JULY 21 "CAN YOU GET GOD TO CHANGE HIS MIND?"

I'm always reminded when I read my Bible that "we are made in God's image". How often, I as the authority in my home have been persuaded by the children that I love so much to be persuaded against what I have said. I clearly laid down how things would be, it was set in stone (or maybe not) how things were going to be, what we were going to do or where we were going to go and how long we were going to stay, but yet, as I look back, somehow, these little kids were able to influence me, the great authority in the home, to do otherwise. How does a child, who knows really nothing about nothing, influence an adult who has been living & experiencing life for 40 years? It must be this thing called "love" that allows us to be influenced by a lesser "species" (if I can use that term). Take the example I have just given you and multiply it to the Nth Degree and you have some sort of resemblance of us, a much, much lower species, influencing the Almighty Omniscient God of The Universe. How can that be, how can that happen? The only answer I can come up with is another component of the Creator that was installed in his creation and that is, Love. Love compels us to be influenced by those that we love, this can be good and it can be very, very bad. History has recorded unbelievable and inspiring stories of those that were allowed to be changed and influenced, by Love. History has also recorded some of the most worse acts committed by people who were influenced to commit heinous acts, against their better judgement, by the one(s) they loved, only to find their lives ruined because of it. Solomon himself, testifies that this awesome God, creator of the universe had Himself said that "O Lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness. Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever".  Solomon is showing his ignorance here and displaying to us how gracious this God is that Solomon serves. Some of the plans I have allowed, that my children thought were glorious, but yet their understanding was so limited and the things I had to do behind the scenes so that my children's "great & glorious" plans wouldn't actually get us killed or completely mess us up. I never told them, I just worked behind the scenes and at the end they said, "dad, aren't you glad you listened to us and wasn't that a great idea".  My answer...."yes, yes, it was great".  Imagine Solomon telling God how glorious his Temple is! "Now I have built this glorious temple for you". In the eyes of Jehovah, that Temple looks, at best,  like a kids doll house, it's "a cute and modest structure". Obviously Solomon has had no visions of Heaven as John did.  Secondly Solomon exposes his ignorance by stating that it is a place
 " a Temple for you, a place you can live forever!".  In Solomon's eyes, this is the greatest thing on earth. And he's probably right, greatest thing "on earth", but to think that it's so great that God, the Omnipotent, Sovereign God can dwell there forever?! You can't help but laugh at this thought, and this is coming from the "Wisest Man that ever lived". Solomon testifies that God had said He would not dwell in any place, God had said that Israel would not have a King, but yet Solomon is quick to say, "ahhhhhh, but we do have a King now and you have chosen a place to dwell".  In this Solomon is right. Solomon is correct in testifying that this God of the universe,  has allowed, this species, this much lessor species, called Humans, to influence him to do and/or allow, what He said he would not. It's one thing that my children can do that with me, but to think that we, mere mortals, can do that with this Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omni-present God is quite something else. God's love for you allows you to have influence over Him, in a way most don't understand and probably never use to their advantage. We have access to the Throne of God, we can petition this God that loves us so much and He can be moved by our petitions and pleas. A God who will and can cover us in our botched and often, ridiculous plans and make sure we still land on our feet rather than on our head. And last our reading shows us, that even the best of us, have so much more to learn about the God that we serve. Solomon is the knowledgeable one to his people, but here we are, as 21st Century believers and we, who are not as wise as Solomon, can look at Solomon and say, "wow, Solomon, you had a lot to learn about God, I know more about God than you did". The opportunity we have as New Testament Christians, with the Bible, with the Holy Spirit is unprecedented, but yet do we realize it and do we take the opportunity we have to get to know, this Omniscient, Omnipotent God of the Universe? Do we take the time to petition Him for ourselves because of the knowledge we have,  of his great love for us? Will the next generation look at us and say, "we were ignorant, we knew nothing?" Will they look at us and say, "they had more knowledge, but that knowledge they had was in vain, they never used it to their advantage!"