About three posts back, I shared this C.S. Lewis quote:

• I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.

Maybe the most horrifying aspect of God’s judgment is when, after all of our demands that God let us go to live our lives, he does just that.

And we are free to roam about the darkness.

Here is part of my text from last week’s message:

• (Romans 1:24, 26,28 ESV)²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in …

  ²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to …

  ²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to … 

This week my wife pointed out a Scripture in Proverbs that came to her mind as she thought through these things. 

• (Proverbs 1:24–33 ESV)
  ²⁴ Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, ²⁵ because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, ²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, ²⁷ when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. ²⁸ Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. ²⁹ Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, ³⁰ would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, ³¹ therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. ³² For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; ³³ but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Please note the progression. God extends his hand and is consistently rejected.

• I have called and you refused to listen,
• Have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, 
• You have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,

Now, it is only you and the storm … 
When the calamity, terror and storm come like a whirlwind, no God because you successfully rebelled and refused his love and grace. The fool said in his heart “no God” and that is where he now stands – no God!

So God reveals what will then happen … 

•  I also will laugh at your calamity;
• I will mock when terror strikes you, 27 when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
  

Now possibly some will call out to God, but they will not come in reverence, so … 

• Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
• they will seek me diligently but will not find me. 
• Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, 30 would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, 
• therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. 
• For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.

We refuse to listen to God because we believe that we can handle life as we see it. But there is the catch. We have such a limited view apart from the knowledge of God. So when reality explodes the myth of our lives, we are left without hope, without help, without God.

Alone to face eternity and the terror that will come.

Or we can receive God’s gracious gift of eternal life and know we will be in his care forever, no matter the storm.