God the Master Strategist
I was reading in the book of Judges the other day and I was shown an interesting insight into how God operates. He can use people and their obedience to make His will done. Let’s check it out.
Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. So he came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.” However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
Judges 14:1-4 NASB1995
When we read this passage from Judges, we can see that God is using Samson o pick a fight with the Philistines. Now we also know that it isn’t out of obedience that this happens but rather out of Samson’s own desire. I believe God orchastrated this because He knows Samson so well that if He lead Samson there, then Samson would desire a Philistine wife. So God can use people out of obedience or not, because He knows people so well. Now this is an example of God’s will being done through people, but there are also two more examples that I want to show you. One in Exodus and one in first kings.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly.
Exodus 14:1-8 NASB1995
If you have been following the blog then you know that I have already talked about this passage before in the post, The Divine Setup. From the passage above, we can see how God is moving the Israelites in the desert as they follow the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. God then uses the obedience of the Israelites to trick Pharaoh into chasing after the Israelites so that they can be defeated. Now God in all of this respects human free will, but He also knows Pharaoh well enough to bait him into an attack.
Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. The Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’
1 Kings 22:19-22 NASB1995
In this last passage, we see that God uses a spirit to decieve the prophets so that King Ahab will go into battle even though God knows he will lose. This is basically a double agent mission where God is giving the enemy bad intelligence. This is Spiritual Warfare. In all of these examples we can see the mind of God to strategize against His enemies. We can also see this in the sacrifice of Christ.
the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:8-9 NASB1995
You see, even in the cross God was strategizing so that the enemy would not know the power of Jesus’ sacrifice. It was a hidden plan that destroyed the power of the enemy over us, the believers and Children of God. But God in His mercy and kindness sent His Son to die so that we might live to the Father. Let us glory in the awesome mind and plans of our God to free us from our slavery to the Adverasry! Praise God!
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