T. Austin-Sparks on Tough Times & God's Sovereignty

T.Austin-Sparks on Tough Times & God's Sovereignty

If we have committed ourselves to God thoroughly,
really meant with the Lord that we want His full
will and we do not want our own, and by His grace
we will go the way that He leads and shows,
whatever it costs, if we have done that and then
situations have arisen which look terribly
complicated and seem to contradict the
faithfulness of God, what am I to conclude,
what are we going to conclude?

We have to conclude one of two things - that God
cares nothing for all our devotion and consecration,
and just lets us get into any mess, or else this
is all under His eye. That is ultimate. We have
either to believe God or not to believe Him. You
have all this here in the Word, and it all bears
down upon this, that people who are related in
divine foreknowledge and divine sovereign action
come into situations like that, but in the end
that sovereignty has been shown to relate to
something unusually precious to the Lord, "and
they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts,
even mine own possession, in the day that I do
make" (Malachi 3:17).

The Lord is after something more than ordinary
and He needs a people for it, but such a people
will have unusual experiences, inside and out.
It will not be the ordinary, normal course where
everything goes well and straightforwardly. It
will not be like that for these people. They go
through ways that are tortuous and exceedingly
difficult, but there is a sovereignty at work.
--T. Austin Sparks

knowing God
following God
T. Austin-Sparks
the sovereignty of God
difficult times
obedience
unexpected circumstances