Philippians 1:12 – “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel…”
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 11:
Question: What are God’s works of providence?
Answer: God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.
Paul, like all servants of God had settled, long before he wrote these words to the Philippians, that his life and the circumstances in it were the sole possession of the Sovereign and Triune God who called him. In whatever circumstances he found himself, because he was God’s man, he was content. His life was bought with a price – His life was God’s to work and will for His good pleasure.
Recently our church instituted an online giving capability on our website – I’ll admit some trepidation in my soul over it – I’ve always thought that such a thing was dominantly and crassly utilitarian and churches that did it reduced an act of worship – i.e., offering – to little more than a business transaction. In the light of current events, I’ve changed my thinking a little on this score, but just a little. It’s certainly true that had the events of the last month not occurred, I doubt we would be doing this or even talking about doing it. But here we are. It’s new, but it’s not bad, if we remember that worship is our privilege and offering – not just of our troth, but of all that we are as Romans 12:1-2 tells us, it is the spiritual service of worship – the “all of life” type of worship.
There are other things which events of the last month have “pushed” us into as well – for instance, I doubt that we would be streaming our Lord’s Day service on YouTube for the world to see had not circumstances made it necessary for us. I have had folks I know from hundreds of miles away tell me they have seen the videos of our services and, as a result, prayed for us and saw the Lord bless others through us.
The events of the last month have also “pushed” us to meet together online – “Zooming” twice a day for prayer like we have been for the last couple of weeks. For this especially, I thank God for His mercy and grace to bring us closer and bless us as Christ’s people. May all the glory be to God and our Intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the way we have been led by the Spirit of intercession to ramp up our prayer life as a church these past few weeks. May the God of endurance and encouragement sustain us in the weeks to come as well!
I confess that I have been privately praying for some time that God would make us a church that prays together more. Because I believed then, and obviously still believe, that such a request is solidly in accord with God’s will, I have persisted over these two plus years in praying this. I didn’t expect that the answer I would receive would look like it presently does! I didn’t envision THIS as the way we would be led to pray more – but we are praying together twice a day, and I thank God for it!
While I do heartily believe that my prayer is being answered, I am not under the impression that I am the only one praying this way. I have little doubt that many of you have already been praying in just this way anyways…please, keep it up!
What is happening to us is new; we are not able to say, ‘what we’ve always done is …’ In fact, even in the minds of our more seasoned members, restrictions such as we are now experiencing are far off memories from their childhoods lived during World War II nearly 80 years ago. No, it’s fair to say that nothing like this is part of any of our our experiences; we can’t draw on what we’ve always done. Such novelty and uncertainty of circumstances ought to drive us back to first things – repentance & faith, and the means of grace and the rarified air of trust in the wisdom and Sovereignty of God Himself.
This “new ground” we’re on has presented new challenges and new ways of thinking about our mission. We’ve never faced the kind of restrictions on meeting together which we’re experiencing now. We’ve had to do things in ways we haven’t done before; we have (apparently) less ‘control’ of our lives, and as a result, have been led to see with clarity Who is and has always been in control. Many of us have seen that when we live in this (new for some) weakness ourselves, we are truly strong, and that the strength we have is only in Christ. This trial is, as James 1:3-8 tells us, a way for the Lord to teach us endurance and utter dependence upon His grace. As I already said, we have also been led to pray with and for each other more – now at least twice a day, and it has brought us closer together and built us up.
Of course we need to praise God for this, and it’s good to revel in the blessing of what He is doing among ourselves. But we also need to look outward as well – in both our prayers and in our personal service to the many aimless souls around us who are even now groping for relief and comfort. We know the secret! We serve the God of all comfort who has comforted is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Him we have the forgiveness of sins, the assurance, the joy, the peace, unity and love for which so many search elsewhere in vain. We know these are found in no one else and can be had nowhere else but in Christ. Let us, then, live conspicuously and contagiously (pardon the reference) as those who both know and trust in the One who made them all for us in Christ.