Our church-wide reading last week focused on the sovereignty of God and human responsibility. (pages 99-110)
Trusting God: Jerry Bridges
https://pastorjonbeck.com/reading-list/ (for more info about the book and how to order one for yourself)
CENTRAL IDEA
We are responsible for all our actions. We must seek God in prayer, act with prudence at all times, and trust God to work out His good purposes in our lives.
Examining Trust
There is no conflict between trusting God and accepting our responsibility. Our duty is found in the revealed will of God in the Scriptures. Our trust must be in the sovereign will of God, as He works in the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives for our good and His glory.
Knowledge of His sovereignty is meant to be an encouragement to pray, not an excuse to lapse into a sort of pious fatalism. Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, we have no assurance that He is able to answer our prayers. God’s sovereignty, along with His wisdom and love, is the foundation of our trust in Him; prayer is the expression of that trust. God’s sovereignty does not negate our responsibility to pray, but rather makes it possible to pray with confidence.
God’s sovereignty also does not negate our responsibility to act prudently. To act prudently means to use all legitimate, biblical means at our disposal to avoid harm to ourselves or others and to bring about what we believe to be the right course of events.
One of the most basic means of prudence that God has given to us is prayer. We must not only pray for His overruling providence in our lives, but we must also pray for wisdom to rightly understand our circumstances and use the means He has given us. Another means of prudence God has given us is the opportunity to seek wise and godly counsel.
Prayer is the acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and of our dependence upon Him to act on our behalf. Prudence is the acknowledgment of our responsibility to use all legitimate means.
All of our plans, all of our efforts, and all of our prudence are of no avail unless God prospers those means. Psalm 127:1 says,
Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.In this passage there is the concept of both offensive and defensive efforts—of both building for progress and watching against destruction. In a sense, the verse sums up all of our responsibilities in life. Whether it be in the physical, the mental, or the spiritual, we should always be building and watching. And Psalm 127:1 says none of those efforts will prosper unless God intervenes in them.
The psalmist does not say, “Unless God blesses or helps the builders and the watchmen, their efforts are in vain.” Rather, he speaks in terms of God Himself building the house and watching over the city. At the same time, there is, of course, no suggestion in the text that God replaces the builders and the watchmen. The obvious meaning is that in every respect we are dependent upon God to enable us and prosper our efforts.
In His infinite wisdom, God’s sovereign plan includes our failures and even our sins. God usually works through ordinary events (as opposed to miracles) and the voluntary actions of people. But He always provides the means necessary and guides them by His unseen hand. He is sovereign, and He cannot be frustrated by our failure to act or by our actions, which in themselves are sinful. We must always remember, however, that God still holds us accountable for the very sins that He uses to accomplish His purpose.
There is no conflict in the Bible between His sovereignty and our responsibility. Both concepts are taught with equal force and with never an attempt to “reconcile” them. Let us hold equally to both, doing our duty as it is revealed to us in the Scriptures and trusting God to sovereignly work out His purpose in us and through us.
Jerry Bridges, Trusting God (NavPres, 2023), 275–277.