The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame Their great Original proclaim. Th’unwearied sun, from day to day, Does his Creator’s powers display, And publishes to every land The work of an Almighty Hand.
Praise the Lord for the beautiful and bountiful world the Lord has made. Praise the Lord for the way He has redeemed it. He rules and He reigns. Though we see evil and atrocities, our Lord is still in control.
I love to read about the preachers and the theologians from Great Brttain. I am fascinated with British literature, theology, and preaching. I was reading about Charles Simeon, who, though mostly forgotten today, was considered one of the greatest preachers of his generation. He pastored Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, England for an amazing 54 years. During his pastorate he prepared detailed sermon outlines from all parts of the Bible. These detailed outlines have been gathered in a massive 21-volume set. Though his style reflects his own age, the sermons stand up very well because they are both biblical (rooted in the text) and evangelical (pointing the reader to faith in Christ).
Charles Simeon published a sermon on Genesis 45 called God Viewed in Joseph’s Advancement. The sermon is very contemporary in the best sense. As someone has noted, we do not have to “make the Bible relevant.” The Bible is already relevant because it speaks to our universal need to know the God who made us. Our task as preachers is simply to show how relevant the Bible already is.
Simeon began his sermon by talking about the “hidden secrets of divine providence.” It is a fact that we see far less than God sees. When we are going through the ordeal of being unfairly attacked, when we are being lied about, when our reputation is being publicly smeared, when our friends betray us, when a spouse abandons us, it may appear impossible that such things could accomplish anything good, but they do. We see far less than what God sees. The good that may come from the treachery of others is not planned by the hand of man, is not seen in advance, and is not seen at all except by faith.
That leaves us with one very important question: How does God bring good out of evil? Simeon used an unusual word to answer that question. He said that God “interposes” in every situation so that he is able to bring good out of the worst that happens in this world. The dictionary says that to “interpose” means to place or insert between one thing and another. Used in this sense, it means that God actively involves himself in the worst moments of life.
I freely admit that when I consider the evil and heartache in this world, I cannot fathom what it means for God to “interpose” himself in those situations. My limitation is not simply a lack of holy thinking on my part. No one on this side of heaven can say with certainty how this works, but we can rest assured that God in his wisdom knows what he is doing. I find it a great comfort to know that in a world marked by sudden death and every sort of cruelty that man can devise, our God is not merely a passive observer. He works behind the scenes to bring about ends that are for our good and His glory.
I often think of the life of Joseph as an example of how God interposed Himself in the affairs of man. if anyone had a “right” to be bitter, it was Joseph. He “lost” 22 years of his life. The temptation to get even must have been great, but this is how he summarizes the whole affair:
“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into
Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me
here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in
the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be
neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a
remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you
who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all
his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and
say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come
down to me; do not tarry.’” (Genesis 45:4-9).
His words point to an enormous irony. The very thing used against him (their betrayal) resulted in his exaltation so that he could save the brothers who betrayed him. We see the central truth in verse 8: “It was not you who sent me here, but God.”
"We know that in everything God works for good with those who love
him, who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
In Christ our
Lord,
Brown
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