(In case you missed it, Kate's out of town, and then Nate's family will be in town, so instead of all the blogging responsibilities falling to me, we pre-wrote some blogs to post here. The first is here, explaining the series. The other posts include 2. Prayer 3. Community 4. Contentment and Sustaining Grace)
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John Newton once
said of his belief in the sovereignty of God that it was like sugar in tea. He
used it, “[I]n my writings and my
preaching as I use this sugar'—taking a lump, and putting it into his tea-cup,
and stirring it, adding, 'I do not give it alone, and whole; but mixed and
diluted.'" It would later be written of him that this doctrine, “permeates
all that he writes and teaches and serves to sweeten everything.”[1]
Before we moved to Israel,
we certainly would have affirmed with our brother the great doctrines of God’s
sovereign grace, but they were far away from us. Less like sugar in bitter
coffee, they were sugar on top of iced cake. They were certainly present and
delightful to our taste, but they had not altered the flavor of our lives. It
was not until the Hand of Providence hid the temporal blessings we had enjoyed
or expected that we were able to taste the sweetness of God’s right and
responsibility to determine our fate. In the revelation of this aspect of God’s
character we found steadfastness in our mourning, hope for the future, and
unspeakable comfort in the Gospel.
A dear elder brother once shared
with us that while he and his wife had endured the agony of losing a child, the
second half of 2 Samuel 12 was a great comfort to them. While the situations
were different, the example of David was great even in the midst of his pain.
He fasts and intercedes for the child, begging for the Lord’s mercy. When the
child is taken, he goes to the house of the Lord and worships. Even in his
struggles and trials, David gives to God the glory He is due, for who can
question His judgments? They may be trials, testing, discipline, or a
combination, but we can ask with Job, “Shall we receive good from God, and
shall we not receive evil?”[2]
By all means, no! We know indeed that God works all things together for the
good of His people[3],
and that those paths will sometimes turn us into sheep ready for the slaughter[4].
Those paths, however, will result in our good and in our delight, for though we
be stripped and plundered in this world, we ourselves joyfully accept this,
knowing we have a better possession-an abiding one[5].
As we will discuss in another post,
we have always known in our heads of our true possession, the kingdom that we
would joyfully sell our lives to purchase, the unspeakable treasure and pearl
of great price[6].
But indeed, our hearts have just begun to understand the intertwining of our
belief in the coming kingdom to the sovereignty of God. He has a right to do
what He wishes to bring His purposes to pass. If we did not belief in His
sovereign rule, oh how we would weep as John wept when he saw no one worthy to
open the scroll and bring about the redemption of all creation.[7]
But the Lion has conquered, and now He can
open the scroll. Jesus has the right to bring about His will in every situation
for our blessed hope to become a reality. Truly, we cannot affirm His rule over
nations and kings and deny Him the right to determine the course of our lives.
Indeed, He must reign until He brings about His purposes[8]
and that does not merely concern the overarching purpose of His kingdom, but
His individual purposes for His people. Indeed, if God cannot determine the
course of history, we have no hope.
It was God’s definite plan and
foreknowledge that allows us to enter into His kingdom through the sacrifice of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ[9].
Indeed, we would be lost like sheep without a shepherd had God not mercifully
sent His Light to dawn on us[10].
If the God who sees all has graciously ordained our salvation through the
murder of His own Son, shall we complain that the load He has given us is too
much to bear? Of course not! Because of the course of God’s plan in making
Jesus, the pure and spotless, the sin-bearer, we are able to wander this earth
with all our sorrows, yet having a joy that no death or war can take from us.
We walk as those who are poor and destitute, but in reality, we hold the riches
and treasures of a Kingdom unseen and unimaginable.[11]
Thank God for His sovereign hand, working all things together for our benefit.
As we have tasted and seen
steadfastness, hope, and comfort in the sovereignty of God, we have been
encouraged by the saints who have journeyed before us. We’d like to close this
post with a quote from John G. Paton, a missionary to the New Hebrides. He
penned these words in reflection on losing his young bride, early after they
were on the mission field. “It was verily difficult to be resigned, left alone,
and in sorrowful circumstances; but feeling immovably assured that my God and
Father was too wise and loving to err in
anything that He does or permits, I looked up to the Lord for help, and
struggled on in His work. I do not pretend to see through the mystery of
such visitations,-wherein God calls away the young, the promising, and those
sorely needed for His service here; but this I do know and feel, that, in the
light of such dispensations, it becomes us all to love and serve our blessed
Lord Jesus so that we may be ready at His call for death and Eternity.”[12]
Amen, let us struggle and toil, putting our trust in him who is able to keep us
from stumbling, and present us pure before His glorious presence in the
end.[13]
[1] http://www.christianity.com/11530967/?p=9
[2]
Job 2:10 ESV
[3]
Romans 8:28
[4]
Romans 8:36
[5]
Hebrews 10:34
[6]
Matthew 13:44-46
[7]
Revelation 5:1-5
[8] 1
Corinthians 15:25
[9]
Acts 2:23-24
[10]
Isaiah 53:6, 9:2
[11] 2
Corinthians 5:21-6:10
[12]
John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides: An Autobiography (emphasis
ours).
[13]
Jude 248
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