We should lie as clay in the
hands of our all-wise, all-gracious Potter. By Charles Simeon. You are not grumbling against
us, but against the Lord. Exodus chapter 16 verse 8. It is a common thing to hear
people, even those who bear the Christian name, speaking of luck,
and fortune, and chance, just as if there were no God in heaven,
or as if there were things beyond God's reach and control. When
afflictions are multiplied upon us, how commonly do we repine
and murmur against God, instead of saying as we ought, The cup
which my Father has given to me, shall I not drink it? Instead
of questioning God, the habit of our minds under all circumstances
should be to maintain a humble trust in God's goodness, and
a meek submission to His will. We should lie as clay in the
hands of our all-wise, all-gracious potter. God brought the Israelites
to Canaan by a very long and circuitous route, but we are
told that He led them by the right way. Just so, whatever
trials we may meet within this wilderness world, we have no
right to question God's sovereign disposal. Perhaps it will be
said that our complaints are not so much made against God,
as against those who are the immediate instruments of our
affliction. But the creature, whoever he
may be, is only a rod, a staff, a sword, in Jehovah's hands. Though God leaves men to the
unrestrained operation of their own corrupt hearts, He overrules
everything they do for the accomplishment of His sovereign will. Even the
crucifixion of our blessed Lord was in accordance with God's
determinate counsel and will. This man was handed over to you
by God set purpose and foreknowledge. Acts chapter 2 verse 23. They did what your power and
will had decided beforehand should happen. Acts chapter 4 verse
28. Moses, when the people murmured
against him and Aaron, told them that their murmurings were in
reality against God himself. In like manner I must say, that
murmuring of every kind, against whoever or whatever it is directed,
is in fact, a reproving of God himself, without whom not a sparrow
falls to the ground, nor does so much as a hare fall from our
heads. The sovereignty of God in the
disposal of his saving grace is especially offensive to the
proud heart of man. We arrogate to ourselves a right
to dispense our favors to whomever we will, but we deny that right
to God. God had said by the Apostle Paul,
Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. As to our judging of God's ways,
well might an ignorant fool sit in judgment on the works of the
greatest statesman or philosopher. Who among us would submit to
have all his views and ways criticized by a child that has just learned
to speak? Yet, that would be wise and commendable,
in comparison with our presuming to sit in judgment upon God.
When a candle can add to the light of the meridian sun, then
may we hope to counsel God how best to govern his world, and
how most effectually to advance his own glory. When we question
God's sovereignty to do as he pleases in any manner, we are
actually saying that 1. God is bound to consult me in
whatever he does. 2. I am competent to sit in judgment
on God's proceedings. 3. I know better than God himself
does, what befits him to do. Who is puny man, to question
that God from whom he derived his very existence, and who keeps
him in existence with every breath he draws?