Sunday, August 15, 2010

Those Who Seek the Lord Lack No Good Thing

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you” (John 16:23).  In His love, God gives us nothing but what is good.  We cannot deny that some things He sovereignly brings into our lives appear anything but good to us; but we also cannot deny that the Bible promises exactly that to believers.  The great privilege of those whom Christ loves is that nothing shall befall them, but what shall prove good for them.  The Puritan David Clarkson said this concerning God’s loving providence over the lives of His people: “They may conclude, in whatever condition they are in, it is best for them, and if it had not been so, they would never have been brought into it; and whenever it shall cease to be so, they shall be removed out it.”  Now that is quite a statement!  Yet in various ways, by promises and commands, God’s word justifies that conclusion.  Clarkson continued, “This is the sweetest privilege, yet the most difficult to believe at all times, since there is great opposition to it by our sense and reason.”  His concluding remark just took my breath away!  “Take a survey of heaven and earth, and all things therein,” Clarkson said, “and whatever on sure grounds appears good, ask for it confidently from Christ, for his love will not deny it.”

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