The natural man rebels against the
notion of a God who is in absolute control of all persons and events,
and whose will cannot be resisted nor any of his purposes overturned. Yet this is exactly how God is
pleased to reveal Himself. He says, I, even I am He. There
is no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. Men are more comfortable in imagining
that God is largely limited in His ability to accomplish His
desire and can only determine what He will do as He waits to
see what men will do. They have devised many explanations
involving his ability to see what will happen in the future,
which they call foreknowledge, and they teach that men can cause
God to bless them according to their will rather than his. Thus
they picture him as looking at man's response in order to determine
his own purpose. This is totally foolish. The
will of men is shaped by God rather than vice versa. O Lord,
I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in
man that walketh to direct his steps. God is often pictured
as hoping men will do the right thing and desiring to bless them
if they will let him in the preaching that we hear today. David understood
the folly of those who devise gods of their own imagination.
As he said, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. It is this absolute God which
David goes on to describe as true Israel's help and their
shield. It is impossible that one who is to be their protector
and deliverer is not also the God who does according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. One who must wait upon men cannot be their help in every
situation. David called upon him who does
all things well. When the Lord delivered David
from the hand of all his enemies, he was moved to write, I will
love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust,
my butler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower.
David did not consider that the Lord was his strength because
he trusted in him, but rather he trusted in him because he
is his strength. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord, both in its inception and in its fulfillment. They
are called to trust Him as He reveals Himself to them. He is
indeed the defense of His people in whom they can safely trust
without any fear that He should ever fail or falter in their
protection. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
One who shall keep those from harm whom He has sworn to protect.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. His sheep are
all of those which are hidden in him in the covenant of redemption
from before the foundation of the world. This is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. Everything that he does is without
any mixture of error, and each action which he ordains is set
forth to fulfill his purpose. How else could salvation be brought
to a people who were in total rebellion against him, and who
would not seek him, nor pay any heed to his overtures of kindness
and mercy? If he was not the provider of
faith, how would they then believe? Or how could they remove themselves
from the darkness and death in which they were born by nature?
He is that one who is a shield and exceeding great reward to
that people whom he is determined to save. His own arm has brought
salvation while trading the winepress of God's wrath and destroying
the ability of his enemies to harm even one hair of the heads
of those whom he has loved with an everlasting love. Because
he is the shield of his people, they are unable to trust him.
His arm bears their shield, fending off every assault and parrying
every blow which would jeopardize His beloved. Do you trust Him,
or do you trust in your own arm?