Comments on: When Lightning Doesn't Strike

By: Olderkid

Olderkid — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:34:24 +0000

I read most comments. King David and his children suffered because of David’s sin. The Holy Spirit helps us to become more like Jesus and we are chastised when we stray too far. God told the Israelites who roamed in the desert 40 years that the older ones would not enter into His rest. I and most Christians do not believe Jesus spoke idlely. In the Revelation of Jesus, God the Son gave a warning about people being removed from the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 3:5). I would rather love Jesus and the Father and strieve to obey than run the risk of finding out what was meant in Rev. 3:5. Yes Grace! Yes Justice! Yes the cross and forgiveness! Yes, obedience and love as my highest desire!

By: lbbw

lbbw — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:06:28 +0000

God is a jealous God. He is supposed to be first in all our thoughts and ways. As we grow in Christ, we must give our Lord all the glory and be thankful for what we have- that He has provided for us. In the Lord’s prayer it says “Hallowed be thy name” . We must be serious in trying to walk in His ways. He doesn’t like to be mocked. So, yes, I fear the Lord, but with reverance.

By: knownmercy

knownmercy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:58:59 +0000

First time on the blog here.
Hello Matt/everyone,
I’m totally impressed by the wisdom everyone has shown in their write up. You are all right of course – if I may dare to to pass my humble opinion. This again goes to show how “iron sharpens iron”. Gale at the very beginning said it all “God will have mercy on whom He will …” and Desert Rose’s comment about “Trust” puts a final seal on things – for me.
I believe God deals with us as “individuals” – awesome- considering the number of humans on the face of the earth. He said to Abraham (Gen 12:3)”I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse”. The second I grasped what this meant, from a very young age, I stopped feeling any form of jealousy for anything material someone might have that I didn’t have; I stopped being careless in my treatment of people not knowing the “covenant” the Good Lord might have with them; I stopped copying any “SIN” hoping to get away with it because “ABZ” did the same thing and nothing happened to him/her. I realised we all had different “rope” in a manner of speaking where God is concerned for the simple reason that He has a better view of each person’s life and is all knowing, all seeing etc, etc.
There is no doubt that God is wonderfully gracious but I also know that He is absolutely Just – let everyman be a liar and God be the only truthful one. Is He not the one who lets the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the “righteous” and “unrighteous”? Those of us who understand what He did for us in Jesus Christ can only marvel at this God we serve; this God who is love and has held back his wrath for so long because He knows we are nothing but dust – this is one reason I believe “Lightening doesn’t strike.” Even as I write this I bow the knees of my heart before Him in awe at His longsuffering concerning our choice for sin over obedience to Him. A God who is so strong and yet has chosen to be “mild” for a season at least. Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and yet The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Yes, Lightening does not strike because He loves us to bits. Did Jesus Christ not demonstrate this love in His meek behaviour? Let us all pray that He fills our heart with such love for Him that we are moved to sin less and less and bring joy to Him our creator.
Love you all.
(Promise not to go on and on next time I visit this blog)

By: filrccj

filrccj — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:35:02 +0000

The question are..does God scare us into obeying him? and how come some people get it and some don’t? hmmm. Well, I don’t understand a lot of things but one thing i know is….That all of us christians commit sin everyday and I think that everyone can agree with me on that. If we got what we desrved then we’ll all be unhappy, disgruntle and surely dead.

There is something about the GRACE of God which I cannot fully undrstand and grasp. The GRACE of God is trully amazing. God is good.

Desert Rose said “trust-that is what we must do when we do not understand” I like this.

By: Becky M

Becky M — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:59:18 +0000

In the scriptures it says that the creation can never know what the creator knows. Can the clay say to the potter,why do you make me like this? God has dealt with us all these many generations with love because in fact He could have destroyed us and started over or never started again. But, He loved\loves us so He decided to discipline us instead. That is to make us ready for His everlasting,holy kingdom. He wants to walk in the cool of the evening and in the breeze of the day with us forevermore. He wants us to share His glory as was seen when Jesus was with Moses on the mountain where the Apostles wanted to put tents up and feed them but quickly Jesus was found alone and as He was before they went up the mountain with Him. Jesus did say to one He was crucufied with,”You will be with me in paradise.” God has reminded us thru all the scriptures that He does mean business and you can’t fool Him and He will do what He promises. Praise Jesus for humbling Himself and becoming lower than the angels as man to exprience firsthand the thoughts,feelings,and emoitions of His creation so He can represent us thru our prayers and come for us again so we may be where He is.

By: chaplain tomk

chaplain tomk — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:12:56 +0000

The conclusion of the matter of sudden destruction upon some in the Bible and others is God leaving us a distinct awareness of His judicial hatred of sin. If we did not have these testimonies and the like we would be totally clueless to the Holiness of His nature. That being the case then our sin nature would carouse to the limit of our own wants with the end result of Noah’s time: “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Gen 6:5. His ‘wrath’ is mentioned often enough to soberly remind us of this reality; for some, that lightening will strike, for none of us are immune to being singled out as an example of His discipline/judgment. The Father constrains His wrath in love, but constraint does not change His hatred and judicial condemnation one iota. There are verses that convey this truth so that we maintain a proper perspective of our Father: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Heb 12:28-29

By: rdrcomp

rdrcomp — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:41:06 +0000

Does God scare us into obedience? you asked. I believe that because of His wonderful grace He will use any means to get our attention. Why did he kill Uzza on the spot when Uzza tried to steady the Ark when the Ox cart bounced? Should not God have said a booming” thanks Uzza”, instead God took his life. But there were requirements to the transporting of the Ark and they were not being carried out. Instead of “why does God break out in a lethal way occasionally” we ought to ask, “Why did he not kill me for my last lustful thought”? My answer–I don’t know. We can only say that God is full of grace to send Jesus to pay the complete price of every one of our sins. Perhaps one day, if he is in heaven, Uzza can explain to me what happened.

By: dachshund

dachshund — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:38:55 +0000

“Elaa” and “halfpacked” – You are speaking of His Grace! Yes, His love and truth drew me to Him, not fear. Staying in awareness of and connection with this amazing grace is the key to all the good He has for us.

By: halfpacked

halfpacked — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:16:30 +0000

Hi All,
First time blog for me. Choice! Seems to me that God left the question of how he would deal with our individual sins at the moment in doubt so as to give us the chance to choose to do good or evil. If we know that he will strike us dead for certain, then we lose the ability to make a choice for God based on our love for HIm. It would be based on our love for our selves,ie our love for our own life.

By: Elaa

Elaa — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:09:14 +0000

I believe I’ve said it here before that growing up, for me, ‘the fear of my mother was the beginning of wisdom.’ And that stemmed from the fact that yes, God’s punishment was not as glaring as my mother’s.

But I knew that if mother could punish, then God could most certainly punish me, so there was never the issue of taking His love for granted.

Personally, I’m big on commitment. As per commitment, every last time I’ve checked, it was not illegal to be an unbeliever. So, if I choose of my own free will to be a believer, I don’t think God needs to be holding a stick over my head for compliance.

And even though I believe in ‘he whom the Lord loves, He chatiseth’, so that it makes sense to think of God punishing me, I think more of unpleasant situations as me moving out of under His covering. So, it’s usually, a question of me getting my act together for my sake, and not out of dread.

And when I think of the times when not only didn’t God send lighting to strike me, but He also protected me when I walked out under the lighting (by omission or commission), I can’t help but marvel at His love.