Car Accidents and the Sovereignty of God/Rejoicing in a Smashed Car

Yesterday I was in a car accident, to get that out of the way… I am totally physically unharmed and so was the other person, we were both alone in our respective cars, suffice to say we collided and that is all I really care to say about it. Now it is horrible, I am without my car for a period of time, I have to change many plans I have made for the next few days, possibly weeks. This I would consider, along with the loss of money, a trial, James speaks about trials in James 1, and I have recently preached on the issue and am currently studying my way through the book.

The point of my writing this is to at least demonstrate how the sovereignty of God shines through in this situation, which from all human reasoning is not good at all.

Firstly, this is a guaranteed opportunity for expressing joy, James wrote in verse 2 of chapter 1, “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” Why? Well I am now more dependent and can be joyfully dependent on the One who allowed the accident. This draws me closer to God, since I must now trust him for a number of things, money, my car, transportation, the thoughts people have about me, my relationships. I like what commentator Warren Wiersbe said on this passage, “Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to `count it all joy.’ If we live only for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter, not better” (Be Mature, [Wheaton, Ill.: Victor, 1978], p.23).

So now i pray, God help me value the spiritual more then the material.

Secondly, I must have an understanding mind. verse 3 says,”Knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience” two things I need to know 1) The reality of the testing… Look every Christian will get it, we are promised trials and tribulations and problems in this world… we are not in heaven .2) the reason for the testing….. Why am I being tested? Well according to Romans 8, God’s intention is to make me conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and according to verse 4 of James 1 these things will make me complete and lacking in nothing. So I can rejoice because God is working in my life through the tools of these trials, to make me more like Christ. So I have thought about it so I don’t waste it, and this is some of the things I figured out, the rest, only God knows.

1) I need to be grateful, not like those of Romans 1, who were unthankful, I should be thankful that the Lord spared me from injury, from being totally written-off, spared the other driver, spared me from going to jail due to any death that could have happened. Grateful that I have a car to crash… There are people who suffer living in abject poverty. Thankful for a kind church with godly elders that care and have provided me with a car till mine comes back, thankful for God’ provision of insurance, thankful for the opportunity to give witness to Christ to the lady I crashed with, and to the police later. Thankful that I had friends with cars to help me after the accident. Basically thankful for so much, since in fact I am a sinner who deserves hell, so in fact I got off light. That leads to my second point….

2) Humility. Contrary to my own prideful heart, I am not the worlds most perfect driver who never makes a mistake. Now other people may think less of me, they may think, “Ah, what a typical 23 year old” and my flesh hates that, but the only reason it does is because I think I am so much more then that, my heart tempts me to think I am more then just dust. Humility, that will make me more like Christ, oh that the sin of pride would be gone from me, and praise God for allowing this accident to cause it to be attacked.

3) Patience. Wow, I thought I had patience, but I saw how the next day, not having my own car, and after being a bit ruffled, I got so frustrated in traffic, which I don’t normally. I thought I was a pretty patient person, but I see how when things are not going well, my patience are short.

Thirdly, I must have a submissive will. James 1:4 says, “let patience have her perfect work, then you will be perfect and complete lacking in nothing” I need to let the perfect work happen, patience is not the point, the end result is to make be perfect… The Greek word was used of a mature animal, who was fully grown. I must not be angry or impatient, upset that God is working, I must not wish for it not to have happened… Its funny, I was sitting yesterday and thinking, “God, you can do everything, please undo time or make us all wake up and the accident never to have happened”, what a foolish attitude, what I am saying in essence is that God did not know what He was doing. But I know, what happened was the best possible thing that could happen, cause it was the will of the all-wise, all-loving God, and He knows what I do not, so I pray God by the grace of Christ, help me to be submissive in this my lesson.

One other thing I learn’t also comes from James. Foolish man, you say we will go here and there and do this and that, yet you do not know what will happen tomorrow. I had such grand plans, to go to Bible study and teach, then go watch some soccer and have a restful night, after that the next day I would go watch my German teach beat Croatia (Its been a rough three days), but alas, God had other plans, I should rather have said God willing. I need to remember that the Lord is in control, it is so easy to become self-sufficient in your thinking. As if this was bad enough, my computer crashed today, and showed me the blue screen of death. Praise the Lord, this is truly great my friends, the Lord is working, and I need to become more like Christ, not have a good car and fancy computer.

I hope this helps those of you out there who have heard my sermon on James 1:1-4 see this in a contextual light. If you would like to listen to this sermon you can click on one of the following links, and search for my name and this text (James 1:1-4)

http://www.birchleighbc.co.za/resources/

http://www.cpbc.co.za/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=44&Itemid=60

Evil is Under God’s Control

As I begin my series on God’s control of all things, including evil we must consider the evidence (as found in His book, the revealed Word, the Scripture, if you don’t agree, check the evidence). When I refer to evil I am speaking about both moral and natural evil. By moral I mean sin, such as lying, stealing, adultery, and all other ways in which people refuse to love each other and obey God. By natural evil I mean hurricanes, floods, disease- all the natural ways that death and suffering afflict mankind. What I am considering in this series, is that God rules the world in such a way that all sin remains in His ultimate control and therefore within His ultimate design and purpose.

I have read a book on a movement, mostly in America, called ‘Open Theism’ this group denies that God has full foreknowledge of the entire future. The denial of God’s foreknowledge of human and demonic choices is a mattress for the view that God is not in control of evil in the world and therefore has no purpose in them.

However, I believe that the Scripture teaches Go is in control of everything, including evil, and thus any view that suggests evil is out of God’s control, not only is wrong (or unscriptural J), but it offers no hope for a world that at times seems to spiral out of control with evil.

Let’s examine the evidence:

Does God control Calamity?

Let us consider the evidence that God controls physical evil, however keep in mind that often physical and moral evil meet, many of our pains happen because of other people or demonic forces decisions.

In Scripture humans life is seen as something God has complete authority over. He gives and takes away life. We do not have life, nor do we have any complete right over it. So it makes sense then that for God to give life is a gift, and to lose it is never an injustice on God’s part, whether it is taken at age 2 or age ninety-two.

Remember how Job reacted to losing his children at the initiation of Satan? He did not say that Satan was the ultimate cause of it. Instead he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” In case we might say that Job made a mistake, the author adds these words, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (v22). And “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (2:10).

In Deuteronomy 32:39, God said, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” When David impregnated Bathsheba, the Lord punished him by taking his son (2 Samuel 12:15, 18).

What about Disease?

When Moses afraid to speak God said to him, “Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:11). In other words behind all disease and disability is the ultimate will of God. Not to say that Satan is not involved- he is probably always involved in one way or another with a destructive purpose (Acts 10:38). But his power is not decisive. He cannot act without God’s permission.

That is one of the points made clear in Job’s illness. The text makes it clear that the disease came upon Job by… “So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” Job’s wife encouraged him to curse God, but he said, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?(Job 2:10)” again, the author says, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2v10). That is to say, this is the correct view of God’s sovereignty over Satan. Satan is real and may have a hand in our affliction, but not the final hand, and most defiantly not the decisive hand. James makes it clear that God had a good purpose in all Job’s afflictions, “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:11)” So Satan may have been involved, but the ultimate purpose was God’s, and it was “compassionate and merciful.”

We learn this again in 2 Corinthians 12:7, where Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh as being a messenger of Satan, and yet it was given to make him more holy: “So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.” Now Satan’s goal is not Paul’s humility, therefore the purpose is God’s.

There is no reason to believe that Satan is ever out of God’s control ultimately. Mark 1:27 says about Jesus, “And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And in Luke 4:36, “And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” In other words no matter how real and terrible Satan and his demons are in this world, they remain subordinate to the ultimate will of God

The point of the teaching I think is in us to cause humility and hope, humility since we are so small and God so great and some things are far beyond our understanding and hope, since no matter how crazy things get, they are never out of control of a all-wise faithful, good and great heavenly Father

In the next Blog: God’s control of Natural Disasters and all other kinds of Calamities.

I am indebted to John Piper for my clarity and articulation in this: See Desiring God by John Piper.