“He maketh the barren woman to keep house, [and to be] a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.” (Ps 113:9 AV)
Sometimes we forget just how much a sovereign God controls all things. We think our choices make the world go around, but in reality, what participation we have in the works of God is minor compared to what He accomplishes by His own means. God is the God of the impossible. We have to remember that. Our contribution to the impossible is minimal at best. Thinking of the conception of a child, we assume the two people involved are completely in control of the entire process. Yet this is not true. The suggestion above is a woman is barren for a period of time beyond the hope of ever conceiving. The writer is not referring to a young lady who had yet to wed. Rather, this lady is someone who has been married for some time and is trying to conceive. No matter the attempt made, being with child was out of her control. Sometimes, the natural processes at work are seen as just that. We tend to forget just how much in control God is. This is important to remember when we are faced with something out of our ability to change. Like the barren woman, try as she might, she wasn’t with child. No matter the effort, unless a sovereign God did the impossible, she would never experience the joy of her purpose.
Things that are impossible with us are possible with God. Things that are out of control with us are not with God. Particularly where purpose of life is the concern. As stated above, the woman felt her purpose was to rear children and keep the home. The one problem was, she had no children, nor could she bear those children. There are duties of life that are universal for all. Repenting from sin and accepting God’s grace through the blood of Christ is one of them. Sanctification, or the transformation into Christlikeness, is another. For men, the purpose of life is to lead a home. For ladies, their purpose in life is to assist their husbands in doing so. The purpose of humanity is to know God by faith and walk with Him in obedience and faith. To do otherwise would be to fail. These purposes do not come automatically. We have to do our part. And, the LORD does His. His part is the majority part. Thinking again of the barren wife, modern science can help. Again, we think we have more influence than we do. Anyone with experience is infertility knows efforts fail more than they succeed. The divine hand of God is still required in order to create and sustain life.
So, what is our application for today? Something that we frequently say but never take the time to consider just how true it is. We often say that God is the God of the impossible. Normally, what we mean is that God does what we cannot do, but what we can do is much. This is not the thought here. Rather, what we can do is very little. That which is impossible is far more common than we care to admit. We cannot control our involuntary muscle movements. We cannot control our breathing. We cannot stop our heart from beating. That is, we cannot, by a sheer act of the will, control our involuntary muscle movements in any way we wish. We may slow our breathing. But we cannot, by a mere wish, stop breathing. We can manipulate our heart rate only so much. We cannot, by a mere act of the will, stop our heart. We cannot control digestion. We cannot control our nervous system. There is much within the shell of our flesh that is impossible for us to control completely. We cannot control the weather. We cannot control the beliefs of others. There is much out of our control. Far more than what is in our control. This is where a sovereign God comes in. God truly controls all things. It would be prudent to remember this. It would also be a good thing to remain humble toward One who controls all things.
No comments:
Post a Comment