When We Are Thankful for God’s Control

I’m preaching through Romans on Sunday mornings in our worship services. In fact, I’ve been preaching through Romans for what some feel to be forever (actually only since January). Nevertheless, our time in Romans has yielded great fruit as we have wrestled together with many of the great truths expounded by Paul in his systmatic theology.

Of course, the book of Romans also opens the door to all sorts of difficult questions and hard conversations. Taking God’s word seriously is not easy and there are many things in Paul’s writings that are hard to understand

(Consult Peter if you disagree).

Historically, one of the most debated aspects of Paul’s writings to the church at Rome has revolved around our understanding of God’s sovereignty. Particularly the issue is election and predestination, but it can also be boiled down to the way we understand God’s sovereignty to be applied in the process of salvation.

As human beings (and as Americans in particular) we struggle with the idea that anyone is in charge of us. We like to pull oursevles up by our own bootstraps. But, of course, this is not just an American issue, the question of election, predestination, and the exact extent of God’s soveriegnty is nearly as old as the church itself. In regards to that question, I echo Russ Moore in assuring you that whatever election may or may not mean, it certainly was intended to bring unity and courage to the church, not division.

Nevertheless, regardless of where we come down on the issues of election and predestination, I am convinced that there is at least one verse in Romans eight in which we are completely comfortable with God overriding our plans with his own. In Romans 8:26 we read,

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Here we see clear evidence of God not overriding our free will, but protecting us from our free will. We do not know what to pray for, we do not know what we really need, and yet God in his love intercedes.

Often, we need God to protect us from ourselves. Click To Tweet

How does the Spirit intercede? According to the will of God.

The greatest hope for our prayers is not that God will honor our requests, but that he will orient our requests to his will.

Prayers that are oriented around God’s will are for our good and for his glory. If we believe Romans 8:28, then we can and should trust in God to do good, and that means even in his interceding on my behalf in the power of the Holy Spirit.

He is not a tame God, but he is a good God. We may disagree about how God’s sovereignty works in the process of salvation, but if we trust in God’s goodness and love toward his children, we can all celebrate his willingness to intercede on our behalf against our plans to bring our lives into better alignment with his will.