally crazy, because all of that and more is what God was doing, if they would just stay true to Him, they could have figured that out.
However, this is something that was no surprise to God; like everything else that is within the heart of man, He already knows what we really want, and He has already had the remedy and the cure for any strange and stupid thing we could do. Oddly enough, looking at the word for "mad," which is meant to be something foolish; it turns out that there are more praise-worthy definitions for that word, then there are for things that might tear us down.
That doesn't mean that we can do what we want, and God will make it all turn out good for us, because there has got to be justice and right choices involved; after all, God is Just and Holy! In the case of Paul, who was being held in prison, not because he did anything that was bad or unjust, but because he was spreading the Good News.
This was no surprise to Paul, because Jesus had already shown him all that he would suffer; but what was a surprise to Paul, was how much it blessed him and how it caused him to know the love of God! When we know what the final day will look like, the days that we live in-between, have more promise and give us joy; even in the suffering we might be living in, there is always the hope ahead which is so much more important...
"Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God's mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God's mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" (Romans 11:28-33 NLT)
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