SOVEREIGNTY<\/p>\n
\u201cHow precious are Your thoughts unto me, O God!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI form the light \u2014 and create darkness; I make peace \u2014 and create evil! I the LORD do all these things!\u201d \u2014 Isaiah 45:7<\/p>\n
What a sad world this would be \u2014 were it governed by Fate! <\/em>Were its blended lights and shadows, its joys and sorrows \u2014 the result of capricious accident<\/em> \u2014 or blind and wayward chance! <\/em>How blessed to think that each separate occurrence which befalls me \u2014 is \u201ca thought of God\u201d \u2014 the fulfillment of His own immutable purpose!<\/p>\n Is it the material world? It is He who \u201cforms the light<\/em> \u2014 and creates darkness<\/em>\u201d \u2014 who appoints the sun <\/em>and moon <\/em>for their seasons \u2014 who gives to the sea <\/em>its decree \u2014 who watches the sparrow <\/em>in its fall \u2014 who tends the lily <\/em>in the field \u2014 and who paints the tiniest flower <\/em>that blossoms in the meadow.<\/p>\n Is it the moral world? All events are predetermined and prearranged by Him! \u201cI make peace \u2014 and create evil!\u201d <\/em>Both prosperity <\/em>and adversity <\/em>are His appointment. The Lord who of old prepared Jonah\u2019s shade-plant, prepared also the worm<\/em>. He gives<\/em> \u2014 and He takes away<\/em>. He molds every tear. He \u201cputs them into His bottle.\u201d He knows them all, counts them all, treasures them all. Not one of them falls unbidden \u2014 unnoted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lot <\/em>is cast into the lap \u2014 but the whole disposing <\/em>thereof is of the Lord.\u201d Over every occurrence in nature and in providence He writes, \u201cI the Lord do all <\/em>these things!\u201d True, His thoughts <\/em>are often mysterious, and His ways <\/em>are past finding out. We are led at times, amid the bewildering mazes of His providential dealings<\/em>, to exclaim, \u201cO Lord, how great are Your works, and Your thoughts are very deep!\u201d Be it ours to defer our verdict \u2014 <\/em>until their full development<\/em>.<\/p>\n We cannot envision the thoughts and intents of the architect or engineer in the first clearing of the ground for the foundation of some gigantic structure. The uninitiated eye can discover nothing but piles of unshapely rubbish \u2014 a chaos of confusion. But gradually, as week by week passes \u2014 we see his thoughts molding themselves into visible and substantial shapes of order and beauty; and when the edifice at last stands before us complete, we discern that all which was mystery and confusion at first \u2014 was a necessary part and portion of the undertaking.<\/p>\n So is it, at present, regarding the mysterious dealings of God. Often, in vain, do we try to comprehend the purposes of the Almighty Architect, <\/em>amid the dust and debris of the earthly foundations. Let us wait patiently, until we gaze on the finished structure of eternity.<\/p>\n Oh, blessed assurance \u2014 \u2018precious thought\u2019 of God \u2014 that the loom of our life <\/em>is in the hands of the Great Designer \u2014 that it is He who is interweaving the threads of our existence:<\/em> the light \u2014 and the dark, the acknowledged good \u2014 and the apparent evil. The chain <\/em>of what is erroneously called \u201cdestiny,\u201d is in His keeping. He knows <\/em>its every connecting link \u2014 He has forged <\/em>each one on His own anvil! Man\u2019s purposes have failed, and are ever liable to fail \u2014 his brightest anticipations may be thwarted; his best-laid schemes may be frustrated.<\/p>\n Life is often a retrospect of crushed hopes \u2014 the bright rainbow-hues of morning, passing in its afternoon into damp mist and drizzling rain. \u201cMany are the thoughts in a man\u2019s heart,\u201d (knowing no fulfillment nor fruition) \u201cbut the counsel of the Lord \u2014 that shall stand.\u201d \u201cFrom eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse My actions!\u201d \u201cHallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!\u201d Revelation 19:6 MacDuff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SOVEREIGNTY \u201cHow precious are Your thoughts unto me, O God!\u201d \u201cI form the light \u2014 and create darkness; I make peace \u2014 and create evil! I the LORD do all these things!\u201d \u2014 Isaiah 45:7 What a sad world this would be \u2014 were it governed by Fate! Were its blended lights and shadows, its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-john-macduff","category-gods-attributes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2024,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions\/2024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}