Grace and The Sovereignty of God - Part III

Further thoughts regarding God's grace and sovereignty. One of the things I often hear is how can a loving God permit pain and suffering in the world.

I do not know all or necessarily any of the answer to that question, but here is how my recent thinking made me work through it (for now).

A loving God wants us to fully realize the joy that a close personal relationship with Him would bring, fueled by our faith and trust in Jesus and our desire to be obedient to the will of God that comes through that faith and trust. A loving God also allows us the freedom to make our own choices. I cannot fully reconcile God's sovereignty with the concept of personal accountability, but I do know we will stand in judgment one day (Hebrews 9:27), the results of which will depend whether we have trusted Christ or not. Lots more can be said about that. Lots more.

But moving on, I see pain and suffering in a fallen world being used to address two things:

• Pride - as sinful beings in a fallen world, we do need to deal with our pride and how it can drive us away from God, away from His will, away from the joyous union with Him.
• Dependence - as sinful beings in a fallen world, we need to come to terms that only dependence on Him will get us through to eternal salvation and security.

Pride cuts against dependence on God and drives us from it. maybe pain and suffering are actually a loving way to draw us to Him. 

It may sound cruel, but the temporary pain of a temporal life (even though it does not feel temporary when it is occurring) may be a loving way to draw us to the eternal joy of union woth God. 

We are after all sinful beings in need of saving from ourselves.

Grace and The Sovereignty of God - Part II

A good thing is happening here. I have been thinking a lot about grace, a lot about the sovereignty of God. I have written a little about my thoughts and that is making me think about it all the more. A good thing.

As I explore it a bit more two other thoughts begin to bubble up to the surface: acceptance and condemnation.

• With God's grace and sovereignty, you can accept people as they are.  Not necessarily accept what they are saying or doing, for that may be against God';s will. But accept them as people, and as a result, love them more as people. Not for what they do or say, but who they are. People, lost without a loving God unless they accept Christ as Savior, lost and unacceptable to all. That is, unacceptable without God's grace manifested in the atoning, substitutionary death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead in victory over all.
• With God's grace and sovereignty, there is no need to condemn anyone.  When you realize your own unacceptability but for His grace, you realize there is no one you should be condemning, as you are no better than they. When you accept the fullness of His sovereignty, you realize there is no need to do so, because He is in control and will square all things in His timing.

Faith and trust in Jesus as the sole way to your eternal salvation was the starting point of my journey into God's grace and sovereignty. Such a rich journey, such a long way more to go.

Grace and The Sovereignty of God

I have been doing more thinking than writing lately, a condition that is probably better for me in the long run. What I have spent a good deal of time thinking about is grace and God's sovereignty.

I have come to some preliminary conclusions. I say preliminary because of well what the conclusions are:

• My study of grace and God's sovereignty is a life-long process: Now you see why my conclusions are preliminary, I do not believe you ever fully plumb the depths of either topic. The more I study, the more I meditate, the more I learn. And the farther I find I have to go.
• I tend to try to limit God's sovereignty: At least I usually do. The more I worry about my little world or expand that worry to what is going on in the world, I am actually limiting the sovereignty of the Lord. He is in control, I usually do not have a clue as to what He is up to until after He has accomplished His purposes.
• I need to keep the His grace and my living the Christian life separate: While I need to accept what He has willed, and do so with at least a minuscule measure of the grace Christ exhibited on earth, and the Father lavished on us from heaven; I do need to try to achieve all I am capable of in living in a Christ-like way. I should not accept what happens in the world without trying to do my part to influence and change it, but I cannot take the burden for righting all the world's problem. It is probably better if I just try to discern what role He has for me in my small corner of things.

So acceptance of His grace and sovereignty comes down to three things: faith, trust and obedience. Faith in God's character, trust that Christ is my salvation and obedience to His will. 

And I need to keep thinking about all of this daily.

His (In)visible Presence

For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.Exodus 40:38 (NASB)

Throughout their desert wanderings the nation of Israel had the visible presence of God in their midst. Cloud and fire was with them, cloud and fire led them through. It was a visible manifestation of His sovereign presence that gave them the direction they needed to take. Yet still they stumbled, even in His very presence. You could say the nation of Israel stumbled their way through the Old Testament. Complaining about the food, the water, whatever. Gaining their freedom in God's presence by His visible Hand and complaining about leeks and onions. Getting up every morning to pick up the very bread baked by God and grumbling about something.

I am convinced we would do no better than they did, so no smirking or feeling superior.

We do not have His visible presence, but we do have Him anchored in our life. He is not visible, but He is not hidden, not shrouded form us. He can very much be the center of our life. If we have trusted Jesus as our Savior, as the only means of our salvation, we have the indwelt Holy Spirit in our lives. So we have a better deal than Israel, not just God with us but in us. And even with that, we still stumble through our sinful and sin filled lives (I told you no smirking).We stumble, but He is there to catch us.

Good thing, as it is the only way I am getting through it all is that He did and continues to do the work I cannot and never will be able to do; being perfect before a Holy God. Trusting in the Son to reach the Father whom He revealed to us, doing it all through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

Good thing He is who He is, because of who I am and will always be.

Going Out

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Hebrews 11:8 (NASB)

Have you ever "gone out" in this way? ... Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely...Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you "go out" in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does? Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.

Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: January 2 Devotional

Heading out into God's will without knowing your destination, do you have that kind of faith? I am not sure I always do. No, I am sure I do not, because I know I am a work in progress, and will be as long as I walk this earth. Taking a step being unsure of the next is one thing, taking a step unsure where your foot will land is even another. That is the kind of faith God calls us to, the kind of faith and trust that Jesus demonstrated with the Father when He walked the earth as a man.

God will not tell you His destination for you, but He will reveal it. And you will never start coming to the destination until you start going out on the journey. Start the journey today.

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Contentment

I have started reading again from my personal pile instead of seminary pile. It is a nice switch. I am reading The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges, a book I have picked up several times and am now thoroughly enjoying.

Just read the chapter on contentment and it really made me think. We have a hard time being content, no matter how hard we pursue the Lord. Bridges talks about contentment with position, possessions or power. About contentment with the providence of God. The point he makes is that the word rendered content or contentment in the Bible has the meaning sufficiency. That is the key to contentment from Bridges perspective as he draws on 2 Corinthians 12, specifically God's response in verse 9 to Paul's pleading to remove the thorn in his flesh:

⁹And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

God's grace is sufficient. If we accept that, our place in this life will render us contentment no matter the circumstances. So it seems to me that when I struggle with being content with where the Lord has placed me, it is an issue of trust and faith in His grace.

Once again, it is me, not Him. As usual, as always, in all ways.

That does not surprise me, but it is not easy to bear things at times even if I reflect on that.

It is a good thing God's grace is sufficient, for it is sufficient in my times of impatience, selfishness or mistrust in his will.

To Be With Him

We must now examine this question. How do we receive those benefits, which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son-not for Christ's own private use, but that he might enrich poor and needy men? First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us.
John Calvin - The Institutes of The Christian Religion 3.1.1

Jesus must be in us for us to fully experience what He has to offer. What that is quite frankly, is incomprehensible to us as finite beings, that is where the faith and trust in Him comes in. But there is such richness and joy, eternal joy, awaiting those who allow Jesus to step into their life, into their very core.

He is waiting patiently, lovingly. But He will not wait forever. One day He will come back. One day you will leave this earth and lose the opportunity to come to him anymore.

No one but God knows either of those days, but they are both coming. You can run from Christ in your heart and mind but not from that final day.

But with Him within you boith can be faced with calm, with peace and yes with the joy of being with the Lord.

In God We Trust

Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man." 2 Samuel 24:14 (NASB)

King David was a wise man. Even in times of trouble,even if you feel God is angry with you, the best place to be is in God's hands. That comes from having faith in, from being able to trust a just, perfect, merciful, gracious and loving God.

Pretty sure there is nothing more I can or want to say about that.

The Only One Who Is Right

Some reflections culled out of a page in the day of the life of my journal.

Who is it that we should follow after?

Is it ourselves?

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25 (NASB)

While it does not say it, you cannot read this verse and come away feeling that this is the right thing to do.

Is it others?

You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice.
Exodus 23:2 (NASB)

That sounds like a problem.

If neither, who?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)

Let's face it, I am not telling you something you do not already know.

So why are you having trouble doing it?

And Just Who Do You Think You Are?

I have had conversations with people, including family members, who have trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and they have this vague feeling that they are too sinful, that they are not good enough to come to Christ. We discuss that all are sinners, that none are good enough, walking through verses like Romans 3:10 and 3:23. I have walked away when the conversations needed, troubled with this attitude because it is keeping them from coming into the joy that awaits them through a step of faith and trust.

I want to ask them as a parting comment, "And Just Who Do You Think You Are?", because it is pride getting in the way once again. There is no humility here ("I am not good enough'), there is pride ("I am so bad I have stretched myself beyond the reach of God"). There is also a good measure of ignorance, a lack of understanding of the true nature, the infinite presence of God.

I know, I was there until just a few years ago myself. I can still hears the echoes of the crunching under the Lord's feet of my brittle shell of pride, as He broke it and broke me, to Him. I know whence pride cometh, and that it goes before a fall.

Do not let your pride stand in the way of the joy He has for you. You know you are not good enough. He knows you are not good enough (and He knew it long before you did). Get over it.

Pride will come before a fall. Make it a fall into His arms for eternity, not a fall from grace forever.