Walk

319. Respond to God

There is something about meeting the One Who created you that is a fearful experience!

Romans 9:20 says, “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’”

What if you made a clay pot, and all of the sudden, the pot woke up and said to you, “Hey man, what right do you have to tell me what to do?”

God did not only form you into a “clay vessel,” He created the soil and the water that made the clay out of nothing but His Words!

Romans chapter 9 speaks about God being sovereign. He will do whatever He pleases; He is in control. But in today’s life, so often we don’t realize that. How do we resolve the paradox that man has a free will, but God is ultimately in control?

First, we need to realize that the Creator of something is ALWAYS going to be greater than what He creates. This is a law and cannot be broken.

Second, we need to realize that since the Creator is greater, He has qualities or dimensions about Himself that we cannot totally comprehend. If we think that we could totally comprehend God, we would be prideful.

Look at a map of the world on a wall in 2D or two-dimensional form. Actually, the globe is a three-dimensional object, but the author of this map is trying to show it in 2D instead of 3D. Look at Greenland. It looks as big as a double size of South America. Yet, at the bottom of the map it says that South America is 9 TIMES BIGGER THAN Greenland. Wow! The only explanation is that we cannot comprehend something of a greater number of dimensions with absolute accuracy. The artist tried to show a 3D object in 2D. You cannot see clearly through a foggy glass. It is not perfect. You cannot really comprehend the way the other One does.

God is multi-dimensional. We would be prideful if we said we knew how many dimensions He has, but we know that He has multiple time dimensions, and we know He has at least (and probably a lot more) four space dimensions while we only have three. Ephesians 3:18 lists width, length, depth and height. Jesus walked through walls with His new body, which would require several dimensions.

What all of this tells us is that we cannot be so arrogant and prideful to think that we can judge God by our reasoning. We cannot try to judge whether or not what He did was fair or right. We cannot judge the One Who created us; we are not capable. Enough is said when we realize that He loves us so much that He went to the Cross out of His love for us.

Shall the clay say to the Potter… what are you doing?

In Romans 9 God says that He chose this person over that person, and had mercy on this one but hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He chose Jacob over Esau even before they were born. Does this sound unfair? To our little 3D human reason, yes. But Paul says, “Shall the clay say to the Potter, what are you doing or why have you made me like this?” (Romans 9:20).

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?” (Isaiah 45:9).

“Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” (Isaiah 29:16).

“But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).

We need a good dose of what God gave to Job when Job had not yet met His Creator.

“He it is Who spreads out the northern skies over emptiness and hangs the earth upon or over nothing. He holds the waters bound in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], and the cloud is not rent under them. He covers the face of His throne and spreads over it His cloud. He has placed an enclosing limit [the horizon] upon the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at His rebuke. He stills or stirs up the sea by His power, and by His understanding He smites proud Rahab. By His breath the heavens are garnished, His hand pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent (Satan)” (Job 26:7-13, Amplified Bible).

“Where were you (Job) when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare to Me, if you haveand know understanding. Who determined the measures of the earth, if you know? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?” (Job 38:4-5, Amplified Bible).

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place?” (Job 38:12, Amplified Bible).

“Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know it all. Where is the way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is its abode, that you may conduct it to its home, and may know the paths to its house? You must know, since you were born then! Or because you are so extremely old!” (Job 38:17-21, Amplified Bible).

Only God could have said that light does not stay in a place, but in a way, since it travels at over 186,000 miles per second, and this was long before science knew that.

“Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion? Can you lead forth the signs of zodiac in their season? Or can you guide [the stars of] the Bear with her young? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule upon the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of waters may cover you? Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we are?” (Job 38:31-35, Amplified Bible).

“Shall he who would find fault with the Almighty contend with Him? He who disputes with God, let him answer it. Then Job replied to the Lord: Behold, I am of small account and vile! What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.” (Job 40:2-4, Amplified Bible).

But God was not finished with Job. Instead God turned up the heat.

“THEN JOB said to the Lord, ‘I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted. [You said to me] Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge? Therefore [I now SEE] I have [rashly] uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. [I had virtually said to You what You said to me:] Hear, I beseech You, and I will speak; I will demand of You and You declare to me. I had HEARD of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eyes SEES YOU. Therefore I loathe [my words] and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes’” (Job 42:1-6, Amplified Bible).

After this, the Lord blessed Job greatly! But this time Job knew that it was nothing that he had done, nor anything that he had contributed out of his so called great talents, but only his submission and obedience to his creator Who had mercy and blessed him with favor.

All that, just because God loved Job so much!

If God chooses whom He will, then what can we do?

We can find out and learn something from these examples.

God cannot expect anyone to obey Him or worship Him until He reveals Himself, but when He does, not everybody responds in the same way.

You might say, “Well, just show me a miracle, and I will follow God.” That is what the poor people said in John 6, and Jesus had just fed them with a miracle. It did not get them to worship.

Pharaoh witnessed many miracles by the hand of Moses, and yet his heart kept getting harder and harder against God.

I think that God has a way of seeing the future so that He knows in advance who is going to respond to Him. He knows those who are not going to respond; yet He still does not violate their freedom of choice. He is MORE THAN 3D! In Romans 10 it says that whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Let’s look further into the different types of people and how they respond to God.

Try to find yourself here. You might not be able to identify with just one type, but you might be able to find some parts in some or all types that you can see in yourself.

In Luke chapter 5 there is a story about Peter and his business partners not catching any fish one evening, but in the morning Jesus told them to try it again.

Luke 5:5-8 says, “But Simon answered and said to Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.’ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’”

The First “depart.” The worshippers.

Peter knew that he and Jesus were very different when he said, “DEPART from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter did not really want Jesus to depart, he was just so overwhelmed with Who He was that he could not take all the power and majesty. All he was doing was fishing, he was not doing drugs. But he knew that He had encountered God, or in his own thinking, maybe someone Who came from God. Then, he worshipped and left all. The value of his possessions lost their appeal when compared to Jesus. James and John also left the fishing business, which was now a real moneymaker. They ended up departing but from the things of the world to follow Jesus.

The Second “depart.” The world-lovers.

Some of the fisherman did not leave and did not worship. Perhaps their business was more important to them.

In Luke 8 the pig farmers witnessed a miracle of a demonic crazy man getting healed and set free from thousands of demons. The problem was that it was bad for their business. They asked Jesus to “depart.”

Luke 8:37 says, “Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.”

The rich young ruler in Matthew 19 could not leave it all. He departed.

The Third “depart.” The indifferent.

There were always those who just watched and did not care. “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).

It just required too much of a commitment. The crowds always watched Jesus with interest, but did not respond. Large crowds were pressing on Jesus in Luke 8:45-47, but when one sick woman touched Him He said, “Somebody has touched Me, I sense that virtue has gone out of Me” (Luke 8:46). A lot of people were touching Him, but He felt that most of them were curiosity seekers.

The Fourth “depart.” The Religious People.

Read Luke 13:14, 24-27. Jesus had just healed a lady that had been sick for 18 years. The ruler of the synagogue did not like it because it happened on the Sabbath day. Jesus told them that on judgment day, when they thought they were going to heaven, that He would say to them “Depart from Me, all you workers of evil, I do not know you” (Luke 13:27).

We are either world-lovers, indifferent, or religious, or we are worshippers.

Romans 9 says He chooses whomever He will, but His Word says that He wants no one to be lost, that is not His will. His reputation indicates that He chooses those who will worship Him, obey Him and love Him even though their eyes cannot see Him. John 4:23 says that He is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

So what if you fall into one of these groups? Can you get out? Yes.

Romans 10 says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Look at King David. He performed the worst acts of violence and lust, and yet God said that he became a man after His own heart. He changed into a worshipper.

Look at Peter. He was a worldly fisherman. He even denied Jesus after he had been His disciple for several years. He changed into a worshipper.

Look at Saul of Tarsus, who was renamed Paul and wrote two thirds of the New Testament. He was religious and killed Christians thinking he was doing God’s will. He changed into a worshipper.

Then, there were the worshippers, the ones that from their youth always had a desire for God. Mary the mother of Jesus, John the Baptist, John the apostle and many others.

So if you find yourself in all or part of any of these groups, you can change. But make sure you offer yourself to God for Him to change you before you hear the Words out of His mouth.

The last “depart.”

“Depart from Me!” (Luke 13:27).

As for me, I was a lover of self, a lover of the world. One day I read the book of Revelation under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I saw that Jesus was God, the Bible was the Word of God written by God, and Jesus was the Word. I also saw that Jesus was King of Kings.

I saw how the worst (or the best) that the enemy could throw at Jesus only worked to accomplish God’s perfect plan.

When I saw that, I bowed my knee, and like Peter and Job I knew I had met my Creator. I knew that as clay, I had better submit to the Potter; so I left everything and followed Him. I have never looked back.

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