I grew up reading scripture. I had—have—this ancient New
International Version New Testament, published in 1975. The subtitle is
“Illustrated Children’s Edition with Memory Margin”. This New Testament
measures 6 and a half, by 9 and an eighth, by 1 and a quarter inches. I estimate
the font to be about 14 pt. Maybe I was partially blind when I was a child. By
New Testament standards, this book is very large. Not sure where I was going
with this. I also had a complete bible. This other bible was a children’s
edition sprinkled throughout with pictures of various
events. That thing is lost forever.
I’m guessing I learned to read about the same time as most
other children. The Bible being one of the first books I possessed, that was
what I read. One of the earliest stories I remember reading was “David and Goliath”.
Like many of the stories in scripture, we find in this story
much that inspires us. David tended sheep. He was young, probably in his early
teens. He was handsome. He was brave, even perhaps a little obnoxious. The
details and the conflict between David and his older brother lend to the
credulity of the story. David went to the frontlines of the battle between the
Israelites and the Philistines and brought food to the soldiers. There, he
heard the challenge of the Philistines’ gigantic champion, Goliath, as he defied
the armies of God, and God himself. “Who does this guy think he is?”, David
asked. We all know how the story ends. David executes an unconscious Goliath
with his own sword. That is how the story of David and Goliath ends. The future
king of Israel, the ancestor God chose through which he would send the Savior of
Mankind—David the Shepherd executed an unconscious man without trial or pretense
of any kind.
“But this was war,” you object. Exactly right. The gory,
violent details give the story credulity. Unlike the gory, obscenely perverse
details of the Grimms’ fairy tales, the details in scripture match the
overarching narrative. In war, the victor executes the defeated.
Scripture contains many details that we choose to ignore, or
that we forget, or that we decline to emphasize with equal weight as the “inspirational”
details:
Men are depraved. Jeremiah 17.9
God controls what we think and desire. Proverbs 21.1
God hates certain groups of people. Psalm 5.5; Proverbs
6.16-19.
God hates certain individuals. Malachi 1.3; Romans
9.13
God destines some to eternal destruction.
Romans 9.22; 1 Peter 2.8
Why do we expect the Creator of the Universe to be eternally
benign, inoffensive, and ever-pleasant? Do we know any human beings like this?
If we do, do we honestly trust that this is who they are?
Arthur Pink refused to ignore any single part of scripture
that he found unpleasant. The Sovereignty of God describes a God who
rules all, every detail of all of creation, every action, every event, every
decision of every man, woman, and child. The sovereignty of God must be our starting
point for all of scripture, for all of theology. Without it, there is no scripture.
If God is not sovereign, then his word has no meaning. How can he keep his
promises? How can we trust him? Why even bother to worship him, if anything we
decide can thwart whatever he decides? If our measly and minuscule intentions, these
things we do daily by happenstance or stupidity or ignorance, can ruin the
plans of the God of the universe, what is the point of God? What meaning is
there in anything we do or say or believe? But if God is sovereign, then everything has meaning. Every
failure, every thought, every intention that enters our heart has a purpose,
and the purpose is not our purpose, but God’s. If God is sovereign, then he can
be trusted, and his word can be proclaimed without fear and without compromise.
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