Another ministerial implication of the sovereignty of God is that we can work and rest in God. Both things are important. We are not balanced biblically if we are working ourselves to death because we think that everything depends on us. Nor are we balanced if we are resting and waiting for God to act on our behalf. There must be a combination of work and rest. Both aspects are presented in the Bible as compatible with each other. This is another way of saying that God has ordained the means as well as the end. His will embraces both, and we need to include both in our thinking. For example, Acts 27 tells the story of a shipwreck, that might well have cost Paul and his traveling companions their lives, were it not for the fact that it was God’s will that Paul testify in Rome. But because God had ordained it, Paul was headed to Rome no matter what the weather report, and in addition, God had chosen to graciously spare the lives of those traveling with Paul. However, God had not only ordained the end results but he had ordained exactly how they would come about. So in the middle of the storm an angel of God appeared to Paul and told him that he would survive the sea and stand before Caesar in Rome, and all those traveling with him would also be saved, provided they stayed with the ship (27:31). In other words, God had ordained the saving of Paul and those traveling with him, but God had also ordained that this would only happen if everyone did what they were told.
This point will be continued in my next post...
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