God’s Omnipresence in Counseling

By Wendy Wood

God is always fully present.  The whole of His being is always everywhere.

Heath Lambert says “God is always present everywhere with the fullness of who He is”

Hildebert of Lavardin  was a French theologian from 1055-1133, and A.W. Tozer quoted him in Knowledge of the Holy.  “God is over all things, under all things, outside all; within but not enclosed; without by not excluded; above but not raised up; below but not depressed; wholly above, presiding; wholly beneath, sustaining, wholly within, filling”

Stephen Charnock said, “God is not measured by time, so He is not limited by place… God, because infinite, fills all, yet so as not to be contained by them, as wine and water is to a vessel.  He is from the height of the heaven to the bottom of the deeps, in every point of the world, and in the whole circle of it, yet not limited by it, but beyond it”

Psalm 139:7-10 shows the comfort that comes from God’s presence.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

    Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me.

This is meant to be a comfort and blessing.  We cannot take ourselves outside of God’s presence.  Even if we try to run away, God is there.  This is a comfort for the children of God, but a warning to others.  Life is meant to be worship all day, every day.  We are to live with God’s presence and being at the forefront of our thoughts.  For unbelievers, this should cause fear.  God is always there - and to ignore Him is of greatest concern.

Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me”

God’s presence should turn our fear into peace.  We have the all-powerful God with us at all times.  No matter how grim our circumstances may be, they are not more powerful than the God who is with us.

Hebrews 13:5 promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

When Moses is called to be the leader of the Israelites, he insists to God that he is not the right person for the job.  He says no one will listen to him, he says he is not an eloquent speaker, he gives several excuses.  God’s response is “I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”  Exodus 4:12

When Jesus gave the great commission to go and make disciples of the nation, the command was given with the tremendous encouragement that He would always be with them, as He is with us.

God’s presence should lead all of us to pursue holiness.  God sees what we think, say, and do.  When Joseph is seduced by Potiphar’s wife, he says “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9)

Our counselees need to truly believe and trust that God is with them, even when they choose sin.  God calls us to “acknowledge Him in all our ways” (Prov 3:5-6) knowing that He sees and rewards each according to his deeds.

A sinner should see God’s presence as an accountability and an encouragement to make choices that honor and please Him.  When faced with a temptation, stopping to think about God being right there with you, should cause a child of God to choose righteousness.

A suffering counselee should be encouraged to find hope and comfort with God’s presence.  Whether the counselee is suffering in loneliness, or suffering in fear of illness, unknown future, broken relationships, or any other suffering on this earth, God is with them and in His mercy, He acts.  James 4:8 says “draw near to God and He will draw near to you”.  We are encouraged to seek God in prayer, to draw near Him in His word.  It is through His word and Holy Spirit that God brings the comfort of His presence.

I have had counselees who suffered such severe trauma that God’s presence caused them concern and confusion and even doubt.  How could a good God let this happen?  How could God be present when a child is sexually abused by her father?  Or how could God be present when the fatal traffic accident happened and took a loved one?  

There are definitely things about God and His attributes we don’t know or understand.  Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

We don’t know exactly why God allows certain things to happen.  But we can know God as He describes Himself in Scripture.  We know He was present in this trauma.  We have a High Priest who is sympathetic with our sufferings.  We have a Savior who also suffered as an innocent Person and completely understands how shame and hurt impact us.  We know that He was powerful enough to prevent it so we can trust that He had a plan and purpose even if we don’t know what it is.  We know that He is holy, and therefore is not defiled by evil or affected by evil in any way.  We know that He is merciful and cares deeply when His children are hurt.  Over and over again in the Gospels we see Jesus having compassion on people who were like sheep without a shepherd.  Embracing the love of God as Father and Shepherd in all His attributes should bring hope to his children.   I encourage my counselees to go to God in prayer over these situations.  They can honestly express their hurt and confusion while at the same time trusting in God’s attributes and purpose.  Ultimately we have the promise of Romans 8:28-29 that God is using even the evil of this world for His glory and the good of His children in conforming them to the image of Christ.  God’s goodness means that He will be compassionate and present and draw a humble and tender heart deeper into relationship with Himself through life’s most difficult events. 

You will need to study and know God well before entering the counseling room.  Even if you never choose to counsel, knowing God is of utmost importance as it leads to worship and right living.  We cannot worship what we do not know and we won’t choose holiness if we are not thinking rightly about God.

God’s Omniscience in Counseling

By Wendy Wood

God’s omniscience means that God has complete knowledge of everything and everyone.

A.W. Pink  says,  “God knows everything: everything possible, everything actual; all events and all creatures, of the past, present and the future.”

A.W. Tozer expands on God’s omniscience saying, 

“God possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn.  But it is more; it is to say that God has never learned and cannot learn. God perfectly knows Himself, and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known.  And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unknown.  God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter, all matters, all mind and every min, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven and hell.  Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well.  He never discovers anything.  He is never surprised, never amazed.  He never wonders about anything nor (except when drawing men out for their own good) does He seek information or ask questions.  God is self-existent and self-contained and knows what no creature can ever know - Himself, perfectly!”

When we really think about what God’s omniscience means, it should change the way we live and we want our counselees to be thinking rightly about God and His attributes so it changes the way they live!

God’s omniscience challenges our thinking when we determine with feelings that something happening to us or to those we love is not “right”.  We quickly make judgments about what should have happened or not happened based on whether it was what we wanted or expected.  This attribute of God is one we tend to doubt often.

God knows every potential event and every potential outcome.  In His perfectly Holy Omnipotence He can do anything and is working all things out according to His perfectly Holy will!  In His perfectly Holy Omniscience He knows everything completely so He always makes the right and best situation for us to bring about His purpose.  When we forget these things, even temporarily, we experience anxiety, frustration, distress, confusion, and anger.

Isaiah 40:13-14  says, “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?  Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?  Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge,  and showed him the way of understanding?”

God, in His word, often uses the literary device of rhetorical questions.  The reader knows that it would be absurd to think about man informing the Creator of the Universe about anything or how crazy an idea it is to think about helping God understand a situation.

Psalm 139:1-6  

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

    you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

    and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before,

    and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

    it is high; I cannot attain it.

Psalm 139 makes God's knowledge personal.  God knows everything there is to know about you.  He knows you better than you know yourself.  He knows your thoughts perfectly.  He knows your actions perfectly.  He knows your words completely.  That God knows us completely is a huge comfort to His children.  However, it is also a warning that we cannot fool God.  We may be able to put on a good face at church or in our life group, but God knows you perfectly.  Every thought, word, and action that is done to get the praise of man is seen by God for what it truly is.  But, when we feel like no one understands us hurt or pain, we have a God who intimately knows us and His compassion is exactly what we need.

1 Samuel 2:3 says,  “ Talk no more so very proudly,  let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge,  and by him actions are weighed.”

Our counselees who think they are getting away with “secret sin” need to be reminded that nothing is secret from God.  God’s omniscience should be a deterrent to continue engaging in sinful behavior.

Psalm 94:9 reminds us,  “He who planted the ear, does he not hear?  He who formed the eye, does he not see?”

Hebrews 4:13 says, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

In scripture we see God’s omniscience on display often when people think they are “getting away with sin”.  When God tells Abraham that he and Sarah will have a baby within a year, Sarah laughs, and God knows it.  When David is trying to cover his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, God has Nathan call him out, “You are the man” who sinned.  Ananias and Sapphira think they can lie about how much money they sold their land for and give a smaller portion to the church, God knows the truth and both are killed instantly.  When Stephen is being stoned for His faith, God knows the hearts of the crowd and gives Stephen the assurance of heaven for his genuine faith.

There are many implications for counseling. For the counselor, we need to know that our knowledge is limited - greatly!  We do not perfectly know our counselees or their hearts.  We can see the fruit of their lives, (and even that is greatly limited by what they tell us)  but we do not know their motives perfectly or even if they are truly saved.  I have had counselees lie to me; sometimes I figure it out later and there are probably times when I do not.  I need to know that I am working with imperfect knowledge.  This drives me to pray.  I pray for God to help me see what I need to see.  I pray that God would give me wisdom and discernment.  I am very dependent on God every single time I walk into a counseling session.

As a counselor I want to ask good questions and keep asking questions.  Good counsel is given only when we are working from knowledge of the situation. 

Proverbs 18:17 says “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him”

It’s easy to hear one side of the story and be aghast at the situation, only to later realize you got one person’s interpretation of the situation and their spouse or the other person saw it totally differently.  We need to gather knowledge before we jump in to help.

Proverbs 18:15 says, “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”

Let’s be wise counselors!

I already mentioned that the counselee who thinks they are involved in secret sin that doesn’t hurt anyone, is fooling himself.  God sees what is done in secret.  In the sermon on the mount, in Matthew 6, Jesus repeatedly tells his followers to do their good works in secret because “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  All the work of the stay-at-home mom that goes unnoticed by the world is seen and rewarded by God. All the kind responses to the angry spouse are seen by God and rewarded. The church member who prays in secret, the loving child that sits by the bedside of an aging parent, the late night prayers of a parent with a prodigal child, are all seen and heard by an omniscient God!  The same is true for sinful thinking, words, and actions.  God sees what is done in secret and rewards according to deeds.  Hebrews 4:13 that I mentioned earlier.

God’s omniscience should bring our counselees hope and rest.  God knows their situation completely.  God knows the difficult person the counselee is dealing with.  God knows the unfair treatment from their boss.  God knows the cancer cells and the failing organs.  Because God knows us and our situations perfectly, His compassion is full!  Psalm 139 says “this knowledge is too wonderful” another translation says “this knowledge is too deep”.  With finite minds we cannot understand the depths of God’s knowledge, but it should lead us to be confident in God’s ability and wisdom to work out our circumstances and relationships for His good purpose.  

Counselees can go to God in prayer knowing that nothing surprises Him or catches Him off guard.  We can encourage our counselees to genuinely lament and pour out their hearts to God.  He hears them.  He already knows what is on their heart and knows their situation perfectly. They are talking to God who is omnipotent and omniscient.  There is not one better to talk to!   Proverbs 15:29 tells us that God hears the prayers of His righteous children.  

Counselees who struggle with shame and struggle to trust in God’s forgiveness should be comforted by the fact that God knows all of their sins, past, present, and future, and that He chooses His children based on His own grace and mercy.  God is not surprised to learn about horrible sins we’ve done in the past.  He has even better knowledge of them than the sinner does!  

Let me end this attribute with one more lengthy quote from Tozer:  

“How unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely.  No talebearer can inform on us, no enemy can make an accusation stick, no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our character can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us!”

God's Wrath in Counseling

By Wendy Wood

God’s wrath is defined as his consistent anger toward and punishment of wickedness.

Wayne Grudem says “God’s wrath means that He intensely hates all sin.”

The Dictionary of Theological Terms” says the wrath of God “describes the settled opposition of God’s nature against evil, His holy displeasure against sinners, and the punishment He justly metes out to them on account of their sins.”

Here’s where the fact that God is all of His attributes completely and wholly really matters.  God’s wrath is pure because it is who He is as a Holy and Just and Good God.  God’s wrath and anger are not like ours.  

Human anger is usually because of our sinful pride.  We get angry when we don’t get our way or we don’t like what someone is doing.  Anger is an emotion that expresses we are against something.  Anger is a negative evaluation of a situation.  

David Powlison defines anger as “an active displeasure toward something that’s important enough to care about.”  

Our anger is self-focused because we are sinners.  Even when we are angry about the right things, our sinful nature taints our anger.

God’s anger and punishment of the wicked is untainted by sin.  It is perfect.  A good and  just God must deal with sin.  To ignore sin and wickedness would not be good or just.  God displays active displeasure toward wickedness when He demonstrates wrath.

Let’s look at some scriptures:

Isaiah 13:9  “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.”

Nahum 1:2-3, 6  “ The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.  The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will be no means clear the guilty.  His way is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.  Verse 6 “Who can stand before his indignation?  Who can endure the heat of His anger?  His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.”

Romans 2:5  “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

The Object of God’s Wrath

God’s wrath is revealed “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”.  

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

So God’s wrath is against sin.  It’s not uncontrolled or irrational.  God’s wrath is carefully pointed at sinners who are unrepentant.  

Ungodliness means someone lacks reverence, devotion, and worship which is idolatry.

Unrighteousness is how ungodliness people deal with other people.  Someone who does not have a right relationship with God through Christ will not do right with others - that is unrighteousness.

We are all born under God’s wrath.  Romans 3:10-12 says “None is righteousness, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:23  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

This is key in counseling.  All our counselees must understand that they are born under the curse of sin, that they are enemies of God and dead in their sins. (Eph 2).  It is only through faith by grace that through Christ’s atoning work on the cross, God’s wrath is removed from a believer’s life.  God chose to put His wrath on Christ and thereby “justly” deal with sin in extending us grace.  Christ is our substitution in taking God’s wrath in our place for our sins.

Romans 3:23-26 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  The was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

A believer is free of God’s wrath only because Christ's atoning work on the cross satisfied God’s wrath.  An unbeliever needs to understand that he/she is still under the wrath of God.

Another application to counseling is:  we must trust God’s wrath and not seek to administer vengeance of our own.

Romans 12:17-19 says “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

This verse also has implications for counselees.  The command is for us not to exercise wrath against others.  Our concept of justice is not holy and perfect.  Our anger is tainted by our sin nature and we will not execute justice perfectly.  God’s command is for us to live peaceably with people and to avoid vengeance.  

God’s judgment is perfect.  We are to leave room for it.  God promises to repay evil.  Our counselees who have been sinned against can trust God’s perfect judgment and that He will be just against unrepentant sin and display his wrath against it.  God cares about the evil in this world and God will punish evildoers in His wrath.  God who is both good and just and wrathful, will deal perfectly with all sin.  

God’s Mercy

By Wendy Wood

God’s mercy refers to God’s kindness to undeserving people who need help.

AW Tozer says, “Mercy is an attribute of God, an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature which disposes God to be actively compassionate.  Both the Old and New Testaments proclaim the mercy of God, but the Oldhas more than four times as much to say about it as the New.  We should banish from our minds forever the common but erroneous notion that justice and judgment characterize the God of Israel, while mercy and grace belong to the Lord of the Church…  He has always dealt in mercy with mankind and will always deal in justice when His mercy is despised.”

Mercy is not a temporary mood of God.  Mercy is an eternal attribute of God.  Mercy never “began” it has always been the very nature of God just as wrath has always been and will continue infinitely.

Mercy means to be actively compassionate.  

2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”

All mercy ultimately flows from God who is mercy. There are many ways that God shows his kindness and goodness to undeserving sinners. Stop for a moment and think about all that God has given to you that you do not deserve. Scripture says “The wages of sin is death” and yet here we are, waking up each morning, seeing the beauty of creation, enjoying relationships, having food, clothing, and shelter, and the even greater mercies of Christ’s atonement, relationship with God, God’s word readily available. All of these, and so much more, are from the Father of mercies.

Psalm 103:8  “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

Mercy is God’s goodness confronting human guilt and suffering. Even in our sin, God is slow to anger and shows mercy in His patience and gentle correction.

There is a “general mercy” that all men have received.  Psalm 145:8 says “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  And Acts 17:25 says God “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”  All people receive the general mercy of life and being sustained by God each day.  Colossians 1:17 tells us that Christ holds all things together and provides food, shelter, relationships and everything else out of His mercy. Just being alive is due to God’s mercy. God gives all men, believer and unbeliever, mercy in life in giving time to repent, relationships to enjoy, beauty to gaze at, and varied foods to enjoy.

There is “sovereign mercy” that is only for those who are His children in Christ. 

Salvation is a gift of mercy.  

Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

Ongoing forgiveness is a gift of mercy to God’s children.  And God stands ready to help His children.

Hebrews 4:16  “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

For God’s children, mercy is available through Christ and God is always merciful toward them.  God’s kindness is shown in ongoing forgiveness and help at all times.  No one deserves salvation or forgiveness or help.  It is only out of God’s essense of mercy that we receive those gifts.

In counseling, God’s mercy is a huge encouragement.

For a counselee struggling with guilt and shame over sins or their inability to measure up to God’s holiness, we can remind them that justification is a gift of mercy.  

Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trepasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved”.

Have your counselee stop and think about the fact that they were dead. Spiritually dead. There was nothing they could do to make themselves alive. There was nothing they could do to make themselves right with God. God’s mercy is to be celebrated and appreciated. God’s mercy should lead us to worship Him and love Him more and more.

For an unrepentant counselee we must warn them that God’s wrath will be revealed against their ungodliness and unrighteousness and point them to the kindness and mercy of God in offering His Son as the propitiation for their sins.  

We are to extend mercy to our counselees.  We are to listen carefully to their heart and lovingly engage with them.  Romans 12:15 calls us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.  Matthew 5:7 tells us that the merciful are blessed because they will receive mercy.  

Our counselees can grow in extending mercy - kindness toward undeserving people - as they work through the counseling process to become more like Christ.

God’s Holiness in Counseling

By Wendy Wood

When the angels sing to God they sing Holy, Holy, Holy (Revelation 4:8 and Isaiah 6:3).  They don’t sing “Faithful, faithful, faithful”, or “Love, Love, Love”.  The repetition of Holy Holy Holy is significant.

Stephen Charnock says God’s holiness “is the crown of all His attributes, the life of all His decrees, the brightness of all His actions.  Nothing is decreed from Him, nothing is acted by Him, but what is worthy of the dignity, and becoming of honour, of this attribute.”

Charles Hodge says “Holiness is a general term for the moral excellence of God… Holiness, on the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral evil and, on the other, absolute moral perfection.  Freedom from impurity is the primary idea of the word.  To sanctify is to cleanse; to be holy is to be clean.  Infinite purity, even more than infinite knowledge or infinite power, is the object of reverence.”

God’s holiness is His moral excellence and absence of sin.

Wayne Grudem says God’s holiness means He is “separate from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor”.

John Piper says, “God’s holiness is his infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent person that he is and who by grace made himself accessible — his infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent person that he is.”

Heath Lambert defines holiness as “God’s devotion to himself as God above every other reality.”  

Lambert is the only one I have ever seen use this definition of holy.  What is unique about this definition is that it does not pull apart the Hebrew and Greek words for Holy - which mean “set apart” and “other”.  I agree that God must be devoted to His own glory and honor because He is so worthy of it.  It just doesn’t seem like a definition but the result of His holiness.

The word Holy means “set apart”.  God is “other”.  His holiness puts him in an entirely separate realm than anything or anyone else.  When something in the bible is referred to as “holy” it means it is set apart for God.  We are to keep the sabbath day holy by setting that day aside for God.  Believers are to be holy and set apart for God’s purpose.  Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”  We are not to conform to the world but to renew our minds and live separately from the world.

Because God is holy, because He is the essence of goodness and moral purity, because He is set apart and distinct from everything and everyone else, He must pursue His own honor and glory.  He is the only Being worthy of worship.  God’s devotion to Himself is because He is supremely holy.  If God were to be devoted to anyone or anything else, he would be an idolater.  

Isaiah 6:3 speaking of the seraphim around God’s throne “one called to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory”

Isaiah 57:15 says, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.”  

God’s very name is Holy.  When God names Himself we should pay attention and note the importance of the attribute.  

Revelation 4:8  is another view of God’s throne and the angels are singing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

Exodus 15:11  says “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deed, doing wonders?”  

Other translations say “glorious in holiness”.  God’s Holiness on display is what brings Him honor and glory.

God’s holiness is seen in his works.  “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (psalm 145:17).  God can only produce that which is morally excellent.  When God made the world, He declared everything “good”.  

God’s holiness is manifested in his law.  “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good.” (Romans 7:12)  Everything that God commands and says in His word is holy - it is set apart for His honor and glory.  

God’s holiness is seen in the cross.  God’s holiness is seen in His abhorrence of sin and the lengths He went to to punish sin.  God’s hatred of sin is seen in His plan to crucify His Son and forsake His Son to punish sin.

Every counselee needs to understand that sin separates sinners from God and it is only through faith in Christ’s atonement that we can be in relationship with Him.  

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  

God provides for us what is needed to meet His requirement.  God provided for Himself the sacrifice to cover sins once and for all.  A holy God providing a way for us to be made holy and blameless before Him is worthy of much worship!

Because God is holy and hates sin, He calls all His children to be holy also.  

1 Peter 1:15-16 “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Ephesians 5:1  “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

This is essential to counseling as our goal is to minister the word of God to sinners and sufferers to the glory of God.  We display God’s glory when we imitate God and grow in holiness in our thoughts, words and actions.   God is glorified as sinners become more and more like Christ, which is to say progressively more holy.  Believers are to take on the likeness of their Heavenly Father and be conformed to the image of Christ.  As our counselees learn to put off their sin, renew their minds, and put on Christlikeness, they are obeying the command to be holy for God is holy.  Growing in holiness is a life-long process all believers should be striving for.

God’s holiness means that as a completely “other” and “set apart” Being, He is worthy of our worship and devotion.  Our counselees should be growing in their awe and reverence and commitment to God as they study His Word, learn His attributes, and meditate on and behold the glory of Christ.

God’s Omnipotence in Counseling

By Wendy Wood

A.W. Tozer says, “Omnipotence means having all power”.  

Heath Lambert says “Omnipotence means that God is able to do anything consistent with his desires as God”.  

John MacArthur says “The omnipotence of God is His ability and strength to bring to pass whatsoever He pleases”.

When we talk to counselees or anyone about God’s power, we should include the absolute truth that while God is infinitely and completely powerful, He is also infinitely and completely wise and infinitely and completely good.  He is all-knowing (which we will get to in a later blog) so as He exercises His power to bring about His will and purpose, we can trust that He will use His power according to His Holiness.

It’s important to include that God’s omnipotence is His ability to do whatever He pleases because there are things that God can’t do.

Numbers 23:19  “God is not man, that he should lie,  or a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Has he said, and will he not do it?  Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

Titus 1:2 and Hebrews 6:18 also say that God cannot lie. God is holy, good, and righteous so His actions and words must be holy, good, and righteous too.

God cannot change. He is always, forever the same God. He does not give grace and then have less grace than before. He is grace. He does not do a mighty work and then lose strength or power. He is always the same because He is not made up of parts, but He is all His nature at all times. 

Malachi 3:6  “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

God cannot be faithless or deny Himself. His faithfulness is holy, and morally perfect. He will always keep His word because He is the definition of faithful.

2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself”.

Scripture teaches that God’s omnipotence means His power and sovereignty reign supremely.

Isaiah 59:1 paints the picture of God’s arm being strong enough to accomplish His purpose and that He is powerful to hear His children.

  “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear”.

Jeremiah builds confidence in God's power that there is nothing we can face that is too difficult for God to handle.  When we see His power demonstrated in speaking the universe into being, we rest in His power over all things.

Jeremiah 32:17 says “Ah, Lord God!  It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm!  Nothing is too hard for you!”

Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.

God’s power is incomprehensible to us.  We simply cannot even imagine what “all-powerful” truly means.  But meditating on God’s omnipotence should lead us to worship Him and celebrate that the all-powerful God is FOR His children.

A few key scriptures for this attribute are:

Ephesians 1:11 reminds us that God uses His power to accomplish His purpose. 

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”.  

God never stops working all things according to His will.  Every moment of every day, God is working every word and action in every person to accomplish His will.  We see in scripture where God is powerful over people's hearts and uses even evil kings to bring about His will with His people.  We see in the story of Joseph that God used Joseph’s sinful brothers selling him into slavery to preserve Israel by moving them to Goshen through Joseph being second in command in Egypt.  We see God’s power to accomplish His will in using the Pharisees, Pilate, Herod, and Romans soldiers to crucify His Son as His plan of redemption is worked perfectly.  All things are working according to the counsel of His will because He is all-powerful.

We see this again in  Psalm 33:10-11 says “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;  he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”

Job 42:2  says “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

God is all-powerful and no one and nothing can alter or change or prevent God’s plan.

Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

There are so many verses in the Bible that talk about God’s omnipotence and ability to do all He pleases to carry out His will perfectly.

If there is something that God cannot do or if there is something that can thwart His plan, He is not God.  God’s omnipotence is essential to His being. 

An omnipotent God is the only One able to fulfill all His promises.  Despite a counselee’s circumstances, their weakness or inability, or the schemes of the Devil,  God is all powerful and will fulfill His purpose.  This should bring tremendous comfort to every counselee.

God’s power matched with His holiness means that His purpose is always perfect and, however a counselee may be suffering, they can rest in God’s ability to use each situation to His glory the counselee’s good in conforming the counselee to the image of Christ.

God is powerful over human hearts.  Proverbs 21:1 says,  “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”  

When a counselee is dealing with a difficult person in their life they can trust that nothing is happening outside of God’s will.  Even when someone is sinning against our counselees, God is still more powerful than that person and God’s will will always prevail.  

Job 42:2 that God can do anything and nothing can thwart his plan is again helpful for all counselees.  There is no boss, child, spouse, illness or situation that is more powerful than God.  He will truly use “all things” to fulfill His purpose as Ephesians 1:11 and Romans 8:28-29 state.

Let’s encourage our counselees to celebrate God’s omnipotence. They can find rest for their souls as they depend on God's power and not their own. They can trust that God has the ability to bring about His perfect plan and purpose. There is nothing more powerful than God, not a hurricane or tornado, not a virus or cancer cell, not a spouse or boss. God is powerfully working His plan at all times.

Isaiah 46:10-11 says, “for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it”

None Like God

By Wendy Wood

AW Tozer says “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

God is not like you!  

There is such a vast difference between Creator and creature that we do not really comprehend God.  

Augustine said, “If you comprehend, it is not God you comprehend. Let it be a pious confession of ignorance rather than a rash profession of knowledge. To attain some slight knowledge of God is a great blessing; to comprehend him, however, is totally impossible.”

There is no way for a finite sinner to comprehend a Holy God. Scripture makes this clear.

Isaiah 40:28  says “his understanding is unsearchable”

Isaiah 46:9 says “I am God, and there is none like me”

Isaiah 40:17-18 “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.  To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare him with?”

If we know anything about God it is because He has chosen to make it known. God chose to write a book and reveal His nature to us and chooses to be in relationship with His children. His revelation of himself is a gift!  Our response to his revelation about himself is not to demand more, but to meditate on what is revealed in scripture and worship.

The theology term for God’s essence is “simple”.  Simplicity means that God is not made up of parts; he is not composite or a compounded being.  It is not theologically precise to say God possesses attributes; rather He is His attributes. 

A. W. Tozer says , “The doctrine of the divine unity means not only that there is but one God; it means also that God is simple, uncomplex, one with Himself. The harmony of His being is the result not of a perfect balance of parts but of the absence of parts. Between His attributes no contradiction can exist. He need not suspend one to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that God does; He does not divide himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of His being.

The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures. Love, for instance, is not something God has and which may grow or diminish or cease to be. His love is the way God is, and when He loves He is simply being Himself. And so with the other attributes.” (chapter 3, Knowledge of the Holy)

God does not lose any of His being as He shows grace or mercy.  Those are not things that are dispensed.  Grace and mercy is who God is.  God does not expend strength as a person does.  We may expend energy and be tired.  God never changes. 

God is Goodness itself.  All that is good is imitating the nature of God.  

God is Truthfulness.  All truth is truth because it is mimicking the very nature of God, who is Truth.

God is Triune.  The Father, Son and Spirit are not parts of God.  The Trinity is three persons.  Each Person does not possess part of the divinity, nor does each person make up a part of God like you need to add up the qualities of each to be the totality of God.  Instead, each Person of the Trinity equally and fully shares the undivided essence of God.  The Father is God and all His attributes.  Jesus is God and all His attributes.  The Holy Spirit is God and all His attributes.  God is not divided!

Each Person of the Trinity has different roles, but each is equally and fully God.

For example:

The Son came incarnate and died on the cross.

The Holy Spirit illuminates scripture and reminds us of the truth of God’s word.

The Father sent the Son and it is His will that is fulfilled.

God is not like you!  He is all that He is at all times and never changes.  He is always all that He is - nothing is lost, used up, or lessened, EVER.

God is independent of the created order.  He is self-sufficient and self-existent.  He is life in and of Himself.  God has always existed as all of Himself and will always exist as His whole being.

A.W. Tozer says, “When we try to imagine what God is like we must of necessity use that-which-is-not-God as the raw material for our minds to work on; hence whatever we visualize God to be, He is not, for we have constructed our image out of that which He has made and what He has made is not God.  If we insist upon trying to imagine Him we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts, and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand…  For while the name of God is secret and His essential nature incomprehensible, He in condescending love has by revelation declared certain things to be true of Himself.  These we call His attributes.” - from Knowledge of the Holy

What types of counseling situations need to address the attributes of God? Maybe your counselee is experiencing ANXIETY over an illness or a difficult situation with a child or spouse.  Or, you may have a counselee who is experiencing DEPRESSIVE type symptoms over being alone or struggling through a long-term suffering.  A person might seek counseling for a life-enslaving sin like alcohol or pornography.  A counselee may be seeking help to forgive a past hurt or to learn how to work through conflict in a relationship.  Whatever situation or sin a counselee is facing, be thinking about these attributes of God, how each attribute can bring HELP and HOPE to a counselee. Every counseling situation needs to involve a study of God.

I start EVERY counselee off with studying God’s attributes.  Whether the counselee is primarily a sinner or sufferer, knowing God is key.  I give them reading on about 12 attributes of God that explain who God is and how their circumstances can be viewed differently because of those truths.  Our counselees come in for help because they are looking at their circumstances and don’t know what to do.  They are so consumed with life’s situations, that their view of God is getting smaller.  When the prodigal son came to his senses in the pig pen, he recounted the goodness of his father and all that his father had done for him.  When Nebuchadnezzar comes to his senses after 7 years of acting like a cow, he looks up and thinks rightly about God.  Our counselees need to get their eyes on God.  Then, their circumstances will be viewed through the lens of truth that a Holy, Merciful, Omnipotent, Omnipresence, Omniscient God is with them and for them!

Counseling with Psalm 19

Tyler Shores

Psalm 19 is all about divine revelation, which is to say that it is all about how God has communicated Himself to us. In terms of divine revelation there are two types: general/natural revelation and special revelation. General revelation is a “term used to declare that God reveals something about the divine nature through the created order.” (Grenz, Guretzki, & Nordling, p.54). Special revelation is “God’s manifestation of himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with him.” (Erickson, p.201).

The beauty of Psalm 19 is that it speaks to the benefit of general revelation (v.1-6), while showing the superiority of special revelation as encountered in the Word of God (v.7-11). As we think through Psalm 19 there are three applications I want to consider in regards to biblical counseling: (1) God desires to communicate Himself to us through both the created world and the Word; (2) What we learn about God from His Word takes priority over what we learn about God from the world He created; (3) God intends for the revealing of Himself in His Word to produce holiness in us.

1. God desires to communicate Himself to us through the world He created (v.1-6).

As we read the opening lines of Psalm 19 we begin to sense that perhaps David is gazing into the skies and breathing in the vastness of God. He sees the stars, Moon, Sun and he assesses that the “heavens declare the glory of God” (v.1). David recognizes that although these created things do not have a literal voice (v.3), there is a sense in which their voice is heard throughout all the Earth (v.4). Along with Paul, David takes notice that creation is designed to communicate God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20, ESV). 

What David teaches us as counselors about general revelation is that we need to recognize the spiritual benefit of God revealing Himself to us and our counselees through creation. This is not a call to take expensive trips to remote locations but it is a call to step outside and become a student of God’s creation and consider the lilies (Matthew 6:28). 

On my desktop computer there is an incredible picture of the towering granite walls of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. I would love to visit Yosemite but logistically this is difficult. However, God’s very good creation is all around me. Even as I walk down the cracking sidewalks of my Midwest neighborhood and hear the hum of cicadas (loud bugs), the power and beauty of God are being revealed to me. It’s not quite Yosemite, but it will have to suffice because I was designed as a human to learn about God in these moments. Psalm 19:1-6 teaches us that God’s creation is useful for teaching us and our counselees about God and therefore should be engaged. 

As biblical counselors we are right to uphold the Word of God (special revelation) as essential to spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical wellness. Without the Word of God there is no hope because there is no other way of being in relationship with God. As a result, our first instinct in assigning homework is often to get counselees into God’s Word. This is right and good. That being said, we should not be uncomfortable with assigning the kinds of homework which pushes the objective of revealing The spiritual benefits of engaging the created world. This could look like encouraging a counselee to take a daily walk and account for how God is good in creation. This type of assignment is certainly helpful in someone gaining a greater sense of God’s power and majesty. Perhaps, in glimpsing God’s glory in creation, our counselees will be more eager to hear and obey God’s revealed will.

1. What we learn about God from His Word takes priority over what we learn about God from the world He created (v.7-11).

As Psalm 19 unfolds David continues to speak of divine revelation but we notice a shift in subject starting in verse 7. As good and necessary as general revelation is, the focus of David’s attention becomes the Word of God (which is special revelation). David is not attempting to diminish the value of general revelation but is instead highlighting the superior value of God’s Word when both are considered. This value is articulated as David makes six bold statements concerning the benefits of God’s Word. These statements deserve careful attention but unfortunately the restraints of this blog post will not allow us the space to do so. That being said, there are a few broad observations about what David says which help us not to miss the big point:  

First, Allen Ross explains that David “uses all the major terms for the stipulations of the covenant [law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, rules] to call attention to the mercy and love of God.” (Ross, 469) What Ross is getting at here is the key difference between general revelation and special revelation. This difference is that the content of God’s Word is about the covenant faithful God and the salvation He provides. This is not the case with general revelation. Bavinck correctly points out that general revelation is “insufficient for human beings as sinners; it knows nothing of grace and forgiveness.” (313) We can look at the world around us and learn a lot about God but it can never bring us to the point of knowing God. 

Second, Ross goes on to say that “Because of these clear references to the covenant, the covenant name of Yahweh is used seven times.” (Ross, 469). In the first section of Psalm 19 (vv.1-6), David uses the name El for God (v.1). Whereas El is a more general name for God in the Hebrew, Yahweh is the more personal name for God (Exodus 34:6). It is no surprise that David chooses this more personal name for God when discussing the Word of God Again because it is the Word of God which makes it possible for us to be in relationship with God. 

Third, David’s statements about the spiritual benefits of God’s Word are exclusively true of God’s Word. There is nothing else in this world which can revive our souls, make us wise, cause true rejoicing in our hearts, or enlighten our eyes. The Psalmist views the Word of God as something uniquely precious and rightly so. The benefits of Scripture are unparalleled. 

The application that the Psalmist’s high regard of God’s Word has in the counseling room is straightforward. If we want to be people who feel and experience God as He is then we must be people who are engaging with the Word of God and people who are doers of the Word. Likewise, we cannot consider ourselves to be doing the work of biblical counseling until we busy ourselves with helping people engage God’s Word and the life giving hope of God’s Word. In the counseling room we want to be men and women who speak the Bible, demonstrate a life changed by the Bible, and call those who are hurting to be helped by the Bible. Again, this is not David calling us to abandon the value of general revelation but is rather an emphasis on the absolute necessity of God’s Word. 

1. God intends for the revealing of Himself in His Word to produce holiness in us (v.10-14).

The psalmist concludes by teaching that God’s Word is to be more desired “than gold” and is “sweeter also than honey” (v.10). This bold claim flows from the truth that God’s Word guides the believer into holiness for the glory of God, which is God’s goal in revealing Himself. God reveals Himself uniquely and exclusively in the Word because He desires for struggling sinners to be “blameless” (v.13) and “acceptable” (v.14) in His sight. There is nothing more satisfying than being transformed into the people that god has designed us to be. 

The question which Psalm 19 leads us to reasonably ask ourselves as counselors is: what do I hope to see accomplished in the life of my counselee? If the answer is something other than holiness we have veered from the straight-forward teaching of Psalm 19 and we should reassess our goals in counseling. What makes biblical counseling ‘biblical’ is not only that we use the Bible as our source for instruction but that the God of the Bible sets the agenda for counseling. 

posted at: https://gospelmercies.com/2020/10/02/counseling-with-psalm-19/

Praying Psalm 63

by Paul Tautges

“Oh, God, You are my God, Earnestly I seek You;

I thirst for You, My whole being longs for You,

in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”

When David was desperate in the wilderness of Judah he had a choice to make. He could focus on the wilderness and his difficult circumstances or he could meditate on his God and what he knew to be true of God’s character. He chose the latter. As a result, our lives are enriched by having Psalm 63 in our biblical repertoire.

This marvelous song flows out of a commitment to praise God, which was birthed from meditations on God. “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name” (vv. 3-4). That is his commitment to praise. But the deeper source of his praise is revealed in verse 6: “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.”

What are some of the truths about God that David chose to meditate on? How does this precious psalm lead us into that same kind of worship? Here are eight truths that jump out from the sacred text. Let them be a starting point for prayer and worship. Say, with David, “O God, You are my God,” and then give to Him particular praise. Here is a suggested way to pray.

You are the God who wants to be thirsted after and who rewards those who seek after You. “I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary” (vv. 1-2a). “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

You are the God of all power and glory. “Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory” (v. 2). “Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; and may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen (Ps 72:18-19).

You are the God of lovingkindness (grace), which is better to me than life itself. Because this is true, “My lips will praise You” (v. 3). “I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul, and You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a large place” (Ps 31:7-8).

You are the God who satisfies my soul. “My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness” (v. 5). “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light” (Ps 36:7-9).

You are my Helper. “You have [already] been my help” (v. 7). “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper” (Ps 30:9-10).

You are my strength, my defense, and my life-support system. “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it, will go into the depths of the earth. They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; they will be a prey for foxes” (v. 8). “The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. The right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the LORD” (Ps 118:14-17).

You are the God of truth and justice. “But the king will rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him will glory, for the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped” (v. 11). “You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; lovingkindness and truth go before You. How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance” (Ps 89:13-15).

Meditating on God will result in a heart filled with praise for Him, His gracious and faithful character, and His mighty works. Let us bless Him as long as we live and lift up our hand unto His name!

[Originally posted February 13, 2013.]

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/09/08/meditating-on-my-god/

Nine Steps to Absolute Sovereignty

John Piper

(John Piper was asked ‘Can Jesus calm any storm just because He calmed a storm while He was here on earth?” Here is PIper’s response.)

I have at least nine premises to get to the conclusion that Jesus today rules over all storms, everywhere, at all time. Yes, I do believe that. I believe the Bible teaches that. Let me give you my nine premises.

1. Jesus is the Son of God.

When the disciples saw Jesus still the storm, the conclusion they drew was not simply that this particular miracle was an isolated event from a random Jewish teacher. They drew the conclusion that this was a particular kind of person. They saw his power as general, not specific. They said, “What sort of man is this, that even winds [not wind, but winds] and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27). The answer in Matthew’s context, the answer to their question that Matthew wants us to draw — so, this is a teaching of the Bible — is this: he’s the Son of God. That’s who he is. That is the sort of man he is.

So, rightly understood, the stilling of the storm is a revelation of who he is, and therefore it’s general. That sort of man doesn’t just luck out in this scenario, like, “Whoa, look at that. It actually works.” He doesn’t just luck out sometimes in his ability to see and still storms. It’s a general statement: the winds and the sea, in general — that’s the kind of man he is — obey him. That’s my first premise: the Son of God is the sort of person who can do this.

2. Jesus is unchanging.

Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He has the same power in 2020 that he had in the first century. He is still that sort of person.

3. God oversees even what seems insignificant.

This same Jesus said to his disciples, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29). I’m assuming that Jesus acts in concert with his Father here. They’re not at odds with each other, like “Oh, the Father can govern the fall of sparrows, but Jesus, he can’t. He’s out of step with that; he can’t do that. Only the Father can do that.”

“What happens ‘in the seas and all deeps’ is owing to ‘whatever the Lord pleases.’”TweetShare on Facebook

What the Father does, the Son does, Jesus says (John 5:19). And he says that the Father oversees, governs, the fall of every sparrow — which is an illustration of the most insignificant event Jesus could come up with at the time, I think. Like ripples on the sea. Jesus could’ve said, “Not one ripple happens in the sea apart from your Father,” instead of “Not one sparrow falls to the ground.”

If someone says, “This only means God watches the sparrows fall, but doesn’t govern it,” I would say that in the context of comforting the disciples as they are being killed — that’s the context: “They’re going to kill your body; don’t worry; I’ve got you” (Matthew 10:16–28) — in the context of being killed, that is zero comfort. “Oh, my God watches, but he can’t do anything. My God is inactive. He’s powerless.” I don’t think so. That’s not what’s going on here. This is not just saying, “Hey, God watches while you get killed. He can’t do anything, but he just watches. Take heart.” I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant at all in the context of Matthew 10.

4. Jesus Christ upholds everything.

Paul says that the reigning Jesus, who is the same forever and ever, holds everything together (Colossians 1:17). Hebrews 1:3 says, “He upholds the universe by the word of his power.” The world is not like a clock that Jesus wound up, set to running, and then watches from a distance, and has no involvement in it. Psalm 147:8 says, “He prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.”

Jesus is holding every wave and all the wind in being. He’s holding it in being. He’s got the whole world in his hands. It seems highly unlikely to me that he would be holding a tsunami in being as it rolls over a village, but that he has no plan for it as it rolls over the village. He’s got it totally in his hand, holding it in being. He could flatten the tsunami at any moment because he holds it in being. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” There’s no way. That is not the way God thinks.

5. God’s will always comes to pass.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:11 that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Not some things — all things. His will — not our will.

6. God does what he pleases everywhere.

Psalm 135:6 says, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps” — which is where earthquakes happen that cause tsunamis. When it says “in the seas and all deeps,” this is not a limited statement. It says that what happens “in the seas and all deeps” is owing to “whatever the Lord pleases.”

7. God gives and takes.

When anyone dies in a tornado or hurricane or tsunami, this is not an exception to the reality described by the writer of Job and James when they said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” (Job 1:21), and “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:15). We will survive this tsunami or we won’t. We will live and do this or that — if the Lord wills. Life and death are, finally, in the hand of the Lord. The natural causes of death are in the hand of the Lord, like wind and waves.

8. God is never capricious.

If we believe the Bible, and if we believe the Bible teaches the foreknowledge of God (which I do), then when he foresees a tsunami heading for a village or a virus heading for a pandemic, and he permits all that he sees, then this permitted act is part of his plan, since he could have stopped it. He doesn’t make such choices to permit or to stop whimsically or aimlessly. He is infinitely wise. He makes such choices to permit or not to permit wisely — that is, according to the counsel of his will.

9. The Bible plainly and pervasively teaches God’s absolute sovereignty.

I have texts for all these, but I won’t read them. The sovereignty of God in the Bible over all things is pervasive and all-encompassing. You don’t have to logically infer it; it’s just everywhere. It says he governs

• the wind,

• lightning,

• snow,

• frogs,

• gnats,

• flies,

• locusts,

• quail,

• worms,

• fish,

• sparrows,

• grass,

• plants,

• famine,

• the sun,

• prison doors,

• blindness,

• deafness,

• paralysis,

• fever,

• every disease,

• travel plans,

• the hearts of kings,

• nations,

• murderers,

• spiritual deadness,

• and on and on.

And they all obey his sovereign will. My confidence that Jesus rules all waves and all seas is not based on his stilling one storm, but on his being the Son of God, who is God, and who Scripture teaches works all things according to the counsel of his will.

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