Staying the Course 
Facing Affliction (Part 3)
God is Sovereign
Last week we considered the value of knowing that God is good. If God is good and yet limited in power or ability, we are in big trouble. Of course this is not the case. God is always in complete control and will fully accomplish His eternal purposes. In Job 38-41 God responds to Job’s disappointment in his circumstances. In his disappointment Job began to make judgments on God that were far from the truth. When we find ourselves in the midst of unsettling circumstances, reading these chapters can help us avoid foolish thinking. After God speaks at length to Job, Job responds as follows: Job 42:1-6 Think about Job’s opening words: I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Often times our struggle has to do with wanting God to do all things that we request and to fulfill the purposes that we prefer. While as sinful, finite beings we might wish this, still we know that God’s ways are always best. As believers we must be resolute in our confidence that God is absolutely sovereign. He is not reacting to the unexpected events in this world. On the contrary, He is intentional in all that He does. We might look at circumstances through our sinful eyes and struggle to see or understand the good that God can bring from them, but if we were looking through the eyes of God, we would see that all He does is the absolute best. Often time people will indicate a desire to question God upon arriving in heaven, to seek a better understanding of the events that transpired in their lives. I believe that when we see God in His glory, the questions will immediately vanish because we will see God in all His perfection. It will not be a time to question, only a time to bow in worship.
Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
Rocky Wyatt
2012-01-30
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