Curbing Rebellion against God's Deep Ways

10 MARCH

O LORD, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep. Psalm 92:5

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Romans 11:33-36

God governs the world in a manner that we are often unable to comprehend. Were things under our own management, we would invert the order that God observes. Since that is not the case, we may perversely argue with God for not hastening sooner to help the righteous and to punish the wicked. 

It strikes us in the highest degree inconsistent with the perfections of God that He should bear the wicked when they rage against Him, when they rush without restraint into the most daring acts of iniquity, and when they persecute at will the good and the innocent. It seems intolerable to us that God should subject His own people to the injustice and violence of the wicked while failing to check abounding falsehood, deceit, plunder, bloodshed, and every species of enormity. Why does He suffer His truth to be obscured and His holy name to be trampled under foot? Such is the greatness of the divine operation and the depth of divine counsel that cause the psalmist to break forth in admiration.

It is no doubt true that God has displayed incomprehensible depth of power and wisdom in the fabric of the universe; but what the psalmist especially has in view here is to check our tendency to murmur against God when He does not pursue our plan in His providential management. When His ways do not agree with the general ideas of men, we ought to contemplate them with reverence, remembering that God, to better try our obedience, has lifted His deep and mysterious judgments far above our conceptions.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATIONS: How easily our hearts rise up in rebellion and unbelief when God does not act as we think He should! This psalm is a wonderful corrective to that spirit. What steps can we take to remind ourselves who is Creator and who is creature when we contemplate God's ways in the world?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

When His Ways are Incomprehensible

9 MARCH

O LORD, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep. Psalm 92:5

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 139

Having spoken in general of the works of God, the psalmist proceeds to speak more particularly of God's justice in governing the world. Though God may postpone the punishment of the wicked, in due time He shows that He does not overlook or fail to perceive their sins. Furthermore, though God exercises His own children with the cross, He proves in the end that He is not indifferent to their welfare.

The Psalmist makes this particular point because much darkness is thrown upon the scheme of divine providence because of the inequality and disorder that prevail in human affairs. We see the wicked triumphing and applauding their own good fortune, as if there were no judge above. They also take advantage of divine forbearance for additional excesses because they are under the impression that they have escaped God's hand. The temptation is aggravated by the stupidity and blindness of heart that lead them to imagine that God exerts no control over the world and sits idle in heaven.

We know how quickly we can sink under the troubles of the flesh. The psalmist, therefore, intentionally selects this occasion to show the watchful care exerted by God over the human family. He begins by using the language of exclamation, for such is the dreadful distemper and disorder by which our understandings are confounded that we cannot comprehend the method of God's works, even when it is most apparent. We are to notice that the inspired writer is not speaking here of the work of God in the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor of His providential government of the world in general, but only of the judgments that He executes amongst men.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: At times, life seems cruel and unfair. We see wickedness and injustice flourish all around us while goodness and justice suffer. We can only maintain a proper perspective by trusting that God is in control, says the psalmist. When has such trust been rewarded in your own life?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke