Tag: God’s Will

June 1, 2020 Pastor Jason Gilbert | Menomonie

                Providence isn’t a word we use a lot in conversation.  Even in Christian circles, it has become less and less popular.  Instead, we often substitute words like ‘sovereignty’ or ‘God’s will’ in place of the word providence.  But neither of those terms fully encompasses the meaning of providence.  According to Webster’s dictionary, providence means (1) divine guidance or care, (2) God conceived power sustaining and guiding human destiny.  In fact, the closest thing we have to this Latin word in modern English is ‘provision’.

Is Providence Biblical?

                Where do we see providence in the Bible?  We see it in God’s promise in the Garden, that the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3).  We then see it in God providing himself a sacrifice… a ram caught in the thicket… This just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22).  We also see it with King Saul… diverted and distracted by various means… as he sought again and again to kill David.  We later see it in Joseph… warned by an Angel to flee to Egypt with Mary and their newborn son… just as Herod ordered the slaughter of all the children in the land.  And finally, we see it in Jesus’ crucifixion… his hands and feet pierced… hanging on a tree… as soldiers cast lots for his clothes… in fulfillment of prophecy a millennium earlier (Psalm 22).  In considering all of this, perhaps a greater question is, where do we not see providence in the Bible? 

What About Today?

                What about today?  Is providence as effectual for us living in the 21st century as it was for those living in biblical times?  The Bible answers that question with an emphatic “Yes”.  Because God is the “same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  And God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).  Furthermore, Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).  So we can know “for those who love God, all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).  Do we recognize God’s guidance and care for us today, God’s power to sustain and guide our destiny in the 21st century?

Observing Providence

                Take a minute and observe providence in your own life.  Do you see God’s hand at work in your past, where you were born, who your parents were, where you went to school, in those you met along the way, in your times of difficulty, or through your unique circumstances?  The puritan author John Flavel, in “The Mystery of Providence” (1678), encourages us to observe such works of providence…

“Without due observation of the works of providence no praise can be rendered to God for any of them.  Praise and thanksgiving for mercies depend upon this act of observation of them, and cannot be performed without it.  Psalm 107 is spent narrating God’s providential care of men: to His people in difficulties (vv. 4-6); to prisoners in their bonds (vv. 10-12); to men that lie in languish upon beds of sickness (vv. 17-19); to sailors upon the stormy ocean (vv. 33-34). Yea, His providence is displayed in all those changes that occur in the world, debasing the high, and exalting the low (vv. 40-41), and at every paragraph, men are called upon to praise God for each of these providences.  Verse 43 shows you what a necessary ingredient to that duty observation is: ‘Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.’”

Applying Providence

                It is one thing to praise God after we have seen the effects of providence.  It is another thing entirely to trust God in the midst of our circumstances.  Yet that is exactly why we need to pause and observe God’s providential care over our past.  As Paul so aptly puts it, “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.  On him, we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:10). As John Flavel tells us, “Providence carries our lives, liberties, and concerns in its hand every moment. Your bread is in its cupboard, your money in its purse, your safety in its enfolding arms.”

May we take some time to meditate on His divine guidance and care over our lives. May we consider how His power has sustained and guided us.  In doing so, may our hearts praise Him for what he has done… and trust Him for what He is now doing…

June 1, 2018 Pastor Jason Gilbert | Menomonie

Where are you going?

That’s a question I’ve been asking myself because its been on my mind as of late.  Part of the reason is because I just finished the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses is given a view of the Promised Land from Mt. Nebo after spending forty years wandering in the wilderness with the Israelites.  But I’m also seeing that question, whether verbalized or not, playing out in the lives of the vast majority of us who have experienced the “Exodus” of salvation but are still wandering in the wilderness concerning our relationships, our vocations, our stewardship (time, finances, and health), our commitment to our churches, our ministries, and the pursuit of our calling.  Why are we not entering the “Promised Land” in these areas?

What is God’s plan for you?

First, let’s be clear… God has a plan for you!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” -Jeremiah 29:11-14 (ESV)

Not only that… But God has a specific plan for you!

“For we are his workmanship (also translated ‘poem’), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” -Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb… our eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” -Psalm 139:13,16 (ESV)

This means God has already written out every detail of your life.  If you are to be married, God has arranged a specific person for you.  Or single, God knows and will give you the gift of singleness for your good and His glory.  If you are able to work, God has designed and prepared you for a certain job.  In fact, the word vocation comes from the Latin word vocare meaning ‘to call’.

God has called you to a job and has allotted you a set number of days and certain amount of resources, including your very own body, to be stewarded for His glory.  He knows what local church you are to be at and who your pastors are.  God has uniquely gifted and equipped you to serve in a particular ministry, that you would be most useful for His kingdom.  God has predestined, pre-ordained you to find fulfillment as you fulfill a distinct calling within His grand story…

So where are you now?

Does your current dating or marriage relationship (or lack of) reflect his specific plan for you?  Are you sure you aren’t settling for something less than His plan because of continuing unfaithfulness?  Are you working the job he designed you for?  How would you know?  Are you managing rightly the time, the finances, and the physical body he has allotted to you on this earth?  Is He getting a good return on His investment in you?  Are you committed to and supporting a specific church where God has placed you?  And are you humbly submitting to and honoring that church’s leadership?  Are you serving in a ministry that utilizes the unique gifts God has equipped you with.  Can you confidently say you are fulfilling the distinct calling He has predestined and pre-ordained you to?

I believe, if we were to be totally honest with ourselves, nearly all of us would answer no to at least one of these questions.  Many would answer no to most of them.  If that is the case, what are we doing about it?  Are we addressing these issues?  Don’t get me wrong… God isn’t asking for perfection in any of these areas… Nor were His people who eventually entered the Promised Land ever perfect.  However, that being said, are we where God wants us to be, with whom God wants us to be with, doing what God wants us to do, being who God wants us to be?  If the answer is “no”, or “I don’t know”, to any of those questions, we are not living in the “Promised Land”.

How do we find it?

So how do we find this “Promised Land” that God prepared beforehand, that we might walk in it?

First we need to recognize that God is a communicator.  He is not a God who asks us to speculate, but a God who reveals.  He reveals His will to us through His Word (Ps 119:105), through creation (Rom 1:19-20), though pastors and teachers (Eph 4:11-12), though the church (Acts 13:1-3), and through His Spirit (Rom 8:26-27).  God wants to reveal his will to us.  He doesn’t want us to speculate about His plans for us.  He wants us to know.  Are we utilizing all the avenues He has made available to speak to us.  If we do, He will answer us…

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” -Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV)

Second, we need to be surrendering our bodies to Him, holy and acceptable, and turn away from all worldly influences. This means we can’t be practicing any known sin and expect to discover God’s will for our life. This also means we can’t look to the world or unbelieving friends for advice on the direction of our life.  However, if we do surrender our bodies and turn away from worldly influences, we will come to know God’s will as good, acceptable, and perfect.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” -Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

Third, we need to commit…  It’s one thing to be flexible and available to anything God “might” call us to when we’re in our twenties.  Its quite another thing to not be committed to any specific direction in our life when we are forty and have been a Christian for twenty years.  At some point being flexible and available is no longer a virtue, but a vice that keeps us from committing to God’s specific will.  Once God has revealed His will to us, He expects us to put our foot down and plant ourselves there.  He’s not a casually God who asks us for a tacit participation in any of these areas.  He’s a covenantal God who requires an all-in commitment to His will.  If we are ever going to see any of God’s will established in our life, it is going to require commitment.

“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” –Proverbs 16:3 (ESV)

So I ask you again, where are you going?  Perhaps you’ve been wandering around in the wilderness in a certain area of your life and have no idea where it will lead.  Let me remind you that God has a plan.  Our churches see this need and will be addressing it.  This summer we will be spending considerable time discussing the Holy Spirit, His work, and His role in our lives.  May we take advantage of this time that we might discern God’s will for our lives.   Let us make a concerted effort to hear what He will communicate to us, to submit our bodies holy and acceptable to Him, to turn away from all worldly influences, and to fully commit ourselves to what He has prepared for us.  Perhaps then we too will be standing on Mt. Nebo, ready to enter the glory of the Promised Land.