In search of God

Psalm 7:14-16, ‘Whoever is pregnant with evil  conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out   falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them;   their violence comes down on their own heads. ’ We are living in evil times. News today is full of sad, heartbreaking, evil stories you would be mistaken to think that men are falling over themselves to see who is the sickest and vilest of them all. Our leaders are no better because all they conceive is evil and wickedness. They promise one thing with their mouths but plan the opposite in their hearts. Even though we are living in the age of great advancements, we are the most disillusioned lot. Suicide rates are higher all over the world than half a century ago. And the median age for those that are committing suicide is getting younger. All that are engaged in evil think that they are ahead of the pack, they are smarter than the re...

In Romans 12:17-21 'Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.', It is hard for us to forgive because the world teaches us from a tender age that tit for tat is the order of the day. If someone wrongs you, you must avenge yourself so that you can feel better about it. Even us Christians, when we are wronged, we might not do it ourselves but we ask God to avenge on our behalf so that we can feel better. But is that why God commands us to forgive and do good to those that have wronged...

Job 36:5-12, ‘God is mighty but He does not despise men; He is mighty and firm in purpose. He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights. He does not take His eyes off the righteous, He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. But if men are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done – that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. If they obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their lives in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.’ God loves us so much that He gave us a gift of salvation to those that are willing to accept it. Even though we were His enemies, He came and died for us at the cross, taking on the sins of the world, though He did not sin, suffering separation from The Father – what we as sinners deserved – so that we could enjoy and ce...

Job 33:14-28, ‘For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, He may speak in their ears and terrifying them with warnings, to turn from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones, so that his very being finds food repulsive and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his bones, once hidden now stick out. His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, “Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him” – then his flesh is renewed like a child’s; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He pr...

Luke 15:7-10, ‘I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’ It grieves our God that even though the price of our salvation has been paid, many still live in slavery and bondage to sin and sinfulness. They still give the power over their lives to Satan that has already been taken away from Him by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is due to ignorance and rebellion and prevents men and women from seeing and understanding the truth. But what joy is in heaven when one of the fallen brothers or sisters is ...

Psalm 30:4,5, ‘Sing to the Lord, you saints of His; praise His Holy Name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’ We need to rejoice in the Lord because of His great mercy. When we were His enemies, he sent His Son to die in our place so that He could forgive our sins in Him. We are now credited to be righteous in His Son Jesus – a gift from God – and also gifted with eternal life. Even though we may suffer because of our faith in Jesus, we should not despair and be crestfallen but rejoice in the Lord because it only for a short while and then it will be over and we shall be with our Lord and Savior Jesus in Heaven. Look at the suffering as birth pains that we must endure, to be transformed and renewed, and soon we will be enjoying the coming of our Christ.

Proverbs 27:1, ‘Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.’ Most of us take the future for granted, believing that what we plan will happen. We procrastinate, putting off what we know we ought to do today, thinking that we have all the time in the world. But God is the only one who knows what tomorrow will bring. We are convicted to repent and be saved today but we put it off to tomorrow saying, ‘Let me enjoy today and then I will get saved tomorrow.’ But are you sure if you will still have the chance tomorrow, if tomorrow, your heart will be convicted as it was today, if you will be alive tomorrow. Don’t push off for tomorrow what you can do today, mend your relationship with God now, surrender to Him now and enjoy His boundless love and grace.

Jeremiah 18:5-11, ‘Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.” Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, “This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.”’ God is just and merciful. His justice demands punishment when we stray to disobedience and rebellion,...

1 Peter 1:13-15, ‘Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;’ When Jesus was crucified at the cross, He saved us from the penalty of sin which is death. Our sins were forgiven not because we were righteous or we deserved it, but we were credited righteous by the Father because we placed our faith and hope in Him. On His resurrection, He has given us power over sin, we now have the power to overcome and resist temptation. Most of us who believe do not however appreciate this and we continue to live as we did in our former lives, cowering and despairing, feeling hopeless and succumbing to temptations all the while having the power over all things of this world that we access through Him who was given this authority. Our holiness is...

Hebrews 10:26-29, ´If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who insulted the Spirit of grace? There is only one way that we can be sanctified from sin and its power and that is by allowing Jesus to be master in our lives, by subjugating our will to His. Our justification came from Jesus through the cross and the moment you hear of this and are convicted of your sins by the Holy Spirit, you have no excuse at all for continuing to live in bondage to sin. To be justified you must believe in Jesus and to reject Him is to rejec...