Lifes Observatory
In the Challies.com post of March 13, Tim Challies made this observation: “You do not need to [search] extensively in Christian history or Christian biography to spot the connection between sorrow and sanctification. Though it is certainly not always the case, very often the people who are particularly used by the Lord are the same people who endure suffering.” From this statement, he continued by quoting from one of De Witt Talmage’s sermons in which he mentions the examples of several notable Christians among whom were John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, and George Whitfield. The quote from the sermon that especially caught my attention was this: “What is the highest observatory for studying the stars of hope and faith and spiritual promise? The believer’s sick-bed.”
Through the years, I have preached many sermons about illnesses and God’s purposes for them. One of the most common objections is a complaint against God that I am sure is not intended to be as harsh as it may sound. We complain that God is not fair when we have done our best to be faithful and have lived our lives by the word as well as we believe we can. By comparison, it seems the worldly prosper far better than Christians hope to. This is the most troubling part of what I would call irrational Christian reasoning.
The reason I say these thoughts are not intended to be as harsh as they sound is because the Christian must surely be aware that our good health is not a sign or reward of payback for a righteous life. God does not love us and care for us because we are righteous people. If this were true, we would face the dilemma expressed by James in his epistle: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (2:10).I would encourage you to stay as far away as you can from any thoughts that you have done enough good things to merit special favoritism from God. I promise that if you intend to keep score, you will be buried so deep in a hole that you will never see the light of day.
My second observation is not understanding that God sees and knows the whole picture of your life not because He has seen what you have done lately but has seen and planned the scope of the entirety of it from the foundation of the world. You make not one move without the plan and purpose of God as the reason you do. Your observatory for studying the stars of hope, faith and promise begins with complete dependence upon the sovereignty of God. There are so many directions for me to take on these thoughts that I feel as if a 600-word article is a straitjacket I cannot escape. To contemplate for even five seconds that God looks through time to decide and determine anything about us by what He observes we will do is another prospect not considered to be harsher than first thought. Without divine Holy Spirit intervention, we are destroyed before crying out at the first breath from our mother’s womb. There is nothing God sees in us but hopelessness and hell if not for the determinate counsel of His uninfluenced, unalterable will.
My time and space are gone so I conclude with this last thought. Hope, faith, and spiritual promise are not understood by a life of ease. Dependence on God is rarely expressed unless calling on God for help is unmistakably necessary. To exalt myself as one who perfectly endures is to adjudge myself more faithful than the patriarchs, and more sanctified than the apostles. I pray that I understand as well as I should that every event of my life is a learning, sanctifying experience. My observatory is to watch what God does and to shutter the doors to the sky against any thoughts of personal worth.
Pastor V. Mark Smith