“Sovereignty paves a pathway of perspective that leads away from cynicism and bitterness to enthusiasm and grace.”- Dr. Wayne Stiles
Wayne Stiles continues Chapter 9 of Waiting on God by stressing that God had many options at His disposal to deliver Joseph’s family from the famine. For example, a good downpour of rain or preventing the famine altogether. Merely saving lives, however, wouldn’t have changed lives (God’s goal). God wants to make us into the individuals He wants us to be by changing our hearts.
Claiming omniscience resurfaces most often in our lives when we talk to God. In addition, we supply Bible verses to back up our ideas. Furthermore, we try to convince God how much better life would be if He honored our request.
But the Lord has plans for our plans, stemming from His infinite wisdom. Therefore, factoring God’s sovereignty into every event becomes crucial. Unless we have a firm belief in a sovereign God, we view ourselves as the prime cause of life’s events. As a result, our perspective shrinks and we see God as distant, uninvolved, and irrelevant.
Most noteworthy, struggling and suffering at the hands of those who care nothing about us cannot prevent us from experiencing God’s sovereign plans. In fact, those people who oppose us quite possibly become part of the process of fulfilling God’s plan for us.
Dustin Shramek offers this perspective in “Waiting for the Morning during the Long Night of Weeping” (Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor):
“Too often we allow ourselves the belief that a robust view of God’s sovereignty in all things means that when suffering comes it won’t hurt. God’s sovereignty doesn’t take away the pain and evil that confront us in our lives, it works them for our good.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses help you respond to your current situation with enthusiasm and grace? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Obedience to the truth”