Michael Patton has a great blog on dealing with divine contingencies. God is in control and we are not. He argues that the sovereignty of God “is the single greatest discipleship hurdle for all of us to make. To truly believe that God is in control and He can do whatever He desires is not easy.” Personally, it took me some 15 years to come to terms with this issue. It’s ultimately what brought me into the Reformed camp.

I agree with him that this perspective actually requires “much” faith. In fact, I argue it requires more faith than a worldview akin to the heath-and-wealth gospel. It’s easy to have faith when everything is going as you want/expect. It’s not so easy when things seem to be crumbling around you.

John Piper has a short, excellent posting on that fact that being born again is not up to us. This is must reading, espeically if you’re struggling with the sovereignty of God. I second his view that Jonathan Edward’s Freedom of the Will is probably the best explanation of the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.

Bob
Fides Quaerens Intellectum

This is truly a remarkable testimony of a brother who has sweetly tasted the all-satisfying excellency of the sovereignty of God in the midst of lifelong, bitter suffering. To the natural man, this just does not make sense, but to those who treasure Christ, it is an exclamation point–a very convicting and God-entranced exclamation point.

This will be my last post for a while as I go off the grid for open-heart surgery. I have pre-op procedures at the hospital on Monday and the surgery is scheduled for early Tuesday. I have complete confidence in the surgeon. My absolute faith in the sovereignty of God gives me peace. Please pray … (1) that the surgeon will be able to repair the existing heart valve and not have to replace it, (2) no infection, (3) quick recovery, (4) peace for Debbie during the surgery (I’ll be peacefully asleep!)

My transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) today shows I must have open heart surgery to repair the mitral valve. Doctor classified it as “urgent” but not “immediate” surgery. Tomorrow I have a heart catheterization procedure to equip the surgeon with the knowledge he needs to conduct the repair…. and then the surgery will be scheduled as soon as possible. When it’s scheduled, I’ll let everyone know; I appreciate your prayers, Specifically pray that the valve can be repaired and not have to be replaced.

I am not an emotional person. However, when Jesus manifest himself in my life that is clearly obvious for me to see, I cry like a teenage prom queen. I know that is not very ‘manly’. This happened once last week and once this week. I have been working on this project at work that has been busting my nuggets for weeks. I finally came to the point where I gave up. Sitting in front of the server after the 6th or 7th error I told God, “I am done… You are sovereign, you know this server better than I do, you know how it needs to be configured to work correctly… You do it!!! I am going to lunch.” So after getting back from lunch I remembered a ’setting’ that needed to be changed. I made the change and the error stopped. I broke down right there in front of the server. Crying like I had been crowned Miss America. It was at that point I started praying out loud… I could not control it… Thanking God for his sovereignty, grace, and personal involvement in my life.

I just watched “The Great Raid” - a true story about the Cabanatuan POW rescue mission in WW2, the most successful rescue raid in US military history. Having grown up in the Philippines and already familiar with the story, I greatly enjoyed this movie and recommend it (caution - rated R for violence.)

There was a powerful scene in the movie when the Japanese POW commander is threatening the senior American POW, and the prisoner responds to the commandant with the startling words,