“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”
Joh 19:6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.
Exodus 9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
Psalms 39:9 I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.
Psalms 62:11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
Jeremiah 27:5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.
Lamentations 3:37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?
Daniel 4:17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’
Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will
All the plans of man fall into two categories – in line with God’s plans humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying – or – not. All of the scripture today speaks of God’s plan and purpose. He is sovereign, all knowing, and all powerful. Our sinful nature does not want to in part or fully believe this. Life has a way of taking us down paths of making plans and have our own purposes, giving God nothing more than a second thought most days. Think about how far our culture has moved away from God. Science is hell bent on denying He exists. Schools are afraid to teach creation. Research is looking for the “God Particle” – the origin of life – the beginning. This folly is easy to grab on to because it throws questions into and onto what we believe. I fear many walk lukewarm christian lives and do not want to fully commit. Read theses scriptures;
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death.
Apart from God and void of His word in our lives we soon find our christian walk diluted to a point where we no longer hear His whispers of guidance or know His word, His power, or what it means to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him. Just because it is approved by our culture and within our laws or seems right to us, does not make it right with God. .
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.“
Do not lose sight of God, His plan, His purpose. Apart from it we find no joy, hope, peace, power, courage, love, or place of refuge.