ONLY ONE SOURCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?

Lamentations 3:37-39

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Think about how the world we know came to be. If you have forgotten, just go back and read the first chapter of the Book of Genesis.

It’s really simply amazing and acts that incredible could only come from one source, the Lord God Almighty. He is the Author and Maker of all things, and there is nothing beyond the works of His hands, nothing that He can’t do.

In fact, as we see in our scripture passage for today from our continued study of Lamentations 3, everything that happens can be attributed to God, the Lord Most High. Look again at these verses here:

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?  Lamentations 3:37-39

Note here that man cannot make things happen separate from God decreeing it first. In other words, man cannot operate outside of the authority of God Himself. And so when you see things happening, attribution goes to the Lord first.

Think about this a moment because we so often want to blame man for things, especially acts we see as evil in nature. But as we see from the Bible, both calamities and blessings flow from the same God. He initiates both and thus is the one source of all things that happen, good and bad.

Now, the natural progression here would be for mankind to lodge complaints against God that He would ever bring hardship or disaster on His people. You see, we always want to see God as a God of love and mercy and grace, not wanting to accept that he is a God of judgment as well. I believe the scriptures hold nothing back in letting us know that God has both compassion and wrath in His character, the latter coming in response to mankind’s inclination toward sinfulness and the common knowledge that God despises sin.

This is why the final verse of our passage poses a simple question for us to ponder as we see God as the one source of all things in life, whether excellent or horrific:

Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?

Indeed, why should we complain?

Sin is what led God to sacrifice His only Son, Jesus, who suffered a brutally atrocious death to provide atonement for all mankind. That death was the death we rightfully deserved so first of all we had better give thanks that God spared us from that kind of penalty. And secondly, if we still choose to sin after we know the cost that was paid because of it, then we had better not raise a single objection to God when He brings His consequences.

In the end translation, God is the almighty Orchestrator of everything.

He can bring us peace and joy and happiness in a life spent reveling in His goodness when we opt to give up sinning in exchange for living in His righteousness.  

or

He can bring us calamity when we decide to choose iniquity over sanctity, rejecting His will and way for our lives to chase after the world’s ways and our own desires within those ways.

The bottom line is that we have a choice to make and the choice we make will in turn lead to what God, the one source of all things, will choose to do. We can live in a way that brings His favor or we can live in a way that brings His judgment.

Which way are you choosing today?

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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