The Faithful Remnant

Having established in Chapter 10 the willful rejection by the Jews of the Messiah sent by God and His message of salvation, the Good News, in Chapter 11:1-6 Paul goes on to indicate the future plan of God for these rather disobedient and arrogant people.

Paul’s opening question is, “Did God reject His people?” In disgust, had God finally decided to reject the Jews, the people of His choice, whom he called through Abraham, nurtured through Jacob, sent to Egypt following Joseph and the famine, rescued from the hands of Pharaoh and slavery, brought and planted in the Promised Land - will He now reject them?

Paul’s vehement answer to this question is a big resounding ‘No.’ God will never do it. Paul’s destiny is wound so tightly with that of the Jews, for he himself is an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. So, he cannot bear to think even that God would reject His people.

But, why not? Paul’s justification is God will never reject His people, whom he foreknew. Psalm 94:14 says thus: “For the Lord will not reject His people; He will never forsake His inheritance.” In spite of their rebellion and sin against God, God would never forsake His chosen people, whom He selected and nurtured to be His “Servant.” Isaiah 41:8. 

God foreknew them and had made His promises to them, the promise being, He would bless the whole earth through the seed of Abraham. Genesis 12:1-3. God is not a man to change his words of promise. In Numbers 23:19 it is written, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

So, the promises of God once given are not changed by him. He is not a whimsical God, to promise one thing today and change it the next day when it was inconvenient to Him. To quote Paul, 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.” A little later in Romans 11:29, Paul will affirm, “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”

So, Paul’s contention is that God’s promises to Israel will be fulfilled by Him. But how? Paul answers this with the illustration of Elijah and his discouragement, after he boldly proclaimed Yahweh as the only God and killed some 850 priests of Baal and Asherah, at Mount Carmel. 1 Kings 18-19.  

Soon after this great victory, he was on the run, fearing the sword of King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. When God encountered him, Elijah defended his action saying he was the only one left of those who were loyal to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and that they were trying to kill him off.

God in His reply to him, mentioned that He has reserved 7000 in Israel "whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouth have not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18. In that remnant the future hope of Israel resided. Despite all the rebellion of Israel through history, there was always a remnant, who were loyal and faithful to their God. 

Similarly, Paul argues that in the present times too God has kept for Himself a remnant, a remnant out of Israel, chosen by God, by His grace. It is definitely not by works that the Lord has chosen these remnants, but purely on grace. Grace is grace and salvation is a gift. No one can earn salvation by their good works.

This has a great lesson to us even today. No church or nation is saved en mass. The relationship with God is always individual. Every person who is to be saved must give his or her own heart to the Lord and surrender their lives to Him. A person is saved when he/she makes a personal decision to follow Christ, and not because they are members of a church or a community.

This takes off the element of pride from us. Each one must humble himself/herself before God. It is not our merit that saves us, but God’s grace. We need to respond to that offer and accept it to enjoy salvation and relationship with God here on earth and in eternity.

May we strive to be the remnant even in these days, acceptable to God and pleasing in His eyes.

Amen. 

Man’s Responsibility

Paul’s assuring words in the end of the last blog were, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” Romans 10:13. Thereafter Paul launches a series of questions to show what is our responsibility to so great an offer from the Lord, our God.

Paul’s first question is how can anyone, especially the Jew, call on God in response to His offer of salvation, if they have not believed in Him? The second question, which is a corollary to the first one is, how can they believe in the One, if they have not heard of Him? The third question is how can they, the Jews, hear about God’s Son and His offer of salvation, unless someone preaches the good news to them?

Here lies the importance of the need for people to spread the gospel and take the good news to people who have not heard about it. That is evangelism, the proclamation of the Good News. What is this Good News? It is that Jesus Christ has the power to forgive sins of the people, whoever believes in him and seeks forgiveness from Him and it will be granted unto them.

Paul’s next question is how can they (the evangelists) preach unless they are sent? A preacher can preach only when he is sent. In Old Testament times, Israel was the chosen instrument of God, Yahweh, to spread His glory among the people of the world. But they failed in that task; so, God turned to the Gentiles to spread the good news to all the world. 

With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the command was given to his disciples to take his teachings to all over the earth. Matthew 28:19-20. We are the Ambassadors of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20. We are to be his witnesses all over the world. Acts 1:8.

Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, saying, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?” The believers are to be the bearers of the good news about Jesus, which every unbeliever must hear, whether in our families, or in our friends’ circle or in the places we work.

Even if it is not direct preaching, we at least need to show the people around us, the difference that Jesus Christ has made in our lives. Our testimonies and life style will have to reflect the Good News of Christ.

What Paul is trying to tell the Jews by all these questionings is that they cannot give an excuse that they have not heard the good news. Messenger after messengers have gone to them carrying the good news. But not all the Israelites have accepted the good news.

A quote from Isaiah 53:1 is made by Paul. “Lord, who has believed our message?” Jews had refused to believe the messages from the prophets sent by Yahweh, and are repeating the same rebellious attitude now also. The obvious conclusion would be, Israel was rejected, not because God did not give them the opportunity of salvation, but because they refused to listen to it when it was given.

Faith is built in a person by hearing the message of Good News and the message itself is heard though the word of Christ. Paul asks again, did the Jews not hear the message? Of course, they heard it. God’s voice had gone out into all the earth, to the very ends of the world, Paul says, quoting Psalms 19:4.

May be, one could say that the Israel did not understand the message? What if the message was difficult to understand and grasp? To that objection Paul answers saying Israel might have failed to understand it, but the Gentiles who were not a nation selected by God, and a nation with no understanding, understood it. Even there Jews have no excuse. 

Paul is saying this by quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21, where Moses warns Israel that God will transfer His favors to another people, because Israel was disobedient and rebellious; so that Israel would become jealous of that nation which was no nation at all and had no understanding, and as a result follow God.

Gentiles were not a nation elected by God, and were not exposed to the truths about God through prophets. Still when the message was given to them, they understood the truth behind the message, accepted it by faith and became righteous in the sight of God. Israel, who had all the privileges of being God’s people, can have no excuse for not understanding the message.

This will apply to us also; as Christians who are born in Christian families, we have all the advantages of teachings in the church and the easy availability of the Bible, the Word of God, but still do not live as expected of children of God. We show no great zeal for reading, studying and understanding the Bible, whereas a newly converted Hindu or a Muslim shows greater zeal and enthusiasm to understand God’s words. We need to be provoked to better devotion by observing them.

Again, quoting Isaiah 65:1, Paul says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” God has been stretching His hands to Israel throughout the history, but Israel had been rebellious and disobedient. Isaiah 65:2. Now God was found out by those who sought Him, the Gentiles, and to them He revealed Himself.

Isaiah the prophet, announces to the Jews that they as the Servant of God, Yahweh, had a mission, to carry the news about God’s salvation to the Gentiles. Jews neglected it, did not do it, for they did not even understand it. They rejected the Messiah, Jesus Christ, when he came. Now God has turned to the Gentiles, so also Paul.

In Acts 18:6 Paul, when opposed by the Jews who became abusive, shook off his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Jews willfully rejected Christ and His Apostles; they cannot say they had not heard the message or did not understand it. It was willful disobedience.

We need to be careful not to be disobedient to the call of Christ, to be either his messenger or to help send someone to preach the Good News. We have our responsibilities. We need to do that with the help of God through the Holy Spirit.

Amen. 

The Mistaken Zeal of the Israelite

Having dealt with Israel’s mistake, that they pursued a law of righteousness by works and missed the grace of God, Paul pointed out, as seen in the previous blog, that the Gentiles obtained righteousness by faith, by the grace of God. 

As he writes chapter 10, Paul is still feeling the anguish that his brethren, the Jews should have missed the grace of God thus. In his heart, he wishes and prays that Israelite will be saved. Paul talks in love for his fellowmen here. As a Jew himself, he knew that the Jews had zeal for the Lord. Paul himself was blameless as a Pharisee, as he states in Philippians 3:8-9, but it happened to be a mistaken or misdirected zeal.

The Jews had undergone extreme privation for the sake of their God, Yahweh. The Fourth Book of Maccabees describes how Eleazar, the priest was tortured and killed by Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, who conquered Jerusalem around 167 BC and wanted to exterminate Judaism, for refusing to eat a piece of pork, for it would have desecrated his religious commitments. They willingly died and endured torture for the sake of Moses’ law.

Only thing, as pointed out by Paul, such a zeal was not based on knowledge or understanding of the ways of God. They were not aware that righteousness came from God and sought to establish their own righteousness, through their customs and traditions, built around the law. In so doing, they trusted their human effort to be righteous before God, and disobeyed God’s provision for righteousness, which lay in faith in Christ.

Christ is the end of the law. To everyone who believes in Christ, there will be given a righteousness, so that the believer can stand before God and be counted as righteous. A person need not work hard to win God’s favor by following rules and regulations, rituals and ceremonials. All that he had to do is to have faith in Christ, who has fulfilled the purpose and goal of law.

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish (the Law) but to fulfill them.” By what he did on the cross, he could fully satisfy God’s requirement of justice. All that is left for us to do is to accept that grace and love and mercy that God freely offers through His Son, Jesus Christ. We are declared righteous by God, when we accept Christ as our Savor. When we do that, we get clothed by Christ’s righteousness.

In Philippians 3:9, Paul reiterates his stand, that “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” It is by faith in Christ that we stand justified before God.

In the next few verses, 5 to 11, Paul contrasts faith and work. He quotes Leviticus 18:5, which says, “Keep my decrees and law, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.” To satisfy the requirements of God, one had to obey the law meticulously, not sinning even once. If the law was broken even in one point, judgment of God will fall on the offender.

As obeying the law in this manner was impossible, an elaborate sacrificial system was prescribed by the Lord to cover the lapses. In Leviticus 17:11 God laid down that “For the life of a creature is on the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the alter; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

Now that Jesus has died for us on the cross in atonement of all our sins, there is no further need for either the sacrificial system or the law that prescribed it. Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the law.

On the other hand, faith and the righteousness that comes through faith, operates in a different manner. Paul is quoting Deuteronomy to show that Christ is not an inaccessible heavenly and distant figure, who cannot be reached. He is very close to us, and almost within us.

Deuteronomy 30:12,13,14 were addressed by Moses in his farewell speech to the Israelite, impressing upon them that the law that he has given them is not all that difficult to follow. “It is not up in heaven, so that you may ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it.”

Paul modifies these verses slightly and applies them to the faith that is required for a person to be declared righteous. He points out, there is no need to say in our hearts, who will ascend into heaven and bring Christ, the Savior, down from the heavens. Neither need we ask, who will descend into the deep, to bring Christ up from the dead.

Paul says, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.” In the next verse Paul explains what he means by this. The word that is required for us to say in faith is, “Jesus is Lord.” That word, that proclamation and acceptance is very close to us; all that we need to do is to confess it with our mouths and believe it in our hearts. And bingo, we will be saved! It is as easy as that!

Salvation is not too difficult, it is neither in inaccessible heights or in the depths, but it is just a matter of faith, believing that the Risen Jesus Christ is the Lord, and confess it with our mouths and believe it in our hearts. However, a man must not only believe this truth in his heart but also confess it with his lips.

The title Lord is applied to the Risen Christ, which shows his divine status and that he is God. Paganism, even in Paul’s times had many gods, but for a Christian and a believer, there is only one Lord, that is Jesus Christ, as explained by Paul elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. It also shows that our Lord is risen and is living and not a dead god.

Paul quotes now Isaiah 28:16, to say “Anyone who trust in him will never be put to shame.” When a Christian believes in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and confesses it, he will never be forsaken by God. God will keep His side of the bargain and not fail to provide righteousness to such a believer. That person will be justified by faith.

In verses 12, and 13 Paul stress his oft repeated doctrine that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for the same Lord is the Lord of all and richly blesses all those who call on Him. He quotes Joel 2:32 to say, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This is the universality of the offer of salvation in Christianity. It is to all. Everyone who calls on Jesus Christ in faith will be saved.

Do we confess this faith and do we proclaim this to our neighbors?

Like Paul’s heart bled for his countrymen, our hearts, do they bleed for our own countrymen, our unbelieving family members and friends from other faiths?

Do we share with them our faith that will make them righteous in the eyes of God?

Let us start by praying for them, that God will soften their hearts so that the seeds of gospel could be sown there.

Amen, all glory and praise be unto Him alone. 

The Purpose of God’s Sovereignty

We have seen in the last blog that God in His sovereignty can select whom He wants and that He had chosen the Gentiles as Abraham’s children in faith, having rejected the unbelieving Israel from His inheritance. We will see more of His Sovereign plan in Romans 9:22-29.

Paul goes on to explain that although some people were the objects of God’s anger and ripe and ready for destruction, He tolerated them patiently. These people were prepared for destruction, as objects of his wrath. Such people, who rejected the provision God made for man’s deliverance from sin, would be shut out from the presence of God and from the majesty of His power. 2 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:12.

God would do this to make His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He has prepared in advance. Paul here refers to the selected Jews, who accepted Christ as the Messiah and the selected Gentiles, who put their faith in Christ for their salvation. It is because of His love for us that He took such measures to save us by sending His Beloved Son. John 3:16.

So, in verses 22 through 24 Paul is saying that the purpose of God’s sovereignty is to make His power made known to those who are lost and to make His mercy known to those who accept His provision for salvation. Though the first century Jews wanted the Gentiles to be saved only through Judaism, the saving grace of God was and is available not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles, directly through Jesus Christ. This is relevant to you and me today.

The freedom of choice which is the inalienable right of God, was exercised in constituting a ‘New Israel.’ This, Paul shows, is in accordance with the prophecy of the Old Testament Prophets. Paul quotes Hosea 2:23 to show that God called ‘my people,’ some people who ‘are not His people.’ The prophecy further shows God saying, “I will call her ‘my loved one,’ who is not my loved one.” This is applied to the Gentiles who accepted Christ in faith and become His people.

Paul goes on to quote Hosea 1:10 to reiterate his point. In the very place where is was said to the Gentiles that they were not His people, they will now be called, ‘sons of the living God,’ because they accepted Jesus Christ, the provision of salvation by God. 

Further, quoting Isaiah 10:22, 23, Paul shows that though Jews had the promise to increase like the sand by the sea which is innumerable, only a few, ‘a remnant’ will be saved, for God’s judgment will overtake them. Paul himself saw this happening, when he went around in the Roman world, preaching in the synagogues. Only a few Jews accepted Christ as their Saviour.   

In Isaiah 1:9, the prophet laments that except that the Lord through His mercy left a posterity for Israel, they also would have been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19:24-25. In Revelation 11:8, the bodies of the two witnesses of God would lie in the streets of the great city, Jerusalem, figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified. That was the extent to which Jerusalem and Jews would reject Christ and His witnesses. 

However, all is not lost, for there will still be left a remnant, just like the 7000 Jews whom God had kept for Himself, who had not kissed the god of Canaanites, Baal. 1 King 19:18. Similarly in Israel also will be left some remnants, who will accept Christ in faith, which will again be due to the mercy of God alone.

So, Paul’s argument goes like this: God had purposed blessings to His chosen people, the Israelites. But He has absolute right to do what He wants in His sovereignty. As such He willed that His people will be composed of a remnant of Israel together with selected Gentiles. This will constitute the New Israel and to them will accrue all the promised blessings of God. This will mean the complete fulfilment of the original promise God had made to Abraham and his descendants. Genesis 12:1-3.

This would also mean that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness, obtained a righteousness that is by faith. Romans 1:17. On the contrary, Israel who pursued a law of righteousness through the Law of Moses, did not attain it. It was because Israel thought they could buy salvation of God by doing works, the observance of the Law.

Jews had a worthy goal, to honour God, but they chose to do that by rigid and painful obedience to the Law, by which they became more dedicated to the Law than to God who gave the Law. They forgot salvation is by faith and not by works. Abraham got righteousness credited to him for his faith, belief in God and His promises and not for any work. Genesis 15:6.

We sometimes behave like the Jews, trying to get right with God by keeping His laws – attending the church, getting busy with church activities, giving offerings, being nice and so on. We seem to have done all the right things and played by the rule. What we do not grasp is, we cannot earn the favour of God by being good; we need to depend on Christ, our Saviour and faith in what He did and accomplished for us on the cross.

A Jew tried to put God under debt; according to his logic, God owed them salvation, because they observed the Law. But a Gentile was content to be indebted to God for His provision of salvation in Christ. Paul’s principle of ‘a righteousness by faith,’ operated here and explained the paradox of God’s selection and election.

Paul’s final analogy was that of ‘the stumbling stone,’ in verses 32-33. Isaiah 8:14 mentions “a stone that caused men to stumble and a rock that made them fall.” In Isaiah 28:16, the prophecy is much more explicit. The Sovereign Lord says, “I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.” And ‘the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’

In quoting these two verses, Paul is referring directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, who said of himself, quoting Psalm 118:22,23, as “the stone the builders rejected which has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.” Matthew 21:42. Together these are mentioned in 1 Peter 2:4, as a “living stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him.”

Jesus mentioned this at the end of narrating his parable of the wicked tenants, to indicate the vineyard will be rented out by the owner to other tenants, taking it away from the wicked tenants, who even killed the legitimate son of the owner, plotting to grab the vineyard to themselves. The stone rejected by the Jews, Jesus, became the cornerstone of the whole building in God's plan. 

Daniel 2:34-35, and 44-45, talk of “a rock cut out not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.” This rock symbolized the Messiah and his eternal Kingdom, which is to come, would smash all the other kingdoms of the earth.

All these prophecies have been fulfilled in Christ, who was rejected by his own people, but was exalted by God. The church he established, started off with humble beginnings, but has become a worldwide phenomenon, foretelling His Kingdom.

Jews rejected Jesus, because they were looking for a glorified and reigning Messiah and not a suffering and crucified Messiah. They looked for a Messiah, who will free them politically from the Romans, and not the one who would save them from their sins as foretold in Matthew 1:21.

In the crux, Paul’s stand is, what the religious man missed by his works, the sinner received by faith in Christ.

Do we put our faith in works or in Christ? 

We need to examine our motives and actions, for Jesus is the touchstone by which all men are judged. 

The Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty

Having expressed his sorrow over Israel rejecting their Messiah, in spite of all the blessings and privileges they had received from God, Paul goes on to examine whether there is any injustice in God rejecting Israel as His people and adopting the Gentiles in that place. In Romans 9:14, he asks “Is God unjust?” and he vehemently refutes the idea saying, “Not at all!

God is sovereign in that He shows mercy on whom He wants to show mercy and compassion on whom He wants to show compassion. Paul quotes here Yahweh’s reply to Moses that his name may be struck off from God’s book, but Israel be shown mercy and pardoned. Exodus 33:19.

God has a purpose and plan for humanity, His creations. He entrusts the job to one person or a people to carry out that purpose; in case they fail to carry out that plan entrusted to them, God’s plan will still stand, but He will select someone else or some other people to carry on with His plan.

In His mercy, Yahweh gave many opportunities to Israel to be His witness to the world and to spread the message of Messiah to the world, so that the whole world could be blessed by the Messiah. But tragically Israel did not realize this plan of God and rejected the very Messiah God had sent.

In the free self-determination of his Sovereign Will, God extended His mercy to some other people, the Gentiles to carry out his plan. Jews were rejected and Gentiles selected. Jews lost the privilege of being God’s own people and God selected Gentile as His people in their place. The historic Israel has forfeited her inheritance of the blessing promised to Abraham.

The true Israel today would be the believers, those who have faith in the Messiah God had sent, Jesus Christ. Paul deals with this issue by extending two arguments. One was that children of Abraham did not mean those physically descended from him. God selected Isaac and rejected Ishmael; similarly, He selected Jacob, but rejected Esau. This nowhere means God was arbitrary, it was His divine will and selection for a purpose.

The second argument to show God, in His dealings, was not being unfair and unjust, is to show that justice of God would have meant severe punishment of Israel for having rejected His leadership in the desert, Exodus 32:10. But in His mercy, God forgave them, when Moses stood in the breach on behalf of Israel. Psalm 106:23.

We, human beings, have no claim for justice from God, for we have all fallen short of glory by committing sins. In His mercy God forgives us and has provided a way for our salvation. If we neglect so great a salvation, what can anybody do? How can we blame God for that?

Paul takes the example of Pharaoh here by quoting Exodus 9:16. God raised up Pharaoh to display His power and might so that the whole world will know the renown of Yahweh. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened; it looks like God created a bad disposition in him and then punished him on the top of it. Is that so?

Pharaoh was the Great Emperor of a most powerful Egyptian Empire in his day and he was considered a god himself by his people. He had scores of gods and goddesses, whom he thanked for giving him such power and glory. When Moses went to him and told him that God of Israel is telling him to let His people go, Pharaoh in his arrogance asked, “who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go?” Exodus 5:2.

It is thereafter that God hardened his heart, not only to break down the pride of Pharaoh, but also every god that was worshiped in Egypt. When a heart is arrogant and rebellious against God, God permits that heart to go its own way to total destruction. Let us be careful not to reach that stage of rebellion against God in our lives.

The question Paul’s readers might ask is, if God were to harden the hearts of people in this manner, then why blame such people? But Paul retorts saying, who are you man, that you think you can talk back to God? Can the created being ask his Creator, why have you created me?

Can the pot talk back to the potter, who made it and ask him why he made one into an honorable vessel and another one for common use? Verse 21. There is no such right for the pot against the potter. In Jeremiah 18:1-6, Yahweh is demonstrating to Jeremiah, that as the potter has the right to do with the clay as he wants, and similarly He also has the right to do to Israel as He wants. God declares, “Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

God is righteous and man cannot sit in judgement on God. We cannot fathom the mind of God nor understand his ways and reasons why He does things the way He does. Only an arrogant and unbelieving heart will question like that and put the blame on God.

A believing heart will simply trust the supreme wisdom of God and stay surrendered to His will, knowing fully well that God is righteous and merciful. God will never do anything that will contradict his own nature. He is a just and righteous God. Even if in the heat of the moment we question God and blame Him, once that moment is passed, we need to come to our senses and trust God and His ways.

Some are more privileged, but such people have been entrusted with more responsibilities. Each one of us has a different place of usefulness in the total purpose of God.  

Election and selection are God’s business. As He designs it will happen. Isaiah 14:24. “As I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” And God reigns over the realm of mankind. Daniel 4:34-35. Nebuchadnezzar, on being restored to sanity and the kingdom declares, “He does as he pleases with …the people of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’”

God is definitely not a tyrant, but He has a plan and purpose and it will be done. When we trust the Lord as a loving Father, who will not do us harm or hand us over snake when we ask for fish, Luke 11:11, we learn to sit quietly at His feet, with full surrender and expectation of His working out our life according to His plan.

God be with you and give you peace and a purpose in life.

Amen.