2 Cor 1 (paraphrased): "When we purpose things within ourselves it is 'yes' or 'no'. But the purposes (or promises) of God are 'yes' "(v20). We make up our minds according to an occasion and decide “yes” or “no” about the occasion. It may be “yes” today, buy tomorrow the situation may change and then become “no”.
The promises of God are not made up to fit the situation but are decided beforehand. What is “yes” today will be “yes” and not “no” tomorrow. When we can, we should make up our minds using God’s everlasting principals as our base, and not with facts that change from day to day or minute to minute.
A man kills another man with a brick. Today we say he should be hanged (“yes”). Tomorrow we look at his background: the brick thrower is disadvantaged, he was beaten and abused all his life, he was half crazed with drugs, the dead man was an undercover police officer who was wanting to entrap the brick thrower. Tomorrow we reconsider and say he should not be hanged (“no”).
God’s law does not change. If a man sheds a man’s blood, by the hand of other men must his blood be shed. We say, “unless there is a situation such as war, self defense, or by accident (no malice of forethought)”. Have we instituted mercy into a Biblical concept where there seems to be none? Yet we notice men of the Bible were not put to death because they killed others in battle, cities of refuge were set aside for people who killed another accidentally.
