Duties and Events

Intro

Duties are ours, events are the Lord’s.

That is a quote from Samuel Rutherford, a 17th century pastor in Scotland.

Rutherford wrote this as part of a letter that he wrote while imprisoned in Aberdeen for his faith.

You see, Rutherford experienced a lot of heartache in his lifetime. He wrote this letter after the death of his wife to sickness. He would also lose 6 of his 7 children.

But he still had work to do for the church, however. Through all of these griefs and stresses, he still began this particular letter by saying,

“My Lord Jesus is kinder to me than ever He was. It pleaseth Him to dine and sup with His afflicted prisoner. “

and

“I dare not say but my Lord Jesus hath fully recompensed my sadness with His joys, my losses with His own presence.”

How could he say such things amid such trial? How could he keep working in the face of grief? In what way is Christ so comforting? He explains by saying this,

“Providence hath a thousand keys, to open a thousand [single] doors for the deliverance of His own.”

Rutherford found comfort in God’s providence (complete control) in the midst of the storms around him.

In the Bible, a king named Solomon explained God’s providence like this:

Text

Psalm 127:1–2 (NET)

If the Lord does not build a house,

then those who build it work in vain.

If the Lord does not guard a city,

then the watchman stands guard in vain.

It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,

and work so hard for your food.

Yes, he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep.

Solomon was well acquainted with the sufferings of this sin-cursed world.

From these two verses we see two reasons we can work hard even while struggling.

1. We can work hard because God is in control (V. 1), and

2. We can work hard because God is trustworthy (V. 2).

We can work hard because God is in control (V. 1).

Notice that the work that the laborers and watchmen are doing is not described as worthless, it is only in vain if God is not working in it.

Rutherford knew that God could still do amazing work through his letters while he was in prison, that is why he continued to work so hard.

God can do amazing work through your effort as well.

We can work hard because God is faithful (V. 2).

Our passage ends by saying that He provides to His beloved even when they sleep.

God is faithful and He cares for you. Even while you sleep and demonstrably have no control over anything, He still provides what you need.

He is the one who trains your fingers for battle.

Look to Him, trust in Him, He cared enough to die on the cross to provide salvation for His sheep, how much more will He help you through the work you are about to do!

Conclusion

I will end by quoting Rutherford one more time,

Let us be faithful, and care for our own part, which is to do and suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there. Duties are ours, events are the Lord's.