Providential Permission

While reading Oswald Chamber's devotion, My Utmost For His Highest, this morning this phrase bit into my soul. "Are you painfully disturbed just now, distracted by the waves and billows of God's providential permission, and having as it were, turned over the boulders of your belief, are you still finding no well of joy or comfort; is all barren?"

I sat in the home of a couple yesterday ministering to a lady diagnosed with a terminal condition. The husband walked me out and made this statement before I left, "We pray a lot. The hardest thing about prayer is trusting God when He does not give us what we want." His wife has served Christ faithfully as long as he has known her. He told me once that she had been his world for over 40 years and when others forsook him her love remained steadfast and unconditional. Yet, this former pastor and his wife are facing a huge battle. Some would call their plight bad luck or ill fate. He would tell you God has given providential permission to his wife's condition.

He knows God has the power to heal. He also knows that some times God chooses to heal in Heaven. Either way he is trusting God and so is she.

Many of us are distracted by adversity, anguishes, setbacks and sorrows that cut deep. These matters are taken to God in prayer pleading for relief. Sometimes God providentially permits things to go from bad to worse for reasons beyond our comprehension. We grapple with this reality but apart from total trust in the Lord's faithfulness and goodness we will never be at peace.

I also read Proverbs 21:1 this morning, "The King's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord, He turns it wherever He wishes." My over simplified interpretation of that verse is GOD IS IN CONTROL. Everyday He is control. In every season of life He is in control. Over pagans and believers God is in control. I CAN ACCEPT OR REJECT THIS TRUTH BUT IT DOES NOT CHANGE THE REALITY OF GOD'S CONTROL OVER MY LIFE, MY FAMILY, MY MINISTRY, AND YOURS AS WELL. IN ADDITION WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY, PLAN, AND SEEK PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE ON THE THINGS WE POSSESS AND PREVENTATIVE MEDICAL TREATMENT.

God allows things into our lives we would never permit if we were in control. Over and over again in the Bible God providentially permitted adversity into the lives of His people for a great purpose and for His name to be glorified. Read about Abraham having to wait so long for Isaac to be born. Read about the tragic sufferings of Joseph's life meant for evil but God turned for good and the salvation of His covenant people. Read about the trials David endured when King Saul pursued him to end his life. Out of those experiences we have some of the Psalms. Who can forget Job and his testimony of trust when he told his wife, "'Shall we indeed accept good from the Lord and not accept adversity.' In all this Job did not sin with his lips." [Job 2:10]

I have a ranching friend who recently sent me a picture of four dead cows in the pasture that were  struck by lightening. Below the picture of his dead cows he wrote, "God is still my God." Like Oswald Chambers, like the former pastor and his wife facing a terminal illness, like my rancher friend and like countless other followers of Christ before us, they believe God providentially permits adversity into our lives. He does not abandon us in those times. Quite to the contrary. He offers us His peace and His strength. [Ps 46:1] [Phil 4:6-7]

Like so many other things in life it comes down to trust. Do we trust God is still in control? Do we still trust His faithfulness even when He providentially permits things into our lives we would rather have avoided all together.

I have another eye doctor appointment this week. Type 2 Diabetes has definitely affected my vision. A few weeks ago I woke up and could not read the Bible. I scrambled looking at three different ones to find one I could see clearly enough to preach from the next mooring. I struggled to read the text the following Sunday morning. I stumbled over words. I guessed at some as all I could make it was blurry black letters on a page.  I could not clearly make out the faces of people sitting in the third row. The church gathered around me to pray for my healing. Another friend and his wife prayed for me while we were on vacation. I have to accept that God can heal and I have asked him to do so. Other preachers have preached in the past even though they were blind. One of the greatest hymn writers who ever lived, Fanny Crosby, was blind but God still used her. Though I have asked and am believing for healing, if God should providentially permit me to lose my vision will I say along with Job, "Shall I accept good from the Lord and not also accept adversity."

I love what Job said in [Job 13:15] Though He spay me, I will hope in Him, nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him. I love that. I hear Job saying, "God I still hope in you. My children are gone. My workers are gone. My possessions are gone but you are my only hope. I am still going to plead my  cause to you for relief. Yet, in all this,  I hope in You and trust in Your providential permission."

That's where I want to live. That is where I want you to live as well. Like it or not we are not in control of our lives. The former pastor and his wife had plans on retiring from his current job, selling their house and relocating to another state. Those plans were set in motion until this devastating diagnosis. Everything has changed for the time being. They are still trusting God. My rancher friend who lost the four cows is still praising and trusting God as his provider. The death of those cows cost him tens of thousands of dollars in the future.

Maybe my issue with Diabetes and my trouble seeing is to serve as a platform to keep pointing people to trust God is in control even when things turn troublesome. He is a treasure worth seeking above health, promotion, and wealth. In this life I don't figure I will ever fully understand why Brenda and I have faced so much financial adversity in ministry. If God has providentially permitted that just so I can testify of the number of ways and times He has come through for us then so be it. I TRUST HE IS IN CONTROL AND FAITHFUL NO MATTER HOW IT TURNS OUT FOR ME.