Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Tuesday. If
at Brewary eleven, February eleven, can you pronounce February twenty
twenty five. Hello. My name is Elle David Harris. I
am your host, and this is your Daily Portion where
we give you God's word every single day, and today
is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study
series God's Love and Justice, and our caption for today
is the skeptical Theist. The skeptical Theist, I know it
sounds complicated, really, just somebody who believes in God who
is skeptical at times. I'll just keep that right where
it is. We'll get into that in just a moment.
But first I'd like to say welcome to you and
ask you to go over to your Daily Portion dot
com please join our online community. I want you to
click the number seven at that website. I'm not asking
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when you go to your Daily portion dot com, you're
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ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's
go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway.
Father and Heaven, thank you for giving us this new day,
and for the love that you have entrusted to our care.
For loving us, and I pray that you will fill
us with your holy spirit, help us to choose not
to be skeptical of you, but to trust you in
every detail of our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray,
Amen and Amen again. The skeptical theist, I'm going to
read directly from the lessons so I don't have to
try to make sense of this caption, and it reads.
One way of approaching the problem of evil based on
recognizing how little we know, is called skeptical theism. The
skeptical theist is one who believes God has good reasons
for acting as he does, but given our limited can
I use that word again, our limited knowledge, we should
not expect to be in a position to know just
what those reasons are. The skeptical theist is skeptical regarding
the human capacity to be aware of or to understand
fully God's reasons relative to the evil that is in
the world one more sentenced. The fact that one does
not know what God's reasons are certainly does not mean
that God has no good reasons. Now, I don't know
why we make up these really complicated terminologies, but the
fact is humans don't know everything. The Bible says very clearly,
like clear language, very clearly, that there are secrets that
remain secrets. These are God's secrets, but what he reveals
to us is for us and our children. Can I
say that again? This is what the Bible says, that
there are some things that are secrets that God keeps
that way, and then what he does reveal is for
us and our children. So as long as we understand
that and trust God, we're good to go. Okay, So
don't worry about the complicated terminology that we use sometimes.
And so Psalms chapter seventy three, the Book of Psalms,
chapter seventy three is really the backdrop of our discussion.
But I want to simplify even that that chapter, because
there are twenty eight verses with eight points. Okay, and
so the first point is, first of all, this is
written by Asaff. There is an introduction and inner turmoil. Okay,
there is an introduction and inner turmoil, as highlighted in
verses one and two. Truly God is good to his
people to such as are pure in heart. But as
for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had
nearly slipped. It's like, whoa, what just happened? What just happened?
He's he's struggling, is what is going on? And so
he's getting trying to get a grasp of what is
actually going on when there are things that don't function
in the way that he anticipates. And I think Paul
grappled with that discussion about believing in God at least,
and then somehow he found that there was something else
working in his life. And so in Romans chapter seven,
verses twenty two and twenty three, for I delight in
the law of God according to the inward man. But
I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin. Now, Asaf didn't say that this
is what was going on that last part with him,
but it says to the law of sin, which is
in my members. This is just to highlight the discussion
about this internal dissonance, the friction that goes on in
people's minds at times when we believe intellectually what God
is saying. And some people, while they say that they believe,
we say we believe, sometimes struggle when certain things just
don't pencil out, whether in our own character but in
this case in society around us. And then comes the
envy of the wicked's prosperity, so verses three through twelve
of chapter seventy three of the Psalms. It describes the
prosperity of the wicked, and Asaf's envy. It's like what
he wanted to know, like why is it that they
seem to prosper but I'm not having the same prosperity.
And then in Job chapter twenty one, verse seven, the
Bible reads, why do the wicked, live, become old, yes,
and are mighty in power. So there's this struggle trying
to understand thinking that it's a one to one correlation.
If you're if you do good or you do well,
then fill in the positive blank. If you don't live
well or don't do good, then follow with the negative blank. Well,
that's not always how things work, at least not on
the surface. Okay. And then comes and then comes self
reflection on personal suffering in Psalm chapter seventy three, verses
thirteen and fourteen. All day long, I have been plagued
and chastened every morning. That's part of the thought, part
of the thought. And then in Jeremiah chapter twelve, verse one,
the Bible reads, righteous, are you, o Lord when I
plead with you? Yet, let me talk to you about
your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? Okay? Now
we go to number four, insight from the sanctuary experience. Okay,
so now there is some light coming in from the
sanctuary verse thirty five, verse seventeen of chapter seventy three.
Until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I
understood their end and so he was concerned and confused.
And then God took his mindset, ASA's mindset into what
I call the inner sanctum, like God is showing him
through the plan of salvation as illustrated in the Sanctuary,
the very presence of God. What this really means in
Isaac and in a Exodus chapter thirty three and verse fourteen,
it's it reads, and he said, my presence will go
with you, and I will give you rest. If you
want rest unto your soul. Ah, if you want to
have the kind of trust that you need, then follow
God into the sanctuary, into his presence, where there is
light and salvation. Oversimplifying, of course, and then there is
a realization of what happens to unrepentant wicked people. In
Psalm chapter seventy three, verses eighteen through twenty, it describes
the sudden destruction of those who are unrepentant. The Bible
shows also in Luke chapter twelve and verse twenty. But
God said to that kind of a person full this
night your soul will be required of you. Then whose
will be these things which you have provided? Okay, and
so there's so much more, But the bottom line is
that this person who does not understand God's will does
have the privilege to trust God enough and wait for
the outcome. Make it a great day.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening.
Speaker 2: Friends.
Speaker 1: Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from the mouth of God. This
has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make
it a great day. Yeah,