Job is famous for, after receiving news that he lost his children and his wealth, declaring, "YHWH gave and YWHW has taken away. Blessed be the name of YHWH" (Job 1:21). That is, Job assigned the losses to God and was okay with it. We are told to "Count it all joy when we encounter various trials" (James 1:2) because they are for our best. We are promised that God will supply all our needs (Php 4:19) and that, even in the worst of all circumstances, we "overwhelmingly conquer" (Rom 8:32-37). And we are told that God's promises are certain because God's purpose never changes and it is impossible for God to lie (Heb 6:17-18). So, given all this, why is it that you and I worry so much?
We have a saying -- "As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow." That's a certainty. That cannot change. We may be fairly sure of a whole lot of things, but the sun is coming up tomorrow, and that serves as a standard by which we can know some things. Yet, too often, we're not as sure of God's promises as we are of the sun rising. And that's odd ... very odd. It's odd because the certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow is totally dependent on God. Did you know that? We know that "in Him all things hold together" (Col 1:17). That is, if He didn't hold it together, it would not be. We know that "from Him and through Him and to Him are all things" (Rom 11:36), which includes ... sunrise. The reliability of the sun rising tomorrow is predicated on the faithfulness of God since all existence is predicated on the faithfulness of God. Our failure to remember that fact is just our latent deism, the notion that God just spun everything up and it runs on its own now. It doesn't. We sing, "He's got the whole world in His hands," but fairly often we just don't believe it.
If you are confident that the sun will rise tomorrow, you should be equally confident that "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28). If you are not afraid that the stars will fall from the sky, you should be equally sure that we can "exult in tribulation" (Rom 5:3). If it is true that the sun rises, we can have peace in trial and hope in hardship because sunrise is just another evidence that God is in control ... and always for the best.
2 comments:
It seems the surety of the sun rising is like Peter on the water. We see the faithfulness of God in the assurance of the sun rising, but then we look at the minutiae of our lives and see the chaos and lose faith. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the surety of God and His goodness.
“As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow”--God is that faithful, to both the evil and the good (Matt. 5:45). Even that one act of superintendence of our world--bringing the sun around to us again each morning--involves regular, faithful attendance by God, i.e. to keep the “heavenly bodies” on track and in the necessary positions for our survival (to mention only one factor). I am anti-Deist to the degree that I even imagine that God takes such delight in His act of Creation that He ordains the daily routines anew each morning; working in my life in every other necessary way is therefore not difficult for the Lord. Of course, there will be a day the sun does not shine for us earthlings like usual (Matt. 24:29), but even then, I know I can rely on God day in and day out.
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