This is a question that seems utterly meaningless. “How can we speak of provision when we speak of God, who is the source of an inexhaustible supply, the one who can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, and however He wants?”
God, indeed, possesses a power and goodness whose grandeur and power none of us can comprehend. This cannot be disputed. However, by carefully examining the world into which he leads us, we will see that God has chosen to reveal himself to us through an earthly world that is in many ways similar to the heavenly world.
When we become adults and have children, we often have to subtly make them understand that we couldn't, even if we wanted to, give them the world. Is that what we want to address in this article? That God is incapable of giving us everything we ask for because He doesn't possess it? Not exactly. However, we want to emphasize that God, too, "couldn't" give us everything we ask for, not because He doesn't possess it, but because He has submitted to "laws" that would prevent Him even if He wanted to.
Before interrupting your reading, please read this example carefully.
The price of our salvation
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God's goodness and love, both for his only begotten Son and for humanity, compelled Him to make a sacrifice: He had to sacrifice His Son to save his people. Thus, God's omnipotence is not presented as in our "fairytale" imagination, where everything happens for God as if by magic. God Himself submitted to a law. Our sin absolutely had to be punished, and it is here that God's wisdom revealed all his glory. Christ died for us, paying the price for our sins, but God raised Him from the dead because in himself (that is, in Christ) He was pure (Acts 2:24)
We find this law of God in the Old Testament.
The price to pay to remain blessed in the covenant
Why did God destroy other nations to establish his own? Was it because he particularly loved his people? That is undeniably true, but God takes care to reveal another reason: He states that it was because of the vile sins these other nations practiced (Deuteronomy 9:3-6). He also warned his own people that if they too fell into the same sins, they too would suffer similar chastening (Deuteronomy 8:10-20).
Thus, without wishing to cast doubt on the message of Grace, which is unassailable—because it is by Grace that you can even read this article (without any pretension), that you can understand Divine Love, recognize the place of Christ, and benefit from the Life He offers us without any merit—and without diminishing this message of Grace in any way, it so happens that God's kindness toward us is only possible to a certain extent when we remain obedient. It was through disobedience to God that He drove the ancient inhabitants from the Promised Land, and it is by remaining obedient that Israel would remain there.
One might be tempted to ask whether this doctrine is outdated, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
The numerous warnings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and later of his apostles
Let's read these messages carefully:
- Praying not to fall into temptation
The Lord Jesus warned his disciples, and especially Peter, that they should pray so as not to enter into temptation. They did not pray (Matthew 26:37-46), and when temptation came, Peter could not resist. Christ could only lament this and pray for Peter's forgiveness, but Peter had missed his part and inevitably he had fallen.
- Building upon the Rock
This situation, which Peter would face at the end of Christ's earthly life, was addressed by Christ Himself long before, in a more general way, by emphasizing that it is by obeying His Word that one would overcome trials (for, let us remember, trials will always come). Thus, calling on God for help at the last moment is sometimes futile; we must strive from this day forward to walk in His ways. It is in this way that we will avoid many traps, but also that we will strengthen our souls so that we can stand firm in the face of temptation or trials (Matthew 7:21-27). We discuss this teaching in detail in the first article of the series entitled "The Seasons".
- Showing Wisdom in our relationships with our wives
Here the apostle Peter, a married man, reveals that sometimes our prayers are not answered because of our attitudes toward our wives (1 Peter 3:7). For God to answer us, there must be no shadows cast upon us. God will often only "succeed" in blessing us if we have given Him the means to do so. Thus, while we must pray to be heard, we must also ensure that nothing hinders our prayers.
- To discern the body and blood of the Lord
The apostle Paul revealed to his contemporaries that many among them were weak and sickly, and that a great number had slepts (died) because they had received the body and blood of the Lord without discernment (1 Corinthians 11:26-34). And what was true for those Corinthians at that time is still true for the churches of Christ today. Therefore, our prayers for divine protection could prove futile if we eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily. For the Lord to answer our prayers, then, He needs us not to have obstructed his path.
Thus, even in the New Testament, God gives us many instructions so that He can bless us. For He Himself has submitted to principles. Just as His "Laws" compelled Him to send Christ to his death, so too do these "Laws" often "compel" Him to let us suffer as long as we refuse to obey Him, as long as we refuse to use the secrets He graciously reveals to us.
If we died to the Law that leads to death, we now live by the Law that leads to life, the Law of Christ (Romans 8:2).
Our first prayer is that God keep you from misinterpreting us, for not everything is granted by simple and pure divine grace and within the measure of God's inexhaustible provision. However, divine justice requires that we obey the Lord in certain respects so that He may grant us some of His blessings. Beyond our imperfect "demonstration," we pray that the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through His Holy Spirit, who alone knows how to speak to our hearts, will lead you into all Truth, perfect Truth.
Amen!
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