Sovereignty from Thoughts of
God by John Macduff, 1864 How precious are your thoughts unto
me, O God! I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.
Isaiah 45 7 What a sad world this would be,
were it governed by fate, were its splendid lights and shadows,
its joys and sorrows, the result of capricious accident or blind
and wayward chance. How blessed to think that each
separate occurrence which befalls me is a thought of God, the fulfillment
of his own immutable purpose. Is it the material world? It
is he who forms the light and creates darkness, who appoints
a sun and moon for their seasons, who gives to the sea its decree,
who watches the sparrow in its fall, who tends the lily in the
field, and who paints the tiniest flower that blossoms in the meadow.
Is it the moral world? All events are predetermined
and prearranged by Him. I make peace and create evil. Both prosperity and adversity
are His appointment. The Lord who of old prepared
Jonah's shade-plant prepared also the worm. He gives and He
takes away. He molds every tear. He puts
them into His bottle. He knows them all, counts them
all, treasures them all. Not one of them falls unbidden,
unnoted. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Over every occurrence
in nature and in providence he writes, I the Lord do all these
things. True, his thoughts are often
mysterious and his ways are past finding out. We are led at times
amid the bewildering mazes of his providential dealings to
exclaim, O Lord, how great are your works, and your thoughts
are very deep! Be it ours to defer our verdict
until their full development. We cannot envision the thoughts
and intents of the architect or engineer in the first clearing
of ground for the foundation of some gigantic structure. The
uninitiated eye can discover nothing but piles of unshapely
rubbish, a chaos of confusion. But gradually as week by week
passes, we see his thoughts molding themselves into visible and substantial
shapes of order and beauty. And when the edifice at last
stands before us complete, we discern that all which was mystery
and confusion at first was a necessary part and portion of the undertaking. So is it at present regarding
the mysterious dealings of God. Often in vain do we try to comprehend
the purposes of the almighty architect amid the dust and debris
of earthly foundations. Let us wait patiently until we
gaze on the finished structure of eternity. Oh, blessed assurance,
precious thought of God, that the loom of our life is in the
hands of the great designer, that it is he who is interweaving
the threads of our existence, the light and the dark, the acknowledged
good and the apparent evil. The chain of what is erroneously
called destiny is in his keeping. He knows its every connecting
link. He has forged each one on his
own anvil. Man's purposes have failed and
are ever liable to fail. His brightest anticipations may
be thwarted. His best laid schemes may be
frustrated. Life is often a retrospect of
crushed hopes, the bright rainbow hues of morning, passing in its
afternoon into damp mist and drizzling rain. Many are the
thoughts in a man's heart, knowing no fulfillment nor fruition. But the counsel of the Lord,
that shall stand. From eternity to eternity, I
am God. No one can oppose what I do.
No one can reverse my actions. Hallelujah! For the Lord our
God, the Almighty, reigns. Revelation 19 6 you