The All Good

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Help me to see how good thy will is in all,
and even when it crosses mine
teach me to be pleased with it.

 

A Prayer from the “Valley of Vision” page 10.

MY GOD,

Thou hast helped me to see,
that whatever good be in honour and
rejoicing, how good is he who gives them,
and can withdraw them;

that blessedness does not lie so much
in receiving good from and in thee,
but in holding forth thy glory and virtue;

that it is an amazing thing to see Deity
in a creature, speaking, acting,
filling, shining through it;

that nothing is good but thee,
that I am near good when I am near thee,
that to be like thee is a glorious thing:
This is my magnet, my attraction.

Thou art all my good in times of peace,
my only support in days of trouble,
my one sufficiency when life shall end.

Help me to see how good thy will is in all,
and even when it crosses mine
teach me to be pleased with it.

Grant me to feel thee in fire, and food and
every providence,
and to see that thy many gifts and creatures
are but thy hands and fingers taking hold of me.

Thou bottomless fountain of all good,
I give myself to thee out of love,
for all I have or own is thine,
my goods, family, church, self,
to do with as thou wilt,
to honour thyself by me, and by all mine.

If it be consistent with thy eternal counsels,
the purpose of thy grace,
and the great ends of thy glory,
then bestow upon me the blessings of
thy comforts;
If not, let me resign myself to
thy wiser determinations.

– Amen

Soli Deo Gloria!

Secondary Causes

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In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. – Job 1:22

 

How does a sovereign God intervene in the lives of His people for their sanctification?  Mostly through secondary courses.  Anyone who has been a Christian for any length of time can quote Romans 8:28 by heart. That verse says :  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

What that verse is saying is that God uses everything in the life of the believer: all of the good, bad and ugly to work for their good.  He does this through secondary causes. Secondary causes are the things, people and circumstances that we can see as the reason for the good, the bad and ugly around us.

 

Understanding that God uses secondary causes to test our faith and sanctify us in order to make us into the image of His son should bring comfort to our souls and Christians.  Whatever the trial or difficulty that comes into our lives, God could have stopped it, but He did not. He has allowed it for our good and for His glory.

 

Take for example the situation of Job. God Himself testified to the uprightness and holiness of Job in Job 1:8. Satan however said Job was serving God, not out of love, but for what Job can get from God. To prove Satan wrong and to teach us who would later read the story of Job that God will sometimes allow adversity in the lives His godly children for their good. God allowed Job to lose everything. His business, his children, his health and his dignity.

What were the secondary causes in the story of Job? They were the Sabeans, Chaldeans and a great wind. These were the instruments of destruction that destroyed Job’s business and killed his children.

Understanding that God uses secondary to test our faith and sanctify us in order to make us into the image of His son should bring comfort to our souls and Christians.  Whatever the trial or difficulty that comes into our lives, God could have stopped it, but He did not. He has allowed it for our good and for His glory.

Does this mean then we can blame God for the evil and bad things that come into our lives?  No, we cannot. God is not the author of evil. James 1:13 makes that clear – James 1:13 – And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.  He will however, use the situation for our good and His glory.  We have an enemy called Satan who is ready to not only cause us to do evil but is always plotting and planning how to turn every good thing into a bad thing. Satan is the evil one.

Job never blames the secondary causes for his troubles. The fact that Job did not saddle his horses and call out an army from among his friends and neighbors to go after the Sabeans and Chaldeans shows that Job did not see them as the primary cause of his problems. He is also did not blame God for the evil as recorded in Job 1:22 – In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job did not blame God for his troubles, instead, he turned to God for comfort and undersanding.

Everything that happens to the believer is a secondary cause. From good and joyful things to hard and painful things. They are the training ground where we build our spiritual muscles. Commenting on Exodus 20:20, the wife of Charles Spurgeon, Susanna Spurgeon had this to say: “If we can only get firmly fixed in our hearts the truth that the Lord’s hands is in everything that happens to us, we have found a balm for all our woes, a remedy for all our ills…….The soul that has learned this blessed secret of seeing God’s hand in all that concerns it cannot be a prey to fear; it looks beyond all second causes straight into the heart and will of God and rests content because He rules”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!