Celebration of Life | Steve Farmer // Miriam Love

He Does All Things Well

By Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Minster’s Manual pg. 71

(Personal comments)

Scripture Mark 7:37 “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.””

Introduction: In these dad moments, awe are left feelings lost and devastated. We have so many questions, but the biggest one is “Why?” An hold hymn by Anna L. Waring comes to mind today:

“In Heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear. And safe in such confiding, for nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid, But God is round me, and can I be dismayed? Wherever He may guide me, no want shall turn me back. My shepherd is beside me, and nothing can I lack. His wisdom ever waking, His sight is never dim. he knows theWay he’s taking, and I will walk with Him.”

That phrase, “he knows the way He’s taking,” is the basis for my remarks today. God knows what He is doing. He doesn’t make mistakes, especially of this magnitude. As the people of our Lord’s day put it, “he does all things well.”

We don’t always understand His means or His methods.

He has purposes to which we are not always privy, but we know He dos all things well.

His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, but He does all things well.

He allows winds to blow, and storms to rage.

Sorrows and tears befall us, and our ways may wend through darkness and difficulty. But as for God, His ways are perfect. he works all things together for good. The Bible says that our times are in His hands.

A.W. Tozer once wrote, “To the child of God, there is no such thing as an accident. he travels an appointed way. Accidents may indeed appear to befall him and misfortune stalk his way, but thee evils will be so in appearance only and will seem evils only because we cannot read the secret script of God’s hidden providence and so cannot discover the endsat which He aims…The man of true faith may live in the absolute assurance that his steps are ordered by the Lord. For him, misfortune is outside the bounds of possibility. He cannot be torn from this earth one hour ahead of the time which God has appointed, and he cannot be detained on earth one moment after God is done with him here.”

He does all things well, and He asks us to trust Him.

We can trust Him through sunshine and shadows. When we cannot trace His hand , we can trust His heart.

It is normal, however, to occasionally ask “Why?”

Though God may not always answer our “why” questions, He listens to them and responds in the wisest ways.

Mosts asked: “Lord, why have you brought trouble to this people?”

Gideon asked: “Why then has all this happen to us?”

Naomi said: “I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why?”

Nehemiah asked: “Why is the house of God forsaken?”

Job said: “Why have you set me as your target?”

David said: “Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Wh do you hide Your face from me?”

Jeremiah asked: “Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable?”

But the greatest “Why” in the Bible was uttered by the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross when He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And there is something about that “Why” that swallowed up all the others.

Because jesus gave Himself on the Cross, we can trust Him to have answers to all other “whys.”

Vance Havner once said, “You need never ask ‘Why?’ because Calvary covers it all. When before the throne we stand in Him complete, all the riddles that puzzle us here will fall into place and we shall know in fulfillment what we now believe in faith—that all things work together for good in His eternal purpose. No longer will we cry ‘My God, why?’ Instead, ‘alas’ will become ‘Alleluia,’ all question marks with the straightened into exclamation points, sorrow will change to singing, and pain will be lost in praise.”

One thing we do know: The death of a Christian doesn’t seem as tragic to God as it does to us. To us it is separation and sorrow.

To God it is:

A promotion.

A release from the burdens of earth.

Early furlough from the battle zone.

Relocation to a better climate.

Instant transport to the celestial city.

To depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

To be absent form the body but present with the Lord.

Conclusion:

Our friend has beaten us to heaven and his more alive than ever, for God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. We don’t understand all of God’s purposes, but we know He does all things well, and we must simply leave it there, in His love.

Benediction:

Heavenly loving abiding, no change my heart shall fear. And safe in such confiding, for nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, my heart my low be laid, but God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?”