Meditations for Difficult Days [7] The Works of the Lord

 

 

The Works of the Lord

Psalm 46:1-7 - "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Psalm 46:8 - "Come see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth....."

Varieties of Truth

I cannot be the only one who finds certain kinds of truth difficult to accept - sometimes even to listen to. I remember when my sister called me while I was on holiday in France to tell me about the death of my father many years ago. She began with "Roy sit down..." and I knew I was going to hear some bad news. (I wanted to run away.)

Every Christian has to come to terms with difficult truth. We did that when we were converted by acknowledging God's true verdict about us: that we are sinners. "All have sinned" is the witness of Scripture. And when God lists the long tally of our dreadful deeds in Romans chapter 3 we want to block our ears and close our eyes, because we know God is telling the truth (considering just speech alone, here is what a digital recording of everyone's speech over a (pretty short) span of time would contain, says God:  "their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit, the poison of vipers is on their lips...." Ouch!)

I say all this to prepare you for an Unwelcome Truth in today's verse. (Of course hiding in   God's Unwelcome Truths are often Great Blessings). The psalmist wants to give us a grand tour of God's works, "Come and see the works of the Lord." So far, so good! Let's go! But he is going to show us two kinds of works. Tomorrow we'll look at what all of us might call "good works", but today, says the psalmist, I want to talk to you about another kind of God's work, "The desolations he has brought on the earth."

The Desolations of God

That word "desolation" has  - I'm afraid we can't avoid this - negative connotations. It means what it says - bad things. The psalmist says that God brings desolations on the earth. You simply can't avoid that meaning without doing violence to the plain meaning of the text. And this truth is backed up in many other verses of Scripture, such as Isaiah 45:7, "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things."

How do we understand this mysterious truth? That God brings desolations, bad things, as well as good things? 

And can it therefore, be said, that "God has brought Coronavirus on the earth?"

God is supremely good, and nothing he does is wrong or evil. God is also sovereign over his universe. He "works out everything in comformity with the purpose of his will." (Ephesians 1:11).  

The Decretive and Permissive will of God 

Because of these twin truths - God is both good and sovereign,  some Christian teachers have divided the will of God, the plans of God, the rule of God into two parts. There is the decretive will of God (from the word "decree") - stay with me - this is when God decides and desires those things to happen. And there is the permissive will of God - when he allows things to happen: in this case he is not so much wanting them to happen, so to speak, but instead he allows them.

Suppose parents plan a wonderful outing for their children - that's the decretive will of the parents. But suppose the children simply refuse to go on the outing, and suppose the parents then allow that course of action to take place: no outing - that's the permissive will of the parents.

We don't know if God divides up his sovereign will into decretive or permissive; my guess is that this is just a helpful aid for very small human minds.  

My personal guess, for what it is worth, is that Coronavirus is in the permissive will of God. God does not jump into his world when people make mistakes or when the fallen world takes its natural course.  So when the virus jumped from animals to humans God did not intervene. In this sense, Coronavirus is within the permissive will of God. That would be my educated guess.

[To come about due to God's decretive will, Coronavirus would have had to happen as a distinct judgement of God, such as when God punished Sodom and Gommorah for their specific wickedness (the sin of homosexual practice), or when he destroyed Jerusalem in AD70 for rejecting the Messiah.]

Of course you and I don't in fact know whether Coronavirus is in God's decretive or permissible will. 

But we do know for sure, 100% certain, that God has allowed it.

"Come and see the works of the Lord,

the desolations he has brought on the earth....."

The over-ruling Sovereign will of God

Instead of trying to peer into the mystery of God's will - though I trust the above discussion has been helpful - we need to take comfort from the the fact that God is the sovereign ruler of all events, including Coronavirus.

Here are two comforting truths for our present predicament:

First, God is in control! Just suppose God did not want something in his world - but it went ahead and just happend anyway, and God could not do anything in his power to stop it! Imagine that!  It would mean there was a power above God, greater than God, more powerful than God; and what a frightening prospect that would be. 

No, God is soverign Lord over war, death, sin, disaster and pestilence.

Secondly, in a fallen world, God's good purposes are often accomplished when he over-rules evil. Evil oversteps itself and good comes out of evil.

If you don't believe that, take the Cross of Jesus Christ. No event in the history of the world was more unjust, more wicked, more evil: a perfect man who had done nothing wrong was brutally condemned and killed and in that death bore the blame for our sins. Outrageous! But the Bible insists it was God's will! Now was it God's permissive will or God's decretive will? Both! Listen to Dr Luke:

"This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, and you with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." (Acts 2:23)

God decretive will: "God's set purpose.." And God's permissive will: "you put him to death..." God did not put him to death, men did that, but God allowed it.

God over-ruled the wicked plans and actions of jealous men to bring about salvation for a lost world. He overruled evil to bring about great good!

Summing it all up 

If only we would understand at least some of this truth  when trouble of any kind comes upon us! If only we would always do two things:  (a) acknowledge that God is sovereign over all and say with Job, "Shall we accept good from God and not evil?" (Job 2:10). And (b), trust God's amazing power and ingenuity to bring good out of evil!

What wonders will he bring out of your present sadness! Trust him!  What great things will he do through Coronavirus! Trust him! Be patient! It's so often the way God works. He turns grit into pearls and forms diamonds in the hottest and most pressurised environments on earth!

We don't know why God has allowed Coronavirus, but we know he has, for he is the Sovereign Lord, and we know that he will bring good out of it. Good for the world, good for the church, and glory to his Omnioptent Name.

A SONG FOR THE DAY

There's only one hymn to sing today. Written by a man who faced many internal strifes and battles, poet William Cowper (1731-1800), it's sung freshly and beautifully by Graham Kendrick, below.

Take time to grasp each Bible-soaked line.

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.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour:

The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter,
And He will make it plain. 

William Cowper

Hear it here:

A PRAYER FOR TODAY 

Dear Father in heaven,

Forgive us for trusting you only in the good times. Forgive us for doubting you when troubles come. Forgive for thinking, "God is not in control" or "God doesn't love us" or "This can't possibly work out for good." Forgive us for not trusting the sheer ingenuity of your higher ways and the goodness of your loving heart.

Remind us, as we survey all your works, that desolatiosn are among those works. But remind us that through them you work out all things for our good and your great great glory,

In Jesus' precious Name we ask all these things

Amen.