I read this early this morning and have a
feeling that there are more people then just me that may need to hear
this, so I'm posting excerpts of it here:
OUR SOVEREIGN GOD
Lady Jane Kenmure was intimately acquainted with sorrow and adversity. In 1600 she was born into a distinguished Scottish family and later married Sir John Gordon, who became Lord Kenmure. Many might have envied her social prestige, but great difficulty marked the life of this humble and devout believer. Married only eight years, she had already lost three young daughters. In the same year that her third child died, her husband lay in the throes of death, and he too passed away. A month or two later, she joyfully gave birth to a son, but four years later the boy became sick and also died. About a year later she remarried, but her happiness was short-lived, for her second husband died soon thereafter.
During Lady Kenmure’s extended time of sorrow, Samuel Rutherford, her minister, wrote pastoral letters to comfort her. Note how he guided her to think on the sovereignty of God:
Be content to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with Him, holding His hand fast, for He knoweth all the fords. . . . When ye are got up thither, and have cast your eyes to view the golden city . . . ye shall then say, “Four-and-twenty hours’ abode in this place is worth threescore and ten years’ sorrow upon earth.” . . .
God aimeth in all His dealings with His children to bring them to a high contempt of and deadly feud with the world; to set a high price upon Christ, and to think Him One who cannot be bought for gold, and well worthy the fighting for. And for no other cause . . . doth the Lord withdraw from you the childish toys and earthly delights that He giveth unto others but that He may have you wholly to Himself. . . .
Subscribe to the Almighty’s will. . . . Let the cross of your Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute AMEN. . . .
I confess it seemed strange to me, that your Lord should have done that which seemed to [knock] out the bottom of your worldly comforts; but we see not the ground of the Almighty’s sovereignty. “He goeth by on our right hand, and on our left hand, and we see Him not.” We see but pieces of the broken links of the chains of His providence (The Letters of Samuel Rutherford, edited by S. Maxwell Coder and Wilbur M. Smith [Chicago: Moody, 1951], pp. 63, 66, 390–91).
In essence, Pastor Rutherford was directing Lady Kenmure on the sovereignty of God. .... A day is coming when Christ will proclaim, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Why did God choose us? Because He loves us. Paul said, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4–5).
God’s sovereign, saving work is foundational to His promise to work all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28). That is the most glorious promise imaginable. Nothing could be more reassuring. Nothing could bring more hope, joy, trust, confidence, happiness, and freedom for the believer than to know that God will sovereignly work everything in his or her life for good.
The Greek term translated “good” refers to something that is morally or inherently good, not to something that just has a nice outward appearance. In saying all things work together for good, Paul had two things in mind: our current circumstances and our future glorification. No matter what happens in our lives, God will sovereignly work things out to produce something immediately and ultimately beneficial for us. That is true regarding everything we experience in life, both good and bad.
GOOD THINGS WORK FOR OUR GOOD
What kind of good things work for our spiritual benefit? To start with, God’s attributes. God’s power, for example, supports us in the midst of trouble. God supported Daniel when he was in a lions’ den, Jonah when he was in a fish’s belly, and three Hebrew men when they were thrown into a furnace. When God delivered David from the murderous hand of King Saul, David declared, “I love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Ps. 18:1–2). In Christ we are “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” (Col. 1:11).
God’s power also supports us when we lack strength. Paul observed God’s strength on display in his own weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:9). God truly “gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isa. 40:29–31). When we lack strength, God infuses us with His.
God’s promises, in addition to His attributes, work out for our good. His promise to forgive our sins is one example. ...
What else works for our good? God’s Word. ... Scripture can restore us to a proper spiritual posture. “Training in righteousness” refers to Scripture’s ability to bring us to maturity. God uses His Word for our good because it provides all that we need to live a godly life.
BAD THINGS WORK OUT FOR OUR GOOD
While it is important to know that good things work for our good, Paul’s primary focus in Romans 8 is on bad things working out for our good. Note carefully, however: We are not to redefine bad and pretend it is good. God hates that. In Isaiah 5:20, He says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Bad things are always inherently evil. Sin is sin, evil is evil, and neither will ever change. Yet we can be confident that God sovereignly overrules whatever is bad to work it out for our good in the long run. That includes suffering, temptation, and even sin.
Suffering
Suffering is a result of the curse. If sin had not been introduced into the world, there would be no suffering, pain, sorrow, or death. Although suffering itself is not evil, it is the result of an evil world. ... One of the first biblical examples we have of God working out such evil for good is the suffering of Joseph. (Genesis 50:20)
What about us? Does God actually use our suffering for good? Absolutely. One benefit of suffering is that it teaches us to hate sin. When Christ went to the tomb of Lazarus, He “was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled” (John 11:33). He agonized over the tears, pain, and sorrow that sin and death bring. When we experience suffering, we learn to hate the sin that brings it about.
Suffering also works for our good because it exposes the sin in our lives. When everything is fine, it’s easy to feel pious. But as soon as things collapse and trouble comes our way, there’s a greater temptation to become angry with God. We can easily lose our patience and begin to doubt His goodness. That’s when a person finds out whether he or she really trusts God, for suffering will expose any evil in the heart.
Suffering not only exposes sin, but also drives it out. It is a fire that burns away our dross and reveals the pure gold and silver. Job said of God, “He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
How else does suffering work for our good? It reveals that we indeed are His children. After all, “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb. 12:6–8). His discipline is evidence that we are His children.
Suffering also drives us to God. In prosperity the heart is easily divided. That’s why God warned the Israelites not to forget Him when He brought them into the Promised Land (Deut. 6:10–13). Suffering forces us to stop focusing on the world. When everything in our lives is comfortable, we’re apt to be preoccupied with our house, car, job, business, or wardrobe. But suppose a loved one becomes terminally ill. That would change our values and drive us to God, which is a good response to a tragic situation. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” drove him to the Lord (2 Cor. 12:7–10).
Whatever our afflictions might be, be assured that God is sovereignly using them for our good.
Margaret Clarkson wrote a book for those who live their lives in perpetual pain. She titled it Grace Grows Best in Winter, a quote from the letters of Samuel Rutherford—the minister who sought to comfort the suffering lady described at the beginning of this chapter. Clarkson’s subtitle is Help for Those Who Must Suffer, and one of her many helpful observations is this:
The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God. . . . All evil is subject to Him, and evil cannot touch His children unless He permits it. God is the Lord of human history and of the personal history of every member of His redeemed family. . . . He does not explain His actions to us anymore than He did to Job, but He has given us what the sufferers of old never had—the written revelation of His sovereignty and love and His manifestation of Himself in the Savior. If those saints could triumph so gloriously without such revelation, shall we who have it go down to defeat? ([Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972], pp. 40–41)
Temptation
Temptation also works for our good. The main reason is that it makes us depend on God. When an animal sees a hunter, it runs for safety. Similarly, when the devil shoots his fiery darts, we are to flee to God’s throne of grace that He might protect us. Struggling against temptation causes us to see how weak we really are and realize that we have no reason to be proud of ourselves. That forces us to follow Paul’s example and lean on the strength of Christ (2 Cor. 12:9–10; Phil. 4:11–13).
Because Christ Himself experienced great temptation, He understands what we go through and is therefore able to help us in our struggles. Similarly, our dealing with temptation enables us to help others in their struggles (cf. Gal. 6:1).
Temptation also works for our good because it makes us desire heaven. Perhaps, at times, we can relate to Paul’s frustration: “The good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:19, 24) At times like that we’ll long for heaven, saying with Paul, “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Paul had a balanced perspective, however, for he went on to say, “I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake” (vv. 23–24). Being involved in a ministry that needs us will motivate us to carry on in spite of whatever trials and temptations we experience.
Sin
God promises that all things will ultimately work out for our good, and that includes the worst thing of all: sin. His promise doesn’t lessen the ugliness of sin or the beauty of holiness. Sin is intrinsically wicked and deserving of eternal hell. But in His infinite wisdom God overrules it for our good. How?
When we see sin and its effects in other people, we sense a holy indignation against it. That leads us to be stronger in our opposition to sin. We also become more thankful for the sins that the Lord has delivered us from.
When we become aware of sin in our own life, the Holy Spirit prods us to examine our heart in the light of God’s Word. We should ask God to search our souls to find any latent sin just as we would want a physician to find any latent cancer. An appropriate remedy cannot be prescribed before the malady is known. That’s why Job cried out to God, “Make known to me my rebellion and my sin” (Job 13:23). It is better that we find out our sins than they find us out. And when we do become aware of personal sin, we must make it a lifetime habit to extricate it immediately.
The threat of sin also compels us to be spiritually alert. Our heart is like a castle that is in danger of assault every hour from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Because that is so, we are to be like a soldier who is alert for an attack from the enemy.
Although God sovereignly causes our sin to work for good, we should never view that wonderful promise as a license to sin. In his book All Things for Good, Thomas Watson warned:
If any of God’s people should be tampering with sin, because God can turn it to good, though the Lord does not **** them, He may send them to hell in this life. He may put them into such bitter agonies and soul-convulsions, as may fill them full of horror, and make them draw nigh to despair. Let this be a flaming sword to keep them from coming near the forbidden tree ([Carlisle, Pa.: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1986], p. 51).
Why does God promise to work everything out for our good? Because He wants to conform us into the image of His Son (8:29). Making us like Christ is the destiny to which He has sovereignly appointed us before the world began. Since nothing can thwart His sovereign purposes, we can be “confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in [us] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
MacArthur, J. (1993). God: Coming face to face with His Majesty.
Next See:
Help for Those Who Suffer Part 2
I hope this helps others as much as it did me.
OUR SOVEREIGN GOD
Lady Jane Kenmure was intimately acquainted with sorrow and adversity. In 1600 she was born into a distinguished Scottish family and later married Sir John Gordon, who became Lord Kenmure. Many might have envied her social prestige, but great difficulty marked the life of this humble and devout believer. Married only eight years, she had already lost three young daughters. In the same year that her third child died, her husband lay in the throes of death, and he too passed away. A month or two later, she joyfully gave birth to a son, but four years later the boy became sick and also died. About a year later she remarried, but her happiness was short-lived, for her second husband died soon thereafter.
During Lady Kenmure’s extended time of sorrow, Samuel Rutherford, her minister, wrote pastoral letters to comfort her. Note how he guided her to think on the sovereignty of God:
Be content to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with Him, holding His hand fast, for He knoweth all the fords. . . . When ye are got up thither, and have cast your eyes to view the golden city . . . ye shall then say, “Four-and-twenty hours’ abode in this place is worth threescore and ten years’ sorrow upon earth.” . . .
God aimeth in all His dealings with His children to bring them to a high contempt of and deadly feud with the world; to set a high price upon Christ, and to think Him One who cannot be bought for gold, and well worthy the fighting for. And for no other cause . . . doth the Lord withdraw from you the childish toys and earthly delights that He giveth unto others but that He may have you wholly to Himself. . . .
Subscribe to the Almighty’s will. . . . Let the cross of your Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute AMEN. . . .
I confess it seemed strange to me, that your Lord should have done that which seemed to [knock] out the bottom of your worldly comforts; but we see not the ground of the Almighty’s sovereignty. “He goeth by on our right hand, and on our left hand, and we see Him not.” We see but pieces of the broken links of the chains of His providence (The Letters of Samuel Rutherford, edited by S. Maxwell Coder and Wilbur M. Smith [Chicago: Moody, 1951], pp. 63, 66, 390–91).
In essence, Pastor Rutherford was directing Lady Kenmure on the sovereignty of God. .... A day is coming when Christ will proclaim, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). Why did God choose us? Because He loves us. Paul said, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4–5).
God’s sovereign, saving work is foundational to His promise to work all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28). That is the most glorious promise imaginable. Nothing could be more reassuring. Nothing could bring more hope, joy, trust, confidence, happiness, and freedom for the believer than to know that God will sovereignly work everything in his or her life for good.
The Greek term translated “good” refers to something that is morally or inherently good, not to something that just has a nice outward appearance. In saying all things work together for good, Paul had two things in mind: our current circumstances and our future glorification. No matter what happens in our lives, God will sovereignly work things out to produce something immediately and ultimately beneficial for us. That is true regarding everything we experience in life, both good and bad.
GOOD THINGS WORK FOR OUR GOOD
What kind of good things work for our spiritual benefit? To start with, God’s attributes. God’s power, for example, supports us in the midst of trouble. God supported Daniel when he was in a lions’ den, Jonah when he was in a fish’s belly, and three Hebrew men when they were thrown into a furnace. When God delivered David from the murderous hand of King Saul, David declared, “I love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Ps. 18:1–2). In Christ we are “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” (Col. 1:11).
God’s power also supports us when we lack strength. Paul observed God’s strength on display in his own weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:9). God truly “gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isa. 40:29–31). When we lack strength, God infuses us with His.
God’s promises, in addition to His attributes, work out for our good. His promise to forgive our sins is one example. ...
What else works for our good? God’s Word. ... Scripture can restore us to a proper spiritual posture. “Training in righteousness” refers to Scripture’s ability to bring us to maturity. God uses His Word for our good because it provides all that we need to live a godly life.
BAD THINGS WORK OUT FOR OUR GOOD
While it is important to know that good things work for our good, Paul’s primary focus in Romans 8 is on bad things working out for our good. Note carefully, however: We are not to redefine bad and pretend it is good. God hates that. In Isaiah 5:20, He says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Bad things are always inherently evil. Sin is sin, evil is evil, and neither will ever change. Yet we can be confident that God sovereignly overrules whatever is bad to work it out for our good in the long run. That includes suffering, temptation, and even sin.
Suffering
Suffering is a result of the curse. If sin had not been introduced into the world, there would be no suffering, pain, sorrow, or death. Although suffering itself is not evil, it is the result of an evil world. ... One of the first biblical examples we have of God working out such evil for good is the suffering of Joseph. (Genesis 50:20)
What about us? Does God actually use our suffering for good? Absolutely. One benefit of suffering is that it teaches us to hate sin. When Christ went to the tomb of Lazarus, He “was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled” (John 11:33). He agonized over the tears, pain, and sorrow that sin and death bring. When we experience suffering, we learn to hate the sin that brings it about.
Suffering also works for our good because it exposes the sin in our lives. When everything is fine, it’s easy to feel pious. But as soon as things collapse and trouble comes our way, there’s a greater temptation to become angry with God. We can easily lose our patience and begin to doubt His goodness. That’s when a person finds out whether he or she really trusts God, for suffering will expose any evil in the heart.
Suffering not only exposes sin, but also drives it out. It is a fire that burns away our dross and reveals the pure gold and silver. Job said of God, “He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
How else does suffering work for our good? It reveals that we indeed are His children. After all, “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb. 12:6–8). His discipline is evidence that we are His children.
Suffering also drives us to God. In prosperity the heart is easily divided. That’s why God warned the Israelites not to forget Him when He brought them into the Promised Land (Deut. 6:10–13). Suffering forces us to stop focusing on the world. When everything in our lives is comfortable, we’re apt to be preoccupied with our house, car, job, business, or wardrobe. But suppose a loved one becomes terminally ill. That would change our values and drive us to God, which is a good response to a tragic situation. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” drove him to the Lord (2 Cor. 12:7–10).
Whatever our afflictions might be, be assured that God is sovereignly using them for our good.
Margaret Clarkson wrote a book for those who live their lives in perpetual pain. She titled it Grace Grows Best in Winter, a quote from the letters of Samuel Rutherford—the minister who sought to comfort the suffering lady described at the beginning of this chapter. Clarkson’s subtitle is Help for Those Who Must Suffer, and one of her many helpful observations is this:
The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God. . . . All evil is subject to Him, and evil cannot touch His children unless He permits it. God is the Lord of human history and of the personal history of every member of His redeemed family. . . . He does not explain His actions to us anymore than He did to Job, but He has given us what the sufferers of old never had—the written revelation of His sovereignty and love and His manifestation of Himself in the Savior. If those saints could triumph so gloriously without such revelation, shall we who have it go down to defeat? ([Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972], pp. 40–41)
Temptation
Temptation also works for our good. The main reason is that it makes us depend on God. When an animal sees a hunter, it runs for safety. Similarly, when the devil shoots his fiery darts, we are to flee to God’s throne of grace that He might protect us. Struggling against temptation causes us to see how weak we really are and realize that we have no reason to be proud of ourselves. That forces us to follow Paul’s example and lean on the strength of Christ (2 Cor. 12:9–10; Phil. 4:11–13).
Because Christ Himself experienced great temptation, He understands what we go through and is therefore able to help us in our struggles. Similarly, our dealing with temptation enables us to help others in their struggles (cf. Gal. 6:1).
Temptation also works for our good because it makes us desire heaven. Perhaps, at times, we can relate to Paul’s frustration: “The good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:19, 24) At times like that we’ll long for heaven, saying with Paul, “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Paul had a balanced perspective, however, for he went on to say, “I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake” (vv. 23–24). Being involved in a ministry that needs us will motivate us to carry on in spite of whatever trials and temptations we experience.
Sin
God promises that all things will ultimately work out for our good, and that includes the worst thing of all: sin. His promise doesn’t lessen the ugliness of sin or the beauty of holiness. Sin is intrinsically wicked and deserving of eternal hell. But in His infinite wisdom God overrules it for our good. How?
When we see sin and its effects in other people, we sense a holy indignation against it. That leads us to be stronger in our opposition to sin. We also become more thankful for the sins that the Lord has delivered us from.
When we become aware of sin in our own life, the Holy Spirit prods us to examine our heart in the light of God’s Word. We should ask God to search our souls to find any latent sin just as we would want a physician to find any latent cancer. An appropriate remedy cannot be prescribed before the malady is known. That’s why Job cried out to God, “Make known to me my rebellion and my sin” (Job 13:23). It is better that we find out our sins than they find us out. And when we do become aware of personal sin, we must make it a lifetime habit to extricate it immediately.
The threat of sin also compels us to be spiritually alert. Our heart is like a castle that is in danger of assault every hour from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Because that is so, we are to be like a soldier who is alert for an attack from the enemy.
Although God sovereignly causes our sin to work for good, we should never view that wonderful promise as a license to sin. In his book All Things for Good, Thomas Watson warned:
If any of God’s people should be tampering with sin, because God can turn it to good, though the Lord does not **** them, He may send them to hell in this life. He may put them into such bitter agonies and soul-convulsions, as may fill them full of horror, and make them draw nigh to despair. Let this be a flaming sword to keep them from coming near the forbidden tree ([Carlisle, Pa.: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1986], p. 51).
Why does God promise to work everything out for our good? Because He wants to conform us into the image of His Son (8:29). Making us like Christ is the destiny to which He has sovereignly appointed us before the world began. Since nothing can thwart His sovereign purposes, we can be “confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in [us] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
MacArthur, J. (1993). God: Coming face to face with His Majesty.
Next See:
Help for Those Who Suffer Part 2
I hope this helps others as much as it did me.
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