Nielsen’s Nook

Nielsen’s Nook
Nielsen’s Nook
Contemplative, reflective, and irenic we pray.
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God’s excellences and perfections are full of life and action

Will Nielsen
February 21st, 2006
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All things are of God, through Him, and unto Him. Hence our soul can rest in it with unperturbed certainty. It is God’s will, his eternal, independent, and immutable will, that in the church [humanity] be restored and saved. We are convinced of this comfort of election even more when we remember that the counsel of God is a work of His mind not merely, but also of His will, is not a thought merely which belongs to the realm of eternity but also an almighty power which realizes itself in time. So it is with all God’s excellences and perfections: they are not passive, silent attributes, but are almighty powers, full of life and action.

Herman Bavinck
Our Reasonable Faith
Page 270

4 Responses to “God’s excellences and perfections are full of life and action”

Hey Will…
This reminds me to ponder the excellency of God’s Word. It is powerful and effective to accomplish what it is sent out to do… to create the world, to overcome sin, to bring life into death, etc.

This is yet again one way that God is immeasurably higher than we… that His word and power ALWAYS accomplishes what He sends it forth to accomplish. We, on the other hand, can’t even assure our tomorrow is secure.

Just some thoughts that your post got me to thinking. Thanks for sharing this quote; I really enjoyed reflecting on it this evening.

Left by em on February 21st, 2006

Em,

First, it is so good to hear from you again. Thank you for your thoughts.

Let me throw this out along side your thoughts. [As I have read through this post, I think it is not so directly tied to your comments other than your thoughts sparked my thoughts, though they be in a slightly different direction.] I think I know what you are getting at with the idea that in ourselves, as Scripture teaches us, we cannot add a day to our lives or - as is increasingly evident in my own hairline - we cannot add one hair to our own heads! Yet the mystery is that God(!) knows all our days and has numbered the hairs on our head.

Yet I think unfortunately the decree of God, predestination and election have been doctrines that have been used more like lightsabers rather than comforting salves. Even Calvin who was in fierce discussion made sure to place the discussion of predestination in the third book of his Institutes. He did not lead with it and he put it in a very pastoral place, as a means of pastorally assuring believers of their estate in Christ.

In this way, which seems to be tangental to what you seem to be meaning, we as believers who are in Christ are assured even in suffering and pain. We are assured that nothing comes to us that we cannot bear.

I won’t go into this on a blog, but I know suffering fairly existentially, though certainly there are many who have borne much more than my family. I know what it is to struggle with God, to wonder why He presents himself one way and to then see that the suffering tempts me to think otherwise about God - and to have this go on and on and on -ad nauseum - in seeming meaninglessness and arbitrariness.

What I have found is that the Triune God goes with certainty into my uncertainty. He walks directly into my wanderings. He is the God, after all, that leaves the majesty of the Temple to join his people in their exile, the majesty of Heaven to make his dwelling on earth (e.g., the Exile, Exekiel 8-11, Jesus going into the wilderness to be baptized). I think that is to say, our God is redeeming and has redeemed even suffering. We walk unsure of our own steps, yet in our poverty we find that in Christ we have been made certainly rich. If he is found in suffering and uncertainty, then that is where I want to be. Uncertainty is just like any other place, that is, we are certain to find God there.

Left by W.Nielsen on February 21st, 2006

Here is my pondering… I was just talking with a friend about this tonight over IHOP dinner: Why do we avoid suffering SO MUCH!?!? Why do we continue to follow the values of the world?

If I was the rich young ruler and Jesus told me to sell it all, give to the poor, and follow him… I think I would have walked away sad. I don’t want to say I would, but I think I would have. I think even my most faithful of friends would likely have done the same… and we look on him disdainfully instead of empathetically.

I’ve lately been feeling this stretch, this pulling and sadness. I am sad because I cling onto this world… and I’m feeling the death of that. I’ve been praying often that God work in me to help release its strong hold on my life. I believe it’s a good sadness I am feeling; I hope it is the sadness of my flesh being crucified that I can find true life.

Left by em on February 22nd, 2006

Em,

The new post I just published touches on some of your last post here. Mainly just reflections that your reflections stirred up in me.

Go well.

Left by W.Nielsen on February 23rd, 2006

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