Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings, dear people.
I’m home alone with rain pelting the roof. Unexpected developments have caused Becki to spend the late afternoon and evening with her sister Lorna who is sick and apparently quite dehydrated. Becki just called to say they’ve decided to take her to the hospital. Not sure when she’ll drop into bed. She wasn’t able to join me at our Gospel Sing this afternoon either.
Yesterday held some unbecoming excitement too. I was on a run to a store about 25 miles away when Becki called me. She reported that Thano just had an accident at a busy intersection on Hwy. 213. I turned around and headed back that way. On the way, Becki called again to say they needed me to get to the scene ASAP with the pickup and trailer, prepared to load the car up. Otherwise there would be a towing charge. I took a detour back home to avoid that congested intersection and scrambled to return with the truck and trailer. Sad. The car is a mess. He only bought it a few weeks ago, and loved it. We loaded it up. Later that evening, a guy who specializes in older Hondas came by and confirmed that it was not worth repairing. Yippee. So we now face some added complications and decisions.
Wow—the rain is really pounding now. I guess it falls on the just and unjust alike. Yet His grace is still sufficient.
Love, Dad/Ray.
This whole idea concerning the autonomy of man in relationship to the Sovereignty of God is a long-standing difficulty for us humans. It’s not easy to sort out and understand exactly where the lines of separation lie. And that fact right there offers a huge amount of added support to the bottom-line best choice of a HEART AFTER GOD—simply because it comes the closest of any human option I know of to harmonize the two—the will of a man in partnership and cooperation with the Will of God.
Something catches my attention—I’m counting six references to the Sovereign foreknowledge and Will of God in today’s reading.
- The first is where Jesus announces to His disciples how things would play out that same night. “This very night you will all fall away on account of me” (v. 31).
- The second immediately follows—a cross-reference to a significant detail presented in an ancient prophecy (Zechariah 13:7). “…for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’” (v. 31).
- The next verse presents the third—“But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee” (v. 32).
- The fourth case is a specific prophecy aimed at Peter who claimed he would never turn his back on Jesus, even if it meant death—“I tell you the truth…this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” (v. 34).
- The fifth instance is where Jesus makes another comment concerning Old Testament predictive prophecy—“But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?” (v. 54).
- The sixth case is similar—“But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled” (v. 56).
There you have it! Lesson: Don’t mess with God’s Sovereign Will! There is absolutely no hope of successfully opposing it. Of course, a HEART AFTER GOD is not even tempted in that direction anyway. That heart disposition only wants to flow with His Will—embrace it, cooperate with it, and conform to it—because that heart is governed by love, trust, and a priority desire to please Him.
In support of this idea, two verses come to mind.
- “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mark 13:31).
- “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (Proverbs 21:30).
next to the might of the Spirit of God.”