If You Had Known.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" Mt 23:37

"Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." Lk 19:42

“If you had known . . . .” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut-doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future. - Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest April 3

I am a firm believer in the sovereignty of God.  It is a non-negotiable for me. I am also a firm believer in the responsibility of mankind. A contradiction? Perhaps in our minds, but without these two realities both being true, the Bible is incoherent and all we get from our theologies are caricatures.

Take the destruction of Jerusalem. Who's to blame? The citizens, since they rejected Christ and the prophets that proceeded him? Or God since Jesus even says the way out is now hidden from them? If you pick the people you make them the final arbiters of their fate and God is simply a hand wringing judge, hoping His people do the right thing. However, if you pick God, then the people are mere pawns and God is a mean orge without and real grace or mercy. But what if it is both? God, through Christ extending his hand saying "Turn, turn. I don't delight in the death of the wicked" and yet also saying "if you reject me, I will reject you" And the people saying "I do believe, help my unbelief" and "Be merciful to me, a sinner", and "we have no god but Caesar" and "we have Abraham as our father".

But what about us? What difference does this make today, in 2011? Two thoughts:

1) God is still (and always) sovereign. Earthquake in Japan? Turmoil in the Middle East? Political and societal disarray in America? God is still (and always) sovereign over it all. Are His purposes easy to fathom? No. Are His motives easy to fathom? Yes. (See Rom 8)

2) Man is still (and always) responsible. This might be the harder pill to swallow, because if God is sovereign in a black and white sense, then I'm off the hook. But I'm not. I must believe. I must put to death the work of the flesh. I must put on the new self. I must share my faith. I must preach the gospel. I must keep myself in the love of Christ. All of this, of course in the context of Phil 2:12-13.

So today, live your life with fear and trembling, but also with joy and hope. We each messed up yesterday and yesterday is gone. Confess what needs to be confessed and know that as believers our sins are forgiven in Christ. And now move into the new day, ready to serve the One who has called us, redeemed us, empowered us, prepared the path for us and will always be with us.

To God Alone be the Glory

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Phil 2:12-13