Posted on 09/26/2015 3:51:23 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
There is an old, simple story that teaches a profound lesson:
“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of the horse, the rider was lost.
For want of the rider, the message was lost.
For want of the message, the battle was lost.
For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost.”
What would have happened in the history of the world if Jacob had not given Joseph a colorful coat? No coat, no jealousy.
No jealousy, no treacherous sale of Joseph to Midianite traders.
No sale of Joseph to Midianite traders, no descent into Egypt.
No descent into Egypt, no meeting with Potiphar.
No meeting with Potiphar, no trouble with his wife.
No trouble with his wife, no imprisonment.
No imprisonment, no interpretation of the dreams of Pharaoh.
No interpretation of the dreams of Pharaoh, no elevation to the role of prime minister.
No elevation to the role of prime minister, no reconciliation with his brothers.
No reconciliation with his brothers, no migration of the Jewish people into Egypt.
No migration into Egypt, no exodus out of Egypt.
No exodus out of Egypt, no Moses, no law, no prophets—and no Christ!
Do you think it was an accident in the plan of God that that coat happened? God meant it all for good.
Come and stand before your maker
Full of wonder, full of fear;
Come behold his power and glory
Yet with confidence draw near,
For the one who holds the heavens
And commands the stars above
Is the God who bends to bless us
With an unrelenting love.
Rejoice!
Come and left your hands and raise your voice;
He is worthy of all praise,
Rejoice!
Sing the mercies of your King
And with trembling, rejoice.
We are children of the promise,
The beloved of the Lord.
Won with everlasting kindness,
Bought with sacrificial blood.
Bringing reconciliation
To a world that longs to know
The affections of a father
Who will never let them go.
All our sickness, all our sorrows
Jesus carried up the hill.
He has walked this path before us,
He is walking with us still;
Turning tragedy to triumph,
Turning agony to praise,
There is blessing in the battle
So take heart and stand amazed.
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..."
It’s kind of vain to wonder if “God could have done it differently” — in one sense the answer would have to be yes. However that would miss the point, which is that God is master at weaving everything we call circumstance together with the decisions or choices of people to achieve an end that is completely in accordance with His promise. An ability to transcend time would be one obvious feature of the divine power. We can only see causation happening in one dimension, that of the progress of time. God is in general not thus constrained, being the author of it all, and only subject to it when choosing that state of affairs for a special purpose (as the Incarnation and all its connected work).
or, all its connected work as directly interacting with it in the physical world we know. obviously the Cross reaches out to all eras.
O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!
O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
Sometimes it is loosely translated “O blessed sin of Adam”
What a silly remark he gives on scripture. We are beset by sinecured Wolves in Sheeo's clothing at every turn!
nope.
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