Tag: sovereignty

A gloriously God-Focused Testimony

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Galatians 1:15-17 – 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

How do you speak of your salvation? What words do you use? When you speak of being saved, are you the prime mover? Does your doctrine of salvation focus more attention on yourself or on the Lord?

Just recently, we had a new members class at our church. Eight folks sat with me through an afternoon of looking at our church’s beliefs, structures, values, strategies, and all the rest. In the beginning of that class, we took time simply to get to know one another. The stories of how couples met, how people found their way to Vegas, and past church experiences were fascinating.

Of course, in our discussion, we talked with each other about how each person came to faith. Some had particular moments they could point to. Some had only a season of life that blossomed over time into true trust in Christ. And many in the group included in their story a time when they grew in greater understanding of the gospel they had already received. For many, as they grew, a greater grasp of the powerful working of God that drew them to salvation gave them great hope, peace, and joy.

So, this morning as I was reading Galatians, I found myself drawn to Paul’s words of personal testimony beginning in verse 15 of chapter 1 and the four parts of that testimony that give all the glory to the Lord. Paul, speaking of his salvation and his later calling to ministry, says that God had set him apart before he was born. Like Jeremiah, Paul is clear that God knew him before he was formed in the womb. God not only was aware of Paul’s person, but God chose a path and purpose for Paul before Paul was conceived and before Paul had ever chosen to do anything either good or bad. God predestined Paul.

Next, in his testimony, Paul declares that god called him by his grace. Think here of what you do and do not hear in that. Paul does not give you a big list of the ways in which he investigated the faith before coming to a conclusion. Nor does Paul talk about his willingness to give God a try in order to fix his struggling marriage or to give his waning career a boost. Paul simply says that, by his grace, God called Paul. The picture is not one of Paul set on neutral ground, given two options, and picking the one he liked better. The picture is of a firm, authoritative, commanding, calling voice of God moving Paul from death to life, from lostness into salvation.

Then Paul points out that God revealed his Son. Paul did not know Jesus. If you know Paul’s story, you know that Paul had many of the facts about Jesus. Paul just hated Jesus and the church that followed Jesus. But one day, one single moment, took place that changed Paul forever. Jesus came to Paul. Jesus powerfully took Paul by the soul and changed him. Jesus changed Paul, by grace, out of love, for God’s glory.

Then, Paul says that this also included his life-change and mission. God had set Paul apart, called him, and revealed Christ to him. Once Paul was drawn to Christ, Paul had a new life mission, to preach Christ. Paul was no longer to be a man living for advancement in the Jewish religious ranks. Paul was to suffer for the sake of the gospel that saves souls and truly honors the Lord. Paul was to take the message of Jesus to Jew and gentile alike. Paul was to proclaim that salvation is not to be found in obedience to Jewish laws or participation in ceremonies but only in repentant faith in Christ. And Paul would find joy and eternal reward in doing what God had planned for him since before he was born.

When Paul told his story, he was clear that all glory for his salvation belongs to the Lord. God set Paul apart before birth. Paul can take no credit for that. God called Paul to himself. Again, Paul cannot claim that he did something to make that happen. God revealed Jesus to Paul. That was not the future apostle’s doing. And God changed the newly believing Paul into a powerful preacher, missionary, and author of Scripture. No way would Paul say that he had earned that job.

What about you? Are you saved? How do you speak of your salvation? Does your testimony as you present it include God’s plan for you from before the dawn of time? Do you tell of God grabbing you and drawing you, calling you, supernaturally changing you and pulling you to himself? Do you tell of God showing you the truth of Christ by God’s revelatory power and not by your intellectual wranglings? Do you tell of how God changed you and set you on mission for Christ?

The interesting thing is you do not have to have a dramatic testimony like that of Paul to have this story. Even if you were converted as a young child, this story is still yours. God predestined you to salvation. God called you to want him, moving you by his power. God revealed to you your need for Jesus. And God gave you a mission, to live for him and his glory for the rest of your life.

Think about your testimony. Think about your doctrine of salvation. Be sure that as you tell your story, you know that it is far more about the God who saved you than the you he saved. Give God the glory he so richly deserves. And continue to yield yourself to the mission that God saved you and gave you to accomplish.

Sovereignty and Responsibility in a Physical Salvation

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In Acts 27, we read the account of a shipwreck that Paul experienced as he was traveling to his first trial in Rome. As we read through the account, we see an interesting mix of God’s sovereign promises and human responsibility. And I believe that these promises and responsibility can shine a helpful light for us on how we think about bigger issues of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.

First, let’s see a promise from God.

Acts 27:21-24 – 21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’

Paul is clear here that God has promised that no person abord that ship will lose his life in what is to come. Every soul aboard will survive. This is promised, decreed by the sovereign God. Thus, we know that nothing can change it.

However, during the night, before the ship runs aground, the professional sailors aboard the ship determine to try to make a break for it in the ship’s boat. They do not want to risk their own lives to save their passengers.

Acts 27:30-32 – 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.

Notice what Paul tells the soldiers. Unless those sailors stay aboard the ship, the soldiers will die. But God promised that nobody would die. How can this statement be a true one?

The Lord decreed what would be the outcome—all people aboard ship will live. The Lord also decreed the means whereby this outcome would be achieved—the sailors would remain aboard to steer the ship toward shore. And God accomplished the decreed outcome.

Acts 27:43b-44 – He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, 44 and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

All survived. God’s promise was perfectly fulfilled.

Were there genuine options here? Were the men free or were they under the sovereign decree of God. The answer is that the men aboard the ship were both free and under God’s decree. Had the sailors in fact chosen to escape the ship, had the soldiers not stopped the men from escaping, people would have died. Did God violate the will of the soldiers when he made them prevent the sailors’ escape? No, there is nothing in the text that says so. Did God sovereignly accomplish his decree? Absolutely.

What should we draw from this? God is sovereign. No freedom of mankind has ever or will ever override God’s sovereign decree. If we can override God’s decree, God is no longer the true God over the universe. God’s plans are always perfectly accomplished.

What about human freedom? It is real, just under God’s decree. Were the choices that Paul, the soldiers, and the sailors made real choices? Yes, without question they were real choices with real consequences. Paul, the soldiers, and the sailors were totally morally responsible for their choices in every way.

How then can we say that the choices were real if also the decree of God would stand? We can talk like this because this is exactly how God speaks to us in his word. Had the soldiers let the sailors escape, the soldiers would have died. God saw to it that the soldiers would not let the sailors escape. The soldiers made genuine choices. And God, in his mighty sovereignty, accomplished his decree exactly as he planned.

God is sovereign. Mankind is responsible for what we choose. Our choices are real, and they matter. And God’s decree will always be fully and perfectly accomplished.

If you ask me what is greater, God’s sovereignty or man’s freedom, I will have to tell you that God’s sovereignty has to be ultimate. But God is also so glorious and mighty that he can be fully sovereign while decreeing that our choices matter even as our choices will never prevent his perfect will and divine good pleasure from being accomplished. God has the right to reach into our hearts and change our very desires; and he does so. We are still always perfectly responsible, as we still choose our actions in accord with our desires. And in the end, the mighty God who made us all shows that he rules over all things.

Sovereignty and Responsibility in Judas

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Acts 1:15-16 – 15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Acts 1:24-25 – 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

In Acts 1, we see the response of the disciples to the death of Judas. Once the risen Lord Jesus had ascended into heaven, and the disciples were awaiting the arrival of the Holy Spirit, they needed to deal with the fact that there were 11 and not 12 apostles. Peter broaches the topic and the group prays before casting lots to choose Judas’ replacement.

As Peter speaks, he first tells us that the Scripture had to be fulfilled regarding Judas. Peter shows us here how we should be thinking about Scripture. Scripture must be fulfilled. God’s word is solid and sure. God will always fulfill what he promised. And this is true of what happened with Judas.

Looking at what Peter said about Scripture, we see the sovereignty of God in play. What God had predicted regarding Judas had to happen. There was no way that this would not take place. God is fully sovereign.

But later, when the group prays, they point out that Judas, by his own will, turned aside to go his own way, to his own place. Judas was free to choose his path. The Lord did not force Judas away. Judas did what Judas wanted to do. And in doing so, Judas did what God sovereignly decreed would happen in the word.

Grasp, friends, that God is sovereign. The Lord will always, absolutely always, accomplish his will for his glory. At the same time, know that we are fully responsible for the choices that we make. The only exception that I would make to this is the good and glorious choice that we make to trust in Jesus. After all, we are dead in sins before our salvation, and only God can make us alive. That good decision we must credit to the Lord. But in all other areas of life, we must own the proper responsibility for what we do.

Freedom and Sovereignty at Work

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Genesis 20:4-6 – 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

One of the more difficult issues for many of us to grasp is the sovereign moving of God on our lives in relation to the significance of our choices. Are we free? Do we do what God sovereignly decrees? Interestingly, the answer is a glorious “yes” to both questions.

When Abraham was living near King Abimelech, for a second time in his life, he declared his wife to be his sister. Abimelech, as a king may well do, took Sarah into his harem. And God intervened to protect the woman.

In verses 4-6 of Genesis 20, we see the conversation between Abimelech and the Lord when God warns the king not to touch Sarah and to return her to her husband.

Notice two things at work. On the one hand, Abimelech had not approached Sarah yet. Though he had been misled by Abraham, he, living his life as he planned, simply had never gone to Sarah as a wife or concubine. As he pleaded his innocence before the Lord, Abimelech pointed out that he had not wronged Sarah in any way.

At the same time, when the Lord responded to the king, he let Abimelech know that it was God’s own sovereign hand that actively prevented Abimelech from going to Sarah. The Lord clearly intervened to protect this woman. Though he did not tell us here, it is clear that God would not allow the line of promise to be corrupted by the introduction of the descendant of a Canaanite king.

Considering freedom and sovereignty, in verse 6, we see both that Abimelech acted in his own integrity, and the Lord acted to prevent Abimelech from crossing a line that God was protecting. Abimelech felt that his actions and his decisions were in fact his own—and indeed they were to an extent. At the same time, Abimelech, once he learned the truth of the situation, also had to bow to the fact that it was the act of God that shaped his free actions so that God’s perfect will was accomplished.

When we deal with the issue of sovereignty and human freedom, much of our thinking needs to be along the lines of what we have seen here. God allows us to move in accord with our desires. God certainly never moves us into sin, as the Lord will not author sin. Yet, when all is said and done, we will realize that it was the sovereign guiding hand of God that moved us to accomplish his will. Thus, we know that God has made us free. But our freedom is limited by God’s sovereignty.

Of course this applies in our thinking about salvation. the lost person is not moved by God to not believe. Instead, the lost person is allowed to freely oppose God as fits his deepest desire.

In contrast, when you are saved, you are saved by grace through faith. You believe. You turn. You trust Jesus. You cry out for mercy. If, however, you could see behind the scenes, you would see that the faith you exercised was a gift given you by God (Eph. 2:8).

God Works in the Hearts of Others

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H – Highlight

Genesis 31:29 – It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

E – Explain

When Jacob fled from Laban, this could have led to a major conflict. In fact, it could have led to a violent battle that would threaten Jacob’s family and thus threatening the promise. But, even as Laban pursued Jacob, the Lord spoke to Laban, an unbeliever, and warned him to leave Jacob alone.

A – Apply

This text shows us that God works out situations from more than one side. Jacob thought that he was cleverly protecting himself and his family. But the Lord was at work to keep Laban from being able to do Jacob and his family harm.

So often, I find that I believe that I have to accomplish things by my own power. So often, I forget what God is doing in the hearts of others. I must not let myself forget that God does work even in the hearts of the lost, work that I cannot see until it is accomplished.

R – Respond

Lord, I praise you for your great power to change the hearts of men. I thank you that you are always at work accomplishing your will even when I cannot see what you are doing. I pray that you will grant me faith to remember that you are always at work. I pray that you will help me remember that you work in the hearts of others. I pray that you will give me courage knowing that you will never fail.

A Look at Predestination Apart from Election

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When the word predestination is used, people get nervous. Are we about to have a fight about the gospel, about the love of God, about Calvinism? So much emotion is invested in the discussion of salvation, free will, and the extent of the atonement that I fear that many do not see things that Scripture says quite plainly.

This thought came to my mind as I was reading through Acts 4, in a passage where the word predestined is used. Here we see a thing God predestined that is not individual salvation. Perhaps a look at this will help us think more clearly about the use of predestined in other places.

Acts 4:27-28 – 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

The disciples, in a prayer to the Lord, acknowledged that God had used Herod and Pilate along with the people of Israel to accomplish the crucifixion. And in that declaration, they said that these people did what God had predestined to take place.

What must we understand the word predestined to mean in this context? God had determined beforehand that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ would happen. Not only that, God had determined that Herod and Pilate along with the religious leaders and the crowds would be a part of what happened. The destination of events, the final outcome of events, was set by God “pre” or beforehand. In simplest terms, that is what predestination means: to set a destination or outcome before it takes place.

Now, ask yourself a few important questions about the predestination mentioned here by the apostles. First, is there any possible way that the crucifixion of Jesus could have not taken place? Did God leave the door open to a potential future where Jesus was not crucified? The answer here must be no. God predestined that Jesus would be crucified. This was his eternal plan. It could not have not happened.

Second, ask if there is any way that Herod and Pilate could have avoided being involved? It surely does not look like it from the passage above. God predestined that Jesus would be crucified. God also gathered in Jerusalem people who were predestined to be involved in the crucifixion. Nothing in the text indicates anything other than the idea that these men, Herod, Pilate, the crowds, the religious leaders, they were all going to be involved in doing exactly what they did.

What about free will? Did Herod, Pilate, and the others not make a free choice? Of course they did. Herod chose in accord with his greatest personal desire. Pilate chose in accord with his character. Every individual in the crowd or on the religious council did exactly what they wanted to do. There is nothing in the text to indicate that God overrode their freedom to accomplish what he had planned.

So, what happened here? Is the issue here simply that God knew the future? Did God simply understand what these men would do if put in a particular situation? Did God only shape events to make the outcome of the crucifixion an extremely likely outcome based on the free choices that he could foresee? That is not what the text says. The text says that God predestined the crucifixion. God determined beforehand that it would happen and that the men involved would be involved.

Here is what we must conclude. God, by his power and for his glory, set beforehand exactly what would happen. He set it in such a way that there is no possible way that it would not happen. Nor was there any possible way that the people involved would not be involved. And, as the people involved did what they did, they acted in perfect concert with their deepest desires. God is totally sovereign over the event. The people acted from their freedom. Which is the greater determiner? At no point should we assume that man’s freedom is greater than God’s sovereignty. But, from within that sovereignty, God never committed sin or forced men unwilling to commit sin to sin.

I know that I have Christian friends who struggle with the issue of predestination. So often the primary issue has to do with a defense of free will. Can I simply encourage you not to take a worldly view of human freedom? Is man free? Yes. Is God free? Yes. Is God sovereign over all? Yes. Who is more free, man or God? We must conclude, if we are to have a biblical worldview, that God’s freedom, God’s ultimate will, and—yes—God’s predestination is more important than human freedom.

Understand, dear friends, that God predestined the crucifixion and the involvement of men like Herod and Pilate. But God never wronged those men. The sovereign will of God was accomplished. Herod and Pilate were willful sinners who brought the wrath of God down on their souls for participating in the unjust execution of the Son of God. And all is in concert with the glorious eternal plan of God to glorify his name as he saves a people for himself.

Salvation Belongs to Our God

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In Revelation 7, we see a multitude of people from every nation offering praise to God. Often when I read that passage, I am struck by the content of the multitude, the multi-national collection of people to the glory of God. But this time I am more interested in the content of the song of praise.

Revelation 7:9-12 – 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

The claim that is made by the multitude, a claim intended to honor our Lord, is what has my attention. These people declare that salvation belongs to the Lord. O, I know, that is not a shocking thing. You’ve read this before. But stop and think. God inspired in his holy word a reminder for us to see that the proper way to worship the Lord includes an understanding that the Lord owns salvation.

Compare this to how many people think, and perhaps you will see the implications of the claim. I’ve been in multiple conversations with people about the issue of salvation. Sometimes these have been with folks who claim Christ and sometimes not. But I’m no longer surprised when I hear people being critical of the plan of salvation. I am not surprised when a person, whether by word or by tone, lets me know that they simply do not approve of the way that God has chosen to save. And here I’m not even thinking of the issue of sovereign election. I’m simply thinking of salvation that is exclusively by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

If you talk with folks who do not know Jesus, and with some who claim to know Jesus, you will find that there is something off-putting about the idea that there is only one way of salvation. You will find that folks are bothered by the fact that God does not bring about the salvation of every human being. You will find folks bothered by the biblical claim that those who are faithful followers of other world religions are lost.

But remember what the song of praise in Revelation 7 tells us, “Salvation belongs to our God.” The entire issue of salvation, from its doctrine to its accomplishment, belongs to the Lord. It is God’s property. It is up to him and to him only to determine how he will save, by what means he will forgive any. We must recall that it would be totally just of God not to save any human being.

If salvation belongs to our God, if it is his and his alone, how can we be anything but sinful if we question his goodness for saving in the way that he saves? If this is God’s property, we have no right to tell him how things should be done. WE have no right to pretend that, were we the owners of salvation, we would do it differently. That is, of course, just another way of telling God that he is wrong for not saving in the way that most pleases us in our limited understanding.

Christians, be careful not to allow yourself to look at that which is God’s property and then make a moral judgment as to how God ought to dole it out. Be careful not to let yourself think you know things better than God. Be careful not to assign to yourself cleaner motives or greater kindness than the Lord displays. Be careful not to allow your lack of understanding of the ways of God lead you to question the perfection of those ways. Salvation is God’s. It is right for him to accomplish it in exactly the way he does. To question that is to put yourself above and against the Lord, and that is dangerously sinful.

Does He, or Doesn’t He?

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What the Lord says about himself carries great theological implications. When God says that there is no other god besides him, that is a significant statement. Is it true or is it false? If it is true, it is tremendously important. If it is false, then the God revealed in the Bible cannot be trusted.

Jesus declares there to be only one way to God, through him. Is he correct, or isn’t he? If he is correct, then Christianity is truly the only way. If he is not correct, then he is utterly unreliable.

Or how about this claim in Isaiah regarding God and his sovereignty?

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Contextually, this passage is part of God’s promise to bring someone from the east to accomplish a particular purpose with the people of Israel. That purpose, of course, was accomplished. God did exactly what he said he would do.

But what about the bigger picture. Are these words of God, these claims of God, always true? Does God declare the end from the beginning? Does God accomplish his purposes? These questions are one and the same. Does God accomplish everything he sets out to accomplish or not?

Stop and think of the potential answers, and really let yourself wrestle with their implications. Can you say no? Can you, as a believer, suggest that God fails to accomplish things he sets out to do? What would that say about God? What would that tell you about his claims of his power and knowledge and perfection?

Or dare you say that God sometimes accomplishes his will? What would that mean? What would it mean that, in some instances, God accomplishes what he wants, but in other instances, he just cannot get it done?

Perhaps you want to suggest that, in some instances, God makes sure his plan is accomplished. In others, you might add, God just leaves the outcome to chance or the actions of his creatures. Is that logical? If God knows his creatures inside and out—including their future decisions—can there be a zone in which the Lord still does not declare the end from the beginning? It would seem that, in order to make a part of creation where God does not accomplish his will because of the freedom of his creation, you would also have to limit God’s knowledge of his creatures and of the future. You would have to make God less than God for such a thing to be the case. Regardless of logic, the real question is whether or not Scripture speaks this way of God. Does the word say of God that he sometimes accomplishes his will, that he sometimes declares the end from the beginning, that he sometimes does all that he pleases, but in other cases he does not? Such a claim would be hard to find.

The word gives us some very clear claims of God. HE is God, the one and only. He is over all. HE declares the end from the beginning. His counsel stands. His purposes are accomplished. This is true in big governmental and empire issues. But it must also be true in the day-to-day. This does not mean that we, in our finite wisdom, can grasp those eternal purposes of God. We have no ability to judge the purposes or the practices of the Lord. And we will face hardships we cannot understand. WE will face circumstances we do not like. WE will face pains that we cannot imagine being good. But we must not comfort ourselves with a declaration that God is somehow less than God. WE cannot find comfort in thinking God is less powerful, less knowledgeable, or less active in accomplishing ultimate, perfect, holy good.

The question remains: Is he, or isn’t he? Is God sovereign or not? Is God over all things or not? Does he declare the end from the beginning or not? Does he accomplish his purposes or not? Our answer to these questions, our arrival at the true answer to these questions, our acceptance of Scripture, will have a significant impact on our theology, our understanding of Almighty God.

The Emptiest of Comforts

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If you have lived through much hardship in this life, you will know the emptiness that is so often present in the words folks use to try to comfort you. Standing by a casket in a funeral home, sitting in a living room after receiving horrible news, watching a tragedy unfold on the national stage, in all such settings, people say things to you that just do not help.

Of course we need to be kind here. People are doing their best. Quite often a person who has no idea what to do with a hard situation feels that he or she must say something, anything, to try to salve your sorrow. And so they try their best. They try to give you something to help you pull through. They want to show you that they care, that they understand, that God is still good. And we need to be gracious with folks who try, even when their efforts leave something to be desired.

Let me give you an example of the emptiest of comforts that a believer might receive. In the middle of hardships, I’ve heard this one. A person is suffering. A person has faced hurt. And a friendly, well-meaning believer tries to assure that suffering saint that God had nothing to do with their hardship.

Have you heard that one? Perhaps have you said that one? Stop and think a step deeper. When you say that God had nothing to do with an ugly event, what are you really saying? Are you saying that God wishes he could have stopped the sad thing, but was powerless to do so? That does not offer comfort. Are you suggesting that God did allow a bad thing to happen, but he washed his hands of it? Are you suggesting that God let a sad thing occur without purpose, without meaning, without anything redemptive in it? That is not comforting in the long run.

To say that God has nothing to do with our dark times is not only empty comfort, it is also unbiblical.

Isaiah 45:7

I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.

When God was speaking of King Cyrus the Persian through Isaiah’s prophecy, God wanted folks to know of his sovereignty. God was going to bring some great things to pass. God was going to bring some very hard things to pass. And God wanted all who were watching to understand that he, the Lord, always accomplishes his will.

Friends, we do not honor the Lord when we say that God can be responsible for good but that he has no purpose in hardship. WE do not honor the Lord when we depict him as sorrowful over a situation he just wishes he could have changed. We do not honor the Lord when we pretend that bad things happen, and nobody knows why. We honor the Lord, and we comfort one another, when we remember that God is good, that his purposes are perfect, and that is understanding is infinitely beyond our own.

How then do we need to comfort others in pain? I’m not suggesting that, when a person hurts, you go and give them a theological treatise on divine sovereignty and suffering. It is far better for that doctrine to be worked out in your life and theirs before the hardship hits. When they suffer, weep with them. Tell them you care. Tell them that you hurt with them. Tell them that their pain is real and not a thing to pretend does not exist.

But, when you speak to a person in pain, do not tell them something false. Do not paint a dishonest or impotent picture of the Lord. That is the emptiest of comforts. Help believers who suffer know that God is good, even when we have no concept of what he is doing in a particular situation.

Does He or Doesn’t He?

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Sometimes, when we read something in Scripture, we need to be sure that we are really willing to consider what its truth means. It is one thing to read a psalm and hear the psalmist speak of the need for clean hands and a pure heart if you are to ascend the hill of the Lord, but when sincerely considered, that concept shows us that we cannot approach God without righteousness given to us as a gift. When Jesus says he is the only way to God in John 14:6, that means something significant for the entire human race.

In Psalm 115, we see another claim of the Lord’s that we must consider.

Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

This little verse is not hard to understand or interpret. God is in the heavens. He is not a statue on earth. He is not confined to the borders of any land. He is the God who looks over the whole globe. He is omnipresent.

But the second line is the one we need to think about. The Bible says of the Lord, “He does all that he pleases.” This is the line that I want to ask, “Does he or doesn’t he?” Is this true? If it is—and of course it is—then we must know something about the Lord.

God does all that he pleases. This means that God is never thwarted. God is never defeated. God is never on his throne wishing something would take place but incapable of making it take place. There is no good that God is telling us that he wishes he could pull off were he not confined. There is no evil that God wishes he could prevent if it were not for some power or some restriction he faces. God does all that he pleases.

The question for us is, “Does he, or doesn’t he?” If God does all that he pleases, you and I must grasp that God is truly sovereign. That raises problems for us, of course. It reminds us that we must learn to accept the decisions, judgments, and ways of the Lord. God’s ways are not our ways. He does not run the universe by our standards. He will not do all that we please. And we have no way of knowing what we would do in the Lord’s position, as we lack his power, his knowledge, and his perfection.

But, Christians, if you grasp that God does all that he pleases, then you can submit to him in trust. God is not defeated. He has not lost control of the world. He has not found himself incapable of fixing a government or a broken-down vehicle. God is God. God does what God pleases. God will not be defeated. And this should lead us to hope, to surrender, and to worship.