Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Monday, July 4, 2011

QT 4 Jul 11, Why does God ruin our plans?

Jer 19:1-2, 6-7a This is what the Lord says: "Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,
...
6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 "'In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem.

NOTE: Why does God 'ruin' their plans?  Because they rebelled against him, and according to the terms of the covenant, they were deserving of the curses.  The ruin was death by sword, famine, and plague.  Death will put a crimp in most people's plans.  The new covenant does not include any specific curses, although one can argue that there are many warnings.  In fact, I believe Hebrews is a warning to Jewish believers falling back into the old covenant that physical fire and physical death await them if they do not repent (as did happen in AD70 when Rome burned the city and killed its inhabitants).

But we are all in rebellion to God.  A rebellion which began in the garden and continues to this day.  The result of that rebellion was death too, just not immediate.  God promised us that our bodies would return to dust.  It was  not God's original plan, but it was what we chose because we did not want to be under his authority.  And yet today, people scream up at God for the pain and misery of this world.  God did not choose  that course, we chose that course.  If we curse at anyone, it should be ourselves.  Jesus words are beneficial, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13:2,3)."  Pain is part of our choice in this world.  We can't escape it.  But we can repent, and in that we have a future and a hope.  God doesn't ruin our plans, we already did that.  But God provides a plan which will not disappoint.
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