Message #9: "But God, it makes no sense to me!" Elder Randy Skeete
"God, it makes no sense!"
• Gen 2:16,17 - Examine God's restriction. What was wrong with the tree? Nothing.
• Gen 1:29, 31 - All that God had made was very good including the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet God
took upon himself to say don't touch it
God often asks us to do things that to our limited minds make no sense
But do God's requirements always need to make sense to us? Let's look at another scenario that made no sense to human reasoning:
• Luke 5:3-7: Peter said they had toiled all night and had caught nothing. Jesus told them to let down the net anyway. At Jesus' word Peter let down the net even though it might have made no sense to him, a professional fisherman, to let down the net even though they had fished all night with no success. Nevertheless, Peter obeyed the word of Jesus through faith. The result of obeying Christ's words was a catch they were unable to bring in by themselves. Even though it might make no sense we must obey because of who says the command, Jesus.
There are three famines in the book of Genesis, with each one occurring during the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the Bible God is often referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Each patriarch had a famine in his time. Let's look at Abraham's famine.
• Gen 12:9-11: During the famine Abraham went down to "Egypt and stayed there until it was over. The response of the
patriarch during the famine was to go to Egypt and God allowed it. He also allowed Jacob and his sons to go to Egypt,
but He did not allow Isaac to go to Egypt. Why?
• Gen 26:1-2: Isaac knew his father Abraham had gone to Egypt when there was a famine in his time and he also was on
his way to Egypt When God told him not to go to Egypt He was effectively saying; "Don't go where there is food,
you stay where there is a famine." Isaac could have said, "Lord, why should I stay here where there is no food when
everyone else is going to Egypt where there is much food. God was telling him not to go where there was food he
could see. We need to learn an important lesson of God's power.
Let's turn to John chapter 6.
• John 6:1-7. Jesus Christ always knows how He will get you through a crisis, but He may not always tell you (John
6:3). Like the disciples we also must be tested or tried because it is through trials that we grow.
Let's go back to Isaac in Genesis 26.
• Gen 26:2-6: It is better to be in a famine with God then in a land of plenty without Him. The first question should not
be about our problem but should be: Is God with me? Isaac stayed in the land of famine even though God's command
did not make sense. Because Isaac obeyed God, He would take responsibility for blessing him.
• Gen 26:12: Isaac sowed in the land of famine and received a harvest 100 fold. Not even in the most fertile and
irrigated land would someone expect an hundred fold harvest, but God blesses those who trust in Him. In the parable
of the sower and the seed in
• Matthew 13:23: There are three levels of increase for those who receive the word in good ground; thirty, sixty, and
one hundred. If we bring to Jesus a thimble of faith, He fills it to the brim with blessings. If we bring to Him a bathtub
full of faith, He also fills it with blessings. For those who come to Him in faith God promises to fill them with blessing.
God is extremely fair. The amount of the blessing is not limited by God for He is not a respecter of persons. The
amount of blessing is limited by the amount of our faith. Let's stop bringing Jesus thimbles and start bringing Him
bathtubs of faith and return with the blessings He has promised.
• Gen 26:12-13: God blessed Isaac to the degree where the surrounding nations were envious. There may be famines on
earth but there is never a famine in Heaven. God always has an abundant supply of blessings, but we bring a famine
upon ourselves by not trusting God. God doesn't ask us to understand his thoughts and actions in our lives but to trust
Him that He is always working for our eternal good (Isaiah 55:8, 9).
Let's look at two of God's requirements that to most people do not make sense, but in obedience to them God has promised blessings. Tithing and Sabbath
• Malachi 3:8: Will a man rob God? The answer is yes. There are some people God looks at and says "I love you but
you are a thief." How do we rob God? In tithes and offerings. Some people just look at the tithe as the requirement
because it is an exact amount. God says He will open the windows of heaven to those who faithfully obey His requirement of returning tithes and offerings.
What are the windows of heaven?
• Gen 7:11: God opened the windows of heaven and down came so much rain that every high point on earth was
covered. When we bring the tithe and offerings to God He says I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a
blessing that you will not have room to receive it. The blessings will fall as did the rain during the flood.
The principle of tithing goes back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tithe is reserved for God; He says "don't touch it." Don't use it for you're your own pleasure because it belongs to God. God does not need the money He gives to us but He requires that we give it up in order for us to overcome selfishness and to learn to bless others. The Sabbath is another of God's requirements that makes no sense to most people.
• Exodus 20: 8-11: God created the heavens and earth is six days and rested on the seventh day. God blessed and
sanctified the seventh day and calls us to rest on the seventh day as well that we may be blessed. God commands that
we rest on the seventh day but most of the world has another idea.
Most of the Christian world says “I’ll rest on the first day". God says "why?" Response: "Because that is the day that Jesus rose from the dead." God says, "I am a reasonable God, bring me one verse from my Word where I commanded you to do that, just one verse."
No one has vet brought God one verse to support resting on the first day instead of the seventh.
Let's look at several holidays or holy days that the world observes. Christmas, Easter Sunday, Lent, Good Friday, Sabbath. Which is the only one that God has commanded us to observe? The Sabbath. The other ones were invented by man and are not required by God's Word yet all are kept. However, the only one that God requires is the Sabbath and so many are breaking it yet are quick to say "I love Jesus." John 14:15
The Sabbath began in Eden and not at Mount Sinai.
When God gave the Sabbath to Adam and Eve they were the only ones on the earth and represented mankind. The Sabbath was given
to all mankind through Adam and Eve.
• Gen 3:20: Eve was the mother of all living, but all the living had not yet come. In Adam and Eve God saw the entire
world of people to come in Adam and Eve.
• Gen 2: 2-3: God rested the seventh day. Some people say they will keep the Sabbath but what day is the seventh day?
What day is the seventh dav?
Some say the calendar has been changed and Monday is the first day. Now every Christian celebrates Easter on Sunday because we know that Jesus rose on Sunday, the first day of the week. Likewise, no one celebrates Good Saturday. We celebrate Good Friday, the day of Christ's crucifixion which was the day before the Sabbath. The day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is the Sabbath or Saturday. Now this is very serious.
The Sabbath is the commandment God uses to test people's obedience. Let's look at the children of Israel in Egypt.
• Exodus 3:13: The Israelites had forgotten the name God and His commandments. When God brought them out they
were in the same condition of ignorance of God's commandments.
• Exodus 16: God taught them the Sabbath through the manna. It was a test of obedience. If they would keep the
Sabbath from an obedient heart then they would obey the other nine commandments.
The seventh day is the Sabbath. Now when He rested, after having rested, that's when God blessed it. He rested the entire day then he decided to bless it When did God bless the Sabbath day? God was standing on Sunday and looked back and blessed the seventh day. God made light on the first day. If you have God rest on the first day, what do you do? You have no light. Now, many people rest on Sunday and have no light. When we see how much God loves us, the natural response is to obey Him. All the commandments should be observed so that we may live. That obedience comes from a loving heart.
Now, God says to you I want my tithe and my offering. God says keep my Sabbath and I will bless you, I'll take care of you. God knows how to take care of those who obey Him. Try God. He says "Trust me, prove me." Try Him. Say to God, "God I heard this man who said to obey You, he made little sense, but I'll try to obey you Lord, my knees are knocking because I don't know how to tell my husband I'm going to keep the Sabbath," but God has you covered. Do you love God? How much? That's the response God wants. How many of you are willing to say tonight "Lord I want to trust you, I heard things for the first time and I want to know more about tithe and the Sabbath. I have a willingness to obey, Lord just give me more light." God never lets His people down. God bless you! God loves obedience.
