|
They knew God was in control
when the cows came home.
I have an acquaintance who related a story to me
about his experience with facing the Almighty God.
His story is found later in this message
and I will point it out.
But first, lets begin with looking
at an historical event involving the Philistines.
The Philistines were disillusioned, to say the least.
Two decisive victories had sent their conquered foe,
Israel, reeling in defeat.
They had even captured the
ark of God,
a final slap in the face
to a devastated Israel.
But there was one detail
the Philistines
had not considered:
God was on Israel’s side.
And you do not slap God in the face.
As the Philistines discovered, a provoked God
is nothing to play around with (1 Samuel 4-6 ).
God began His theology lesson.
When the Philistines placed the ark
next to their god Dagon,
Dagon fell on his face before the ark—
literally “broken up” in the presence of the living God.
The Lord then ravaged the people of the city by
inflicting them with tumors and throwing them into
“a great panic.” The shaken and bewildered
Philistines tried moving the ark from city to city.
But God, like a spiritual funnel cloud, touched down
in every city the ark went, causing tumors,
death, and pandemonium.
The Philistines called a committee meeting and
decided they had experienced quite enough
discomfort from possessing this ark.
They decided to send it back … well, sort of.
You see, they still held out the possibility that
all of the calamities that fell upon them were
mere flukes of nature. So they inserted a
“fluke clause” in their strategy, hoping to prove
that the affliction they had experienced
was the result of bad luck or coincidence.
The Philistines’ plan involved unusual travel
arrangements for the ark, arrangements that would
test the sovereignty of God. They placed the ark on a
cart and rounded up “two cows that have calved
and have never been yoked.”
The cart was then sent on its way.
They theorized that if the cart made it back to Israel,
the conclusion would be inescapable that God
had indeed caused their problems.
If the cows wandered aimlessly about,
it meant all their problems had happened by chance.
It was an ingenious idea: a foolproof plan that
profoundly stacked the deck against God.
Humanly speaking, the cows with cart in tow
did not have a shot. What were the odds that the
cows, without human direction, would plod along
through unfamiliar territory and make their way to
Israel? They had never been yoked or pulled a cart.
They would have to ignore their natural impulses to
return to their calves. In addition, they would have to
fight off the bovine inclination to stay in the security of
their own pasture. The odds certainly seemed to
suggest that they would do what cows do best—
wander aimlessly. But when God and His sovereign
control enter the equation, the scales decidedly tip in
favor of cows turning into amazing.
Fair-weather Faith
Before we shake our heads
at the Philistines’ strategy,
let’s look a little closer at our own thinking
when it comes to the sovereignty of God.
Many times we are much like the Philistines.
At a conference on the character of God,
theologian R. C. Sproul stated,
I have never in my life met a Christian
who said that he did not believe that God is
sovereign… But as soon as we probe the
understanding of sovereignty, it takes about five
minutes to realize that how many Christians define
sovereignty could be better described as
non-sovereignty … a God who is like the king
of England, who reigns but does not rule.
We say we believe in this grand doctrine of God’s
sovereign reign and rule, but we may start to
backpedal when the storms of life hit.
That’s when we give lip service to
God’s sovereign rule but send out our
own “cows” to see if all this is really happening
by chance. It’s a tough pill to swallow that
the Lord has made both prosperity and disaster,
good things and calamity
(Eccl. 7:14 , Is. 45:7 , Lam. 3:38 ).
Our God reigns.
We might be tentative in fully embracing God’s
sovereignty, but the Bible holds no reservations.
From cover to cover God’s Word clearly
declares God’s rule, His authority, and His power.
“The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all” (Ps. 103:19 ).
“The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms
of men” (Dan. 4:17 ). King David declared,
“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours”
(1 Chron. 29:11 ).
Centuries later, the Apostle Paul wrote that
God is the “only Ruler, the King of kings
and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15 ).
God’s sovereign rule orchestrates circumstances,
usually without fanfare. As the hymn writer states,
His rule is “as silent as light.”
His guiding influence pulsates like the hushed
power of electricity through even the
most turbulent times.
God uses the ordinary and the commonplace
(even cows!) to accomplish extraordinary feats
against insurmountable odds.
In his book Trusting God, Jerry Bridges writes,
“To believe in the sovereignty of God when we
do not see His direct intervention—when God is,
so to speak, working entirely behind the scenes
through ordinary circumstances and ordinary actions
of people is … important, because that is
the way God usually works.”
Send in the cows.
And now, here is Curt's story,
What the Philistines ultimately found out is what I
discovered a few years ago. I was working
comfortably at an advertising agency, attempting to
balance the fast-track demands of my career with a
relationship with the Lord.
But the “God of all comfort” became
the “God that was too close for comfort.”
I was challenged to go on a missions trip to
minister to African businessmen for the summer.
I was torn between leaving my burgeoning career
in advertising and trusting God to pull off
what seemed to be an impossible step of faith.
Was God really in this, or did this opportunity come
about by “chance”?
I did not want to go.
After all, I would have to quit my job.
I would have to come up with thousands of dollars
that I did not have. And from all the reports
I was hearing, I thought I would probably die
over there. If the parasites didn’t get you, getting
caught in tribal warfare certainly would.
The mission agency informed me that I would
have to specify where I wanted my body sent if
“the Lord took you home”!
So how could I get out of this and still look spiritual?
My plan rivaled the Philistines’ scheme.
I devised a “fluke clause” and brought out “cows”
of my own, hoping that this opportunity did come
about by chance. Here was my strategy:
(1) I would make half-hearted attempts to raise
money and then lament to others how
slowly it was coming in.
(2) I would delay sending my visa paperwork
and passport forms until it would be
impossible to get them back in time to go.
(3) I would not get my shots until the last
possible second (hoping I never would).
(4) I would not quit my job until I knew
God’s sovereign hand was “moving me to go,”
despite all the obstacles I had laid out.
So there I was,
with all the smugness of a Philistine,
having stacked the deck against God.
Yes sir, my cows were hitched to the yoke.
I was counting on those cows to wander aimlessly
until the departure date for the trip
had come and gone.
But I had not counted on God’s sovereign hand
working behind the scenes.
My strategy began to crumble around me.
The money came in quickly. A series of unusually
rapid decisions by African officials and our state
department put my visas and passport in my hands
one week before departure time. I discovered that
I could still get my shots if they were
lumped together. I realized there was
no escaping the fact that God wanted
me to go to Africa. Nothing was happening
by chance, and I finally acquiesced
to God’s sovereign purpose for my life.
So off I went to get immunized
and then reluctantly quit my job.
End of story; but is it?
In His Hands
This is the conclusion that the Philistines arrived
at as well. The cows trudged in a straight line all
the way to Israel. Regardless of how the Philistines
had stacked the deck in favor of chance,
the cows and sovereignty won.
The Philistines reluctantly acknowledged
the sovereign hand of God in their circumstances.
Neither they nor anyone else could hold back the
purposes of God. In Concise Theology J. I. Packer
states, “God’s dominion is total:
He wills as He chooses and carries
out all that He wills, and
none can stay His hand or thwart His plans.”
What were the results of the sovereign movement
of God’s hand in Curt's life?
His life was changed forever.
Following his missions trip he knew
the Lord wanted him in full-time Christian ministry.
God’s sovereign hand can sometimes be seen
best in hindsight. Often we can’t fully
understand His purposes when we are
in the middle of what seem to be chaotic
circumstances. This is where faith comes into the
picture. When we know that life is not a series of
random acts or arbitrary events, we can have confidence in God and His
plan for us.
We can trust, obey, and cling to our heavenly Father
without doubting His rule.
Yoking up our own “cows” to test
the waters is futile and reeks of disobedience.
What is the outcome of witnessing God’s sovereignty
at work? It is worship. When the cows lumbered into
their divinely appointed destination, the people of
Israel worshiped the Lord
through offerings and sacrifices
God’s sovereign purposes are fulfilled
even if we do not believe in them.
However, if we do embrace His sovereignty
and bow in submission to it we will be changed!
When we trust and submit confidently
to His purposes, the result will be worship.
Jerry Bridges writes,
As we bow in worship before His almighty power,
we can also bow in confidence that He exercises
that power for us, not against us.
So we should bow in an attitude of humility,
accepting His dealings in our lives,
but we can also bow in love, knowing that …
however severe and painful they may be,
[those dealings] come from a wise
and loving heavenly Father.
God’s sovereignty does not always answer
the why questions we face as we traverse
through life. But more important than giving
us the why, it anchors our faith in the Who
and teaches us that chance is not
in God’s vocabulary. He really does have
“the whole world in His hands.”
Our joys and our pains, our successes
and our failures are woven into one wonderful
tapestry as He works out His will in our lives.
Think of it: He will even use plodding
bovines to teach us the magnificent truth of
His sovereignty and get us to leave
our Philistine ways. Then we can bow in humble
worship to the “LORD [who]
will fulfill his purpose for me” (Ps. 138:8).
~ Author Unknown ~
submitted by Hugh
|
