GOD COUNTED THE COST: - Ray Prinzing
"For which of you , intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he that laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock Him, saying, This man began to build, and he was not able to finish. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out! In all this Job did not sin, nor did he attribute folly to the way God was working. Luke 14:28-30; Roman 11:33 and Job 1.22.
No matter what the circumstances of life are, we should not charge God with folly. Natural reasoning cannot wrap around the negative happenings of this life, but we can relax in the knowledge that God is in complete control and He knows what he is doing.
Christendom’s theology on the plan and purpose of God has become a gross perversion of the truth and most certainly attributes folly to God. They want us to believe that God started well but the devil upset His plans; so now He has substituted a salvage program to try and save a few scraps, even though His initial plans has ended in disaster. No wonder it reads in Matthew 15:9, “In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” They call Him “God” but they deny it by their teaching. They exalt the devil and attribute to his power that he doesn’t even have. They teach a so-called “rapture” in which God somehow manages to snatch a few out of the hands of a semi-omnipotent devil, while the rest are destined to suffer in the fire of hell forever. This kind of teaching, my friends, is attributing folly to God. Such a god deserves to be mocked and ridiculed for such a performance. Such a god is not really God!
Jesus said that a man should count the cost before he enters into any Endeavour, otherwise his half-finished project will attest to his inability and lack of resourcefulness. And yet Christendom dares to attribute such folly to God Himself! When God laid out His plan and purpose for the ages, He guaranteed ahead of time a totally successful accomplishment of all His pleasure. Surely God in His all-knowing omnipotence should not be accused of operating by a principle that is inferior to how He has instructed weak and finite man to operate by!
Job38:7 tells us that the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy when God started His plan of the ages. They knew that God was going to do something beyond all expectation. Christendom comes along and tries to tell us that all of a sudden the bottom fell out, an enemy interfered, and now the best that God can do is a patch up job.
God is raising up a people who will preach the truth about His plan of the ages, and this preaching will produce the results that God is after instead of bondage to a Babylonian system of beliefs. Isaiah 40:12-14 says, “Who hath measure the waters in the hollow of God’s hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales. and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding?” God does not need any help from anybody to finish His job and accomplish all His pleasure. Neither can anybody hinder or delay His purposes. He is all-sufficient within Himself to get done what He wants done, and no created will can affect the working out of His plan. God has said to Himself, “I have counted the cost, and I know that I have enough resources to finish My plan for the ages and present it back to Myself a total triumphant victory. In Psalm 50:12 God says, “The world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.” The entire world belongs to God. None of it belongs to Satan. Satan can only manifest temporary partial control so that God can work a greater purpose out of it. God knew that He could not lose, because He knew that he was willing to give enough of His resources to attain a total reconciliation.
The reason that man’s love fails is because it doesn’t deep loving long enough. But God’s love NEVER fails, because He will keep loving, and keep loving until the desired loving response has been attained. God will not, indeed cannot fail to win the loving allegiance of every heart that He has created.
A man who loves a lady until she consents to marry him is like God. While courting her, the man brings her many gifts. But after she marries him he goes to her place, loads up all the gifts and takes them and her back to his place, and he hasn’t lost a thing. If he only loved half-way he would lose his entire investment; but God loves all the way and He will not lose even one soul. It is true that the sinful soul will die, but it will be raised up again into newness of life in Christ Jesus. The destruction of the sinful soul is part of God’s love-process. God’s love never fails. God’s love always wins. Contrary to what Christian Babylon teaches, God’s love will not stop being effective when we die. Neither will it stop being effective at any point in time after the resurrection. Without any failures, God will accomplish His purpose for loving us. Not even our own will can separate us from the love of God; for He has not created us with a will so strong that he cannot influence it for our own good and for His glory. God counted the cost and he said to Himself, “I will spend everything necessary till I have gained everything for My glory.” God so loved the world that He gave to receive it and, bless your heart, the world He will get! Nothing will be wasted. Nobody will be lost. But in God’s year of jubilee the creation will be returned unto Himself in better shape than when He thrust it away from Himself. Acts 15:18 says, “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the ages.” God knew every act and every sequence of events. He always knew what followed each development, for He Himself is the cause behind every development.
God knows us inside out. He knows why we feel the way we feel and why we do the things we do. He knows all of our motivations and desires, and He will control them all to work out His special plan for us. The Psalmist said, “O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. Lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether, Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whether shall I flee from Thy presence? If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou are there. If I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them they are more in number than the sand, And when I awake, I am still with Thee. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there by any wicked way in me, and lead me in Thy way for the ages.”
God is responsible for, and in perfect control of the interplay of good and evil in our life. He does not tempt us to sin, but He does allow us to be tempted in order to teach us lessons through it. God takes full responsibility for our temptation, for it is only because of His sustaining power that any tempter can tempt us. Man is accountable for yielding to temptation but God is responsible for it. And because God is responsible for it, He will see to it that man learns a positive lesson through the negative result of his accountability. God will not allow any sin to gain a permanent victory over anyone, but He will reverse its destructive power and turn it into good.
Rejected and scorned, ignored and trampled on and utterly despised - still God’s love suffers it all till it has won over every heart. Isaiah 66:9 says, “Shall I bring to birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord. Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith Thy God.” God counted the cost and He knew that he would not lose out on any part of His plan of the ages, but would gain all back into Himself. All loss is temporary, for God sows the seeds of gain in every loss. “For from Him and for Him and to Him are all things.” Romans 11:36. And Hebrews 2:15 says that Christ rendered of non-effect him that had the power of death, that is the devil, for the purpose of delivering them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
Let him that buildeth a tower be careful to count the cost,
Lest having the tower started, he finds that it cannot be finished.
And others beholding will mock him for all that he purposed and lost.
Our God has a plan for the ages - a purpose beyond all compare.
He carefully weighed out the balance and marked out the course for each man.
Then measure the good and the evil, creation in sorrow would share.
He willingly gave of His treasure - not even withholding His Son,
But followed His plan of redemption through Calvary, death and the tomb,
Secure in the knowledge that vict’ry would climax all He began.
He shall not be mocked by sinners; He shall not be found to fail.
The purpose which He determined, in mysteries yet to be known
Will find in Him its perfection - His love and His grace shall prevail.
He bringeth to birth and His power is strong to deliver His own.
The firstfruits of this generation, and all that the ages shall hold,
Till ALL THINGS in Him are united to worship the King on His throne.
God has not lost. God will not lose. He sat down, counted the cost and said, “I have enough grace and love to finish the job before the ages have been completed.” ALL THINGS will be restored; nothing will be wasted, nothing will be lost. Everything will be returned to His glory and praise.