Reply To: Knowing God, Chapters 15 & 16

[Lynne Mazza-Hilway]

Back to the beginning and basics, God is not a puppeteer but gives us free will, as Packer puts it, a choice to retreat/reject the light He shines into our hearts. He gives us over to our preferences. However, we may gain the world and lose our souls. Or lose our life so we can find it. As servants knowing our Master’s will we should do what He wants and get ready. Thankfully He gives us “constant disclosure from heaven that imprints itself directly on our conscience. In the event we choose the wrath of God or His expression of justice, we pass judgement on ourselves. Yet the difference is God’s is a holy wrath, devoid of wounded pride or a loss of self control, a righteous indignation, an adverse reaction to evil, a necessary part of moral perfection.”

I wonder and hope that this problem of evil Packer discusses has become presently more of a focus. Not only are there more documentaries and such on the topic but there has even been discussion of adding it’s characteristics into the diagnostic manual of mental disorders. (Not sure how positive that is but at least people seem to be perhaps acknowledging it’s existence more). So true and sad that so many don’t know what they believe in, who God is and what difference believing in Him makes. Yet it’s His heart that none should perish or “be cut off by the withdrawal of His goodness by those who have spurned it.” Praise Him for His goodness, patience and long suffering that we seek to rise up and emulate, realizing that “all things come from Him, and we have tasted His goodness every day of our lives. He is both your upholder and, in the last analysis, your environment.”