Echoes From the Campfire

A man may run all his life and get nowhere.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Tucker)

    “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
              –Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)
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The sovereignty of God, oh my, how we hate that concept.  The idea that God can have His way over our lives; well, that’s just un-American.  Perhaps the greatest gift I was given by my Grandma and Aunt was the concept that I can trust God in any situation.  It was more than a concept, it was something that was grafted into my heart.  Do I understand it all?  Certainly not, but I know I can trust Him.
    God is soooo big!  He is bigger than any explanation of Him.  Stephen Brown said that something that can be explained can be controlled.  God certainly cannot be explained, even though man may try, and He certainly cannot be controlled.  Moses asked for an explanation of the essence of God–God answered, “I AM.”  That sums up His essence.
    However, we do have the Bible.  God, in this marvelous book, simplifies His nature for man.  Try to think of that; how does an infinite God communicate to a finite man?  We cannot dissect God; we need to trust Him and come to know Him.  No matter the genius of man, he must come to the realization that there are some things beyond our understanding.
    One thing we should accept and trust is that God is love.  He does not just perform loving actions; He is love.  He will not violate His character in any manner at any time.  Therefore, His sovereignty is not arbitrary and unloving.  We think that when something terrible happens it is because God is unloving.  Why is it then that man will often blame God?  One reason is that things often happen that is outside man’s control and he doesn’t like it.  If it hurts him or makes him suffer, blame it on God.  Another thing to point out here is that God does not often interfere with the natural laws that He has created nor the spiritual ones.  When He does we call it a miracle.  “Jesus didn’t come to keep us from suffering; He came to suffer as we must suffer.” (Brown)
    What man tries to do is then understand God with his finite mind.  Instead, what we must do is trust Him.  When we try to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the freedom and responsibility of man, it must never be done in a way that violates the very essence of God. (Brown)  Man can, in his own mind create a monster of God, or he can learn to realize that God cares for him and is with him no matter the situation.  He may not provide the miracle, but He will certainly walk through the storm with him.