Philippians 1:12-18 - The Sweet Sovereignty of God

Listen along as we continue our journey through the book of Philippians.

Notes//Quotes:

Philippians 1:12-18 - Kim

 

The Sweet Sovereignty of God

 

“Rather than detail the hardships he faced, Paul took a divine perspective.” — Richard Malick

 

“Paul has a definition of life that enables him to face anything. In this passage he is teaching that its not the circumstances of your life, its not whether things go well for you or go ill for you. It’s not the circumstances of your life but the way you define life that will determine whether you stand or fall in this world.” 

— Timothy Keller

 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

 

Because Romans 8:28 exists, those who love God and are loved by him can have confidence that he is working through all of life’s circumstances to bring good out of bad, light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow. It’s not that God is especially agile, a kind of cosmic PR man adept at manipulating circumstances, but rather that he is the Planner, the Engineer, the Designer who has ordained the means just as much as the end. He ordains the calm and the storm, the darkness and the dawn, the famine and the feast. This being the case, no event is meaningless, no situation purposeless, no condition ultimately hopeless. God is working out his good will not despite dark days, difficult trials, and broken hearts, but through them. Such circumstances are the raw material he uses to form and shape his good plans, his perfect purposes.

 

God’s specialty is not bringing good from good, but good from bad and Romans 8:28 gently tells me that if I trust him through my tears, he will give me reason to laugh; if I trust him through my pain, he will teach me to praise; if I trust him through my grief, he will afterwards show me all the good that came with it and through it. He will show me the precious flowers in the dry desert, the beautiful blooms against the sharp thorns, the gentle petals beneath the vicious skies. For behind every black cloud is a yellow sun, behind every dark night a bright day, behind every frowning providence a smiling face—the smiling face of the God who works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. 

—Tim Challies

 

“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” 

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon