Bible League: Living His Word "Who has known the mind of the Lord?Or who has been his counselor?" The God of the Judeo-Christian tradition is unique among the deities of the world religions. The gods of the various pagan religions are merely creaturely realities – sun, moon, stars, animals, etc. – that have been elevated in the minds of people to divine status. The Pantheist religions elevate the creation as a whole to divine status. The secular religions of our day typically elevate physical reality to divine status. Only in the Judeo-Christian tradition (and religions that have been influenced by it) does that which is taken as divine transcend the creation as a whole and any part of it. God transcends the creation as it Creator. Since the Bible teaches that God transcends the created order, it is less than surprising that the Bible also teaches that the mind of God transcends the minds of people. The questions of our verse for today are rhetorical. The assumed and obvious answer is "no one." No one knows the mind of God and no one has been His counselor. Isaiah quotes God as saying "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). If it were not for the fact that God reveals His thoughts to us we would know nothing about them. God, however, does reveal things to us – but He does not reveal everything to us. God is under no obligation to reveal the fullness of what He knows to us. Although the Bible reveals many things to us, it does not reveal everything. The Bible leaves many of our questions unanswered. Further, when God reveals personal things to us, plans for our future and the like, He does not reveal the complete picture. Who can say that they know God's complete plan for their life? Given that God transcends the creation, and given that the mind of God transcends the minds of people, one can see why faith and trust are such major themes in the Bible. Since we do not know all the answers, we must trust God. We must trust that what He has revealed is true and we must trust that what He has not revealed is in His hands. Trust in the Lord, therefore, with all your heart. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJob 35, 36, 37 Job 35 -- Many Cry in Affliction, But Are Not Heard for Lack of Faith NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 36 -- Elihu Shows How Job's Sins Hinder God's Blessings NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 37 -- Elihu Says God is to be Feared Because of His Great Works NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 14 Acts 14 -- Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and Syrian Antioch NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.Insight Jesus reminds us that our speech and actions reveal the true underlying beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. The good impressions we try to make cannot last if our hearts are deceptive. Challenge What is in your heart will come out in your speech and behavior. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Ezekiel 16:6 When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live.Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate of mercy. Note that this fiat of God is majestic. In our text, we perceive a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in his glory; he looks, he pauses, and he pronounces the solitary but royal word, "Live." There speaks a God. Who but he could venture thus to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is manifold. When he saith "Live," it includes many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus--our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear his voice--Jehovah said "Live," and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of spiritual life. "I said unto thee, Live:" and that word rolls on through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord's voice is still heard, "Live!" In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, "Live," and as holy spirits rise to heaven to be blest forever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of this same word, "Live." Note again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God. A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" This mandate is a mandate of free grace. When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it to magnify his free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden you live, see to it that you live in earnest. Daily Light on the Daily Path Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."Hebrews 9:13,14 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, • how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. John 10:15,18 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. • "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." Leviticus 17:11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.' Hebrews 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Romans 5:8,9 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. • Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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