Criticize God’s Ways? How Dare We! | Lon Solomon

foreign [Music] well hello there and welcome to live with Lon I'm so glad that you're with us and uh thank you for praying for my knee my knee surgery uh that was on May 16. uh I'm recording this prior to the surgery uh because for a couple of weeks I just kind of figured I wouldn't be able to uh get upstairs here to my study and do that so I prepared ahead of time I'm assuming I made it through the surgery if I didn't you're getting a couple of lab this is like you know all these rock groups do their final tour their farewell tour and then they come back and do another one another one and another one anyway if I'm not here you're getting my couple of farewell messages my wife thinks I'm nuts for even talking about this how morbid can you be well hey you never know I don't know so anyway thanks for your prayers and uh I'm gonna come back and start taping contemporaneously in a week or so so hopefully you know what I'll be able to say How Sweet It Is okay we'll get to Jackie in a minute okay so here we are we're still in John chapter 11. and we're finishing up that chapter so let's pray and we'll do that here we go dear Lord Jesus thank you so much uh that uh you are The Sovereign god of the universe thank you for your word which instructs us as The Sovereign god of the universe how you want us to live Lord how you want us to approach you the way of Salvation you created all of this Lord how to get eternal life is all in the b-i-b-l-e and we're so grateful that as we ride the b-i-b-l-e like a surfboard through this life and into eternity it will never fail us or lead us incorrectly so Lord we love the word of God and we pray today that you would use it in our lives in a mighty way in Jesus name we pray amen all right um just want to remind you of our February tour of the holy land and um uh hope you'll join us we're gonna have a really great time together our October trip filled up in the month of April and we don't have any more spots unless you want to get on the waiting list so give me a call I'm answering the phone even though uh I'm recuperating I'm still answering my phone calls so give me a call if you need anything or if you have any questions 703 -280 -1114 and if you've signed up for the February tour and you haven't had heard back from me yet don't fret I'm running a little behind because I'm I'm covering here but I will get back to you no fret okay all right now let's get to the Bible we're in John chapter 11. and where where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and I want to read a section of the chapter to you we've already read this section previously but I want to go back and look at a verse or two in this section as we move through so here we go beginning at verse 32. then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying to him Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died same thing Martha said when she met Jesus Lord if you'd have been here my brother would not have died where were you where were you now verse 33 therefore when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and he said where have you laid him and they said to him Lord come and see Jesus wept then the Jews said see how much he loved him but some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying now I want to skip ahead here to the very end of the chapter and we're going to make our way there but I want to skip ahead and it says from that day verse 53 the Jewish leaders plotted to put him to death Jesus therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews but went from there into the country near the Wilderness to a city called Ephraim and there remained with his disciples and the Passover of the Jews was near and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves then they saw Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple and said what do you think that he will not come to the feast what's wrong why wouldn't he come to the feast where is he okay now the title of the message today is criticize God's ways question mark how dare we you know the Bible says Psalm 103 verse 7. it says God made known his ways to Moses his acts to the son of Israel okay now that is a very key verse let's look at it again it says he the Lord made known his ways to Moses his acts to the sons of Israel what does that mean well it means the Israelites the sons of Israel got to see what God did but he took the time to explain to Moses and help Moses understand his ways not just his acts but his ways in other words why he did what he did the way he did in the timing he did you understand me now when you walk with God for a long time and your faithful in his word and in prayer God will begin to help you understand like he did Moses his ways not just his Acts see when you first come to Christ you like the rest of the world can see God's acts in fact as a Believer you can probably see them a little better because you see God everywhere which the world doesn't understand the people of the world who are not believers you can see his acts but that doesn't mean you understand his ways in other words you can see what he does but you and I may not at that point in our Christian Life understand why he does what he does the way he does how he does when he does are you with me but as we grow God helps us like Moses to see that uh you know I've gotten to the point in my Christian life right now 52 years Lord praise the Lord that I've walked with the Lord Jesus that sometimes I can almost sense how God's going to do something I mean I can't be a thousand percent sure and sure of course I'm I'm wrong sometimes but sometimes I can I call I used to call it I can I can smell how God is going to do this you say how did you know that you just I don't know you walk with God long enough in the Holy Spirit begins to give you enough discernment and that you begin to see how God did things in the past and you begin to develop this sense to smell how God's gonna do something these are his ways now the Israelites and remember God said Isaiah 55 as high as the heavens are above the Earth so are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts his ways are above our ways and and he doesn't always do things the way logically it would make sense he has his own ways about how he does things you with me now here in our passage let's go back to John 11. what we have is a classic example several of them in this chapter of people criticizing God for his ways for the way he was doing something and presuming in their human logic and intelligence uh that they understood better than God did the way he ought to do something you with me first of all there was Mary and Martha we already read in verse 32 then Mary came and what did she say look at the verse she said Lord if you'd have been here my brother would not have died Martha said the very same thing now what is she doing she's criticizing God's way of handling this situation she said you should have been here earlier and you should have stopped my brother from dying you shouldn't have let him die you should have healed him she's saying this is the way it should have been done just the way you should have done it right criticizing his ways of of how he does things now then let's look down when Jesus weeps verse 36 and the Jews said do you see how much he loved him watch verse 37 and some of them said well if he loved him so much could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind back in John chapter 9 could he not also have kept this man from dying what are they doing they're saying they're being critical of the way the Lord Jesus was running this thing he should have been here if he loved him that much why didn't he come and keep this man from dying that makes sense to us that's human logic that makes perfect sense to us and what are they doing they're saying the ways that Jesus is running this is not correct and finally let's look at the very end of the chapter it says that the people sought Jesus among themselves as the Passover was beginning as they stood in the temple and where they said what do you think that he will not come to the feast he's going to skip the Passover why isn't he here he should be here he should be here preaching in the temple he should be here showing himself to the people he should be here doing Miracles uh and proving his messiahship he should be here of no other reason because that's what a a good Jewish person would do for the Passover they would come go up to Jerusalem for the Passover and what were they doing they were criticizing the way he was running this my point is in this chapter people are criticizing the ways of God all over the place you see it do you see it now that's the end of our chapter let's ask our most important question here we go you ready come on now one two three so what what difference does this make for my life well I'm gonna tell you that right now as soon as I thank the Lord that my surgery went well because I believe I believe that by faith it did or else I'm with the Lord and I'll thank God for that you ready How Sweet It Is or as Jackie would say say it like Jackie would say it how sweet it is that's right so what's the so what here very simple my friend before we're critical of Mary and Martha Lord if you'd have been here my brother wouldn't have died what are you doing before we criticize the Jewish people at lazarus's tomb hey if he really loved Lazarus the way he looks to have loved him he would he could have certainly been here in time to save this man from dying where was he and the people in Jerusalem getting ready for the Passover where is he uh he's not coming to the Passover where is he he should be here how often are we like these people really seriously how often do we take it upon ourselves to criticize God's ways his way of doing what he does when he does how he does and where he does those are his ways how fast are we to criticize those even as Believers we do it all the time Mary and Martha did it as believers now how dare we come on how dare we criticize God's ways who are that are above our ways as far as the heavens are above the Earth come on I want you to take this away from today I need to let God do what he wants to do Winnie wants to do it how he wants to do it where he wants to do it in the way he wants to do it without presuming to criticize him will correct him or make a suggestion to him in my own human logic puny logic and wisdom that's what I want you to take away from this let God be God let God Run the World his way you are not God let him run it his way and be happy that he's running the world and not you and not me I'm so happy God's running the world he's running the world a lot better than I could run the world and in the end I end up benefiting every time from just letting God Run the World the way he runs the world but I'm still guilty as a sinful human being when it doesn't work out the way I want it I'm still guilty of going to him and going if you to bring here my brother wouldn't have died why if you loved him enough you were healed even again well where is he how come he's not here Laura how come you doing this and Lord how come you do and Lord why didn't you and how come you let them do this to and hey come on you do that too we all do that wisdom dictates spiritual growth and maturity dictates spiritual seasoning Walking with God dictates that we get to the place where we say Lord you have your own way of handling this it may not be the way I would handle it and it may not be the way I would want to see it handled but Lord Jesus I I'm not gonna presume to criticize or tell you how to do things I'm just gonna trust you and and Ride This Out With You Lord my friends don't you think that it's offensive to God when when we are like Mary and Martha and the crowd and the people in Jerusalem don't you think it's offensive to God when we when we dare to criticize his ways come on that's like our it's like a little child questioning uh you know why we're making him put his clothes on or why we're making him put a coat on to go outside or why we're feeding him vegetables criticizing uh all this kind of stuff uh yeah you know we you almost have to chuckle and go how dare you how dare you you don't understand viruses you don't understand what happens when you go out without a jacket you don't understand broccoli and what it can do for your system what do you what do you how dare you criticize me as your parent when you don't even know what's going on well I think the Lord sometimes feels the same way hey my friend thank God that he's long-suffering thank God that he's patient thank God that he's kind and compassionate with us hey but let's grow out of that shall we let's become sensitive to doing it and grow out of it I'll close with Romans chapter 11. verse 33. oh Paul says the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways he's inscrutable he's impossible for us to understand him his ways are unfathomable to us for who is known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever amen now that's out of The New American Standard because I love its choice of words so his ways are unfathomable inscrutable his his uh judgments are unsearchable let's let him be God Lord Jesus please forgive us for the many times every day Lord then we dare to criticize you and your ways of doing things and your way of handling things in our life Jesus please forgive us and and please teach us not to do this if your ways are unfathomable if they are inscrutable if they are your judgments if they are unsearchable just help us be okay with that and just help us trust you in Jesus name I pray amen okay folks I've re I've pre-recorded one more message which you'll get next week it's new don't skip it it's new uh and then we're back to contemporaneous Lord willing okay God bless you bye now [Music] [Music]

Channel: Lon Solomon Ministries

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Length: 21min 22sec (1282 seconds)

Published: Sun May 28 2023