The Clouds are in Good Hands

"For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again." (2 Corinthians 1:8–10, ESV).

Sometimes God breaks what He wants to fix. He does this because His work needs a sound foundation and because He refuses to settle for second best. From the perspective of Eternity, good enough just isn't. However, from our perspective, this can feel like being taken beyond our ability to cope, like being sentenced to death, and like being abandoned to outer darkness. These lessons are all designed to teach us never to rely on ourselves but on God, who can turn even the most helpless situation around; He can, after all, raise the dead.

In saying, this I am reminded of one of Old Rutherford's sayings, "There is no cross or misery that befalls the Church of God or any of His children, but it is related to God." That is, we should trace all our ways, both sunshine ways and shadowy, back to the sovereign plan and purpose of God. We are too prone to lose sight of the first cause amidst the clamorous crowd of secondary ones.

This is never more true than when our choices, mistakes, or sins seem to ruin someone's life--our own or that of our neighbor's. Take, for example, Mark Deaver, the lead agent in charge of Reagan's security detail the day John Kinkley tried to assassinate the president. Before the fateful shot, Deaver grabbed Jim Brady, another agent in the close protection detail, and swapped positions with him as they were leaving the hotel's safety to move towards the waiting limo. On the way, Hinckley fired, and one of the bullets caught Jim Brady in the brain. He would never be the same again. Of course, Mark Deaver blamed himself, for if he hadn't changed Brady's position, he would have taken the bullet instead of his friend. Brady's guilt just wouldn't quit until Deaver's wife suggested he talk with the neurosurgeon who performed Brady's lifesaving surgery. As the surgeon listened to Deaver's tale of woe, he asked how tall Deaver was. Five-foot nine. The neurosurgeon remarked that Jim Brady was six feet tall. That extra inch saved the president's life. For if Deaver had been in position, the bullet would have sailed over his head and struck Regan. Deaver's spontaneous and apparently random decision, putting the taller man in the way of the shot, saved the president's life. This is one of those situations in which it is hard not to see the hand of God.

But isn't the same thing true in each event touching each of our lives? God works all things out after the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). All things. Nothing falls outside the jurisdiction of the promise, "No evil shall befall you!" That is to say, no unintended for good evil (Romans 8:28), no evil can severe your soul from God's plan. Even when Satan works His worst, God is behind the scenes weaving together His wondrous best.

How much joy we lose forgetting this.

Daniel Baker, a 19th Century American preacher famous for his joyful spirit in adversity, once arrived at a Texas preaching appointment when rain was pouring in torrents. The discouraged host pastor was very apologetic and fretful about the weather. A fellow minister relates Baker's response, "With a tranquil smile which I shall never forget, he replied as he lad his hand on my shoulder, "My dear brother, the clouds are in good hands; let the clouds alone." The minister added that the clouds were indeed in good hands, for some forty persons were brought in (saved) during the meeting notwithstanding the rain. According to Baker's son" "...his belief was clear and cosntant that the finger of God was in every event, from the greatest down to the very least. This was the secet of his unbroken cheerfulness under the most mysterious and otherwise discouraging providences."

Dear Christian, where are the clouds shadowing your current, earthly path. Fret thyself not; remember Baker's lesson, "Leave the clouds alone, they are in good hands"--and so are you.