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Nothing is a surprise

When difficult times come upon us you may ask, where is God?  Implying that He does not care or does not exist.  Now let's not get all confused and stressed.  He does exist and He cares.  How can you say that?  Too much in history and my personal experiences confirm His existence and love for us.  It is we who have gone away from Him and His protection.  It is like a child leaving the security of the home and getting into trouble.  The child made a personal decision to leave home.

Ezekiel 44:1-2
He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.

The east gate is only for the Lord to enter. This situation has been set now for this because as we speak that gate is actually sealed since 1517. Read this commentary. Yes, a Muslim ruler and conqueror rebuilt it but decided to seal it because he wanted to make sure the Messiah could not come to save the Jews. He in fact built a Muslim cemetery just outside the gate, thinking that no holy man would cross a graveyard. The rest of the chapter speaks of the need to return to the true worship of God by the people.

Does God control the course of history? Well, He certainly can intervene in His own way and time. But He operates within the framework created before time. One thing for sure, He has given man freewill and within all of this He is sovereign. Nothing catches Him by surprise. And so He has planned the gate before time, because He loves us. In the same way He planned our salvation.

Father, thank you for the plan of salvation before time. I am grateful.

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