Thoughts from Sinclair Ferguson...

Recently, C.J Mahaney has been posting an interview he conducted with the famous Irish author and preacher, Sinclair Ferguson.  You can read the interview here.  There were many answers that Mr. Ferguson had to C.J's questions that were convicting, but one thing he said really resonated with me.

"There are times when I bump into somebody unexpectedly that I will say, “This is a happy providence.” And then I will stop and think, “Would it have been an unhappy providence if I hadn’t bumped into you?” We have this tendency—especially if you are inclined to this legalism—to measure how God’s love is doing for you these days by the providences that surround your life. Our ability to read providences are a very inaccurate measure of God’s love for us."

This is so applicable to me because I do it so darn often.  It is a form of legalism that I think goes unnoticed and unchecked by many Christians today and serves only to limit the providence of God.  We as sinners cannot determine what is good for us and what is not.  We do not set the boundaries or limitations as to what is done for our benefit, only God does.  Essentially, everything that happens to us is under the sovereignty of God and is therefore for our good.  

It is errant and arrogant for me to say that because I received an 'A' on an exam that God is good or that the 'A' is definitively good.  God is always good.  However, the real test is what I would be thinking if I received an 'F'.  Would I consider that circumstance as 'bad' now?  In my heart is God still good or am I quietly seething about the outcome?

What I am trying to say is that what we think to be a bad thing is almost always a good thing in the end.  Think through some of the events that have happened to you this week that you have deemed to be unsavory.  Was it necessarily a bad providence?  Many times I have to stop and ask God that he would comfort with the truth of Romans 8:28.

These are questions that I think we would all do well to ask ourselves in those situations.  I pray that God would shed the light of his truth upon us and that we would surrender to that.  Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good." 

-Kyle-