We struggle sometimes as we work through why God does not always restrain the wicked and harmful actions of others. While we do not know why God allows the enemies of His people to sometimes prevail at one tie and restrain them at another, we must understand that God, in His infinite wisdom and love, insures that good good ultimately comes from those harmful acts. While we often cannot explain, nor should we try, what God is doing in the lives of others, we can recognize the Bible’s consistent teaching that God is able and does move upon the hearts and minds of people to accomplish His purposes. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, Says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” God is never at a loss because He cannot find someone to cooperate with Him in carrying out His plan, He moves in the hears of people, so that they willingly, of their own free will carry out His plans. Most of the time we are not conscious of doing … READ MORE

In Genesis 20 Abram had lied about his wife Sarah, and Abimelech took her to become his wife. Yet God restrained him from doing a sinful act (Genesis 20:6-7). Abimelech was not conscious that God was restraining him, But God kept him from doing what his heart desired. God does not excuse Abram’s sin, but He did not let that stop Him from intervening in Abimelech’s mind and preventing the serious consequences of the sin. God can not olny restrain people’s actions, but even their most deeply rooted desires. No part of the human heart is impervious to God’s sovereign but mysterious control. We must remember not to look at the accounts of scripture merely as biblical history without relating them to our lives and our situations, understanding that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, God NEVER changes!. Romans 15:4 reminds us “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” As you read the Bible and meditate on its content, understand the lessons that God gives and the truth that reveals about our mighty God, and learn to rest in the powerful … READ MORE

God intervenes in teh hearts of people so that they make decisions and carry out actions that accomplish His purpose for our lives. This is done in such a way that these people make their decisions and carry out their plans by their own free and voluntary choices. We must understand that if God is not sovereign in the decisions and actions of other people as they affect us, then there is a whole major area of our lives where we cannot trust God. We see in the Old Testament how God moved in the life of Cyrus King of Persia to allow the children of Israel to return to the city of Jerusalem and Israel to rebuild the nation. If we do not believe that the God of heaven is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we can be reminded that in 1948 this same God worked in the hearts of the world leaders to allow the Jewish people to return to the land that God has promised to Abraham, back in Genesis 12. We need to understand that as we live and move through our lives, that God is working in the lives and hearts of men and … READ MORE