Currently I'm reading The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes. This quote, from the book of Judith, caught my attention.
“Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to the people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the city to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. Who are you, who have put God to the test this day and are setting yourself up in the place of God Almighty – but you will never know anything! You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or find out what a man is thinking; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? No, my brothers, do not provide the Lord our God to anger. … Do not try to bind the purpose of the Lord our God; for God is not like man, to be threatened, or like a human being, to be won over by pleading. Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him." Judith 8:11b-17
In the story, this remarkable woman went on to be God's instrument in saving the Jews.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Rickert
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