Tag Archives: Sovereign

Trust Him for His Grace

The crook in our lot is often not plain to our sight, because we live here, under the sun: “For now we see in a mirror dimly,” Paul explains, “but then face to face.” Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12). This side of glory, we do not, we will not, we cannot see God’s sovereign purpose in what he has ordained. And if we interpret this through the folly of unbelief, we will wallow in vanity and dive deeper in despair. But if we trust the Lord, for our good and his glory, we will rest contented in his loving provision, even in adversity. 

God knows what is to come because he has ordained it. God knows what is good for us because he ordained that too. Let us trust him for his grace.

God-given Government

As a people who fought a revolutionary war and founded a country from it, we seem to have an inherent distrust of government. This hasn’t changed over time but has become a sort of defining characteristic of what it means to be American. There can be, of course, a healthy aspect to this, but there is a darker side too. Consider that in the era in which we live hooligans stormed our Capitol, decent people believe weird conspiracy theories, and respect for civil authority falls diametrically along party lines. Such is the temporal age in which we live, but God’s Word is eternal. So, let us look to God’s Word, not jaded by the temporality of our day, but humbly seeking to know the will of God, and specifically considering our God-given government: our subjection to it, our protection by it, our obligation to it.

The Sovereign Love of God

It is difficult then to fathom the love of God for us individually and personally before creation, before we were, before anyone was. But he did: God the Father “chose us in [God the Son] before the foundation of the world…In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Eph. 1:4-5). Before “In the beginning” (Gen. 1:1), in love for “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). He really did love us first.