God's Sovereignty in the Fullness of Time

I have so frequently been blessed by C.H. Spurgeon's words as I have been reading Morning and Evening.  In particular, yesterday was a continual battle for me to trust the Lord's faithfulness as my (lack of) summer plans frustrated and upset me.  I curled into bed, and read Spurgeon's words reflecting upon Song of Solomon 5:6 "I called him, but he gave me no answer.”  Spurgeon writes:

Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate, until the King cometh forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeketh. The Lord, when he hath given great faith, has been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered his servants’ voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, “Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.” Thus have true saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it so pleased him who is a Sovereign, and who gives according to his own pleasure. If it pleases him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall he not do as he wills with his own! Beggars must not be choosers either as to time, place, or form. But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials: God’s long-dated bills will be punctually honoured; we must not suffer Satan to shake our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers. Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our prayers—they are not blown away by the wind, they are treasured in the King’s archives. This is a registry in the court of heaven wherein every prayer is recorded. Tried believer, thy Lord hath a tear-bottle in which the costly drops of sacred grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy groanings are numbered. By and by, thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be content to wait a little? Will not thy Lord’s time be better than thy time? By and by he will comfortably appear, to thy soul’s joy, and make thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of long waiting, and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition.

How imprudent of me to not patiently wait on the Lord's timing!  His timing is surely better than my own, yet through-out the day I function as if I always know best.  In the fullness of time, God sent his Son to die, and in that same proven wisdom God's timing will always display perfection in every detail of my life.

One Great Reason

“Every government, every war, every plague, every bit of persecution, everything that has ever occurred in every corner of the world exists for one reason alone – God’s great gospel. It pushes and drives everything. Do you know how the gospel left Jerusalem? Stephen was martyred. Do you know how Christianity got here? The Puritans were being persecuted. So they hopped on a boat and came over. Everything is about what God is doing. This is what you’re caught up in. This is what’s happening. We’re right in the thick of it. This is the story of creation. There is no other story. Every other story is a footnote in this story. And if you go back and look at it historically, you can find how it pushed, played and exalted this story.”

– Matt Chandler, Pastor, The Village Church

Unbound Without Love

To believe in a powerful, sovereign God is misery if we do not also see that He is a loving, merciful God.  In Paul's letter to the church at Colossae he exhorts them to "put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (3:14).  There is a "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (a state of reconciliation and love)" which unites all believers to one another and to Christ.  Paul further addresses the Ephesians, "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2).  We walk with Christ by walking in love, but until we see Christ's direction as love we will be unable to follow him thus. 

Without love we are unbound.  Unbound from each other and unbound from Christ.  We depart from the body and we walk unfamiliar from Christ.  Not literally, for it is God's love that saves us and keeps us, but relationally, emotionally, and conditionally we are wandering stray and unbound without love.  So to know God as a powerful and sovereign God, but to forget that He is a loving God hinders us from walking near Him.  We might fearfully tiptoe under His lordship, knowing that His hand has great might.  But we cannot joyfully worship Him aside from resting in His love and mercy.  Just cognitively knowing of God's love without putting it on and savoring it will do no good.  We must learn the intimacy of our God.  We must know God as loving and merciful or will shall find ourselves miserable and unbound.

In His hands

God spent two months tearing apart my life plans, breaking my heart for missions, shattering the worldliness in my heart, pushing me to cry out 'I will go ANYWHERE!'... and then he closed the door for me to go. Did God just want me to be available where I'm at? Does He have another course to direct my steps? I'm upset at this inability to go... to do ministry in a place that, two months ago, was a personal hell for me to even consider going to... but now, I'm broken and willing to go.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? (Romans 9:20-21)

I am a finite human being without the right to rebelliously question God's ways. His knowledge is as far superior to mine as His holiness is to my sinfulness. I am a lump of clay in the hands of a holy holy holy Creator, and He will choose a shape and purpose for me at His own good pleasure. My true joy is found at the center of His shaping, not in my attempts to self-create or mold my own future. "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). Ohh that I might continue to trust more deeply in the beauty of God's sovereignty over my identity and life. I am thankful for the moments that tested and sanctified me this past day... although my heart did feel that it exploded through my throat at moments, I praise God in his infinite love. He is a God worth worshiping. I would freely give my life for His glory, yet it is already His.