What Then Shall We Say?
If God went to such lengths as to control the events of the world and to sacrifice His one and only Son, would it make any sense at all for Him to abandon you between the “already” of your justification and the “not yet” of your final glorification? Would it make any sense for Him to turn His back on you now? Would it make any sense for Him to ignore you in your hour of need? Would you expend a great amount of personal effort and sacrifice to secure something of value and then not work to keep, maintain, and protect it?
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“If He freely gave us Jesus, doesn’t it make sense that He will also give us everything that we need?”
– Romans 8:31-33
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So don’t let any evil enemy whisper lies into your ear. Don’t let him tell you that you are alone, that you’re left to your own resources, or that God doesn’t hear or care. Don’t let yourself doubt God’s presence and His goodness. Don’t let yourself wonder if you’ll make it through. God unleashed His power to make you His own, and He will continue to unleash His power to keep and protect you until you are with Him forever in that place where you will need His protection no more because the final enemy will be under HIs feet.
– December 9 - New Morning Mercies (Paul Tripp)
O, beloved! We are so very quick to forget, yes? To forget His steadfast, ceaseless love. We get all caught up in the intense emotions of our circumstances, and we lose sight of His love.
Methinks this is partly because we’re blind, dim-witted sheep, eh? Aye. Indeed.
And so, we fumble about in darkness. We put far too much stock in our pathetic senses and wit. Therefore, beloved, let us ponder anew what He has already done for us, shall we? Don’t you remember?
My fuzzy mind, it faintly recalls a desperate time, indeed. A time when we had altogether gone astray. Yes. Oh my, what a fretful time it was!
O, beloved, we were lost; helpless, forlorn, miserable. But then, o, beloved (said reverently)…but then! We were found!
So, what then shall we say?
What? You think He went through all that trouble so as to now leave us here all alone? Pish posh.
Oh, and I suppose you, perhaps, think He’s forgotten? Uh-huh. Right. (said ever so skeptically) Just like you “forget” your love of self?
“Oh, where has my beloved gone?”
“Oh, beloved, you cannot be found?!”
What!? No. You’re ridiculous - you despicable creature. You really are dim-witted.
If you, as dim-witted as you most surely are, cannot seem to forget your beloved soul, how can your Shepherd King?
“How about regret?” - says he.
Oh, sure. Of course. That makes perfect sense. (said with a heavy sigh) You think He, the Omnipotent, Omniscient, all-powerful God, infinitely Sovereign, the One called Love, could have regret after doing anything? Dim-witted, you are, indeed.
O, my tender-hearted beloved (said compassionately). You have trouble understanding, because…it’s so very sweet, yes? Because it’s so very lovely, it’s hard to imagine it can be true, yes? But, oh, dear child of God, it is true. Verily so! It’s most definitively true beyond comprehension.
You can keep trying, beloved, to materialize some excuse, some reason, some explanation…to convince yourself, but it’s to no avail.
Rest, little one. Rest your heart now. There, there. You are secure. You are safe. You may not feel as such, but you are. Aye, safer than you could ever imagine.
And so, once more, what shall we say to all of these things? All of these concerns? All of these doubts?
“Good riddance!” Yes, that'll do.
Now, take heart, O my soul!
He loved you; He loves you still; He will most definitely always love you.
Have no fear, beloved.