Left For A Season
Chapter 5: Of Providence
5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruptions of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon themsevles, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.
The previous paragraphs of this chapter dealt with God’s providence in the big picture: creation, and redemptive history. But it also touched on some important life questions: “why did this happen?” In this paragraph, the Assembly speaks of God’s providence as it relates to those moments when the Christian experiences severe temptation, and even those moments when they fail. One of the things we find in the scriptures is that they do not hide such moments; we see the figures of history in their messiness, whether it's Noah's drunkenness, Abraham sleeping with his wife's servant to produce an heir, or Peter's cowardice when being questioned by a servant girl. The men and the women of the Bible are not idealized heroes to emulate; they are not the main characters of the Biblical history, God is.
"So, since God is sovereign," someone might ask, "Why does God let this happen?" The Assembly gives four explanations here:
1. That they may be humbled. Jesus declared to His critics: "“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17).He said this to men who did not have a real understanding of their sin, and who thought they had no need of a Savior. It was the people who had no delusions about their moral state that were seeking Jesus out, and who He was ministering to; the Pharisees and other self-righteous people hated Him for calling out their hypocrisy and blindness. Sometimes God's providence in a person's life wipes away this delusion. Take Peter for instance: he boldly declared to Christ that he would never abandon him, yet he eventually denied him when questioned (Luke 22:54-62). What effect did this have on Peter? It humbled him and brought him to what he needed: repentance and genuine reliance. Instead of running away from the one he betrayed, Peter ran to him, even jumping out of a boat to swim to Christ rather than wait for it to reach the shore (John 21:1-8). Thus was how much he truly loved and saw his need of the Savior. Then what? Well, this man would some time in the near future stand before a crowd of those who had been present as Jesus trial, and call them to repentance and faith. And eventually, history tells us that Peter was crucified himself, yet he begged them to do it upside down because he did not see himself as worthy of dying the same death as His Lord. All of this was the result, not of building up Peter in self-esteem, but in esteem for the God who is truly strong and capable of equipping the weakest for His work.
2. The second reason is closely tied to the first, as is expressed above. To be humbled means to have a clear understanding of one's self. C.S. Lewis says that "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." Yes, Moses probably had an accurate assessment of his speaking ability (Exodus 4:10), but God's message to him was clear: trust the One who made man's mouth, who gives him the ability to speak, to see, to hear, or to take those senses away. Peter had learned to stop trusting in His strength and power, and start resting on God's grace. To have our view of ourselves come crashing down around us may be painful, but it is necessary that you understand the important truth that you have a desperate need of God's grace, therefore God's providence will often times make this clear to His people, that they would learn to lean on His unending grace and strength.
3. The third one can be summed up in this rather vivid saying by Mark Twain: "A cat that sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But it will never sit on a cold stove either." To experience the reality of sin in the form of its consequences in life can often times break the illusion regarding particular sins, and put someone on guard against them. The gambler who just abouts loses everything may be well motivated to guard their heart against that tendency, and the person with a temper might see just how deeply seeded that sin is in their life, and want to flee such anger by the grace of God. These are hard lessons, but important one. As Jesus says elsewhere, it is better to experience painful loss than to go into hell whole (Matthew 5:29-30).
4. Finally, the Confession wisely reminds us that God's ways are not our ways, and that He does not fully disclose His purposes to us. Therefore they acknowledge that God may purpose these moments for whatever purpose God wills them for, also reminding us that whatever the purpose, we can be sure it is a just and holy goal.
Now, does all this give an excuse for sin? Is sin ok as long as it leads to a good end? Not at all! The Word of God vehemently rejects this notion:
"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." -Romans 6:1-4
The whole point of this is to lead the child of God to hate sin all the more, not to give them an excuse for it. And in that hatred of sin, the Christian is to run to Christ and love him more and more. As Thomas Watson once said: "Til sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet."
"So, since God is sovereign," someone might ask, "Why does God let this happen?" The Assembly gives four explanations here:
1. That they may be humbled. Jesus declared to His critics: "“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17).He said this to men who did not have a real understanding of their sin, and who thought they had no need of a Savior. It was the people who had no delusions about their moral state that were seeking Jesus out, and who He was ministering to; the Pharisees and other self-righteous people hated Him for calling out their hypocrisy and blindness. Sometimes God's providence in a person's life wipes away this delusion. Take Peter for instance: he boldly declared to Christ that he would never abandon him, yet he eventually denied him when questioned (Luke 22:54-62). What effect did this have on Peter? It humbled him and brought him to what he needed: repentance and genuine reliance. Instead of running away from the one he betrayed, Peter ran to him, even jumping out of a boat to swim to Christ rather than wait for it to reach the shore (John 21:1-8). Thus was how much he truly loved and saw his need of the Savior. Then what? Well, this man would some time in the near future stand before a crowd of those who had been present as Jesus trial, and call them to repentance and faith. And eventually, history tells us that Peter was crucified himself, yet he begged them to do it upside down because he did not see himself as worthy of dying the same death as His Lord. All of this was the result, not of building up Peter in self-esteem, but in esteem for the God who is truly strong and capable of equipping the weakest for His work.
2. The second reason is closely tied to the first, as is expressed above. To be humbled means to have a clear understanding of one's self. C.S. Lewis says that "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." Yes, Moses probably had an accurate assessment of his speaking ability (Exodus 4:10), but God's message to him was clear: trust the One who made man's mouth, who gives him the ability to speak, to see, to hear, or to take those senses away. Peter had learned to stop trusting in His strength and power, and start resting on God's grace. To have our view of ourselves come crashing down around us may be painful, but it is necessary that you understand the important truth that you have a desperate need of God's grace, therefore God's providence will often times make this clear to His people, that they would learn to lean on His unending grace and strength.
3. The third one can be summed up in this rather vivid saying by Mark Twain: "A cat that sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But it will never sit on a cold stove either." To experience the reality of sin in the form of its consequences in life can often times break the illusion regarding particular sins, and put someone on guard against them. The gambler who just abouts loses everything may be well motivated to guard their heart against that tendency, and the person with a temper might see just how deeply seeded that sin is in their life, and want to flee such anger by the grace of God. These are hard lessons, but important one. As Jesus says elsewhere, it is better to experience painful loss than to go into hell whole (Matthew 5:29-30).
4. Finally, the Confession wisely reminds us that God's ways are not our ways, and that He does not fully disclose His purposes to us. Therefore they acknowledge that God may purpose these moments for whatever purpose God wills them for, also reminding us that whatever the purpose, we can be sure it is a just and holy goal.
Now, does all this give an excuse for sin? Is sin ok as long as it leads to a good end? Not at all! The Word of God vehemently rejects this notion:
"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." -Romans 6:1-4
The whole point of this is to lead the child of God to hate sin all the more, not to give them an excuse for it. And in that hatred of sin, the Christian is to run to Christ and love him more and more. As Thomas Watson once said: "Til sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet."