First Q: In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, Everyone who asks receives,and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Proverbs 8:17 likewise says, "Those that seek me early [or, diligently in the NKJV] shall find me." But in Luke 13:24, Jesus says, Strive to enter in through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Some other verses also say that seekers will not find what they seek. Isnt this a contradiction?
A: No. The two statements focus on two different scenarios. Matthew 7:7-8 refers to Gods willingness to give spiritual discernment to whoever asks. But Luke 13:24 refers to a future time of judgment, as the parable which follows it in Luke 13:25-30 makes clear: Jesus is describing a situation once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door. Gods guidance is available now, in this life. But this life wont last forever.
Second Q: What about Proverbs 1:28? God is depicted as saying that people "shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."
A: First, the speaker here in Proverbs 1:28 is a personification of wisdom; cf. 1:20 -- Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. (On the other hand, divine wisdom is an expression, if not an embodiment, of Gods Spirit.) Second, Proverbs 1:28 likewise refers to a future time of judgment (future, that is, from the perspective of its author. The statement could theoretically be fulfilled in some scene which, to us, is in the past). Again the surrounding verses make this perfectly clear: earlier in the chapter, Wisdom invites people to heed her instruction, but although she calls, they refuse, and although she stretched out her hand, they do not respond. They disdain her counsel, and ignore her rebuke. Soooo she promises to laugh at them when they reap the painful fruit which their foolishness has planted and which their chronic rejection of wisdom has cultivated. /When they are gripped in the vise of judgment, they will wish for wisdom. But it will be too late. That is the message here. Whereas in Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus is speaking to people for whom it was not too late.
Third Q: What about Psalm 18:41? It says, They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. [The SAB citation in the Contradictions-list should change "The" to "They."]
A: This passage, too, refers to a scene of judgment, and the cry is not intended to be presented as a sincere cry. Just look at the preceding verse: (Ps. 18:40) David writes, Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. The picture is of a defeated and condemned person who, desperate to find some shelter from Gods agents (in this case, David, as the king of Israel), calls on God for help -- not out of a genuine desire to serve God or discover truth, but simply to escape the penalty that he deserves. And in the case of Davids enemies, its too late for them.
Fourth Q: What about Lamentations 3:8 and 3:44? It says, And when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer, and, Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through."
A: Both of these two statements employ poetic hyperbole. By the time you reach the end of the lament, in 3:56, we read, Thou hast heard my voice, and so forth. The cries in 3:8 and 3:44 are sort of like the cry, Youre not listening! -- if the speaker really believed that his words were not being heard at all, he wouldnt utter them.
Also, the setting of Lamentations is the rising-up-from-the-ashes days of Jerusalem, after the citys destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. At that point, the people were in the process of realizing that the destruction of Jerusalem was a result of their abandonment of God and His mission for them. They had, temporarily, ignored Gods counsel and rejected His guidance. The content of Lamentations 4 describes the shift from that state of mind -- in which one calls on God after making Him ones enemy and plunging into ruin, rejecting His guidance -- to a penitent and contemplative state of mind, seeking His guidance -- in which one calls on God hopefully having recognized ones permanent state of neediness-for-God.
Fifth Q: What about Amos 8:12? It says, "They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
A: This, too, describes a scenario of judgment, as, again, the surrounding verses make clear. The chapter as a whole conveys that the time of the harvest of the sins of Israel has come. They were wishing for God to leave them alone, and His response is that He will, along with many of His blessings which they have hitherto enjoyed.
The plainness of this may be augmented by a little data-morsel regarding Amos 8:1-2. In Hebrew, the word for fruit is kayitz and the word for end is katz. Two thoughts are simultaneously expressed in one word (almost, at least. Its a pun.) Likewise two countdowns -- the fruition of the sins of Israel, the end of Gods forebearance, will coalesce in one disastrous event (the invasion of the Assyrians).
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: No. The two statements focus on two different scenarios. Matthew 7:7-8 refers to Gods willingness to give spiritual discernment to whoever asks. But Luke 13:24 refers to a future time of judgment, as the parable which follows it in Luke 13:25-30 makes clear: Jesus is describing a situation once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door. Gods guidance is available now, in this life. But this life wont last forever.
Second Q: What about Proverbs 1:28? God is depicted as saying that people "shall call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."
A: First, the speaker here in Proverbs 1:28 is a personification of wisdom; cf. 1:20 -- Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. (On the other hand, divine wisdom is an expression, if not an embodiment, of Gods Spirit.) Second, Proverbs 1:28 likewise refers to a future time of judgment (future, that is, from the perspective of its author. The statement could theoretically be fulfilled in some scene which, to us, is in the past). Again the surrounding verses make this perfectly clear: earlier in the chapter, Wisdom invites people to heed her instruction, but although she calls, they refuse, and although she stretched out her hand, they do not respond. They disdain her counsel, and ignore her rebuke. Soooo she promises to laugh at them when they reap the painful fruit which their foolishness has planted and which their chronic rejection of wisdom has cultivated. /When they are gripped in the vise of judgment, they will wish for wisdom. But it will be too late. That is the message here. Whereas in Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus is speaking to people for whom it was not too late.
Third Q: What about Psalm 18:41? It says, They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. [The SAB citation in the Contradictions-list should change "The" to "They."]
A: This passage, too, refers to a scene of judgment, and the cry is not intended to be presented as a sincere cry. Just look at the preceding verse: (Ps. 18:40) David writes, Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. The picture is of a defeated and condemned person who, desperate to find some shelter from Gods agents (in this case, David, as the king of Israel), calls on God for help -- not out of a genuine desire to serve God or discover truth, but simply to escape the penalty that he deserves. And in the case of Davids enemies, its too late for them.
Fourth Q: What about Lamentations 3:8 and 3:44? It says, And when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer, and, Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through."
A: Both of these two statements employ poetic hyperbole. By the time you reach the end of the lament, in 3:56, we read, Thou hast heard my voice, and so forth. The cries in 3:8 and 3:44 are sort of like the cry, Youre not listening! -- if the speaker really believed that his words were not being heard at all, he wouldnt utter them.
Also, the setting of Lamentations is the rising-up-from-the-ashes days of Jerusalem, after the citys destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. At that point, the people were in the process of realizing that the destruction of Jerusalem was a result of their abandonment of God and His mission for them. They had, temporarily, ignored Gods counsel and rejected His guidance. The content of Lamentations 4 describes the shift from that state of mind -- in which one calls on God after making Him ones enemy and plunging into ruin, rejecting His guidance -- to a penitent and contemplative state of mind, seeking His guidance -- in which one calls on God hopefully having recognized ones permanent state of neediness-for-God.
Fifth Q: What about Amos 8:12? It says, "They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
A: This, too, describes a scenario of judgment, as, again, the surrounding verses make clear. The chapter as a whole conveys that the time of the harvest of the sins of Israel has come. They were wishing for God to leave them alone, and His response is that He will, along with many of His blessings which they have hitherto enjoyed.
The plainness of this may be augmented by a little data-morsel regarding Amos 8:1-2. In Hebrew, the word for fruit is kayitz and the word for end is katz. Two thoughts are simultaneously expressed in one word (almost, at least. Its a pun.) Likewise two countdowns -- the fruition of the sins of Israel, the end of Gods forebearance, will coalesce in one disastrous event (the invasion of the Assyrians).
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
