“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…” (Isaiah 46:9-10, ESV)

Harold Kim tells a story about his friend Daniel who had to bury his wife, Maria, due to illness when she was 40.

At the eulogy, Daniel said that when you are young and go to a hospital it’s often for good things, perhaps the birth of a child. But for Daniel and Maria, each visit was terribly difficult. She had stage four breast cancer. That’s serious, to say the least. And they had a sense of what the end result was going to be.

One day at home, Maria fell into Daniel’s arms crying, and said: “Daniel, Daniel, I can’t take this anymore. There’s no way God could love me to put me through this.”

Moments of silenced passed. Daniel, thinking back on the experience, feels that in that moment the Spirit of God came down and fell upon his wife. After a few minutes of silence, she looked up at him and said, “No, but that can’t be true. Jesus died for me.”*

That, my friends, is gospel truth.

I think it is comforting that God is sovereign—that he is almighty and supreme, and that he is lovingly and intimately active in our lives at the same time.

This gives us comfort because God can work in and through all situations, even horrific ones. This gives us confidence because it assures us that he is with us no matter what we are going through. And it gives us courage because we can walk boldly into a future in which God is already present.

The Lord is sovereign. He is almighty and supreme. And he is lovingly and intimately active in your life at the same time.

“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…”

By Matthew Ruttan

—Sunday: We live in an age of polarization. Have you noticed? This Sunday morning (July 12) I’ll be teaching about this very thing and how to respond as Jesus’ people. Click here to sign up for an automatic email reminder sent to your email inbox at 9:50am to connect you directly to our YouTube live-stream.

–“Up!” is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and resumes on July 13.

–*This story can be heard in a podcast by The Gospel Coalition, posted on June 13, 2020, and accessed here.