Shepherd the Flock

“There is sufficient clearness to enlighten the elect, and sufficient obscurity to humble them. There is sufficient obscurity to blind the reprobate, and sufficient clearness to condemn them, and make them inexcusable.” – Saint Augustine

And,

“Because He is true, faithful, and just, God always rewards virtue and punishes vice, though often not immediately. Then too He may deceive a duplicitous character such as Satan or Balaam, but His response is entirely consistent with His person to outwit the proud and catch them in their own schemes…

“…if we are not willing to obey God, He may allow us to hear what we want to hear. This is a profound insight that if we want God to change His mind about what is clear in Scripture, He will appear to change His mind, but we will be under judgment…If we do not want the truth in scripture, we will not get it. This is not because God is fickle, unreliable, or arbitrary, but because He will not be mocked by the proud.” – Old Testament Theology, p 106-107

Is it not a fearful consideration that God will confirm us in our error if we continue to suppress/ignore what has been clearly revealed in His word? How often to we consider that we are entirely dependent upon God for all our understanding of His revelation to man through the scriptures? We are not sovereign and autonomous in weighing evidence, examining the texts, and coming to conclusions; God will reward or harden us according to His sovereign will, and according to the humility (or pride) in our hearts.

Psalm 147:
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the humble;
he casts the wicked to the ground.

And,

Isaiah 66:
this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
he casts the wicked to the ground.

And,

“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”