Fate, Accident, Chance, or Sovereignty
by John McDuff I form the light and create darkness, I make peace
and create evil, I the LORD do all these things. – Isaiah 45
What a sad world this would be, where it governs by fate! Where
its blended lights and shadows, its joys and sorrows, the result
of a capricious accident or blind and wayward chance. How blessed
to think that every separate occurrence which befalls me is
the fulfillment of God's own immutable purpose. Is it the
material world? No, it is He who forms the light
and creates darkness, who appoints the 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, Also prepared the worm. He gives, and He takes
away, He moulds 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 the 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 moulding 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 the earthly foundations. Let us wait patiently until we
gaze on the finished structure of eternity. O blessed assurance,
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