The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Regulating the Random"
Life often feels and appears random, even to born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who know that in the mystery of His ways, God works to administer His purposes in history and in our story.
"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in Heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:8-11).
We will one day see how finely tuned our lives were during our earthly sojourn. We know this in principle now, but then the precision whereby our Heavenly Father worked out His purposes will amaze us with wonder. Somehow He will have fulfilled His ultimate will without having determined all that happens in His creation, or in our lives. Devils will have been given their rein, the flesh of human beings will have turned away from God to the degree that we nailed His Son to a cross, and in our own lives we will have too often wandered from the path of righteousness. Nevertheless, the God "of purer eyes than to behold evil" will have worked amid all to effect "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Habbakuk 1:13). The seemingly random will be known to have been a part of our Father's wondrous capacity to "work all things after the counsel of His own will," including so very much that was not His will (Ephesians 3:11).
Such truth fills and fortifies our hearts with confidence and motivation. Thereby, we avoid the dark error of assigning everything that happens to God's determinations, a notion that inevitably assigns evil to His character and nature. Indeed, our hearts could not long trust a God if we believed Him to be the source and administrator of sin. Thereby, we also embrace the highest possible view of our Lord, namely, that He is so wise, so present, so involved, and so powerfully redemptive through Christ that He can fulfill His purposes despite allowing so much that counters them. In this sense, nothing is actually random because the imminent heart and powerful hand of God ever works to fulfill His purposes in creation, and in the hearts of those who trust Him. "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).
How does He do this? Even in eternity, wonder will doubtless fill our hearts, leading us to fall before our Lord in utter amazement. If allowed to look back on our earthly lives, we would see a faithful Heart and a skilled Hand regulating the random for the glory of the Lord Jesus, and for our best interests. How indeed can God work amid so much that is not His will to ultimately fulfill His will? Not surprisingly, the Apostle Paul offers the best answer…
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"
(Romans 11:33)
Weekly Memory Verse
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
(Romans 11:33)
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