‘God Knits- HE Holds It All’:

Famous Preacher Spurgeon who lived during the 1800’s taught incredibly. To quote ‘Crossway’, “Spurgeon was raised in a Christian home, but was converted in 1850 at fifteen years old. Caught in a snowstorm, he took refuge in a small Primitive Methodist chapel in Colchester. Spurgeon, known as the ‘Prince of Preachers’ was tricked into preaching his first sermon that same year. An older man had asked Spurgeon to go to the little village of Teversham the next evening, “for a young man was to preach there who was not much used to services, and very likely would be glad of company.” It was only the next day that he realized the ‘young man’ was himself. He went on to preach in person up to thirteen times per week.” -https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-charles-spurgeon/

This quote, above, from Spurgeon, used in the study guide, ‘Enduring Word’, reflecting the moment Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, Genesis 45, is so profound.

I am taking a stab at Spurgeon’s lesson, quoted, breaking it down for us to grasp.

Genesis 45 vs 4-5: “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. BUT don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.”

We see Spurgeon’s lesson revealed in Genesis 45 vs 4-5.

1) Joseph’s brothers acting out of jealousy towards Joseph as their father’s favoured son, by selling him into slavery- FREE WILL.

2) God using the circumstances to fulfil His Plan to save Jacob, aka Israel, through Joseph, and growing Israel into millions of people through segregation in Egypt; later to free them into the Promised Land, AND ULTIMATELY to bring Jesus through them to save humanity- PREDESTINATION.

Only, the willfully blind and indoctrinated will deny our ability to choose- our free will.

Yes, Determinism Theory advocates that humans merely act according to circumstances they find themselves in. However, consider the alcoholic parent who has two children- one follows the pattern of alcoholism the other doesn’t. Same circumstance, two separate choices.
If Determinism were plausible then by default of observed human behaviour in history there should be no technological, medical, or any advances.
WHY?
To go against the herd mentality of conformity to make a lightbulb, plane, car, or penicillin, would require standing alone in a sea of judgement, haters and naysayers who see through the filter of the conditioned bias of familiarity’s their circumstances produced.
YET, here we are, 2024, cheating our schoolwork using AI.

A magnificent example of free will is found in Jesus’ Prayer, Matthew 26 vs 39, “He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” JESUS CHOSE GOD’S WILL OVER HIS.

So, yes, we have free will.

The conflict around free will is not REALLY about the God-Given Gift, but rather it is a two-fold attack against us- God’s Treasured Creation:

• If we can forget that we have an Invincible God who loves us enough that He gave us free will to CHOOSE to love Him, or not, then we become hopeless, fatalistic, and nihilistic- depressed by circumstances that inevitably end up in eternity separated from God.
  (REMEMBER- the devil’s strategy is to steal, kill, and destroy by being the father of lies, whose agenda is to kill us in a sick act of revenge because he couldn’t usurp God.)
  The devil HATES us BECAUSE GOD LOVES US!!!
• Our understanding of free will. Because we each are influenced beings with an innate nature to self-preserve our interpretation of free will is self-centric. We measure God through our dissonance and bias instead of surrendering to God and being changed by God’s Infinite Wisdom that, as in Joseph’s case, knits our choices made in free will into His Plan to accomplish His Will to save humanity through Jesus. As we grow into who God says we are, God knits us OUT OF who the world influenced us to become, and INTO who He Created us to be- into Christ-likeness.

Romans 8 vs 29 ‘For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.’

Free will has a purpose. Our job is to discover what that purpose is. Jesus is the answer.

In Genesis, when the devil tempted Eve he said, “You will be LIKE God.”

Ever since this moment, till today, up until Jesus Returns our biased interpretation of free will instinctively wants Will to be about WHAT WE THINK it should be. The struggle is to let go of dissonance by building a relationship with Jesus SO THAT we can come to know that our worldly-influence IS NOT who we are.

2 Timothy 3 vs 1-9, points out this self-centric, narcissistic abuse of free will that persists in us stemming from the tempting of Eve.

We have established that our interpretation of free will is tarnished by our humanist god-complex, AND have in understanding that God’s Will knits circumstances together to achieve His Plan of Salvation through Jesus. Our internalised narcissism betrays us by not surrendering our understanding of free will unto the predestined plan of God that without fail knits His Over-Arching Will into the lives of His Creation in order to save us. God is everything the narcissist ever wants to be: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, admired, much discussed, and awe inspiring. God is the narcissist’s idealistic dream, his ultimate grandiose fantasy.

As we recognise ourselves, defiantly yet unavoidably, we stare, soberly, at a warning, AND INVITATION, from Messiah King Jesus Himself, Matthew 12 vs 30.

Jesus spoke these words to the Pharisees who accused Him of doing miracles through the power of the devil, because they dissonantly refused to accept that Jesus is the Messiah long awaited. But Jesus shows INCREDIBLE prowess of intellect and reason by pointing out the illogical argument of these dissonant people who were judging Jesus based on their bias of what THEE MESSIAH should be- a warmongering hero to free Israel from Roman oppression.

GOD’S KINGDOM HAS ARRIVED, ALWAYS WAS, AND IS ARRIVING IN FULL GLORY SOON.

God’s predestined plan is inevitable, and as Jesus stated, “We are either with Him or against Him.”

Our job then is to understand HOW God wants us to use free will, so that we don’t find out when it is too late that our dissonant rejection of free will as God intended it to be used finds us both wronged by internalised narcissism and in the camp separated from God forever.

Spurgeon’s quote pulls us apart, begging us to examine ourselves through the lens of Jesus defining The Holy Scriptures, exposing ourselves, and holds the red flag of narcissism when fully manifested denies God and bows to human achievement. But, what a strange concept- denying God with the free will gift given by God, and then using that same gift to applaud our narcissism through human achievement; in so doing proving The Holy Bible accurate in our quest to be LIKE God. It is a fool’s- paradise to imagine a reality that exists outside of a Creator. One just needs to witness the power of a natural disaster to know that what we narcissistically think is so limited when we can’t even stop natural events from occurring.

How much bigger and more powerful must God be if He uses disaster to shake us from our narcissism, humbling us into recognising that if disaster can destroy so much, how ridiculously weak we are in comparison to Himself? The Egyptians certainly can tell us, as they do, having gone through the ten plagues to free the slaves God was taking into The Promised Land.

Joseph, Genesis 45 vs 4-5, rightly divided (2 Timothy 2 vs 15) the truth through understanding God’s Purposes of knitting his brothers actions in free will to achieve God’s predestined plan to make Joseph a part of God’s Story to bring us Jesus.

We look to Jesus to help us understand how God intended, and intends for us to use free will in God’s Way, thereby eliminating our narcissistic trait to like a god-of-our-understanding as the devil tried and failed.

GOD KNITS– God ordains, arranges, supervises, and over-rules when our free will isn’t aligned with His Salvation Plan.

Wisdom is defined in Proverbs 9 vs 10, ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.’

If we claim to be seeking wisdom and truth, then the wisest use of free will is to use it as God says it should. Afterall, we truly are no match against God when we get to the bottom line of it all.

PRAYER:

Father God,

I come to You in the Name of Jesus through the Power of The Holy Spirit in me. I thank You that Your Holy Word stands undeniably true. I thank You for sending Yourself to show me The Way, The Truth, and The Life.

I confess Father that I have humanist ideas about free will, and have misused free will to serve my internal narcissism and selfishness. Please help me overcome my worldly indoctrination by surrendering my version of free will unto Your Will, Purpose, and Wisdom for free will.

I want to be made into Christ-likeness. Please help me to grow with my whole heart, mind, and soul, in my love relationship with You. Please help me to serve others in humility and truth defined by You.

I am sorry God that I fall into the trap of making it all about me instead of Jesus. Cleanse my heart and mind. Teach me your precepts. Help me to obey them by putting them into action. Help me to desire and crave Your Holy Will above my corrupted self-will.

I love You God. Help me to love You rightly, and more.

Thank You for knitting my life to fall in line with Your Just Plan. Forgive me when I have wrongly misinterpreted life by judging You incorrectly. Thank You that You hold it all in Your Way that is higher than mine or my ability to fathom Your Eternal, Just, and Loving, Wisdom.

In Your Holy Name Messiah King Jesus.

AMEN.