The Providence of God is most amazing to me.
He showers blessings and calamities where He will, our seeming 'free' decisions serve His purposes, His plans.
How is it that Lot chose the valley of Jordan, leaving Canaan to Abram? (Genesis 13:8-13) Which, by the way, is precisely the area of land that God said He would give to Abram.
It is a small story, but it illustrates this attribute of God, His Providence, very well.
Showing posts with label attributes of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label attributes of God. Show all posts
6.12.2012
2.25.2012
Hello, Anxiety, My Old Friend
Anxiety is as much a part of me as my hazel eyes and the wax in my ears. I would rather that it were not so, but no matter how I think I am doing fear-wise, something generally comes along to remind me of my weakness. Perhaps I come by it honestly. I remember my mother waiting up because one of her "chickens wasn't in the roost" yet. I remember my dad searching the churning sky as another springtime storm overtook Taney County. These are behaviors I have repeated. Do I get them from mom and dad? It doesn't really matter. Even if I am wired this way, it's not somebody else's fault that I get anxious. I have to own it.
For example, when the furnace wasn't working the other day, I went to the anxious place. I began to fret and stew. I couldn't sit still, I didn't want to talk. I had to walk around and fidget. My thoughts were something on the order of, "What are we going to do?" and "Why did this have to happen?" This past year has been one of job loss and diminished resources and so the specter of a major appliance repair or, gasp!, replacement was frightening. At least for one who worries.
Also inherent in my questions are accusation. Maybe it's not wrong to ask questions of God when things seem to go wrong, but there was a tinge of accusation in my thoughts. I toyed with the idea that God wasn't being fair. And at that point, I've crossed a line. The nature of God is such that He cannot be unfair, but I get so focused on the scary stuff around me that I fail to elevate my imagination and remember what I actually know is true.
And what is true for the guy with the busted furnace? The same things that are true for the guy with a working furnace. God knows all about me. He is not caught off guard by my dilemma, in fact, if I understand the Bible properly, He has been right by my side as I approached it. In other words, the Shepherd has led me to this moment. It is actually good that I am here for He does all things well.
So, ideally, how does Busted-Furnace Man handle his lot in life? Listen to the Shepherd:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (Matthew 6:25-27 ESV)
Indeed, which of us, by the power of Anxiety, can add a single hour to his span of life?
For example, when the furnace wasn't working the other day, I went to the anxious place. I began to fret and stew. I couldn't sit still, I didn't want to talk. I had to walk around and fidget. My thoughts were something on the order of, "What are we going to do?" and "Why did this have to happen?" This past year has been one of job loss and diminished resources and so the specter of a major appliance repair or, gasp!, replacement was frightening. At least for one who worries.
Also inherent in my questions are accusation. Maybe it's not wrong to ask questions of God when things seem to go wrong, but there was a tinge of accusation in my thoughts. I toyed with the idea that God wasn't being fair. And at that point, I've crossed a line. The nature of God is such that He cannot be unfair, but I get so focused on the scary stuff around me that I fail to elevate my imagination and remember what I actually know is true.
And what is true for the guy with the busted furnace? The same things that are true for the guy with a working furnace. God knows all about me. He is not caught off guard by my dilemma, in fact, if I understand the Bible properly, He has been right by my side as I approached it. In other words, the Shepherd has led me to this moment. It is actually good that I am here for He does all things well.
So, ideally, how does Busted-Furnace Man handle his lot in life? Listen to the Shepherd:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (Matthew 6:25-27 ESV)
Indeed, which of us, by the power of Anxiety, can add a single hour to his span of life?
2.08.2012
I Think I Look Good - If I Don't Look To Christ
From the Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin:
If, at mid-day, we either look down to the ground, or on the surrounding objects which lie open to our view, we think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing eyesight; but when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently well for the the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the sun. Thus, too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity. (1.1.2)
If, at mid-day, we either look down to the ground, or on the surrounding objects which lie open to our view, we think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing eyesight; but when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently well for the the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the sun. Thus, too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity. (1.1.2)
7.20.2011
Unbelief: A Distrust in the Character of God
The good news in Hebrews 11:6 is that with faith we can please God. But this verse gets us there through a double negative: "without faith it is impossible" to please Him.Why does the author put it this way? He's driving home the point that the normal song of the human heart isn't the song of faith. Although it works out in different ways, Christians and non-Christians share a similar struggle. We both struggle with unbelief.
Unbelief is serious - the writer of Hebrews has already labeled it toxic when he warned us against "an evil heart of unbelief" (Heb. 3:12, KJV). So we shouldn't get to Hebrews 11 and find a lot of sympathy for unbelief.
The writer there tells us that without faith it's "impossible to please" God. Not tricky, not difficult. No, it's impossible!
I don't think we tend to feel as strongly about unbelief as God does.
Unbelief is a decided distrust in the promises and character of God. Spurgeon describes unbelief as a "mistrust of the promises and faithfulness of God."
- Dave Harvey, from his book, "Rescuing Ambition"
6.16.2011
Joseph
I have been reading the story of Joseph lately. Today I am struck by another aspect of the purposes, designs, and sovereignty of God.
Why was God pleased to use Joseph in the manner He did? And the question is not meant to focus on Joseph, but God. Joseph, about whom the Bible makes no critical observations, is put through the wringer. He had not wronged his brothers, yet they despise him. He had not wronged Potipher, indeed, he was faithful to Potipher under the most difficult circumstances, yet Joseph is thrown in prison. In prison, he rises to the top again, yet is forgotten by one who received help from Joseph.
Why?
Why does God put this man of apparently noble character through this ordeal? Keep in mind, God could do anything He pleases in any manner He pleases. In other words, it is not necessary for God to put Joseph through the ordeal for the outcomes we see to occur.
Jacob and his family could have been led to Egypt to escape the famine another way.
God did not have to send the famine.
Pharaoh's advisors could have been inspired to think of the plan.
Potipher's wife did not have to have a roving eye.
The possibilities are innumerable.
But God chose this particular way.
Why?
Why send a faithful man through the grinder?
5.24.2011
The Truth Is, It Remains
Gordon Lightfoot wrote, "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours." Tonight, about 10 minutes ago, the city of Joplin, Mo. was put under a tornado warning. An angry line of storms is advancing on southwest Missouri out of Oklahoma. Of course, the Joplin Tornado of 2011 was just 48 hours ago and now this storm-ravaged and shocked town will hunker down, hoping for the best and bracing for the worst, which they are all too well acquainted with.
When I heard the announcement of tonight's storm warning, Lightfoot's words came immediately to mind. For us in the Midwest, substitute the word 'winds' for 'waves' and line would be appropriate for Tornado Alley.
There's a sense of "Oh no, not again!" when you hear that Joplin is under the gun again. It seems unfair. And you may wonder if God knows what He's doing. It's an absurd thought, of course, but still the man-centered 'fair' trigger gets tripped.
The grass withers and the flowers fade. Storms that are coming imply that soon they will be going. Our lives are like the morning dew, all glisteny one minute and gone the next.
But God.
God is immutable, as the old theologians are wont to proclaim. That's changeless for you and me. What God has always been, He will always be. Lightfoot (and we!) are wrong to suggest that somehow the love of God has gone somewhere when the going gets rough. It cannot go anywhere, for God cannot cease to exist.
When I heard the announcement of tonight's storm warning, Lightfoot's words came immediately to mind. For us in the Midwest, substitute the word 'winds' for 'waves' and line would be appropriate for Tornado Alley.
There's a sense of "Oh no, not again!" when you hear that Joplin is under the gun again. It seems unfair. And you may wonder if God knows what He's doing. It's an absurd thought, of course, but still the man-centered 'fair' trigger gets tripped.
The grass withers and the flowers fade. Storms that are coming imply that soon they will be going. Our lives are like the morning dew, all glisteny one minute and gone the next.
But God.
God is immutable, as the old theologians are wont to proclaim. That's changeless for you and me. What God has always been, He will always be. Lightfoot (and we!) are wrong to suggest that somehow the love of God has gone somewhere when the going gets rough. It cannot go anywhere, for God cannot cease to exist.
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