When we read the Bible and become engaged in God’s story of redemption, we learn some poignant lessons about God and His work on the earth. Here is a list of some of those lessons.
- God takes his time—he patiently works to build something good. We need to be patient with God’s plan because he is patient in developing it. (We often have to apply this lesson to our own lives and personal circumstances as well.)
- God works with individuals, but in doing so, he affects the world! One person can make a difference in God’s world if God’s grace is involved in the life of that person.
- God is sovereign over history. He is involved in the little things (including our lives) and the large things (the nations). He is sovereign over time, matter, places, and persons. The Christian and biblical worldview is not deism. Deism suggests that God created the world, then wound it up like a watch, letting it tick away. In deism, God has removed his involvement in the world and its activities. We will discover that God is very involved in both our lives and the world.
- God uses the sin (disobedience) of man (men and women, corporately and individually) to do his will. This lesson brings us much consolation, since sin is so often the bi-product of our own lives. God can overcome our sins, failures, rebellions, and their consequences if he so chooses. That thought brings us to our next lesson.
- God is gracious despite our sin. He can bring (or produce) something good even out of his own people’s sin. He is a God of grace!
- God’s people do some horrible things. Some of the actions of God’s people are inexcusable and often they know better. But God disciplines his people, though he is frequently very gracious in the process. Sometimes his discipline is unimaginable to us, but fully understandable when we begin to grasp what a truly holy and perfect God he is.
- Nothing seems to come easy for those who are a part of God’s kingdom. God’s plan is not always clearly revealed, nor are his ways easy to fathom or follow.
- God is goal oriented. God has a certain goal that he will reach and he has a plan to make it happen. That goal is to “fill the earth with all of His glory”!
- God’s plan will bring optimism to our lives as Christians. If God’s plan is good and he is ultimately going to glorify himself and fill the earth with his glory, then we can look forward with positive anticipation to what he is going to do.
These lessons help us to follow the Lord by faith when we wonder if He is working, because we are assured that He has always been working in His (and our) world!
