Based on my previous post, I thought this morning's Tozer devotional was quite appropriate. As I move forward with setting up the lab and getting back into real experiments, I am reminded that even the snow outside that tangles the way to work is not a surprise to God. Or, as my Bible study leader says, "does it occur to you that nothing occurs to God?"
Trials and Pain: Ordered By the Lord
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand. --Psalm 37:23-24
To the child of God, there is no such thing as accident. He travels an appointed way. The path he treads was chosen for him when as yet he was not, when as yet he had existence only in the mind of God.
Accidents may indeed appear to befall him and misfortune stalk his way; but these evils will be so in appearance only and will seem evils only because we cannot read the secret script of God's hidden providence and so cannot discover the ends at which He aims....
The man of true faith may live in the absolute assurance that his steps are ordered by the Lord. For him, misfortune is outside the bounds of possibility. He cannot be torn from this earth one hour ahead of the time which God has appointed, and he cannot be detained on earth one moment after God is done with him here. He is not a waif of the wide world, a foundling of time and space, but a saint of the Lord and the darling of His particular care.
AW Tozer, in "We Travel an Appointed Way", pp. 3-4
7 comments:
A Blessed, Merry Christmas to one and all here!
It's not about us, but Jesus and his coming for the world! But praise God that he does look after us. That we can entrust ourselves and our lives into his good hands.
>does it occur to you that nothing occurs to God?
Halfmom, I have been pondering this for a while and would appreciate confirmation that I have interpreted it correctly.
I have taken it to mean something like: Because god is omniscient, and knows everythingsince the dawn of time, has already thought about anything that could be thought about and so nothing new can be revealed to him, i.e. occur to him?
Is that more or less right?
Pretty close, Maalie. God is omniscient, so He already knows all things. However, it's not since the dawn of time; it's before there was time because He also is eternal - not time that He has not existed and therefore no time that He has not known all things. I think it is CS Lewis, in Mere Christianity, who talks about how God sees things so differently than we to because He see in time and space - from eternity past to eternity future.
Thank you Halfmom, that sort of clarifies my understanding of your belief. Just to make sure, would you agree that, since eternity, God knew that he was going to zap the universe into existence at some time in his future, at a time the we now recognise as about 6000 years ago from today? And that he constructed it in such a way that he would know everything that was going to happen to it for eternity to come?
No, not really, Maalie.
I think I would say that, at some point in the past that I could only speculate about, God spoke the world into existence.
He did not need to create it so that He knew what would happen; He just does because He knows all things. He knew what would happen to the planet, and its people before He ever chose to create it. He also knew what He would need to do to fix the situation before He created anything, and He chose to create it anyway.
Beats me as to why - that is above what I can understand. But, it seems that a redeemed relationship with His creation is of ultimate importance to Him. Certainly it's not because we're so great, so surely it must be because He is.
Halfmom, thank you for taking the time. I would say that my suspicions have been adequately confirmed. And of course your employment of the word 'speculate' speaks volumes!
No, Maalie, not really anything so weighty as speaking a "volume" - my word choice only means that I don't have a firm opinion one way or the other as to whether "day" at that point and time meant 24 hours or an eon or two.
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