Probably few of us could have foreseen the damage an invisible virus would do to our economy, sense of security, and national attitudes before 2019. And while we all know there are aggressive, hostile nations in the world, few expected Russia to brazenly invade her neighbor Ukraine. Even fewer would have expected that war to go on for over two years. Add to that rising inflation, concerns about our border, contentious politics, and growing hostility toward people of faith and there is much that could tempt us to worry.
Yet, none of this was a surprise to God. And if we understand His sovereignty, we must admit that He not only knew each situation was coming, He allowed, possibly even ordained, all these circumstances. And all that has happened as a result, including our responses, has happened in the presence of God, coram Deo, literally before His face.
As we contemplate that fact, we should also remember that what God allows and ordains in our lives serves His purposes. He has general purposes for us all, but He also has specific plans and purposes for each of us. Those purposes are always for our good and His glory. And those two are never opposed to one another. They work in perfect harmony. So, how can understanding these things help us respond better in times of adversity?
Today’s Readings:
Deuteronomy 29 & 30
Psalm 40.1-5
Proverbs 13.9-10
Luke 7.1-30
Living in the Presence of God in Adversity
Deuteronomy 29 & 30:
No Desire to See & Understand
Before we talk about living in the presence of God during adversity, let’s talk a bit about chapter 29.2-9. Moses was recounting what God had done for the nation of Israel during those 40 years in the desert. And then he said this:
You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land—the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
In his Daily Bible, John MacArthur says:
The Lord had not given them an understanding heart, simply because the people had not penitently sought it.
Perhaps, they took God’s work in their lives for granted. Or maybe they found trying to understand and know Him too difficult or too much trouble. Perhaps they were even bored with God and found life in the pagan nations around them more exciting. Or maybe they simply got too busy … busy with life, busy working, busy doing more pressing things.
God had called them to be separate from the nations around them. He wanted to teach them to love and depend on Him. Instead, they refused to see what He had done for them and focused on living life their own way.
Our Failure to See & Understand
And what about us? What is the result of our failure to penitently seek understanding, to see His work in our lives and the world, and to know Him intimately?
In large part, it has resulted in a weak, anemic church. We have largely lost our zeal for God and the boldness to share the gospel. In many cases, we’ve settled for a measure of the Christian life that requires little from us. We may slip into the back of a big sanctuary where we say “hi” to the regulars who sit around us but have little or no involvement in their lives the rest of the week.
Praise and worship are often man-centered with too much focus on us having “the victory,” rather than worshiping our Holy God.
Messages have catchy titles and three points to help us be better versions of ourselves. We are content to fill in the blanks on a short outline and go out feeling good about what we can accomplish and how God is on our side as we do.
We’re seldom confronted with the wretchedness of our own sin. In many cases, sin is not even mentioned. The gospel, if it’s presented at all, is little more than a call to invite Jesus into your heart rather than a call to faith and repentance.
The Answer
God desires to show us more, to take us deeper into His truth, for us to know Him intimately and learn to depend on Him. But we must want it, seek it, and ask Him for it. For that to happen, we need to cultivate a desire for rich expository teaching that challenges us and helps us know Him as He is, not a god of our own making.
We need to learn to study God’s Word for ourselves. It’s no wonder we’ve settled for feel-good teaching. In many cases, it’s all we know. We need to be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to find out if the things they were being taught were true (Acts 17.11). That includes knowing whether or not we’re being taught the whole counsel of God and not the parts that fit a certain notion about God.
In Matthew 7.7-8, Jesus said:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
We don’t need a degree in theology to dig into our Bibles. If we have been born again, we have the Holy Spirit living in us to help us (Jn. 14.17, 26). But we need to read it (daily, if possible), study it (2 Tim. 2.15), memorize it (Ps. 119.11), and meditate on it (chew on it, think about it, Josh. 1.8). There are, also, commentaries and Bible study tools readily available to us. I’ll list a few excellent ones at the bottom. So let’s take advantage of them.
The Presence of God
We also need to practice the presence of God by remembering that all we do, we do before a Holy God. Coram Deo. In a post on the Ligonier website, R.C. Sproul said:
This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.
We need to become aware of His blessings and His work in our lives and to remember what James said, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights …” (Jas. 1.17). We should never become bored or take them for granted.
God calls us to be different from the unsaved world around us. Different in our attitudes. Different in our responses to both blessings and adversity.
In Blessing & Adversity
How do we spend the time God gives us? Do we focus on social media and worldly entertainment or do we invest in our spiritual life and that of our family? Have we neglected the important things like growing closer to God, knowing Him through His Word, turning to Him in prayer, and living with an awareness of His presence?
Have we stopped to remember that nothing that happens does so outside of God’s knowledge and permission? He has either allowed or ordained all of it for His divine purposes. Job, in his trial, said this about God:
I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted (Job 42:2).
God can do anything. He can stop anything. And when He doesn’t, He has a plan, a good plan, even when we don’t understand it (Jer. 29.11).
God’s Purposes
In his book Trusting God*, Jerry Bridges says:
… God does have a purpose and a plan for you, and God has the power to carry out that plan. It is one thing to know that no person or circumstance can touch us outside of God’s sovereign control; it is still another to realize that no person or circumstances can frustrate God’s purpose for our lives. God has an over-arching purpose for all believers: to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:29). He also has a specific purpose for each of us that is His unique, tailor-made plan for our individual life (see Ephesians 2:10). And God will fulfill that purpose. As Psalm 138:8 says, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me.”
Because we know God is directing our lives to an ultimate end and because we know He is sovereignly able to orchestrate the events of our lives toward that end, we can trust Him. We can commit to Him not only the ultimate outcome of our lives, but also all the intermediate events and circumstances that will bring us to that outcome.
The Absolute Sovereignty of God
The understanding that God is absolutely and totally in control and does whatever He pleases needs to be accompanied by another truth. Jerry Bridges goes on:
God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and works out every event to bring about the accomplishment of His will. Such a bare unqualified statement of the sovereignty of God would terrify us if that were all we knew about God. But God is not only sovereign, He is perfect in love and infinite in wisdom.
Let that register. God not only has a plan, a purpose, and the power to carry it out, He is perfect in love and wisdom. His purposes and all that He does are for our good. That should impact how we as believers respond to adversity.
Our Responsibility in Times of Adversity
So, thinking back to living in the presence of God, how should we respond to the difficult circumstances of our lives? Again quoting Jerry Bridges:
I will say this next statement as gently and compassionately as I know how. Our first priority in times of adversity is to honor and glorify God by trusting Him. We tend to make our first priority the gaining of relief from our feelings of heartache or disappointment or frustration. This is a natural desire, and God has promised to give us grace sufficient for our trials and peace for our anxieties (see 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:6-7). But just as God’s will is to take precedence over our will (in Matthew 26:39 Jesus Himself said, “Yet not as I will, but as you will”), so God’s honor is to take precedence over our feelings. We honor God by choosing to trust Him when we don’t understand what He is doing or why He has allowed some adverse circumstance to occur. As we seek God’s glory, we may be sure that He has purposed our good and that He will not be frustrated in fulfilling that purpose.
No matter what adversity we are experiencing, let’s examine our thoughts and reactions and purposefully respond with greater faith and trust in Him.
Today’s Other Readings:
Psalm 40.1-5:
His Abundant Blessings
Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered (v. 5).
Reading the Psalms regularly and remembering truths like this one is one way we can avoid getting focused on our problems, rather than what God is doing.
Proverbs 13.9-10:
Pride & Strife or Advice & Wisdom
By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom (v. 10).
We lose so much wisdom, help, encouragement, peace, and unity because of our pride. Pride basically says, “I don’t need to seek God about this, I can figure it out on my own.” Or “I know what the Bible says, but my way is better.” Or, “If I admit I’m struggling with this, what will people think of me?”
Let’s purpose to be “well-advised” so we can grow in wisdom.
Luke 7.1-30:
Great Faith
I love the story of the centurion and his servant in verses 2-10. But since this post has gotten so long, I will wait until tomorrow to comment on it.
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about fear, facing storms, and when friends betray us.
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them.
If you would like to receive a FREE downloadable and printable Bible study through the book of Mark, you can click here for more information.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Excellent Resources for Bible Study:
Matthew Henry’s Commentary of the Whole Bible
Blue Letter Bible (an online concordance & Bible study tool)
Bible Gateway (another online concordance)
Posts that Might Be of Interest:
“10 Principles for Effective Bible Study”
“Praying like Paul: Prayer for Spiritual Growth”
“Prayer & Scripture Journaling”
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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