'Sovereignty' Tagged Posts
The God for Sufferers
The book of Job chronicles the title character, Job, and his miserable suffering: he lost everything but life itself. There are not too many people that can claim his experience. As Job suffers, God reveals himself to Job. As in each book of the Bible, the book of Job is ultimately a revelation of God himself—who he is and what he does. In other words, the book of Job is ultimately about God—the God a sufferer needs. In particular, the…
Where Is God in Suffering?
A recent online poll shows interesting data on what Americans believe about God and suffering. Most Americans, roughly 80%, say that suffering in the world comes from people, not from God. Another 44% (indicating you could choose more than one answer) say that Satan is responsible for most of the suffering in the world. This data is good to know. My question (as always) is what does the Bible say about God and suffering? Arguably, no one in the Bible…
Five Reasons for Obeying God
We bark the command to our children: “You need to obey mom and dad,” based on Ephesians 6:1. While this command is often given, in the heat of the moment we seldom give the reason, motivation, or benefit for obeying mom and dad. But your kids need to see the reasons and benefits of obedience. And so do we! You need reason, motivation, and benefit for obedience to God. Why should you obey God? Seventeenth century pastor, Richard Baxter (1615-1691), recognizes…
Theology Matters Now More than Ever
Over the past two months, with the outbreak of the coronavirus and the rapid change of “normal” life as we know it, I have experienced quite an array of emotions. Here are a few: fear (that I could have or will get COVID-19), panic (because everybody else is panicked!), joy (that the market finally received the correction it needed), sadness (that I cannot worship with my church family in person), and many others. In all these emotions, I have realized,…
God’s Grace and Sovereignty in Troubled Times
Charles Spurgeon observes of 2 Kings 6:6 that no matter how many of life’s heavy burdens threaten to overwhelm us, we can take it to the Lord in prayer. Perhaps you are facing desperation in a relationship, job, or an unimaginable task that is just too heavy for you to bear, where are you to turn? Too often we only turn to prayer when we are in agony because our own abilities to resolve the situation to our liking has…
Why Is Prayer Hard?
Prayer is hard. Not technically hard, for a young child can pray. Prayer is practically hard. Why? Here are four reasons why: 1. We are self-sufficient. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11), the disciples needed that day’s bread. They did not have weeks and weeks of food stored up in a refrigerator or pantry. It’s not only economic self-sufficiency that makes it hard to pray. It is spiritual self-sufficiency. We…
What Benefit is the Providence of God?
God’s providence is meticulously detailed. Puritan Ezekiel Hopkins once wrote, “Not one particle of dust moves on a well-travelled road, but God raises it, directs its motion, and directs it to the specific place he appointed for it. The strongest wind cannot move it from its appointed place.” Even better, Jesus states our Father’s meticulous providence like this: “Not [a sparrow] will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matt 10:29). Knowing God’s providence is meticulously detailed is one…
Who Threw Jonah Into the Sea?
The answer to the question: who threw Jonah into the sea is simple. Jonah 1:15 says, “So they [the sailors] picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, . . .” However, upon closer reading of the text, someone else threw Jonah into the sea. To see this, we need to review the story. In chapter one of the book of Jonah, Jonah is absolutely set on running from God (1:3). He despises God’s call to preach…
Do You Have a Right to Be Angry?
What a penetrating question! Is it right for you to be angry? Of course, if you’re familiar with the Bible, you might recall that God asked the prophet Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry” (Jonah 4:4)? Because of the context of this question, God was not expecting a response – the question was a rebuke! And the question also serves as a rebuke for us. Why? Because of the nature of anger. Anger is…