“So all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the Lord, am the one who does these things. “Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the Lord, created them. “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’” (Isaiah 45:6-9 NLT)
Many times people want to place God in a “box” and only pull Him out for show on a Sunday or on Christmas or Easter. I remember my mother always pulling out the “good china” when company was coming over. It was not used any other time. It was kept in a box and never used unless someone special was coming to the house. Just imagine how much more special it would have been to enjoy those dishes other times.
Believe it or not, we do this to God. God is not meant to be put in a box. God is not meant to be hidden. In fact, God is deeply involved in everything from natural disasters to family disputes. Nothing touches a believer's life unless it comes through His permissive hand. And He will bring about good from even our worst experiences if we do not limit Him and put him away in a box. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)
But believing in God’s control over all the events of earth can mean there is a connection between holy God and our sin. Then, just how are they related?
Read this carefully: God neither starts sin nor does He lead anyone into temptation.
He is holy, so He can't be in the presence of sin.
He is just, so He demands payment for wrongs.
And He's loving and merciful, so He desires that all people know Him and His saving grace.
To lure people into wrongdoing and then judge those same people for disobedience would be opposite to His nature and character.
At times people point out some translations of Isaiah 45:7, which says that God makes good times and bad times; or that He makes peace while at the same time creates evil. Some people will use this to blame God for when things go wrong. God is aware of what is going on but the responsibility for our decisions still rests with us.
Even before we make a wrong choice, the Lord knows what the consequences will be. And He uses the evil circumstances related to our sin as a tool to teach us and show us just how mighty, powerful, and merciful He is. But we refuse to let God out of the box.
We do have a certain amount of free will. God allows us to step out of His will and pursue our own agenda. He knows that sin reveals the flesh's weakness and pride. Once we realize just how weak we are in our flesh and just how strong we are wrapped in His love, He teaches us to give up on our own plan and focus on His face.
We can then fully depend upon Christ's strength. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)
God is ready for us to let Him out of the box in which we keep Him whether that box is labeled as “pride,” “sin,” or “embarrassment.” He is ready and willing to break through to our spirit. He is ready to break through our spiritual filtering systems, and He is ready to break through and cleanse us from a past that limits Him and gives us a future that, according to His plan, has no limits or restrictions.
Paul says that the life He has now is by faith in Jesus who loves us, gave Himself and died. This means that Paul let God out of the box.
The Bible says many places that the tomb could not even keep Jesus inside. God let Jesus out of the box.
John saw in God’s revelation to Him a church in Sardis. A good church but a church that kept God in a box. John writes that Jesus is saying to the church at Sardis, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20 KJV) Jesus is saying to let God out of the box and let Him come into our lives.
Today, let God out of the box. He is waiting patiently for us to let Him out and then let Him into our lives. What are we going to do to let God out of the box and get to know Him and His Son more closely?
Today’s challenge is for all of us to blow the lid off whatever box we have that is keeping God limited and experience to fullness of His Grace, mercy, and Love.
Hello Again!!
7 years ago
