Quiet Sovereignty

In the process of reflecting the past few weeks I have been struck by the beauty of God's "quiet providence." The depth and intentionality of his love for his children is an incredible thing. In the midst of heartache, triumphs and the mundane he is always actively seeking our greatest good, what an encouraging thought!

Recently I was asked by my pastor to preach on the topic of Heaven for our youth group. Initially I was glad to help and looked forward to studying the topic in general and my passage in particular. Heaven is something we all think about occasionally; however, I have never taken the time to study it with much intensity or purposefulness. I assumed it would be a helpful for my own spiritual growth as I prepared and prayed that the youth and their parents would find my message encouraging and God glorifying.

In God's quiet providence my Grandfather recently suffered a fall and went from a seventy-something farmer to a man bound to a wheel chair, too weak to feed himself. The doctors also discovered that he has excessive bleeding in his brain and gave him only a month or so to live. Suddenly what had appeared to be a somewhat abstract topic to preach on was brought close to home. My study has been given renewed clarity and I had the joy of sharing with my Grandfather some of the scriptures I had been studying.

The peace of knowing God's providence and seeing the smallest portion of what he might be intending in a situation is strengthening. It also brought to mind one of my favorite poems, I hope it encourages you as it has me.

I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne
And begged Him for a priceless gift, which I could call my own.
I took the gift from out his hand, but as I would depart
I cried, "But Lord, this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.
This is a strange, a hurtful gift that though hast given me."
He said, "My child, I give good gifts, and give my best to thee."
I took it home, and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore;
As long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more.
I learned he never gives a thorn without this added Grace.
He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face.
-- The Thorn, by Martha Snell Nicholson

Revelation 22:1-5
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Grace and Peace,

Matthew