The
Most Encouraging Verse In The Bible For Believers In Any
Circumstance
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By Clay Sterrett
We are not controlled by impersonal forces such
as luck, chance or fate. We are not Stoics, people who “simply submit
without complaint to unavoidable necessity” [9] We believe that God is a
personal God who reveals himself through Jesus Christ. He is not a passive,
disinterested God; he is actively involved in the affairs of men and he is
this blessed controller of all things.[10] He does not tell his
followers what to do then stand off to watch us struggle, but God works in
us both to will and act according to his good pleasure.[11] The Greek
tense in our Romans verse suggests continuing activity of God, i.e., God
is continually working for the good…
If we believe God is continually at work,
then we also believe God makes no mistakes. Fanny Crosby, the famous
songwriter of 9,000 hymns – among them Blessed Assurance and To
God be the Glory – was blind at six weeks of age because of mistreatment
by a man claiming to be a physician. In her autobiography, she wrote, “ If
perfect earthy sight were offered to me tomorrow, I would not accept it. Did
you ever know of a blind person’s talking like that before? … Although it
may have been a blunder on the physician’s part, it was no mistake of God’s.
I verily believe it was His intention that I should live my days in physical
darkness, so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and incite others
so to do. I could not have written thousands of hymns – many of which, if
you will pardon me for repeating it, are sung all over the world – if I had
been hindered by the distractions of seeing all the interesting and
beautiful objects that would have been presented to my notice.” [12]
- [9] Webster’s New
Universal Unabridged Dictionary (Barnes and Noble Books, New York
1996)
- [10] I Tim 6:15 Phillips
- [11] Phil 2:13
- [12] John Woodbridge,
More then Conquerors (Moody Press, Chicago 1992) p.108
