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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Priests

Priests are silent
Priests have no flesh showing
Priests are covered in the blood of sacrifice.

listening to every message I can find on the priesthood
why
God desired a "nation of priests"

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

there! I will meet with you

a study on Elijah and some sermons by Art katz have me laser focused on times when God said "there"
There I will provide for you
There I will reveal Myself to you
There I will meet with you
Oh God show us where our "there" is, in Your mercy Lord, show us, and make us to obey.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Elijah Bible Study 1Kings 17:1-12


The Life of Elijah
Bible Study #1
1 Kings 17:1-12

Elijah Predicts Drought
17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”                NASB

1 Kings 17
 1 And then this happened: Elijah the Tishbite, from among the settlers of Gilead, confronted Ahab: "As surely as God lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand in obedient service, the next years are going to see a total drought—not a drop of dew or rain unless I say otherwise."
 2-4 God then told Elijah, "Get out of here, and fast. Head east and hide out at the Kerith Ravine on the other side of the Jordan River. You can drink fresh water from the brook; I've ordered the ravens to feed you."
 5-6 Elijah obeyed God's orders. He went and camped in the Kerith canyon on the other side of the Jordan. And sure enough, ravens brought him his meals, both breakfast and supper, and he drank from the brook.
 7-9 Eventually the brook dried up because of the drought. Then God spoke to him: "Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I've instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you."
 10-11 So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, "Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink." As she went to get it, he called out, "And while you're at it, would you bring me something to eat?"
 12 She said, "I swear, as surely as your God lives, I don't have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we'll die."  The Message

Before we get started I will acknowledge the help of 3 men who have all passed on.
J. Hampton Keathley, III   -  His notes on  Elijah are quoted throughout.
A.W. Pink - His book, “The Life of Elijah” I will have read it twice by the time we are done.
Art Katz - His sermons on Elijah and prophecy, sparked my interest.

Daniels description of the people who trust God in the end time darkness applies to Elijah also.
Daniel 11:32 By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

God’s patience had been misinterpreted by Israel and Elijah’s mission was to reveal God.
 Psalm 50:21, “These things you have done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you, I will reprove you, and state (the case) in order before your eyes.”

Elijah would have had access to Deuteronomy and its warnings.
Deut. 11:11 “But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

13 “It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. 15 He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. 17 Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

18 “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.”

  1 Kings 19:10 He said, “ I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
The word translated ‘zealous’ is also translated jealous or passionate.  Here we have a look into Elijah’s heart to find his motivation.  He would have had the first 5 books of the Bible at his disposal, and would have been aware of the warning contained in Deuteronomy.  His was not some dreamed up mission, but a declaration of the sure word of God, and with mercy attached, because it was “not yet" that they would be taken out of the land as captives of a conquering army, even though that was also part of the scripture threatening drought.  Moral delinquency and spiritual apostasy is worse than physical calamity and suffering, because their weight is eternal.  Desperate diseases call for drastic measures.
Elijah is one of the prominent figures in the Word of God. His significance is evidenced by over 20 direct references to him in the New Testament, and by his appearance in the transfiguration of the Lord with Moses, the great Law giver.  No background is given on him, and His sentence is clear and hard.  No rain or dew, in this hot climate the dew was important and for it to be withheld too is even more severe.  The emphasis on the fact that Jehovah is the living God of Israel is important.  It is a contrast with lifeless Baal who was “brought in” by Jezebel.

Since the kingdom was split Israel’s kings had consistently chosen the wrong path.
Not only were these kings evil, but there was a continuous decline. Scripture indicates that the next king was worse than his father. There was continual spiritual and moral erosion, much as we have seen in our nation.

With the rise of Ahab in the time of Elijah, things had reached an all time low. Fifty-eight years had passed since the division of the kingdom. Seven kings had reigned and all were evil. All were idolatrous, but with Ahab idolatry reached an all-time high even to the point of seeking to stamp out the worship of Yahweh altogether. How? Why? Ahab married Jezebel, the famed princess from Tyre, daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre. Again, following the poor examples that preceded him, his aim was to seal a pact with Phoenicia for profitable political reasons. His trust was in his own schemes rather than in the Lord. The weak Ahab allowed Jezebel to introduce the worship of the satanic and idolatrous cult of Baal-Melqart into Israel. The worship of Baal, a Canaanite deity, had been observed by Israelites in the days of the Judges and before the establishment of the kingdom. David rid the land of this dirge, but now it was resurrected on a new scale, larger than ever, and this was done by the government, the king.

Jezebel did not want Baalism to coexist with the worship of Yahweh. She wanted to completely stamp out the worship of God. This is precisely the way Satan and his world system works. People are often broad-minded with the varying religions and philosophical ideas of the world, but never with the truth.

The Ras Shamrah text, an important archaeological find, praises Baal as the god who has power over rain, wind, clouds, and therefore over fertility. Baal was also worshiped as the weather god, the god of storm, of rain and good crops.

We don’t know, are not given, Elijah’s ‘resume’, his background is not considered.
By contrast, it seems people always want to know, “Who are you?” “Who is he or she?” People can look at their accomplishments, as Nebuchadnezzar did (Dan. 4:30), and proudly credit them to their own brilliance. On the other hand, as Moses did at the call of God (Ex. 3:11), we often tend to think despairingly, “Who am I?” In each case, this kind of thinking puts the focus on us, rather than on the sovereign LORD upon whom we are totally dependent and who is always able to do super abundantly above all that we are able to ask or even think.
Elijah is the Hebrew Eliyahu that means “My God is Yahweh.”

When confronted with the judgment of God on his nation what was King Ahab’s answer? I believe it is significant that Scripture is silent here. Why? Perhaps because it demonstrates how the promises and warnings of God’s Word always take precedence over man’s response or opinions. God’s Word is true regardless of how people respond or react.

Elijah obeyed the Lord and then was given the ‘next step.’  God does not grant fresh revelations until there has been a compliance with those already received.  God leads His servants step by step, rarely laying out the grand plan.  By contrast, disobedience to the truth has the opposite effect. It hardens our hearts and closes our ears, killing our capacity to hear and respond to the work and ministry God wants to call us to (cf. Mark 6:52; Heb. 3:7-15; 5:11; Ps. 40:6-7). People often complain about how hard it is to know God’s leading. The problem is not God’s leading--He is always ready to lead us. The problem is our listening, and too often, our listening is colored by false expectations and selfish motives. We want the Lord to answer in our way. We want God’s blessing on our will rather than seeking His will. We tend to make up our list of what we would like to do with our lives, even as it pertains to serving the Lord. We then present that to the Lord for His approval.

This next step makes no sense by our own reasoning.  Now would have been a good time for a “preaching tour."  Going town by town, preaching repentance.  No, God’s way is the opposite.  He withdraws His word and in doing so expresses an even greater judgment than the drought.  This going away into seclusion could also have the purpose of reminding Elijah that he was only an instrument in the hand of God, nothing more, nothing less.  God gives only a brook, not a river and feeds him by the use of an unclean animal.  He shows His sovereignty over the birds and also provides the water, the water comes by natural means, the food by supernatural.  His trust is not in the brook or the ravens but the God who gave the sure word of promise.  

“We are to get alone with God, first to just know and love Him, to develop our dependence on Him, and then to bring order and strength to our inner life. We are to do this to bring God’s control over every area of our lives: our motivations, what moves us, the things that pull us to conform or to compete, our perspective of life, why we are here and what are we seeking, our priorities and values, the use of our time, talents, treasures, and truth, and our thought processes (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Getting alone with God is not optional. If we want true spiritual success it is fundamental. It’s a key part of God’s plan by which our lives are first strengthened by the underground spiritual streams of life in Christ and then changed and cut into the ravine that God wants to use to make us a channel for pouring out the blessings of the Savior on others.”        J. Hampton Keathley, III

 When the brook dries up.  
James 1:2-4 says:  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

What’s the problem we face in suffering? We are often more interested in our comfort and pleasure than with genuine, spiritual growth and maturity. We want a carefree life rather than a life with character. We may think we are okay and mature enough just as we are, but the Lord knows better. We want maturity without the pain, but real growth requires pain.
Are you perplexed about certain things in your life? Then ask, what is the Lord seeking to teach me? Ask “How is the Lord wanting to use this in my life or in some else’s life?” Ask “Is God trying to change some of my values and priorities, or reveal some of my false sources of trust?” Pray and think!
The next words of verse 8 are “the word of the Lord came to him, saying.” Let’s note a couple of things: First, Elijah did not move until there was communion with God. He waited until he had direction from the Lord--He moved at the Word of the Lord. For Elijah, this was direct revelation, but the principle is God leads and directs us through His Word (which for us is the Bible), and through our communion with Him in Scripture. Of course, the Lord uses other things to give us direction such as open and closed doors, and our own abilities, talents, burdens and interests. He never leads us, however, contrary to the principles and directives of Scripture. Second, this reminds us just how important it is for us to commune with God in His Word so we can know the Word and use it for every decision we face. We can be sure somewhere in Scripture there will be principles that apply.


Isaiah 28:16  “therefore thus says the Lord God,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
    a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
    ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’”  We contrive ways of getting out of our difficulties, we are far too full of our own plans and devisings, then we ask God to prosper, what we planned.  One book said this was a 75 mile journey across the desert, to Jezebel’s home country!  Implicit trust and unreserved submission is what is required of us.
First, God would provide for Elijah through a woman. While women in Israel had a higher position and status than among their Gentile neighbors, this was highly irregular, for it was the man’s place to provide for women. Second, this was a Gentile woman, a woman outside the circle of God’s own people. In fact, she was from the pagan nation of the Sidonians (or Phoenicians) who, at that time, represented the forces arrayed against God’s kingdom. Third, she was a poor, destitute, depressed widow facing starvation. She wasn’t exactly the kind of person you would go to for support, but she was the person whom God had chosen to be Elijah’s support and the instrument of God’s glory. He didn’t know her plight as yet, but he would soon find out and his response is remarkable.

Note her words in verse 12, “as the Lord your God lives.” This suggests she must have recognized Elijah as a prophet of Israel, perhaps by his dress (cf. 2 Kings 1:8). But Yahweh was not her God and she wasn’t all that sure about the honesty of Elijah or the reality of his God (cf. vs. 17:24). She needed to see the testimony of Elijah’s life as well as the power of God.


Monday, July 2, 2012

Romans Bible Study #46 Romans 16:25-27 Attribute of God - Wisdom


Romans Bible Study #46
Romans 16:25-27
Attribute of God - Wisdom

16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.
NASB

25-26All of our praise rises to the One who is strong enough to make you strong, exactly as preached in Jesus Christ, precisely as revealed in the mystery kept secret for so long but now an open book through the prophetic Scriptures. All the nations of the world can now know the truth and be brought into obedient belief, carrying out the orders of God, who got all this started, down to the very last letter.
 27All our praise is focused through Jesus on this incomparably wise God! Yes!  The Message

25  God is able to ‘establish’ you, other translations say, strengthen you.  We need to be given strength.  This walk requires strength, that we do not possess.  Admitting that we do not possess it is a first step in getting it.  When we are weak, then we are strong.  The commandments are too hard, and our flesh is too weak, ‘God help us,’ is our cry.  “We cannot, You can,” is our hope.
26  Our obedience is the ‘obedience of faith.’  The strength and ability to obey, comes from outside of us, from God, accessed by faith.  There is no ‘boasting’ in our accomplishments, when we obey, He gets all the glory.
27  In this doxology and the one at the end of chapter 11, wise and wisdom are foremost on the mind of the apostle as what he wants to praise, so the rest of the study is an in depth look at the attribute of God known as wisdom.

  Piper pointed out that since wisdom is an attribute of God it is infinite, like He is.  So nothing can be added to God that would make Him more wise, He already has all the information, all the possibilities all the angles figured out.  Nothing can go into God’s mind that did not come out of His mind already.  His wisdom cannot be increased.  Everything comes out of His mind so nothing that goes back into it will increase it because it was already there.  God always know in every situation the perfect, best, greatest end that should come out of the situation.  He takes all of the trillions of relevant factors into account and He knows how to accomplish His purpose.
Piper looked at two out-workings of this infinite wisdom, His infinite wisdom in the way that He saves sinners, (chapters 1-8) and His infinite wisdom in the working out His covenant with Israel, (chapters 9-11).
           The way of saving sinners shatters the ground of all human pride.  A weak crucified God goes against the power that some want.  The way of knowing God, through faith, shatters the ground of humans pride in wanting to come to God because we are so wise and we ‘figured it out.’
1 Cor. 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the [o]message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
The greatest negative goal in the way of saving sinners is to break the back of human pride.
The greatest positive goal in the way of saving sinners is to have an assembly of people who boast only in the Lord.  Not our mind, or our programs.
     His infinite wisdom in how He keeps covenant with Israel.  God re-affirms His promises to Israel over and over in the Old Testament.  In reality in Paul’s day, the majority were rejecting Christ.  God saves the Gentiles and grafts them into the tree, a partial hardening is on Israel, while this is happening and the Gentiles are to understand that when the Jews see the the Gentiles have been shown such mercy by ‘their’ God, they are jealous and return to Him.
Romans 11:30 For just as you (gentiles) once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their (Jewish) disobedience, 31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

Now we move on to an amazing section on the wisdom of God, from an amazing book by Stephen Charnock.   Wisdom consists in acting for a right end, observing all the circumstances for action, willing and acting according to the right reason and judgment.  The essential wisdom of God is the essence of God, the personal wisdom of God, is the Son of God.  Wisdom is the property of God alone, He is the “only wise.” Wisdom among men is gained by age and experience, furthered by instructions and exercise; but he wisdom of God is His nature.
“It is a foolish thing, therefore, to question that which we cannot comprehend;  we should adore it instead of disputing against it; and take it for granted, that God would not order anything, were it not agreeable to the sovereignty of His wisdom, as well as that of His will.”
Proverbs 21:30 “There is no wisdom and no understanding
And no counsel against the Lord.”  He compasseth His ends by those actions of men and devils, wherein they think to cross him; they shoot at their own mark and hit His.  Lucifer’s plot, by divine wisdom, fulfilled God’s purpose against Lucifer’s mind.
As He is the cause of all things, so He hath the highest wisdom for the ordering of all things.
In creation, the fact that the sun, the earth, the oceans, the plants, are all working together harmoniously for an end that they do not know or understand speaks of the wisdom of the Creator.  This wisdom shows up in the variety of the creatures, their beauty, their fitness for use and the subordination of one creature to another.  All of these different kinds of trees and plants and flowers out of one earth.  All of these different kinds of characters and features and voices and statures of people in human society.  The seasons, the seas, the clouds the winds, the various parts of the human body, broken down into systems that all are inter-dependent and working together speak of wisdom.
God’s wisdom is seen in the bounding of sin.  Psalm 76:10 “For the wrath of man shall praise You;  With a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself.”
God’s wisdom is seen in the bringing glory of Himself out of sin.  It takes more skill to make a lovely piece of workmanship with ill-conditioned tools, than with instruments naturally fitted for the work; it is no such great wonder for a limner to draw an exact piece with a fit pencil and suitable colors, as to begin and perfect a beautiful work with a straw and water, things improper for such a design.  The wisdom of God is more admirable and astonishing than if a man were able to rear a vast palace by fire, whose nature is to consume combustible matter not to erect a building.  To make things serviceable contrary to their own nature, is a wisdom peculiar to the Creator of Nature.  God’s making us of devils, for the glory of His name, and the good of His people, is a more amazing piece of wisdom than His goodness in employing the blessed angels in His work.  
The sins and corruptions remaining in the heart of man, God orders for good; and there are good effects by the direction of His wisdom and grace, as the soul respects God.  God brings forth a sensibleness of the necessity of dependence on Him.  The mother may let the newly walking child slip, that he may know who supports him and may not be too venturous and confident in his own strength.  God leaves sometimes the brightest souls in eclipse to manifest that their holiness, and the preservation of it, depend upon the darting out of His beams upon them.  Our continuing sins remind us of the preciousness of the blood of Christ.
A fall into one sin is often a prevention of more which lay in wait for us/ as the fall of a small body into an ambush prevents the design of the enemy upon a greater.
  God’s wisdom appears in judgments in the suiting them to the qualities of person, and nature of sins.  Jer. 18:11 So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’  Isaiah 31: 2
“Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster
And does not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers
And against the help of the workers of iniquity.”
  These are ‘out-of-the-box’ verses that stretch us to see a God so big and so  wise that the calamity that He brings is perfectly suited to offense committed.  Many will come to God’s rescue and say, “He does not bring disaster."  They are wrong, the Bible says so.  The Babel builders designed an indissoluble union, and God brings upon them an unintelligible confusion.
God’s wisdom makes death the way to life and shame and suffering the path to glory.

Charnock has to spend time looking at God’s wisdom in redemption also.  The wisdom of God satisfies the demands of justice in punishing, and the pleas of mercy in pardoning.  The Word made flesh.  God manifested in the flesh, a mystery too great for our minds but the perfect answer to the offense of sin against God.  As the bush was united to the fire, yet was not hurt by the flame, nor converted into fire, there remained a difference between the bush and the fire, yet the properties of the fire shined in the bush, so theat the whole bush seemed to be on fire.
Had He not been man, He could not have filled our place in suffering; and could He otherwise have suffered, His sufferings had not been applicable to us; and had He not been God, His sufferings had not been meritoriously and fruitfully applicable.  Had not His blood been the blood of God, it had been of as little advantage as the blood of and ordinary man, or the blood of the legal sacrifices.   Nothing less than God could have satisfied God for the injury done by man.  He had therefore a nature to be compassionate to us and victorious for us.  Jesus performed the law perfectly, but voluntarily took the full punishment as if He had not obeyed.  Could we imagine being healed by stripes, purified by blood, crowned by a cross, comforted by sorrows, made rich by poverty?
His wisdom restores us in a way contrary to the way that we fell; we chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, now we must deny our own understanding, and submit to faith.

Wisdom shows itself in perfect timing, Passover when Jesus was crucified was a feast that gathered Jews from all over and at Pentecost when the message of Jesus needed to be cast far and wide, people from all over were there to hear the apostles testimony of Jesus, ‘each in their own language,’ so that they could then go back and broadcast it in whatever area they were living.
 Wisdom is magnified when it chooses such vessels as us to display its power.  The weaker the means which attain the end, the greater the skill of the conductor of them.
The wisdom of God allows Him to bear with things that seem to cross His purposes.  Because He know the whole affair that is going on and He has the power to attain the end that He proposes to Himself.  This infinite wisdom, gives Him an infinite patience in seeing it all ‘work out.’
   That this wisdom is available to us, infallible and infinite, is a thing that draws out worship in our hearts. Why do we choose to ‘guide’ ourselves.   “Lean not on your own understanding.”  Peter refuses to let Christ wash his feet, he makes himself the judge of the rightness of what Jesus has set out to do...mistake!  Philosophers who make their reason the supreme judge of Divine revelation, are not accepting that they are below God in wisdom in every way.  Our goal in this Bible Study has always been to “let the Word change us.”  Murmuring and impatience are most prevalent when we have lost sight of the Wisdom of God.  Nothing is done by Him too soon or too slow.  In His light we see light.
2nd Chronicles 20:12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”  James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
God always chooses what is best for His glory, and what is best for His creatures, either in regard to themselves, or as they stand in relation to Him, or to others, as parts of the world.
Psalm 47:4 “He chooses our inheritance for us,”
God would not be infinitely wise if the reason of all His acts were obvious to our shallowness.  When the whole design is revealed there is an admirable connection of justice and mercy, love and wisdom, which before would have appeared absurd to the muddied reason of man!

circumstances are not God (unmarried)


Very late in the Act of the Apostles, a snake latches on to “prisoner Paul’s” hand and the natives of the island, say, “see he is deserving of death, that is why the snake bit him.”, but then he lives and they change their minds and worship him as a god... wrong again.   Circumstances happen in life, right now, you are not married.  Many can look and judge and say, “i know why it is because”... and you may even be doing that with yourself  -- DON’T!   In an instant of time God can change circumstances, we should never use them to judge ourselves or others.

Who you are does not change based on circumstances, period.