Unbreakable Joy

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

George Mueller referenced this verse after the loss of his wife. He concluded that IF it would have been good for him for his wife to remain with him then that is what would have happened. However, this is not what happened, she died. Mueller rested in the thoroughly Scriptural concept of the sovereignty of God. Mueller was very aware that God always knows what is best for us, He sees all things, nothing remains out of His control - despite what circumstances may seem, He absolutely never makes mistakes, and He is always good.

The sovereign God is our rock, our fortress, our stability in

unstable and difficult times. Oh to rest in Him and all that He is has been an immovable and unbreakable foundation for His people throughout history. The Psalms abound with references to God as our Rock.

2 comments:

Sarah said...: Sometimes I wonder if terrible things happen to us because we live in a fallen world. There was no death in Eden. I don't know that God ever wants people to get sick or die, but when we do He cares for our soul. Even Jesus wept when he heard that Lazerus had died. I believe that God grieves along side us.; December 14, 2007 at 9:38 AM
Brian G. Hedges said...: I think both answers are true. Sin and suffering is a result of the Fall and it is true that these things grieve God's heart. He does not delight in the death of the wicked as Ezekiel says.

But it is also true that God is in control. He wasn't taken off guard by sin or the fall, nor is he helpless to prevent or control evil in the world. And, as with Joseph, he does intend good to come out of evil.

Great wisdom is needed in giving proper weight and emphasis to each of these truths. Overemphasize the first, and God may seem compassionate, yet helpless. Overemphasize the second, and God can seem distant and untouched by human suffering, like a cold monarch serving his own ends. Both are caricatures of the true God - the God who is both good and sovereign.

Great post and great comment.; December 14, 2007 at 10:04 AM

Noteworthy Quotes

Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly so worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.
- George Mueller

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
- C.S. Lewis

A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, a spiritual man is hard on himself and easy on others.
- A. W. Tozer

Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee.
- Augustine

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.
- Blaise Pascal

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
- Jim Elliot

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
- C. S. Lewis

He loves Thee too little, who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.
- Augustine

The men of this world are children. Offer a child an apple or a bank note, and he will doubtless choose the apple.
- John Newton

In the end the heart longs not for any of God's good gifts, but for God Himself. To see Him and know Him and be in His presence is the soul's final feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience.
- John Piper

God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Him, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
- C.S. Lewis

It is well that we accept the hard truth now: The man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the Godly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train.
- A.W. Tozer

If God contains the fullness of all good things in Himself like an inexhaustible fountain, nothing beyond him is to be sought by those who strike after the highest good and all the elements of happiness.
- John Calvin

God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.
- John Piper

God glorifies Himself toward the creature in two ways; by appearing to their understanding, and in communicating Himself to thief hearts and their rejoicing in and delighting in Him, and enjoying manifestations He makes of Himself. God is Glorified not only by His glories being seen, but by it’s being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that he might communicate and the creature receive His glory, and that it might be received both by the mind and the heart. He that testifies His idea of God’s glory doesn’t glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.
- Jonathan Edwards