Sovereign Over Our Suffering
Download MP3If you have a bible and wanna open up to Isaiah 45, I told this morning. Would have been great if I had said that before, so I could have given you guys time to open there. But as it is, alright. It is my joy and honor to get to be here and open God's word with you guys this morning. I wanna be upfront as we do that what we're about to read is a pretty hard text.
Ford Galin:There's a heaviness to what we're about to study. But I've been praying all week that God would meet us in our pain, our confusion, our suffering, our struggles, our doubts, our wrestling with his redemptive glorious plan. And so with that in mind, if you would read with me Isaiah chapter 45. Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings. To open the doors before him that gates may not be closed.
Ford Galin:I will go before you and level the exalted places. I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes in secret places that you may know that it is I, the lord, the god of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name. I name you though you do not know me.
Ford Galin:I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God. I equip you though you do not know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the West that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form light and create darkness.
Ford Galin:I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Shower, oh heavens from above and let the clouds rain down righteousness. Let the earth open that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit. Let the earth cause them both to sprout.
Ford Galin:I, the Lord, have created it. Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots. Does the clay say to him who forms it, what are you making or your work has no handles? Woe to him who says to the father, what are you begetting? Or a woman, with what are you in labor?
Ford Galin:Thus says the Lord, the holy one of Israel and the one who formed him. Ask me of things to come. Will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? I made the earth and created on it, and created man on it. It was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their hosts.
Ford Galin:I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level, that he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward, says the Lord of hosts. Pray with me. Lord, we are here to hear from you. And so God, we pray that in these coming minutes, anything that is from the world or from man or from the enemy you would silence. But God, through your word you would speak to us.
Ford Galin:That we may have hope and comfort, that we may be conformed into your image. And God that you would breathe life into our otherwise dead bodies. Speak Lord, for we are here to listen. We pray that in the present and redemptive name of Jesus. Amen.
Ford Galin:Well, a few months ago, one of my wife Megan's best friends was getting married. And obviously, it's easy to be excited for a wedding, but this was one of those weddings that maybe was ratcheted up just a little bit. This is one of my wife's best friends going back to college. It's a woman we have a tremendous amount of respect for and we've grown to really respect her now husband as well. In short, it was just really easy to see that the Lord was behind this wedding and bringing these two together.
Ford Galin:So we were so excited to go and to celebrate that with the couple. But when the wedding came, Megan and I weren't there. And the reason we weren't is that in the week leading up, one of our friends had lost her husband. And the funeral was the same day. We sat in a memorial service with tears of sorrow while we had these other friends crying these tears of joy.
Ford Galin:And I remember sitting there and thinking, well, where is the Lord in this? Is the Lord in this? What could he possibly be doing? The longer and longer I'm in ministry, the more I see that it seems like joy and mourning are never far from each other. My job on staff is to oversee our small groups and it feels like every time I get an update about one of our church groups, I'll hear about someone who is in an incredibly sweet season, but someone else who's in a time of suffering.
Ford Galin:And even now, I look out at our congregation and see some people who are in really blessed incredible season sitting right next to those who are here burdened and whose life feels like tragedy after tragedy lately. So ask again, where is the Lord in this? Is the Lord in this? And what could he possibly do? We're gonna spend most of our time this morning looking at Isaiah forty five seven when God says that he makes both well-being and creates calamity.
Ford Galin:This is God saying that he is every bit as responsible for the best things as he also is for the worst things in our life. There's a heaviness to that, but before we get to that section of scripture, we need to understand the context of where this is coming in. So if you'd stick with me for a few set minutes as we look at these first six verses. God starts out by saying, thus says the lord to his anointed to Cyrus. Now, that verse probably has a little effect on most of us right now but for the original audience, for the original Hebrews and Israelites and Jews, that would have been an astounding thing.
Ford Galin:For one, Osiris was a Persian king who likely was not even born yet when this was prophesied. And so, there's a shock that god is doing something that we cannot grasp. But, even more than that, we have to understand the background of Israel. So, Israel, the Jews, these were God's chosen people. It began when he bestowed his favor on Abraham in Genesis 12 promising to bless them and to take them to his promised land.
Ford Galin:God was good and honored that promise by leading them out of slavery in Egypt in Egypt through the egg or through the exodus and bringing them to this promised land. And then God sent his chosen one, his shepherd, his king David over his people to rule from Jerusalem and to usher in the season of peace and prosperity for the Israelites. But at this point, that was a long time ago. The years that since Israel has had a fairly steady decline. Not long after David, the kingdom was fractured and broken into two.
Ford Galin:You now have the Northern Kingdom Of Israel and a Southern Kingdom Of Judah. So, God's people are now divided. Doesn't go particularly well for either of them. In the eighth century BC, the Northern Kingdom will be conquered by Assyria. We saw this earlier on in Isaiah and the Israelites led into exile.
Ford Galin:Then, in the sixth century BC, the Southern Kingdom Of Judah where Jerusalem was, well, they'll see the same fate. This time, at the hands of the Babylonians. As the people we brought into exile, God's temple destroyed and Jerusalem raised. And so, there's some scholarly debate over when the timing is for Isaiah 45. If it's given to people before Jerusalem is destroyed and led into exile, or to people who are already living in exile.
Ford Galin:And regardless of what the right answer there is, what is clear is that Israel would need a deliverer. They would need someone to lead them back to the promised land and to rebuild Jerusalem and to bring back God's people into this place of favor. Into that, we get Cyrus. Now, this is shocking because Cyrus was not a Jew or an Israelite. Cyrus is a future king of the nation of Persia.
Ford Galin:What happened is that Persia would eventually conquer Babylon and thus, Israel would still be in captivity but now with these new masters. And Cyrus would actually let Israel come back. He would let the Jews go back to Jerusalem. This is what you see in verse 13 when God says that I will cause Cyrus to build my city, that's Jerusalem, and to set my exiles free. So, it can seem like this is good news, but but there's a few problems.
Ford Galin:First, Cyrus did not know the Lord. The Jews, they had this identity as God's chosen people, but God says his anointed and the verse before the end of 44, he actually called him his shepherd. These are two incredibly weighty titles in Hebrew culture. Well, God says his anointed, his shepherd is gonna be this pagan king who does not know him. And so, there'd already be confusion for the Israelites, but gets worse.
Ford Galin:They'll they'll be brought back, but they won't be fully restored. The temple will never look like it once did. In verse three, we see God promising to give Cyrus the treasures of darkness. That would be the treasures of the Babylonian empire. And, you think about where those came from.
Ford Galin:They were the treasures that Babylon took from the nations it conquered. In short, this was Israel's treasure now going to a pagan foreign king. As if that's not bad enough, the real reason this would have been so disorienting and heartbreaking for the Israelites, well to understand that we have to realize the difference in their culture and ours. You see, we live in a monotheistic culture. Meaning that right now, the question would be, is there a God or is there not a God?
Ford Galin:But, while the Israelites, the Jews were monotheistic, every nation surrounding them was polytheistic. The predominant world view of the day was this idea that there wasn't a question about if there was a god. In fact, there were actually many gods they thought. But, that each of those gods was restricted. There'd be a god over a specific people or over a specific place or over a specific function, like a God who is over the harvest or over fertility or over the sun.
Ford Galin:And, it was believed that the strength or weakness of a God was indicated by the success or failure of that God's people. So, for God to say the way he's gonna deliver Israel is not by them raising up and securing victory for themselves, but having them indebted to the mercy of a foreign king who is still authoritative over them. Well, that would seem to indicate that God was weak and powerless. The Jews not only will they not be restored, not only are they stuck in exile, but now they're told that the God that they have staked their full life on, the God who was their identity, well, they're starting to wonder if he is as strong as he said he was. They're starting to wonder, has God made some sort of mistake?
Ford Galin:And, have we made some sort of mistake trusting him? But be absolutely clear that God is using Cyrus, there is no question in this passage who is ultimately at work. If we read back through it, and I'm sorry I'm gonna kinda skip from line to line here, but notice how much God talks about himself is the subject here. He says, thus says the Lord who has anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped. In verse two, I will go before you.
Ford Galin:I will break in pieces the doors of bronze. Verse three, I will give you the treasures of darkness, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant, I call you by your name. I name you though you do not know me. I am the Lord and there is no other.
Ford Galin:I am the Lord and there is no other. He repeats again. What God is doing here is he's making absolutely clear that he is the one who's bringing all these things about. You see, the Israelites would have struggled thinking that the fact that he was using Cyrus rather than one of their own was potentially an indication that God was weak. But God is making it clear it's actually an indication of his power and his sovereignty, saying that he is not constrained to one people or one place or one part of life, but that he is sovereign over all things.
Ford Galin:It is not that using this foreign king shows that God is limited, it actually shows that God is limitless. In the midst of asserting that sovereignty, we get this hard verse of Isaiah forty five seven where we read, I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Other translations will say things like, I bring prosperity and create disaster.
Ford Galin:Or, I make peace and create evil. To clarify that I'm not talking about moral evil, but evil is in every bad thing that happens to us. God is saying that there's absolutely nothing out of the reach of his sovereign will to get at the ends that he has foreordained. And he will use everything most the best and the worst things for his purposes. God's asserting that he was every bit as much as present and responsible in the exile as he was in the prosperity.
Ford Galin:That God has ever met as much behind the funeral as he was the wedding. That both the trials and the triumphs of our life, both the blessings and the biggest tragedies that God is saying unequivocally, I am the Lord who does all these things. And God takes responsibility then for the hardest things that we go through. And so, for the rest of this sermon, we're gonna really think about one thing. How do we make sense of a God who claims sovereignty over the deepest sufferings of our life?
Ford Galin:And, as hard as it is, how could that actually be a good thing for us? But, before I go further, I want to just recognize that we're all coming in here differently. Some of you may be walking in here having not experienced much suffering in life or in a relatively good stretch right now and praise God if that is the case. I encourage you to listen because we know that it's coming for us all. And that we may be able to comfort and bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters around us because I know there's also plenty in here who are walking and beat up and worn down and with burdens you thought you would never have to bear.
Ford Galin:That God has taken you on roads unexpected and it took everything in you perhaps just to make it here this morning. Since I mentioned suffering, maybe you've been thinking about bee lining it for the door. I want you to know my intention and plan is not to give some trite sayings that act like the pain is not as deep as it is. But to remind us of the truths of God's character that can hold us fast in that pain. I remember for myself last fall going down to Florida with my dad to visit my grandmother in the hospital.
Ford Galin:And without getting into it, it was just a tough and dark couple days. And I remember one day walking out and my dad who is not a Christian, he's unconvinced by the God of the Bible, saying, well this has to be harder for you, doesn't it? I asked him what he meant and he said, well for you this isn't just bad luck, but you have someone to blame right now. And I sat and I thought and I realized my dad was right. It is not that God's sovereignty or our trust in the Lord lessens the pain in the midst of calamity and suffering.
Ford Galin:If anything, it makes it more acute. Because for us, it's not just that we were dealt a bad hand, it's that God intended for us to go through these things. And, that's brutal. But, it also means that if God is sovereign, we can have comfort and hope and redemption for that pain. God has not promised to take away the pain but He has promised to redeem it.
Ford Galin:And so, four encouragements as we walk through suffering in this life that come from God's sovereignty. First, because God is sovereign over our suffering, we know that God is omnipresent. He is not limited to one thing or one people or region, but he is working in all things. And that means that you and I are not alone when we suffer. That if God is sovereign, even if he permits pain, he does not abandon us in that pain.
Ford Galin:Just last week, we read in Isaiah 43, fear not, I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine. When you walk through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. Notice God doesn't say that the fire, that the rivers, the waters of affliction won't come, but what he does is he promises to be with us in those.
Ford Galin:We see this throughout scripture. He's a God who lets Lazarus die in John 11, but then shows up at the grave to mourn and to weep with Mary and Martha. He's a God that Psalm 34 tells us is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. A God who keeps a bottle of our tears and counts every one of our tossings. Yes, he is a God who may let us go through pain, but it also know that we will have no pain aside from his sovereignty because he will not let a hair on your head be moved without his say so.
Ford Galin:Which means, yes, we suffer and we hurt, but in God's sovereignty we are not alone. But he is with us in that fire. Second, if God is sovereign over our suffering, it means he powerful enough to deliver us. I mean, think about the alternative here. If when we suffer, if there is no God, well, then what that would mean is again, we've just been dealt a bad hand.
Ford Galin:There's no purpose in our suffering and there's no reason to expect it to get any better aside from just dumb luck that the winds might change. Or, what if it's that God causes the good things in our life but not our suffering? I imagine many of us have been at a funeral or some place of tragedy and and heard some say someone say something to the effect of, well, we know God didn't want this. What comfort is that? Because what that means is if God didn't want this to happen and still it did, it means that God would be power against it.
Ford Galin:But, if God is sovereign over our suffering, that means He is greater than the trials and the affliction that we may see, which means that He is powerful enough to deliver us when He sees fit. If you read on the next verse, verse eight, we read, Shower, O heaven from above and let the clouds rain down righteousness. Let the earth open that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit. Yes. God says he creates both calamity and well-being.
Ford Galin:He creates both the bad and the good. But don't think that this is some neutral thing in which there's this sort of cosmic wrestling between good and evil and we do not know which one will prevail. No. God makes clear that his ultimate aim is to shower down righteousness and salvation and fruit. Which means that God ultimately can bring deliverance.
Ford Galin:We have to be careful because God has not promised that He will necessarily put an end to any suffering for us in this world. But, it means that we can have hope and we can trust that unless He has another reason that He is able to do it. So, deliverance is not just gonna be dumb luck, but that we have faith in one who is powerful over it all. But again, that brings the pain because because if God can stop our tears, why doesn't he? And our third encouragement in pain and suffering in light of God's sovereignty is that because God is sovereign over suffering, but it is not clearly what he desires, he has some meaning or purpose in it.
Ford Galin:Know this that your pain, your suffering, your hurt, the calamities and tragedies you see, they are not in vain or pointless. Few weeks ago, I was meeting up with a friend I already remember who who's gone through just a brutal last year. Involved job loss, it involved isolation, relational strife, a family that is fracturing in some ways among other things. And, during a meeting, he said, don't get me wrong, I still have a lot of doubts right now. And I'm still really struggling, but one thing I know, a year ago my life was built on a foundation of sand.
Ford Galin:And God had to strip me bare to build it back on rock. In scripture, we see this is what God does. James one, Lord uses the trials of our life to produce perseverance. First Peter one says suffering refines our faith. Romans five that it produces godly character within us.
Ford Galin:But, it's not just that we suffer and go through trials for our own sanctification. John 11, when Lazarus dies and Jesus waits before he comes to resurrect him, he says he's doing this so that the glory of God will be revealed. The book of Job, God makes it clear that the reason Job suffers so much is to display the Lord's victory over Satan by Job's faith. Second Corinthians one tells us that sometimes we suffer for the sake of our ministry to other people. Philippians three that in suffering we grow in fellowship with God and we come to know Jesus more fully.
Ford Galin:And in all those as a side note, I hope that gives us some other things to pray for in the midst of affliction and not just deliverance to the church. But, the reality is we have to move forward. We realize that God may be using these things and sometimes He makes that clear. For instance, in our struggle in Isaiah four five, God is not ashamed and is very clear about what He's doing. Verse three, He says He is doing this so that Cyrus would know that He is the Lord.
Ford Galin:Verse four, for the sake of Jacob and for Israel. And then in verse six, so that from the rising of the sun, that's the east to the west, everyone would know that He is the Lord. What was God doing in exiling Israel as much as it was painful and suffering for them? Well, in that He was exposing these surrounding nations to the God of Israel, the one and only Lord. He was preparing the ways that centuries later when Christ came, there would already be some knowledge of who Yahweh was.
Ford Galin:So that God, whose plan was never just for the Jews though they were his chosen people, could bring salvation to all peoples. We read later in Isaiah forty five twenty two and twenty three, we see this clearly when God says, turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other. To me, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance. So, the Lord was at work in the suffering of Israel not just for their sake, ultimately for his purposes to bring salvation to the whole world.
Ford Galin:So much so that it is now not a stretch to say part of the reason that we stand here in Birmingham, Alabama, a congregation of primarily Gentile Christians who have turned to the Lord to be saved. In part because of the way that the Lord used this suffering centuries ago. But, here's the rub. For that, we have the benefit of hindsight. But, in our own sufferings, it's not always so.
Ford Galin:Nineteenth century Danish philosopher and theologian Kierkegaard, For those curious, Jeff is about to be back from sabbatical. So if you've fallen behind on your Kierkegaard reading, kick it into gear. But perhaps his most famous quote was that life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. What he means is that when we look back at the God's hand in our life days, weeks, months, years, decades, sometimes lifetimes after the fact, well, oftentimes we can make sense of what he was doing, but we don't get to live life that way. That we live forward oftentimes not knowing what the Lord is up to.
Ford Galin:That we have to walk by faith, not by sight. Now, this is actually one of the most common reasons that people leave the faith and perhaps the biggest obstacle to people coming to faith. As we go through suffering or we see some of the most horrendous heart wrenching headlines and the worst disasters and we think, well, there's no way the Lord could use that. We get frustrated because we think there's no way this could be for good. Seems anything but.
Ford Galin:Well, I don't have answers to all your questions or your wrestlings and honestly, I've struggled with those especially in the last month myself. If I could just submit that if there's a God who is big enough to be angry at for the disasters of our lives and our world, perhaps that God is also big enough to have reasons and answers that we can't understand or see or comprehend. But if God is big enough to be angry with, perhaps He's also big enough to have reasons and purposes that we cannot fathom as finite beings. But I know for many of you, this isn't an intellectual challenge. And on the lookout, I know that we have many here today who are wrestling and struggling and hurting and it may have taken everything in you just to get here.
Ford Galin:You're walking in with burdens that you don't know if you can bear any longer. For some of you, it's that you can't hear a word I'm saying because in your mind just keeps rattling around the words you heard from your doctor. For others, perhaps it's the empty seat next to you that used to be filled. For others, it's that you're coming and beat up and bruised and hurt and carrying scars from the ways that others have sinned against you or betrayed you. For others, maybe it's the emptiness that you're coming in here with because God won't seem to grant you a lifelong desire that seems like a good one.
Ford Galin:And a million other reasons and and I don't know what each of you are wrestling with but I know the one who knows. And I could first say that I and our church's heartbreak for you and that we are here for you if there's anything we can do to to grieve alongside you, to hope on your behalf, to pray with and for you, and to somehow if we could join you in that burden that it may be just a touch lighter. And so, if you are here and suffering and you are suffering alone, please let in someone from your home group or someone from staff or a member of our care team so we if you'll let us could come alongside you. And, I know that there's nothing I can say that all of a sudden causes the pain to disintegrate. But, if I could just give you one scripture that had a profound impact on me on one of my darkest days.
Ford Galin:In second Corinthians four, we read, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is achieving for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Now, to be clear, Paul is not saying that our affliction and our suffering is light and momentary. He is saying that it's preparing something for us that is so weighty, so glorious, so magnificent, so splendid that one day when we understand what the Lord has been up to, our pain as deep and profound as it is will feel light and momentary in comparison.
Ford Galin:I don't know what is this actual look like. I don't know what form this will take in your life or in eternity. We can cling to God's promise that he is working all things together so that we know that our pain is not in vain or meaningless or pointless. God is doing something. So do not lose heart.
Ford Galin:Though outwardly you might be wasting away, know that the Lord is seeking to renew you day by day inwardly. And, I'll be really brief on one final encouragement here for time's sake, which is that while the God has not told and promised us if He will deliver us in this life or not, in His sovereignty, God has promised to deliver us ultimately. In Revelation 21, we read that a day is coming for those who are in Christ where every tear will be wiped from our eyes, where pain will be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor death for the former things will have passed away and the Lord will have made all things new. The ultimate good is coming. The salvation and righteousness of Isaiah forty five eight are not in question.
Ford Galin:Tim Keller makes a really helpful point about Revelation 21 that's really helped me this week too. He makes it clear that what we see in these final end days is heaven coming down to earth, as God's people are resurrected. It is not that for the Christian, for those who trust in Christ, that one day we wake up in some alternate better existence of heaven. But, there's a sense of continuance to our lives in this world. And Tim Keller says it's important for us to grasp this because it means that heaven and eternity are not only compensation for that which we've lost in this world, that it'll actually be the restoration of everything we've lost, That every tear that has fallen will be made new.
Ford Galin:That our pain will be replaced with glory. That that which we have lost has been will be restored, and that God will have done something far better, that the new is coming. And so, rest in these encouragements even in our hopes, in our pains, in our doubts, in our struggleings that because God is sovereign and omnipresent, he draws near so we're not alone. Because God is sovereign and powerful, we have hope that the good is coming. Because God is sovereign and wise, we know that our suffering is not in vain, but that God is preparing an eternal weight of glory.
Ford Galin:And because God is sovereign and is our ultimate redemption and deliverance, that a day will come when our pain and our suffering will end, but the well-being and prosperity of God will not. Tell you someone who probably knew suffering at a deeper level than almost everyone of us in here was Jeff's haunting me, I guess. Was Horatio Spafford. Some of you may know this story, but Horatio Spafford was a businessman in the nineteenth century. And it was in 1871 when tragedy struck.
Ford Galin:It began with the great Chicago fire, which he was a real estate man in the area and it completely destroyed his business, wiping out most of his properties. It got much worse later that year when his four year old son was taken by a fever. Horatio and his wife reeling from the loss they've seen decide they need a fresh start. And so, he puts his wife and his four daughters on a ship to London. He's gonna settle some affairs and go and join them when tragedy strikes again.
Ford Galin:And, their ship crashes and sinks in the Atlantic Ocean. And, Horatio's four remaining daughters also perish. He gets a wife from his telegram in London saying, survived alone, what shall I do? And, Horatio distraught and undone drops everything and gets on the next boat he can to join and to grieve with her in England. And, the captain knowing what has happened to him is is they passed roughly the spot in the Atlantic where the first boat sank.
Ford Galin:He calls Horatio over to let him know. And Horatio Spafford sits and he cries and he prays and then he begins writing and he pins these words. He writes, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, God you have taught me to know it is well, it is well with my soul. And he pins the words to the hymn that we now sing, it is well. Now, how was Horatio Spafford amidst far greater grief and tragedy than I pray anyone in here would ever face able to say it as well with his soul?
Ford Galin:It's because he saw that God's sovereignty, as hard as it was, actually offered him hope and redemption amidst unspeakable grief. Now before we wrap up, while this passage is primarily about God's sovereignty over all things and his ability to use everything for his ultimate good, it does speak to our response. So, you'd stick with me a few more minutes, let's read verse nine. Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots. Does a clay say to him who forms it, what are you making or your work has no handles?
Ford Galin:Well, we need to think about what is actually meant here. There's all sort of striving and wrestling with God wrong. The the word used striving here, it's translated a number of ways throughout scripture. Sometimes it's strive, sometimes it's plead with or complain to or sometimes it's reprimand, sometimes it's quarrel with. Here, it has a negative connotation as well as some other place in scripture, but there's other spots like when Jacob is commended for striving with God and prevailing where it's actually viewed as a positive.
Ford Galin:So is God saying that we can't have honest wrestlings with him in the midst of our suffering? Absolutely not. No. To understand what exactly is rebuked here, we look at the back half of the verse. Does the potter or sorry, does the clay say to him who formed it, what are you doing?
Ford Galin:So, he's getting at the idea of the clay, the created thing, looking at the potter, the creator, and thinking that the clay somehow knows better. You can see how absurd that would be. Same goes for us. That we as God's creatures can't look at God the creator and think, Lord, I don't think you know what you're doing here. To say your work has no handles is the equivalent of accusing the creator of making a mistake.
Ford Galin:And so, what we realize is that we are not in a spot where we are to evaluate or judge what God is doing in our lives. Or to say, God, I think you made a mistake with the way this turned out. And some of you may need to hear this clearly, that because God does not mistakes, you are not a mistake. Your life is not a mistake. For those of you in here who are struggling and wrestling with why you are the way you are, why you look a certain way, why you're this and not that, why why you just don't understand why God created you as he did, know this, you are not a mistake, but that God sovereignly created you.
Ford Galin:And he intimately and carefully crafted you in his image so that you were resplendent and beautiful in the way that you reflect the glory of God. And know that your life is not a mistake. Though you may not understand how you've ended up where you are or how it worked out this way, in Romans eight twenty eight, we see that God works together all things for the good of those who love him. Now, Romans eight does not say that all things are good, but that God is working all things for good. Your life and you are not a mistake, but is absolutely unfolding according to God's sovereign plan.
Ford Galin:And so, we we respond to this God, not with evaluating or thinking we know better, not thinking God must have made a mistake. But that does not mean that there isn't space for honest lament. Again, in Isaiah forty five twenty two, he he has this call, turn to me and be saved. And there's space for us to turn to God in the midst of our brokenness, our pain, our struggle, our doubts, even our accusations at times. We see this throughout scripture, places like Psalm 42 where we read about a psalmist who says, his tears have been his food day and night and he's left asking, where are you Lord?
Ford Galin:Or Psalm 10 which begins with the accusation, why, oh Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? If you are here in pain and struggle and suffering and don't know how you could possibly turn to a God who is behind it all, look to the Psalms and the laments that we see throughout scripture and let those be the words that you whisper out to the Lord. It's okay if it's messy. So much of scripture is realize the Lord already knows what is on your heart and so he is not afraid for you to bring it to him.
Ford Galin:But the difference between lament and the striving that is condemned here is that we lament with humility. Not thinking we know better than God, not accusing Him of making a mistake, but in trust that says, God, you are the creator and I am the creature. And though I do not understand, I still can trust. Charles Spurgeon said this really well. He said, God is too good to be unkind.
Ford Galin:He is too wise to make a mistake. When I can't trace his hand, I can always trust his heart. And know that while God will bring affliction and suffering and calamity and disaster, scripture actually makes it pretty clear that he seems to have some inner conflict within himself as he does. In Lamentations three, a book that is an entire lament and has some of the most woeful images in all of scripture, well, the center verse of Lamentations that the full book orients around is a prophet proclaiming God does not grieve from his heart or he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. Hosea 11 which is about God sending his people into exile, well, he actually says, how can I give you up, o Ephraim?
Ford Galin:How can I hand you o Israel hand you over, o Israel? My heart recoils within me. Throughout scripture, we see indications that when God does this strange work of hurting and bringing forth calamity and pain and suffering and executing his justice and his judgment, that he seems to have this conflict in his heart. Not meaning he regrets it, but meaning he takes no joy in it. Compared to other places in scripture, places like Jeremiah thirty two forty one when God blesses and is said to do it with his whole heart and with his whole soul.
Ford Galin:So know that God's natural work, what he seems to long and yearn to do is to bless and to bring forth the good. But for the ultimate redemptive purposes he has in his glorious plan, he is willing to afflict, though not from a heart that is in any way unkind to his children. But, how do we know we can trust that? Well, Horatio Spafford in that hymn, he he continues on the original wording, When the Satan should buff it, the trials should come. Let this blessed assurance control.
Ford Galin:That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. How is it that we can trust God's heart even when the worst possible thing is in God's hand? Well, we look to the cross. Where God proved himself unshakably trustworthy. I mean, think about it.
Ford Galin:What was the worst calamity and disaster this world had ever seen? Was it not when the son of God came and took on flesh to rescue us, yet instead of receiving him, we rejected him and we beat him and we crucified him? The greatest evil ever done and God was unequivocally sovereign over it. But surely God did not delight in forsaking Jesus, yet he does this strange work and why? Well, it's for his ultimate good of bringing the salvation and righteousness of Isaiah forty five eight to all the ends of the earth.
Ford Galin:So that we could sit here today and hear the invitation turn to me and be saved. God took the greatest calamity that this world has ever seen to bring about the greatest good that this world could ever fathom. And so, is therefore nothing outside of the range of God's use for His redemptive plan. Therefore, as we come here today and as we come to this table, how much can we trust the Lord ourselves? No matter what we came in here through this with, no matter whether right now in His hand is well-being and calamity, whether it's trial or triumph or disaster or blessing wherever we are, we know that we can trust God's heart regardless of his hand.
Ford Galin:Because at the cross, he showed his heart for us. That he is sovereign and he is good and he has made us his children. So much so that on the night He was betrayed, Jesus took bread and He broke it. And He said, this is my body given for you. And in the same way, He took the cup.
Ford Galin:He said, this cup is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many and for the forgiveness of sins. Sometime later, the apostle Paul would say, as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the lord's death until he comes. And surely, he is coming again soon with that ultimate deliverance. And as we come to this table today, may we do so in remembrance of a god who is faithful and good regardless of whether we can make sense of that in our lives. So with that in mind, pray with me.
Ford Galin:Lord, we realize that as we come here, there is no reason that we should have a place at this table. God, but you have made a way for all of us as baptized believers, those of us who have trust in you to come and to feast or on your body. To be restored by your blood that we may know that you are working and making all things new so that we can hope and trust in you. God, we confess our unworthiness but we praise and we worship you. Lord, that you have shed your blood seeing our helpless estate for our soul.
Ford Galin:Lord, come. In these moments, come and have mercy. Come and restore. Come and, Lord, give us back the joy of your salvation that even through tears, we could praise you and trust you. For Lord, your heart for us is good and we know that as we look to Christ.
Ford Galin:God, this time is yours, so do with what you will as we remember you and we worship you with all of our hearts. We pray this in the redemptive name of Jesus. Amen.
