Thursday, March 7, 2013

Deus Vult

Here's another "concept" article like Tupos.

Deus vult is a concept that has grown ever more prominent in my life since I learned of it. Strictly translated, it means "God wills it", but its connotations go far beyond that for me (yes, I do use "for me", and this is one of the few topics I will allow myself to be subjective about).

Deus vult means that no matter what our situation, God is in control, God is above, God has a plan that WILL be accomplished, and God will work all things for good.

It's the kind of thing that Job could say with assuredness and conviction when he was lying in squalor. I have been asked before what I thought the point of the book of Job was. The book of Job tells the story of a pious man who is struck down in every physical way possible. He loses all his possessions, his health, and even his family. Then, at the end, God restores all his possessions and even his children in greater number. Is this a fitting end? Can these new children simply replace the old ones who were killed? Will this heal Job's grieving heart, the broken heart of a father? Certainly not! Job was scarred in a huge way and was probably affected for much of his later life by these incidences.

However, what Job could do is acknowledge Deus vult. Because, here is the point of Job: not that Job reached his happy ending, not that God rewards suffering, not that Satan is a poor gambler, but that God is victorious over the devil, and that same devil must crawl from God's throne admitting defeat and having accomplished nothing but to demonstrate that God is in control and works things according to His purpose.

That is the point of Job, and that is also the point of the entire Bible. To God be the glory; all glory and praise be to our omniscient, omnipotent, just, holy God. All else is futile and trivial.

I urge you, my brothers and sisters, to keep this in the forefront of your minds as you go through the day, because what I have said does apply to our daily lives. God does work all things together for His better purpose, whether bringing each individual piece together in a single hour, or a day, or a year, or a century, or an eternity. Some pains I experience immediately bear fruit I can see the good effects of. Some take longer. Some I don't know but will. Some I don't know and won't, because that plan or part of the plan is not meant for me to understand. But, in most situations, I can find the beautiful plan of God behind the situation, how God is using it for good.

One way that I often see God uses our suffering is so that we may relate to those in similar circumstances. You may or may not have heard of Christians who have survived multiple bouts with cancer or other traumatic health conditions and now use their story as a platform to reach people in a similar position (people who often say no one can understand what they are going through). I have recently rediscovered the effectiveness of this application from my Theology professor (who I am not sure is a Christian). His son committed suicide a few years back; this son had everything going for him, a good family, a good job, a good life. But, he made the decision to kill himself and left his family still suffering to this day. One of the many ways this suffering could be used is if my professor opted to reach out to others who grieve from the unexpected pain of losing a loved one. There are other ways I have thought about since then, but that was the first.

So, we can see that behind every bad situation and experience God is working to sanctify and strengthen us.

I pray that these words will comfort you, my brothers and sisters, if you are in hard places in life and struggling.

-In Christ,
Phil

 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV)

No comments:

Post a Comment