Just to Clarify...

In an earlier post, titled, They're Just Drunk, I made the claim that God purposely closed the minds of some of the unbelievers in that story.  And then again, in a later post, Deaf and Dumb, I made the bold statement that God binds even the believers into disobedience in order to save us by His grace.  If you're unclear about what I'm talking about please consider going back to read the blogs by clicking on the titles above.  

But I think perhaps I should add just a smidgen more:  God does not CAUSE us to sin.  We're experts at that all by ourselves. In fact, it's what we do best because we were born into sin and raised in this sinful world.  

God does, however, use the choices we make for our own growth because He's awesome like that and the most amazing artist, creating masterpieces from garbage.  (Like these cool artists, only better Masterpiece Garbage and Tree Hugger).  

The Bible says, When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."  For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.  (James 1:13)  So that seems pretty clear; no detective work needed to understand that verse.

So what I am saying is that God will "bind" us to disobedience, not "cause" it.  That is such a bold thing to say and yet evidence that we are bound to our sin, and blinded by it, is ALL over the Bible.  Is God "binding" us or allowing us to be bound?  Same thing, as far as I'm concerned since He has the ability to break us from this life of sin if we submit to His will.  

But seriously, check out how many times this is mentioned:

He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts.  (John 12:40)

They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.  (Is 44:18)

For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.  (Rom 11:32)

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardening of their hearts.  (Eph 4:18)

Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.  (Is 6:10)

For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn.  (Matt 13:15)

Hmm.  It sounds like we're getting down to who is making the choice to be deaf and blind...

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  (2 Cor 4:4)

The "god" of the age, is the enemy who is really leading everyone into that blindness so they can't see the obvious love and character of God.  But it is God that allows it.  

But to this day, the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.  (Deut 29:4)  

God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear to this very day.  (Rom 11:8)

The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep; He has sealed your eyes; he has covered your heads.  (Is 29:10)

Wow!  I'm exhausted just from researching these and writing them out.  But it's clear to me.  Evidence and truth and signs and wonders are not enough.  The mind and heart need to be open to receive the word of God or else we're blind.

I have been blind before.  I blamed myself because I chose to distract myself with things that didn't belong to the Lord.  They weren't terrible or evil things but distractions, nonetheless.  I look back now on some of my experiences and wonder how I could have been so blind in so many situations.  But it's not just hindsight that is clearer, the foresight is getting a whole heck of a lot clearer now too.  So I praise God for that because it is His will to open my eyes to certain situations at the proper time, in His time. 

I know that my eyes are not entirely opened now, of course.  There's obviously so much more that I'm missing, otherwise I should just go ahead and be translated into some sort of god, right?  But I will say that prioritizing God and His word and His purpose, certainly sheds so much more light on so many more things.  So although it is God who determines when eyes are opened and hearts are soft, it is still our choice to seek Him that plays a vital role in all of that.  

God assuming authority over people's ears and eyes and hearts is not control; it's care.  

I like how Charles Stanley (from Jesus.org) says it:

"We have a certain amount of free will - the Lord allows us to step out of His will and pursue our own agenda.  He knows that sin reveals the flesh's weakness and arrogance.  Once we realize our frailty, He teaches us to die to self and to rely upon Christ's strength."

And relying on God is the ONLY thing that will save us.  Not our amazing goodness, or our ability to refrain from sinning or our perfection of character.  Only God.  Dying to self is the only ticket out of this world and into God's Kingdom.

So no matter when God chooses to act, He does it for our sake and the glory of Heaven, which is the home He's preparing for us, by the way.  So really, He's honoring His creation with His care.  We are so not worthy of any of that.  We are even lower than the ants since the ants haven't sinned.  (Yes, I know they don't have free will, but whatever, you get what I'm saying.)  He deems us worthy and He works tirelessly to preserve us and bring us into understanding so that He might experience oneness with us for eternity.  There is no other God that would ever do such a thing!

Pray for God to open your eyes and your ears.  Pray for Him to open my eyes and ears as well.  And don't stop praying for it.  Because it's a terrible place to be bound to blindness and deafness and Jesus gave up His throne in Heaven so that we wouldn't have to be in darkness anymore.  Prayers for open eyes and ears are needed all over our world.  Just keep praying.

Eyes will be opened and God's glory and purpose will become visible for more and more people.  Just keep praying for it.