Josh Benner

Tag: sovereignty

  • Grumbling: when we forget God’s goodness

    Grumbling: when we forget God’s goodness

    In the Book of Exodus, God had worked in mighty ways for the Israelites. He had brought a series of plagues against the Egyptians. He dramatically parted the waters of the Red Sea. Once the Israelites were in the desert, God continued to lead. But through a series of uncertain events, the Israelites continued to respond by grumbling.

    They ran low on water. Israel grumbled. God provided water. They didn’t have food. Israel grumbled. God provided food. After all that the Lord had done, the people should have trusted that God would provide.

    But their struggle is one that we too can have. In spite of all of the ways how God has provided for us, blessed us, sustained us, in a time of adversity, it can be easy to fall into grumbling and doubt.

    But this isn’t God’s desire for us. He wants us to live in faith.We can be so quick to forget what God has done, how he’s blessed us.Forgetting can lead to unbelief and faithlessness.Let us actively remember the blessings of the Lord in our lives.

    We forget about his past blessings and forget about his future promises.And so we grumble.God is the Lord of our past, present, and future.God has promise all of his children a wonderful and glorious future.And between now and then, he has not abandoned us in the desert.God is God of your life today.If you’ve placed faith in Jesus, you know that you’re a sinner, saved by grace, and know that Jesus saved you, you have that to thank God for.Ad that’s the most important thing of all.He redeemed you.

    He saved you from the penalty of sin. To remember that the Lord is good. The Israelites lose sight of that.To remember that God made everything and that everything belongs to him.You’re here today. Which means that God has provided for you up to this point in your life. For some of us, it might not have always been easy.There might have been times of real hardship.But we’ve made it to this moment.It’s easy to forget.For some of us, when a blessing gets answered, we might celebrate for a moment, but it can be easy to just move on to the next thing to stress about.And we can go through so much of our lives grumbling, complaining to God, feeling like he hasn’t given us enough.

    For the Israelites, they’ve seen God act in mighty ways, but then they go right back to worrying.The Israelites face difficult situations. And they choose to grumble instead of trust.Part of the root of a grumbling heart is one that loses sight of the sovereignty of God.I mentioned earlier that it was God who had led Israel to their circumstance between the Egyptians and the sea. It was no accident.It was God who was leading the Israelites in the desert. It’s so easy to lose sight of the divine hand of God at work in our lives. Israel did. In our passages, they actually don’t even grumble directly to God. They actually grumble to Moses and his brother Aaron.As if it was their fault.Nothing happens outside of the sovereign will of God.And while they might have directed their complaints to Moses and Aaron, the real displeasure of the people was with God.God is God of all circumstances.

    Job 12:10 refers to God and says: in his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

    Grumbling is a lack of trust in God. Grumbling is feeling like God hasn’t give us enough. It’s a sense that perhaps God isn’t good.Grumbling is turning away from God. It’s complaining to others, it’s ignoring the goodness of God, and is not rooted in the truth of the character of the Lord.We don’t like the unknown.

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  • What wisdom has to do with struggles

    It’s In the opening chapter of the Letter of James, in talking about the trials we face, James says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

    What does wisdom have to do with trials?

    God gives us wisdom to trust in him in the face of trials.When we’re in trials, the onus isn’t on us to figure it all out on our own, to understand all that’s going on.

    We aren’t called to have the answer for all of our trials and struggles. We are to consider and to count it joy when we are in trials because of the work that God is doing. But seeing his purposes, seeing God in the struggles, for that, we do need wisdom.

    There are numerous Proverbs that talk about God granting wisdom. Proverbs 2:6 says “The Lord gives wisdom.” He points us to his promises, his goodness, his salvation. He can point us to the hope that is found in the gospel and grant a peace that surpasses all understanding.

    James continues in verse 6: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

    I used to live in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. The water and waves are constantly changing, even through the course of a day. Sometimes the waters can be very calm and still. On a day when there’s no wind, it’s incredible how still the water is. It’s like a mirror. Other times the water is really choppy. And the imagery of waves that James is using: to be walking in doubt, constantly varying and changing. One moment walking in faith, the next moment doubting God’s goodness, or his plan, or his existence. The winds of situations blowing us too and fro, totally out of control in our faith, totally depending on conditions instead of cultivating an internal relationship and pursuit of God.

    AND WE SEE PART OF THE PROBLEM IN VERSES 7 AND 8:

    FOR THAT PERSON MUST NOT SUPPOSE THAT HE WILL RECEIVE ANYTHING FROM THE LORD; HE IS A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN, UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS.

    James says that the person who’s doubting is like a wave of the sea, and here that person is called double-minded. Trusting God, not trusting God. Trusting God, not trusting God. Trust, no trust, trust, no trust.

    We are following God or we are not. If we keep jumping between trust and doubt, we can’t expect to grow in wisdom or an insights of our situations.

    The point isn’t that the slightest feeling of doubt ever means that God is not going to respond or be there. But if doubting and failing to trust God is a way of life, and just part of our outlook whenever things aren’t going exactly as we want them to go, there’s no blessing in that. And through a trial, there can be ebbs and flows of emotion. We might thrash at first, but when we’ve had some time, to know that God is at work. Trusting in God needs to be our general disposition

    So when we face trials, we are able to turn to God to seek wisdom, through faith without doubting. When we turn to God in doubt, then we are doubting his goodness. Again, God’s purpose is not to give us a life totally free from any difficulty. We will have that one day, but he is growing us in holiness until that time.

    This actual trust is what separates the men from the boys, when it comes to faith. K.A. Richardson talks about how there is no middle ground between faith and unbelief. We aren’t called to be double minded but to be single minded and totally focused on God.

    We trust God in struggles and that trust is part of what helps us grow in faith.

    But our overall disposition when we come to God needs to be to trust him. Not to be wishy washy, one week trusting in God, but keeping him on a short leash if we don’t get the immediate result we want, or the answer we want, to the relief we want. But even in spite of confusion, even when things don’t make sense, to keep on turning to God and looking to God.

    Maybe you’re in a tough place with work right now. Your boss doesn’t seem to appreciate you. You’re overdue for a promotion, but it’s where God has you now. In that trial, in that period of frustration, to turn to God.

    Trials are opportunities where we can grow with God or turn from God. Trials are situations where we can grow in holiness or fall into sin, depending on the choices we make.

    Turning to God in wisdom of how to live, and wisdom of how to approach life, and the wisdom to recognize that God is good, always. And while trials and seasons are not always what we want, they are always intended for good.

    We need to be intentional about staying in faith, not being moved by the current of life. Not being double minded, playing both sides with God, but having a steadfast trust in what God is doing in our life.

    Originally published December 5, 2016

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  • Grumbling: when we forget God’s goodness

    photo-1473580044384-7ba9967e16a0.jpeg
    Originally published June 6, 2018

    In the Book of Exodus, God had worked in mighty ways for the Israelites. He had brought a series of plagues against the Egyptians. He dramatically parted the waters of the Red Sea. Once the Israelites were in the desert, God continued to lead. But through a series of uncertain events, the Israelites continued to respond by grumbling.

    They ran low on water. Israel grumbled. God provided water. They didn’t have food. Israel grumbled. God provided food. After all that the Lord had done, the people should have trusted that God would provide. (more…)

  • 10 great quotes from John Calvin

    MCC-31320_Portret_van_Johannes_Calvijn_(1509-1564)-uitsnede.jpg
    John Calvin is both one of the greatest theologians of all time and one of the most polarizing theologians of all time. He lived from 1509-1564 and was a brilliant writer and preacher. Calvin’s greatest work was his voluminous theological treatise “Institutes on the Christian Religion.” It’s a summary of Calvin’s theology for which he is best known and a theological system that was later simply called Calvinism. Within Calvin’s theological understanding of the Bible, people were viewed as being so sinful that even the act of coming to God in faith was a supernatural work of grace and sovereignty that came from God. This is summarized in technical theologies concepts such as “unconditional election,” “limited atonement,” and “irresistible grace.”

    Regardless of if someone is a Calvinist or not, John Calvin had one of the greatest theological minds of all time. And his ideas are worth studying and being familiar with.

    Faith and works

    It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.

    Joy and suffering

    You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy.

    Grace and judgment 

    God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.”

    Jesus

    Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.

    Truth

    Peace is not to be purchased by the sacrifice of truth.

    Preachers

    If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon.

    Contentment 

    The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages-such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life!

    Creation

    There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.

    Prayer

    Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.

    Blessing

    However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.

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    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Grumbling: when we forget God’s goodness

    photo-1473580044384-7ba9967e16a0.jpeg
    In the Book of Exodus, God had worked in mighty ways for the Israelites. He had brought a series of plagues against the Egyptians. He dramatically parted the waters of the Red Sea. Once the Israelites were in the desert, God continued to lead. But through a series of uncertain events, the Israelites continued to respond by grumbling.

    They ran low on water. Israel grumbled. God provided water. They didn’t have food. Israel grumbled. God provided food. After all that the Lord had done, the people should have trusted that God would provide.

    But their struggle is one that we too can have. In spite of all of the ways how God has provided for us, blessed us, sustained us, in a time of adversity, it can be easy to fall into grumbling and doubt.

    But this isn’t God’s desire for us. He wants us to live in faith.

    We can be so quick to forget what God has done, how he’s blessed us.
    Forgetting can lead to unbelief and faithlessness.
    Let us actively remember the blessings of the Lord in our lives.
    We forget about his past blessings and forget about his future promises.
    And so we grumble.
    God is the Lord of our past, present, and future.
    God has promise all of his children a wonderful and glorious future.
    And between now and then, he has not abandoned us in the desert.
    God is God of your life today.
    If you’ve placed faith in Jesus, you know that you’re a sinner, saved by grace, and know that Jesus saved you, you have that to thank God for.
    Ad that’s the most important thing of all.
    He redeemed you. He saved you from the penalty of sin. To remember that the Lord is good. The Israelites lose sight of that.
    To remember that God made everything and that everything belongs to him.
    You’re here today. Which means that God has provided for you up to this point in your life. For some of us, it might not have always been easy.
    There might have been times of real hardship.
    But we’ve made it to this moment.
    It’s easy to forget.
    For some of us, when a blessing gets answered, we might celebrate for a moment, but it can be easy to just move on to the next thing to stress about.
    And we can go through so much of our lives grumbling, complaining to God, feeling like he hasn’t given us enough.
    For the Israelites, they’ve seen God act in mighty ways, but then they go right back to worrying.
    The Israelites face difficult situations. And they choose to grumble instead of trust.
    Part of the root of a grumbling heart is one that loses sight of the sovereignty of God.
    I mentioned earlier that it was God who had led Israel to their circumstance between the Egyptians and the sea. It was no accident.
    It was God who was leading the Israelites in the desert. It’s so easy to lose sight of the divine hand of God at work in our lives. Israel did. In our passages, they actually don’t even grumble directly to God. They actually grumble to Moses and his brother Aaron.
    As if it was their fault.
    Nothing happens outside of the sovereign will of God.
    And while they might have directed their complaints to Moses and Aaron, the real displeasure of the people was with God.
    God is God of all circumstances.
    Job 12:10 refers to God and says:
    In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
    Grumbling is a lack of trust in God. Grumbling is feeling like God hasn’t give us enough. It’s a sense that perhaps God isn’t good.
    Grumbling is turning away from God. It’s complaining to others, it’s ignoring the goodness of God, and is not rooted in the truth of the character of the Lord.
    We don’t like the unknown.
    Israel didn’t know how they’d get water, they didn’t know how they’d get food. And even with the promises and presence of God, they didn’t know how it was all going to work out.
    At a certain point, you need to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
    I think we sometimes look at the Old Testament. We see the things God did there and think “well yeah, it’d be easy to believe back then.” But people still often struggled, even when seeing incredible signs and miracles that the Lord was doing.
    Because it’s not constant wonderment and awe. We live in the real world and it’s really imperfect.
    But when we don’t know what’s going to happen, when we don’t see the clearest path of how we’re going to get to a destination, let me challenge you today.
    Instead of doubting or being a catastrophist, instead look to God and see how he’s going to work.
    Do you have a situation in your life right now? That’s causing you stress? That’s robbing you of joy? That’s distracting you from God and where you’re tempted to grumble?
    Let me challenge you in that situation to consider that the same God who’s blessed your life, the same Lord who came into the world and died so that you be reconciled to him, the same God who has made you eternal and glorious promises is also your God for today.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.