1: There is a Providence
Providence is an old fashioned word and has a strange
ring to modern ears. Yet when we break it down into its
parts the meaning becomes clear. It comes from the
Latin video 'to see' and pro 'before', meaning 'to see
beforehand'. In our lives we plan beforehand but we do
not see what is going to happen. God has planned
everything for His creation and because He is the
sovereign God everything will come to pass as He
purposed. Providence is that marvelous working of God
by which all the events and happenings in His universe
accomplish the purpose He has in mind.
The Scriptural doctrine that God 'works all things
according to the counsel of his will' is clearly set out in
the Westminster Confession of Faith's definition of
God's Eternal Decree:
God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy
counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably
ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby
neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence
offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the
liberty or contingency of second causes1 taken
away, but rather established (Chap III, 1).
The Shorter Catechism asks the question:
'How does God execute his decrees?' and answers
'God executes his decrees in the works of creation
and providence' (Q. 8). What about redemption? It
is included in the work of providence! It is the
supreme work of providence.
In it God sent His Son into this world for the purpose of
redeeming a people. He set His love on hell-deserving
sinners and chose them in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Those He foreknew He predestined that
they might be 'conformed to the image of his Son'
(Romans 8:29). God has a plan for His Church that
stretches from eternity to eternity.
In relation to that grand purpose, 'God has', according
to Thomas Boston, 'by an eternal decree, immovable as
mountains of brass (Zechariah 6: I), appointed the
whole of every one's lot, the crooked parts thereof, as
well as the straight.' As Job said in the midst of his sufferings: 'He performeth the thing that is appointed
for me' (Job 23:I4). The plan of God extends to every
detail in my life. There are several important things
that can be said of it:
1 The plan is perfect. Everything that God does is
perfect. It may not appear to me at times to be perfect
but it is, because it will ultimately lead to the greater
glory of God.
2 The plan is exhaustive. It includes everything. It is
worked out in a situation where everything is under
the control of God. It extends to the smallest and most
casual things. 'The very hairs of your head are all
numbered' (Matthew I0:30).
3 The plan is for my ultimate good. Everyone who loves
God has the assurance that 'all things work together for
good' (Romans 8:28). If God is for me who can be
against me? The opposition does not count. The
gracious purpose of God will certainly be accomplished
in my life.
4 The plan is secret. God alone knows what is going to
happen in advance because He has purposed it all.
Every detail is fixed before I was born. God hides it
from me until it happens. I discover it day by day as the
plan unfolds. This is the unfolding of His secret will for
my life.
Although God has only one will we often speak about
His secret will and His revealed will. The latter is made
known in the Scriptures and is the rule of our duty. The
former is made known in His providence and is to be
submitted to and observed.
This teaching is clearly set out in the words of Thomas
Boston:
Whoever would walk with God must be due
observers of the Word and Providence of God for by
these in a special manner He manifests himself to
His people. In the one we see what He says; in the
other what He does. These are the two books that
every student of holiness ought to be much
conversant in. They are both written with the one
hand and they should both be carefully read by
those who would have not only the name of religion but the thing. They should be studied
together if we would profit by either for being
taken together they give light one to the other; and
as it is our duty to read the Word, so also it is our
duty to observe the work of God.
These words are taken from a sermon on Psalm I07:43:
'Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they
shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord'. If we
are to fulfil the duty of observing 'these things' the
qualification required is wisdom but the benefit is that
we will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. We
know how a human being stands related to us by his or
her behavior. If we study God's behavior towards His
children we will see His love. Providence has its own
language.
We need to observe the different kinds of providences.
There are uncommon providences, such as miracles,
and there are what might be called common
providences, like the refreshing rain. There are great
providences, like the crossing of the Red Sea and there
are what seem small providences, like a king not being
able to sleep at night. There are favorable or smiling
providences and there are what appear to be dark,
cross or frowning providences. If, as we believe, a
frowning providence comes from the hand of the same
Father as a smiling providence how can we reconcile
these things? How can we justify the ways of God with
us?
2: There are Dark Providences
It is the presence of the dark providences in the
universe and in our lives that go a long way to make up
what John Flavel called 'the mystery of providence'.
Thomas Boston addressed himself to the same problem
in a series of sermons on Ecclesiastes 7:13: 'Consider
the work of God: for who can make that straight which
he hath made crooked'. They were published after his
death under the title The Crook in the Lot.
When adversity comes into our lives we tend to react in
one of two ways. We may say that it is from a source
other than God and He has no power to stop it; or we
may say it is an evidence of God's anger against us.
Either way we are guilty of casting aspersions on the
character of our Father and consequently of perverting
our attitude to Him. 'A just (right) view of afflicting
incidents', says Boston in the opening sentence of his
work, 'is altogether necessary to a Christian
deportment under them'. He continues: 'That view is to
be obtained only by faith, not by sense; for it is the light
of the Word alone that represents them justly,
discerning in them the work of God, and consequently
designs becoming the Divine perfections'.
The Christian, although he is justified, remains a sinner
in the midst of a fallen world. He is subject to 'all the ills
that flesh is heir to'. Some of the consequences of his
past sins affect his life. He is subject to the discipline of
his Heavenly Father. Satan concentrates his attack on
him. The world under the control of the evil one is
hostile to him. His sufferings are compounded because
he is a Christian. 'In the world', our Lord warned his
disciples, 'you will have tribulation' (John 16:33).
The Bible leaves us in no doubt that suffering is a
normal part of the true Christian life. Hebrews chapter
II portrays the suffering witnesses of the Old
Testament. The New Testament presents us with our
great Example who was 'made perfect through
sufferings' (Hebrews 2:10), and also with the many
followers who 'became partakers' in His sufferings(1
Peter 4: 13). The whole emphasis in the teaching of the
early church was on 'rejoicing in the midst of
sufferings.' It is 'through much tribulation' that we
enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22).
The Westminster Confession of Faith contains in its
chapter on Providence this judiciously-worded
paragraph on God's dealings with His own children:
The most wise, righteous and gracious God, doth
oftentimes leave for a season his own children to
manifold temptations, and the corruption of their
own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins,
or to discover unto them the hidden strength of
corruption and deceitfulness of their own hearts,
that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a
more close and constant dependence for their
support upon himself, and to make them more
watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for
sundry other just and holy ends.
Sadly such teaching seems far removed from the
outlook that prevails in large parts of the Church today.
The impression is given that the purpose of the
Christian life is enjoyment. Everything that stands in
the way of that is to be eliminated. People are looking
for a problem-free Christianity. The health, wealth and
success gospel is having a field day. Purveyors of such a
Page 3 of 9 Behind a Frowning Providence
gospel look the part. Unfortunately, the hollowness of
such views becomes apparent when suffering, sorrow
or disappointment comes. Then it becomes clear that
we need a faith that is grounded in God's Word.
3. God's Designs in Dark Providences
Having seen that trials or dark providences are part of
the Christian way we must now inquire into their
purpose. While it is always wrong to react in rebellion
and anger against God's dealings with us, it is right to
consider why they are part of our lot. There is a right
and a wrong way of asking 'Why?' We must reflect on
what God is doing. What is the Lord seeking to teach us
through these unpleasant experiences? Here are some
of the designs that God has in our sufferings:
I. SUFFERINGS ARE TO TRY US
'The crook in the lot', says Boston, 'is the great engine
of providence for making men appear in their true
colours'. C. S. Lewis once referred to sufferings as
'blockades on the road to hell'. The same sun that melts
the ice also hardens the clay. Says Andrew Fuller,
'Afflictions refine some, they consume others'. The test
of a person's Christianity is what happens in the storm,
when the house is battered in the winds of affliction.
The faith of the Christian is tried and tested, wrote
Simon Peter (1 Peter 1:3-7). It is the trial that
determines the authenticity of our faith. Peter reminds
the Christians to whom he writes of the great hope they
have, although for the present they are grieved by the
many trials. The reason for this is that God is sitting as
a refiner of gold. He wants to bring out the pure gold of
naked trust in Himself. When all the dross of self-trust
is purged out then faith will be to the praise, honor and
glory of Jesus Christ.
Abraham was a man of faith and he endured the trial of
faith. God commanded him to leave his comfortable life
in Ur and go out on the strength of a promise that he
would give him a land and a seed. But the promise
never seemed to be fulfilled. There was no sign of an
heir. In the impatience of unbelief Abraham tried to do
it his way. Hagar's son Ishmael was the result, but God
will have none of it. Ishmael must go. Another eleven
years later and the son of promise is born. But Isaac
must be laid on the altar. Until God had Isaac He did not
have all of Abraham that there was. God speaks as if He
had newly discovered the faith of Abraham: 'Now I
know that you fear God' (Genesis 22: 12). Abraham had
come through the test. His faith was pure gold.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
2. SUFFERINGS ARE TO EXPOSE OUR SINS
When we set off on the Christian pathway we do not
know much about our true selves. It is even possible to
enter the Christian ministry without much knowledge
of the deceitfulness of the heart. 'We are on too good
terms with ourselves', said Dr Lloyd-Jones. 'We don't
know much about dust and ashes'. We pray sincerely
for growth in grace, for increase in faith, but the answer
comes in a way we did not expect. John Newton was
one who made the painful discovery:
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and every grace,
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek more earnestly his face.
'Twas he who taught me thus to pray;
And he, I trust, has answered prayer;
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.
I hoped that, in some favored hour,
At once he'd answer my request,
And by his love's constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.
Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart,
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne confessed that the seed of
every known sin was to be found in his heart. What
latent corruption there is within! We are like a petrochemical plant. It takes only a spark to set us alight ..
Think of the break-out of sin in the lives of so many of
the saints. Abraham with his deceit; Job with his rash
words; Moses with his anger· Asaph with his
murmuring; Paul with his pride. Job could say, 'I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes' (Job 42:6). Asaph
had to say, 'I was foolish and ignorant, I was as a beast
before thee' (Psalm 73:22).
Such discoveries make us think less of ourselves and
therefore lead us to think more of the Lord Jesus Christ. They bring new depths of repentance and a recovery of
a true sense of our own sinfulness.
3. SUFFERINGS ARE TO BUILD CHARACTER
Whatever else we may have, if we do not have
character we have nothing. It is character that
determines destiny. The only failure that matters in the
end is the failure to build character. In ordinary life
character is formed by overcoming difficulties. The
state of our society today militates against character
building. Even in the church young people are not
exposed to the influences that will build character. No
wonder so many remain spiritual babes.
We see a renowned athlete winning a gold medal. He
may make it look easy on the day, but victory could not
have been achieved without painstaking training and
meeting increasingly tough opposition. The process by
which God builds character is outlined in Romans 5:1-
5. Paul says that 'We glory in tribulation'. The Greek
word translated 'tribulation' comes from the verb 'to
press'. The word is used to describe the crushing of the
grapes and olives. The figure suggests the heavy
pressures of outward trouble or inward anguish.
Tribulation produces 'patient endurance'- the ability to
stay with it and not fall apart. This brave endurance in
turn produces what the King James Version translates
as experience but which is more accurately translated
as 'character' - the character which results from a
process of trial.
We might be tempted to ask whether God can build
character without suffering. That is a hypothetical
question. He has not chosen to do so. Young Joseph
gave every indication that he was spoiled. He was not
fit to be a leader. It took the pit and the prison and
twenty-two years of preparation before he was ready
to do the work God intended him to do. In the prison he
was laid in irons (Psalm 105:18). Variant readings are
'the iron entered into his soul' and 'his soul entered
into iron'. It was more than Joseph's flesh that felt the
iron.
God prepares us as if there were no one else to prepare.
A sculptor working at a piece of marble when asked:
'What are you doing?' replied, 'I am chipping away
everything that does not look like a horse'.
4· SUFFERINGS BRINGS US TO KNOW GOD BETTER
Sufferings teach us lessons that we cannot learn in
College. We may have been to College or Seminary and
have a string of letters after our name; we may have
read all the great classics in theology and be able to
argue on the finer points of divinity; and yet our
knowledge may be largely theoretical. It is one thing to
know about God; it is another thing to know God. The
essence of eternal life is 'that they may know thee the
only true God' (John 17:3). Paul's ambition was 'that I
may know him' (Philippians 3:10).
Many Christians can testify that they have learned
more about God in the furnace of affliction than in all
their previous experiences. Job is a classic example. The
Lord said of him 'There is none like him on earth, a
blameless and upright man, one who fears God and
shuns evil' (Job 1:8), so God put on display one of the
trophies of His grace. Satan is given leave to afflict Job.
The real question is: What kind of a person is Job? Does
he fear God for nothing? (Job 1 :9). Is his religion only
one of self-interest? Ignorant of the battle going on in
the heavenly realms Job has many questions to ask. The
interesting thing is that he does not get specific
answers. What he gets is a revelation of God which at
length brings him to confess, ‘I have heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear but now my eye sees thee.
Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes'
(Job 42:5-6).
There are areas of the Word of God that we cannot
comprehend until we have experienced suffering. For
thirty years of my Christian life I neither understood
nor was particularly drawn to the book of Job. Along
with a particular time of suffering came the help to
understanding it. Martin Luther had a similar
testimony: 'Affliction is the Christian's theologian'; 'I
never knew the meaning of God's Word until I came
into affliction'; 'My temptations have been my masters
in divinity'; 'No man, without trials and temptations,
can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures'.
I walked a mile with pleasure,
She chatted all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with sorrow
And ne'er a word said she,
But oh the things I learned from her,
When sorrow walked with me.
5· SUFFERINGS PRODUCE FRUIT IN OUR LIVES AND
PREPARE US FOR USEFULNESS
In John 15 our Lord compares Christians to branches in
a vine. He is the vine and His Father is the vinedresser.
The Father looks for fruit from the branches in the vine.
Such fruit is dependent on union with Christ but its
quality is also related to the Father's pruning.
Sometimes the pruning can be drastic. The cutting knife
can be sharp. But the whole purpose is spiritual fruit
for the glory of God.
No doubt there will be many humble believers in glory
whose names were hardly known on earth but who will
be laden with fruit. Perhaps they carried such sorrows
in this world that they could not share with others and
persevered at God's throne of grace where they became
mighty warriors for the kingdom. Said Phillips Brooks,
'Wherever souls are being tried and ripened in
whatever commonplace and homely way there God is
hewing out the pillars of his temple'. Thomas Boston
reminds us, 'There is never an act of resignation to the
will of God under the cross, nor an act of trust in Him
for His help, but they will be recorded in heaven's
register as good works.'
Sufferings can bring a new dimension of fruitfulness
into our lives. It can produce a new gentleness and a
tenderness. This was evident in the life of Dr. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones and never more so than in his later years.
During his own sufferings he remembered others who
suffered. In the last year of his life our daughter became
seriously ill and died at the age of thirteen. As soon as
he heard he wrote us a most comforting letter. Within
three months he himself entered glory. Mrs. Lloyd-Jones later shared with us the tenderness of his
concern: 'I wish you could have heard his prayers for
your ' little daughter's illness and death. He never
forgot and had such tender concern for her and for you
all in your sorrow and mourning. It is a glorious thing
to belong to the family of God. We really feel for each
other.'
We often see sorrows leading to increased usefulness
in the lives of God's servants. 'God', says Spurgeon, 'gets
his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction'. He
was an outstanding example of this himself. He says: 'I
do not know whether my experience is that of all God's
people; but I am afraid that all the grace I have got at
any of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours
might almost be on a penny. But the good I have
received from my sorrows, and pains and griefs is
altogether incalculable'. Thomas Boston who had an
abundant share of sorrows remarked, 'It is the usual
way of providence with me that blessing comes
through several iron gates'. J. C. Ryle wrote in the same
vein, 'The tools the great Architect intends to use much
are often kept long in the fire to temper them and fit
them for the work'.
Examples of this truth abound in Scripture and in
Church history and are too numerous to mention. We
may think of Paul and his painful affliction, 'a thorn in
the flesh', and the purpose for which it was sent: 'Most
gladly will I glory in my infirmities that the power of
Christ may rest on me' (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). We may
think of Rutherford banished to the cold- physical and
spiritual- of Aberdeen where
. . . in my sea-beat prison
My Lord and I held tryst.
From that place of affliction there poured forth the
Letters full of the fragrance of Christ that have enriched
the Church down the centuries. We may think of John
Bunyan cast into prison for refusing to keep silence, his
usefulness seemingly curtailed. But God multiplied his
usefulness through his pen in the writing of Pilgrim's
Progress. Then we have Thomas Boston suffering from
poor health, with his children sick and dying, his wife
crippled by mental illness, dealing with difficult
parishioners, engaged in ecclesiastical wrangles,
laboring in relative obscurity; yet out of it all have
come writings that have brought untold blessing to
multitudes. No wonder John Flavel wrote: 'Oh the
blessed chemistry of heaven to extract such mercies
out of such miseries!'
6. SUFFERINGS LEAD US TO MAKE GOD OUR ALL
AND TO PREPARE US FOR GLORY
Sufferings drive us to God. We set out in service
thinking God needs us. We soon find out that we need
Him. 'When God lays men on their backs, then they look
up to heaven', says Thomas Watson. We cry to God for
blessings but we do not really want Him. He has to
teach us that He is the greatest blessing of all.
This was the discovery made by John Newton in his
hymn 'Prayer Answered by Crosses', already quoted.
He goes on:
Yea, more, with his own hand
he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe,
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.
Lord, why is this? I trembling cried;
Wilt thou pursue this worm to death?
This is the way, the Lord replied
I answer prayer for grace and faith.
These inward trials I now employ
From self and pride to set thee free,
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st seek thy all in me.
In Psalm 73 Asaph recounts his experience of nearly
falling: 'my steps had nearly slipped' (Psalm 73:2).
While the wicked were prospering he was being
plagued and chastened. He was perplexed and baffled
until he went into the sanctuary of God. There he saw
things in their true light. The outcome was that he
confessed: 'Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there
is none upon earth that I desire beside thee' (Psalm
73:25). God had become the all-sufficient portion of his
soul.
In this way God prepares us for glory. If we lived for
nothing but a life of comfort and ease here there would
be no desire for the blessedness to come. 'God will have
his people sigh and groan on the way to glory,' writes
Maurice Roberts. Thomas Watson emphasizes the same
lesson: 'The vessels of mercy are first seasoned with
affliction and then the wine of glory is poured in'.
4. Our Comfort in Dark Providences
I. THERE IS ALWAYS A PURPOSE OF LOVE BEHIND
DARK PROVIDENCES
One of the most difficult things to do when the road is
rough or when the billows are passing over us is to feel
that God still loves us. It is the last thing we can accept.
But we are not called to feel; we are called to believe. In
his book, In All Their Afflictions, Murdoch Campbell
tells of a minister in the North of Scotland who
suddenly lost his spiritually-minded wife. As he prayed
that night in the presence of friends he said, 'If an angel
from heaven told me that this would work for my good
I would not believe him but because thy Word says it I
must believe it.'
We are to measure God's love not by His providence
but by His promise. 'When we cannot trace God's hand
we can trust God's heart', says C. H. Spurgeon. When
providences are dark it is difficult to read them. It is the
Word that tells us how to view them.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
By faith we have to trace it all to the hand of our Father.
The 'crook in the lot' is all of God's making. We are
prone to stop at second causes. We may look at doctors
who may have been negligent. We may think of drivers
who have been careless. We may feel bitterness over
'what might have been'.
Joseph after suffering the greatest indignities at the
hand of his brothers traced it all to the hand of God:
'But as for you, you meant evil against me but God
meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this
day, to save people alive' (Genesis 15:20). Job suffered
at the hands of the Chaldeans and Sabeans yet when he
came to speak of his loss he was able to say, 'The Lord
gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name
of the Lord' (Job 1:21). Joseph left his cause in the hand
of God and he was vindicated. Job did the same. Says
Samuel Rutherford, 'It is impossible to be submissive
and religiously patient if you stay your thoughts down
among the confused railings and wheels of second
causes, O, the place! O, the time! O, if this had been, this
had not followed!'
2. THERE IS MUCH THAT REMAINS A MYSTERY AND
FOR WHICH THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE ANSWER
This lies at the very crux of the matter. It may seem a
strange paradox but it was when Job was willing not to
understand that he began to understand.
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.
And why should this not be so? God is God and man is
man. It is in keeping with the greatness of God. In a sermon on John 13:7 entitled 'Dark Providences Made
Clear in Due Time,' Ralph Erskine explains God's
purpose in dark providences thus:
It is to discover Himself in a way suitable to Himself and
His glorious perfections and to show that His thoughts
are not our thoughts nor His ways our ways. If He should
work according to our thoughts and imaginations how
would it appear that He is Jehovah, a sovereign God that
acts like Himself.' God owes us no explanations. We owe
Him implicit trust and obedience. It is not easy to trust
God when He appears to be silent, as He was with Job,
but trust we must.
Dr Ronald Dunn has these wise words to say on the
problem of the silence of God in suffering:
I think this is the hardest part of all. You can take
just about anything, if you know why. Everywhere I
go, every meeting, I'm asked - Why? ... I'm going to
tell you something: God will very seldom answer
your question of Why. It is not that there are no
answers, it's just that you and I probably wouldn't
be able to comprehend the answer if God were to
tell us, and besides that, we have to learn to trust
Him without knowing why. We ask Him questions.
What we're usually doing is saying, 'Lord explain
yourself, calling God into account (Walking with
the King, p 173).
There appears to be an obsession today with 'Why me?'
Books which claim to have an answer to all our
problems top the Christian best-sellers lists. One book
that enjoyed a wide circulation, especially in the United
States, Rabbi Harold Kushner's When Bad Things
Happen to Good People, gave this answer to the
problem of suffering: God is a limited God. 'God would
like people to get what they deserve in life but he
cannot always arrange it'. A reply to this came from the
pen of Warren Wiersbe in his book, Why Us?, and subtitled 'When bad things happen to God's people'.
Wiersbe also has some most helpful insights from the
sufferings of Job. He writes:
One of the reasons God did not answer Job's cries
for justice was because He wanted to continue His
relationship with Job on the basis of grace. God
didn't want Job to have 'commercial faith' based on
a celestial contract. He wanted Job to have faith in
a God with such richness of character -love, mercy,
grace, goodness, kindness -that nothing could
interfere with their relationship. Because the key
question is not 'Why do the righteous suffer?' but
'Do we worship a God who is worthy of our
suffering?' So much of our thinking is self-centered. As Dr. Dunn points out, the major theme
of the book of Job is not 'Why do Christians suffer?'
but 'Why do men serve God?' If God were to strip us
of everything would we still love and worship Him?
If we can do so, like Job, we are giving the lie to the
devil and we are glorifying God.
3· THE ONLY ULTIMATE SOLUTION IS TO
CULTIVATE NEARNESS TO GOD
Far more important than any explanation for our
suffering is nearness to God in our experience: 'I had a
million questions to ask God; but when I met Him they
all fled my mind and it didn't seem to matter'
(Christopher Morley). This is the only way to get things
into perspective. That is what happened to Asaph. As
he saw the wicked prosper and experienced the
chastening of the Lord the whole thing was too painful
for him until he went into the sanctuary of God. He
came into the presence of God. He listened to God's
Word. 'Then' he says 'I understood their end' (Psalm
73: 17). He did not just feel good. He had an
understanding.
Thomas Boston speaks of communion with God in
providence. It is the Word that interprets providence.
Providence is the outworking of the will of God in my
life. It is because the psalmist was out of fellowship
with God that he was in the condition he was in. He had
things out of perspective. 'I was as a beast before thee'.
When things were back in perspective he could say, 'It
is good for me to draw near to God.'
Our responsibility whatever our circumstances is to
keep on in the path of duty:
Put thou thy trust in God
In duty's path go on.
People are usually more anxious to get rid of the
problem than they are to find the purpose of God in it.
'Afflictions', says Matthew Henry 'are continued no
longer than till they have done their work'. It is also our
responsibility to pray that our afflictions will be
sanctified to us. In his book Why Us? Warren Wiersbe
speaks of a friend who found herself in a sea of
troubles. Attempting to encourage her one day he said
'I want you to know that we are praying for you'. 'I appreciate that', she replied, 'What are you praying God
to do?' Wiersbe found himself struggling for an answer
and mentioned some things. 'Thank you', she said, 'but
please pray for one more request. Pray that I won't
waste all this suffering'.
4· WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT THE OUTCOME WILL
BE 'BIG WITH MERCY'
'Every work of Christ towards His people', said Ralph
Erskine, 'carries something more great and precious in
the bosom of it than we are capable at the time of
understanding.' William Cowper says something
similar in the well known words:
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
We see this frequently in the lives of God's saints. Think
of Joseph and his long night of suffering. What a
contrast between the prison and the palace! 'They hurt
his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons. Until the time
that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested
him'. And then the deliverance: 'The king sent and
released him. The ruler of the people let him go free. He
made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his
possessions. To bind his princes at his pleasure, and
teach his elders wisdom' (Psalm 105:18-22). It is the
timing of providence that is often so wonderful. It is the
seasonableness of a mercy that gives such value to it.
The engine of God's providence can bring in such a
train of happy consequences.
We may not be able to understand our present
condition or sufferings because God's providence
works on a grand scale. Job had no idea that he was the
focus of a battle between God and Satan. God was, as it
were, showing off a trophy of His grace. Job thought
that his life was useless. At the very moment when he
thought all was lost he was doing the greatest thing of
all- he was glorifying God, he was giving the lie to the
devil. It was twenty-two years after he was thrown into
the pit that Joseph discovered the reason why.
Thomas Boston was not able to understand the
purpose behind his 'sea of troubles' in Ettrick. He was
daily exercised about God's providential dealings. It is
there on almost every page of his Memoirs. Many
would conclude that he was prone to morbid
introspection. Whatever tendency to melancholy he
may have had he was above all a deeply-exercised
saint. The load of suffering he endured has surely an
explanation in the abundant fruit that has come from
his labors. While men who occupied prominent
positions in the Church in his day are largely forgotten
the Works of Boston are read all over the world.
Our lives resemble the making of a tapestry. The back
of it seems to be a mass of tangled and purposeless
threads while on the front a beautiful picture is taking
shape.
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver's skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern he has planned.
We must look to the end of everything. 'Indeed we
count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the
patience of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord -
that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful'
(James 5:11).
Conclusion
God has forged an inseparable link between sufferings
and glory. That was the road that Christ took. He was
made complete as our Saviour 'through sufferings'. He
endured. He was without sin.
How much more is suffering part of the road that leads
sinners to perfection and glory! What abundant cause
we have to be reconciled to our sufferings! 'I always
feel much need of God's afflicting hand', wrote Robert
Murray M'Cheyne. Said Rutherford: 'Praise God for the
hammer, the file and the furnace' and, in similar vein, C.
H. Spurgeon wrote, 'This is the place of the furnace, the
forge and the hammer'.
We must not be deceived by the current view that
invites us to get rid of our troubles and sicknesses and
then rejoice. The New Testament calls on us to rejoice
in the midst of sufferings. Indeed we ought to be
alarmed if we have no experience of suffering, for we suffer with Him that we may be glorified together.
There is no glory without suffering.
Sinclair Ferguson in his work Add to your Faith recalls
seeing a poster on the notice-board of a church which
read
WORKSHOP - INSIDE
SHOWROOM- UPSTAIRS
Our lives on earth resemble the workshop. We are in
the place of preparation. My life has the chisel of God
upon it. Our English word 'character' comes from a
Greek word which means an engraving tool, a die for
stamping an image. The trials of life can be God's tool
for engraving the image of his Son on our character.
The experiences may not be enjoyable but they are
profitable. Upstairs in the glory God will display the
finished articles. They will be like His Son.
God's people never sacrifice or suffer in vain. Our
present suffering is an investment in future glory. The
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory. 'How soon you will find', says
M'Cheyne again, 'that everything in your history, except
sin, has been for you. Every wave of trouble has been
wafting you to the sunny shores of a sinless eternity'.
Deep waters cross'd life's pathway;
The hedge of thorns was sharp;
Now these lie all behind me;
Oh! for a well-tuned harp!
Soon shall the cup of blessing
Wash down earth's bitterest woes;
Soon shall the desert brier
Break into Eden's rose.
Bibliography
John Flavel - The Mystery of Providence
(Banner)
Thomas Boston - The Crook in the Lot (Silver
Trumpet
Publications Ltd)
Samuel Rutherford - Letters of Samuel Rutherford
(Banner)
D. M. Lloyd-Jones - Faith Tried and
Triumphant(IVP)
Warren Wiersbe - Why Us? (IVP)
Edith Schaeffer - Affliction (Hodder)
Thomas Watson - All Things for Good (Banner)
Murdoch Campbell - In All Their Afflictions
(Gospel Standard
Publications)
1 A "second cause" is simply "a cause caused by
something else." This expression is used in theology to
distinguish between God as the ultimate cause of
everything that comes to pass and the myriad smaller
causes we see at work in the world.
Some of these second causes are as necessary as the
laws of physics. Others are as free as the decision to
order a cheeseburger. But whether things happen by
necessity or contingency, they all occur under the
overarching providence of God. Even chance and
probability are the servants of his will.
https://www.monergism.com/
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento