No doubt, you’ve run across people in your conversations (maybe even in your congregation) who feel that the One who created us is too far removed to concern Himself with the tiny details of life on planet Earth. But that is not the case. God’s mysterious plan is running its course right on schedule, exactly as He decreed it.
This world is not out of control, spinning wildly through space. Nor are earth’s inhabitants at the mercy of blind fate or meaningless chaos. I don’t know why a tornado destroys one neighborhood and not another. I just know that even in this calamity God’s plan is not frustrated or altered. He is not sitting on the edge of heaven, wondering what will happen next. That’s not the God of the Scriptures. A miserable Job prayed:
Man, who is born of woman,
Is short-lived and full of turmoil. . . .
Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.” (Job 14:1, 5)
So although we cannot fathom the “Why?” of God’s plan, we do know that the Scriptures state that God is not surprised by calamity. Somehow or other, it’s all part of His mysterious will.
Now that is a tough concept to explain fully or to justify as a preacher. So my advice is quite simple: quit trying. Job’s words tell us that the decreed will of God is running its course precisely as arranged. This aspect of the will of God is not something that we can anticipate ahead of time; we can only know it after it has happened.
While Job’s declaration is not something you would want to include in a pastoral note of comfort to somebody who has just gone through a great tragedy, it is a verse you need to comfort yourself with when you are going through your own calamity.
Remember, nothing is a surprise to God. His plan may seem unfair, humanly illogical, even lacking compassion, but that’s because we dwell in the here and now. We lack the vertical view.
—Chuck
Comments