Holiness Day by Day by Jerry Bridges

Author:Jerry Bridges
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Navigators
Published: 2009-01-09T05:00:00+00:00

The Discipline of Grace

Week 27 / THURSDAY

OUR FAILURES AND GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

It is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

(PROVERBS 19:21)

God’s sovereignty doesn’t do away with our duty to act responsibly and prudently on all occasions. But does our failure to act as we should frustrate God’s sovereign plan? The Scriptures never indicate that God is frustrated to any degree by our failures. In His infinite wisdom, God’s sovereign plan includes even our sins.

When Mordecai asked Queen Esther to intercede with King Xerxes on behalf of the Jews, she demurred with the explanation that she could not enter the king’s presence unbidden, under threat of death (Esther 4:10-11). Mordecai sent word back to her, “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place” (Esther 4:14). God was not limited to Esther’s response. His options for bringing about deliverance for the Jews were as infinite as His wisdom and power. He literally did not need Esther’s cooperation. But He chose to use her. Mordecai’s closing argument to Esther — “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” — assumes that God uses people and means to accomplish His sovereign purpose. As subsequent events proved, God had indeed raised up Esther to accomplish His purpose. But He could just as easily have raised up someone else or used an altogether different means.

God usually works through ordinary events (as opposed to miracles) and the voluntary actions of people. But He always provides the necessary means and guides them by His unseen hand. He is sovereign, and He cannot be frustrated by our failure to act or by our actions, which in themselves are sinful. We must always remember, however, that God still holds us accountable for the very sins that He uses to accomplish His purpose.

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