June 29, 2018 Bible Study — The Paradox of Faith

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 78-81.

    Each generation must teach the next the wonderful things which God has done and the commands which He has given. Otherwise, the next generation will commit the sins of the previous one. Even if we do teach the next generation, they may repeat the sins. Look at the history of Israel as told in Exodus; God performed great signs for them, yet each time a new challenge arose the people did not believe that God could meet this new challenge. Will we put our trust in God, or will we follow their example and turn from Him when new problems appear?

    If we cry out to God and plead with Him to bring us back to Him, He will do so. He will turn us to him as a vine turns towards the sun. He will teach those who mocked Him because of our unfaithfulness the folly of their ways. AS I read these psalms they remind me of the paradox of our relationship with God: we can only turn to Him if His Spirit takes control of us and turns us to Him, but if we reject Him, He will leave us to our folly. Turning from temptation and sin is a task too heavy for us, God will lift it from our back if we allow Him to do so.