Thou Shalt Not

If you read the Bible cover to cover there is no doubt that there would be questions. For example, why did God allow there to be a devil? Or, how do I read the Book of Revelation without getting confused? Or, how can forgiveness come so easily in the New Testament to a God who instructed his people to eradicate so many people in the Old Testament? 

There are questions we may never know the answers to, and that is exactly where faith comes in. Being a believer does not require a Masters degree, but it does require understanding the degree of the Master. Simply, God is God and we are not. What he does and how he does it will ever elude our finite minds and the more we try to figure "everything" out the more confused we get.

That might be why Jesus said, "unless you turn and become like little children.......". I can remember that as a little child I listened a lot and thought very little. And when I thought I usually got in trouble. Back then, the Bible seemed more about Thou Shalt Not, than about forgiveness, love and grace. Now if we think all this through and try to understand it, we will take ourselves further away from the truth. 

Not saying we should not think, just saying that understanding comes once we surrender our life to Christ, and that understanding thereafter comes from the benefit of the Holy Spirit who now becomes our counselor as Jesus foretold. If we equated it to human terms, the Spirit is our tutor who clarifies an otherwise cloudy picture. Or in another way, how can a sinful and imperfect man or woman understand a perfect and omnipotent God?

Not possible without divine help. So it boils down to this, trust and faith that the one you trust in is the right God. After 30 plus years I see it clearly now, but back then, my faith was to put my trust, like that of a little child ,into the hands of my Father and see where that took me.

The next thing I found out is that Thou Shalt Not ever give up on God because he will never give upon you. And all those other Thou Shalt Nots that I used to do,  became forgiven by the one I put my trust in.

Funny thing, I seem to think a lot better now!