Chance, accident, luck–or Divine Providence!

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid–you are worth more than many sparrows!” Matthew 10:29-31

Charles Spurgeon: “Blessed is that man who is done with chance, who never speaks of luck–but believes that from the least, even to the greatest, all things are ordained by the Lord. We dare not leave out the least event! The creeping of an aphid upon a rosebud is as surely arranged by the decree of Providence–as the march of a pestilence through a nation! Believe this, for if the least thing is omitted from the supreme government, so may the next be, and the next–until nothing is left in the divine hands. There is no place for chance, since God fills all things.“

J.C. Ryle: “There is no such thing as chance, luck or accident in the Christian journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God. And all things are working together for the believer’s good!”

Charles Spurgeon: “God’s Providence not only extends to mankind in general, and to the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, and the innumerable fish in the sea–but also to every atom of matter in the universe!”

Charles Spurgeon: “All things are ordained of God and are settled by Him, according to His wise and holy predestination. Whatever happens here on earth–happens not by chance, but according to the counsel of the Most High!”

Matthew Henry: “God who feeds the sparrows–will not starve His saints! God controls all the concerns of His people, even of those that are most minute, and least regarded. This is an encouragement to live in a continual dependence upon God’s providential care! If God numbers our hairs, much more does He number our heads. He takes care of our lives, our needs, our concerns, and our souls. God’s universal providence extends itself to all creatures, and to all their actions–even the smallest and most minute!”

Charles Spurgeon: “Providence may be seen as the finger of God, not merely in those events which shake nations and are duly emblazoned on the page of history–but in little incidents of common life. Yes, in the motion of a grain of dust, the trembling of a dew-drop, the flight of a swallow, or the movements of a fish!”

Charles Spurgeon: “We talk of God’s providence when we have hairbreadth escapes. But are they not quite as much divine providences, when we are preserved from danger?”

Charles Spurgeon: “It is most important for us to learn that the smallest trifles are as much arranged by the God of Providence–as the most momentous events! He who counts the stars–has also numbered the hairs of our heads. Our lives and deaths are predestined–but so, also, are our sitting down and our rising up.”

Louis Berkhof: “Scripture everywhere teaches that even the minutest details of life are of divine ordering!”

Charles Spurgeon: “Jesus rules the whole world for the good of His people. All the arrangements of Providence are under His control. Nothing is done in the entire universe, without His command or His permission.”

Charles Spurgeon: “The best remedy for affliction, is sweet submission to God’s providence. What can’t be cured, must be endured!”

J.C. Ryle: “If God has given His Son to die for us–let us beware of doubting His kindness and love in any painful providence of our daily life.”

Charles Spurgeon: “Divine Providence is a downy pillow for an aching head–and a blessed salve for the sharpest pain. He who can feel that his times are in the hand of God–need not tremble at anything that is in the hand of man!”

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

My Father’s home!

(James Smith, “The Better Land”)

“Do not be troubled. There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am!” John 14:1-3

How familiar with Heaven–how well acquainted with that “better land” must Jesus be! He calls it “My Father’s home!” Sweet view of our eternal residence!

Dying is but ‘going home!’ Going home to our Father! Going to our Father’s home!

And shall we fear this? Fear it! Can we do anything other than eagerly desire it? Do we not wish to go home and see our Father? We shall not be strangers there–so many of our Christian friends have gone home before us. And even if some of our loved ones are not there–we could not possibly feel unhappy where JESUS is!

“I am leaving the world,” said Jesus, “and am going to My Father!” Such should be our language in the prospect of death. O that, with child-like simplicity, we could receive into our minds the testimony of God’s Word! O that we could view death and Heaven–just as the Scriptures represent them! Where would our doubts and fears be then? What would become of our reluctance to leave the world then? Then, if we spoke of departed Christian loved ones–we would use similar language to that of Judah in reference to his younger brother Benjamin, “He is this day with our Father!” We would no longer talk of losing friends or relatives. Oh no! we should speak of them as being in our Father’s home, or of being with our Father!

My soul, I charge you in future to look to Heaven, simply as your Father’s home!

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Nothing can frustrate His designs–and nothing can hinder His purposes!

(“Theology Explained” Timothy Dwight, 1752-1817)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth!” Psalm 33:6

“The heavens are Yours, and Yours also the earth; You founded the world and all that is in it.” Psalm 89:11

“Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God!” Psalm 90:2

“In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end!” Psalm 102:25-27

How great and glorious is the character of God as seen in His Creation!

Possessed of perfect excellence, contemplating with infinite delight His glorious attributes, and containing in Himself a boundless sufficiency for the accomplishment of everything great and desirable–God saw that it was befitting to His character to unfold His perfections and communicate His goodness to an endless and innumerable race of beings.

From an infinite height, He took a survey of the limitless range of possible beings; and in a cosmos without limits, but desolate and wild, where nothing was–He called into existence with a word, the countless multitude of worlds, with all their various furnishings. With His own hand He lighted up at once innumerable stars, and rolled around them innumerable worlds! All these He perfectly dispersed and arranged–and all, at the same time, He stored and adorned with a rich and unceasing variety of beauty and magnificence.

Throughout His vast empire, He surrounded His throne with intelligent creatures, to fill the immense and perfect scheme of being which originally existed with infinite splendor in His own incomprehensible mind. Independent of all possible beings and events–He sits at the head of His universe unchanged; and incapable of change–amid all the vicissitudes, tossings, and tumults by which it is agitated.

When empires are overthrown, or angels fall; when stars are extinguished, and solar systems return to their original nothingness–He is as equally unmoved as when a sparrow expires, or when a hair falls from a head. Nothing can happen, nothing can be done, beyond His expectation, or without his permission.

Nothing can frustrate His designs–and nothing hinder His purposes!

All things, beside Him–change and fluctuate without ceasing. Events exist–and vanish. Beings rise–and expire. But His own existence, the thoughts which He entertains, the desires which He has, the purposes which He forms–are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Throughout the coming limitless Eternity, also, and the boundless tracts of Immensity–He sees with serene delight His own perfect purposes daily and invariably advancing with a regular fulfillment towards their absolute completion. In its own place, in its own time, and in its own manner–each exists in exact obedience to His immutable will, and in exact accordance with His choice.

Nothing lingers, nothing hastens–but His counsel exactly stands, and all His good pleasure will be precisely accomplished.

“For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods! In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care!” Psalm 95:3-7

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

The sovereignty of God

(Arthur Pink)

“Our God is in Heaven; He does whatever pleases Him!” Psalm 115:3

“The LORD does whatever pleases Him, in the Heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths!” Psalm 135:6

“All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of Heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him: What have you done?” Daniel 4:35

The sovereignty of God may be defined as the exercise of His supremacy. Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature–He is the Most High, Lord of Heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none–He is absolutely independent. God does . . .
as He pleases,
only as He pleases,
and always as He pleases.
None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him.

Sovereignty characterizes the whole being of God. He is sovereign in all of His attributes.

Divine sovereignty is not the sovereignty of a tyrannical despot–but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise and good!

Because God is infinitely wise–He cannot err.
Because He is infinitely righteous–He will not do wrong.

Here then is the preciousness of this truth. The mere fact itself that God’s will is irresistible and irreversible, fills me with fear–but once I realize that God wills only that which is good for His redeemed people, my heart is made to rejoice.

~ ~ ~ ~

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,
This week we will be looking at 1 Samuel 1 and 2.
This portion of Scriptures tells us about Hannah.
• Hannah’s Plight 1 Samuel 1:1-8
• Hannah’s Request 1 Samuel 1:9-18
• God’s Response 1 Samuel 1:19-20
• Hannah’s Response 1 Samuel 1:21-28
• Hannah’s Prayer 1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hannah’s Prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.2 There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.6 The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7 The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them.9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Hannah rejoices in the Lord. She acknowledges that God is holy, He is the God of knowledge, powerful, has power over life and death, takes care of the saints, and will judge the earth.
God’s in charge and Hannah knew it!
Do we? Who is in charge of our lives? We have God’s word which teaches us everything we need to know about God. Do we read it and obey it? Is the God of the Bible really everything He claims to be? If so, do we live as we believe it or not?
God wants us. All of us. All the time. He wants to be on the throne of our lives. Will we let Him?
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplin, 907 715-4001

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

This week we will be looking at 1 Samuel 1 and 2.

This portion of Scriptures tells us about Hannah.

• Hannah’s Plight             1 Samuel 1:1-8
• Hannah’s Request         1 Samuel 1:9-18
• God’s Response         1 Samuel 1:19-20
• Hannah’s Response       1 Samuel 1:21-28
• Hannah’s Prayer           1 Samuel 2:1-10

God’s Response (1 Samuel 1:19-20)

“And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.²⁰ Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.”

God answers prayer!

God gave Hannah a son and she named him Samuel.

Tomorrow we will see Hannah’s response to her miracle child.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

This week we will be looking at 1 Samuel 1 and 2.

This portion of Scriptures tells us about Hannah.

• Hannah’s Plight             1 Samuel 1:1-8
• Hannah’s Request      1 Samuel 1:9-18
• God’s Response            1 Samuel 1:19-20
• Hannah’s Response       1 Samuel 1:21-28
• Hannah’s Prayer           1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah’s Request (1 Samuel 1:9-18)

“So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.¹⁰ And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.¹² And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth.¹³ Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.¹⁴ And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.¹⁵ And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.¹⁶ Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.¹⁸ And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.”

Hannah’s request was for a male child. He was to be given to the Lord for his whole life. This meant that after he was weaned, he would be taken to the Tabernacle and there, under the care of the High Priest Eli and others, he would grow to be a mighty prophet of God.  Hannah was serious about her commitment to God. Her desire was for her child to serve God.

It is God’s desire that we come to Him in prayer. God is capable and willing to answer our prayers. Not selfish prayers, but prayers that exult, glorify, and honor God. That is what Hannah prayed.

God will not always answer our prayers the way we want. He sees the big picture and knows how that prayer may be good or bad for us. However He answers, YES, No, or Not Now, we need to thank Him and trust His judgment in our lives.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

This week we will be looking at 1 Samuel 1 and 2.

This portion of Scriptures tells us about Hannah.

• Hannah’s Plight         1 Samuel 1:1-8
• Hannah’s Request         1 Samuel 1:9-18
• God’s Response            1 Samuel 1:19-20
• Hannah’s Response       1 Samuel 1:21-28
• Hannah’s Prayer           1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah’s Plight (1 Samuel 1:1-8)

“Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: ² And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.³ And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.⁴ And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:⁵ But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.⁶ And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.⁷ And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.⁸ Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?”

Hannah’s plight was that she was unable to have children. God had “…shut up her womb.” Peninnah mocked her and made her feel really bad.

Hannah wanted a child to honor God. This will become evident tomorrow when we see Hannah’s request.

It is in the worst of circumstances when God does His best work.

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001

Good morning,

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

This was the position of Israel after the exodus from Egypt. They rebelled against God and God made them wander in the desert 40 years. Moses also rebelled and would not be going into the promised land.

God chooses Joshua to lead Israel into the “Promised Land”.

Moses and God each give Joshua a charge.

God then gives Joshua a promise, command, and warning.

This week we will look at each of these.

God’s warning (Deuteronomy 30:17-19)

“ But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;¹⁸ I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”

Israel obeys God at Jericho (Joshua 6:1-2, 21)

“Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.² And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.”

Israel rebels at Ai (Joshua 6:18-19)

God’s command

¹⁸ And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.¹⁹ But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.

Israel’s rebellion (Joshua 7:1, 5, 10-12, 25-26)

“But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.

 ⁵ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

 ¹⁰ And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?¹¹ Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.¹² Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

 ²⁵ And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.”

CONCLUSION

Obey God