Just a Moment…

John Piper writes, “The sovereignty of God is a precious reality for me and for my church … Time and again I have heard my people submit themselves to the sovereign will of God and seek his good purposes in it … The son of one of our former deacons was run over by a motorboat. He lived, but his knees were badly damaged, and there were superficial nicks in his chest and neck from the propeller. When his father testified … he said, ‘God has his purpose for the life of my son … God could have taken my son with another half-inch difference. But instead, he said to the blade, ‘This far and no farther.’”

My mind rushed to this illustration last Saturday night when I first heard of former President Trump being shot. This isn’t political – this is theological. God said, “This far and no farther.”  I would think that an incident like this would sober someone. I have been praying it humble the former president – and by the way, we all need humbling. I know I do. I marvel in my own life over God’s amazing providence and his incredible patience. We are exhorted to pray for our leaders – first and foremost that they come to a saving knowledge of Christ, and so I pray that this brush with death will drive former President Trump to Christ.

Sometimes God does not always stop the blade or bullet.  In the life of Corey Comperatore, he did not. We take no comfort in the prospect that God cannot control a bullet’s path. There is no peace in haphazardness, nor in giving Satan the upper hand. No, I cannot explain everything. The fact that God loves and that he reigns must be enough for now. Let us all humble ourselves under his mighty hand, flee to him in faith and rejoice in how his divine sovereignty works in each of our lives.