Completing What He Appoints

“But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind” (Job 23:13-14).

There are few topics that engender greater discussion than the absolute sovereignty of God. I believe there is something deeply imbedded in our DNA that wants us to value our sovereignty over what the scriptures tell us about God’s sovereignty. Yet, the Bible is clear and unmistakable in ascribing absolute sovereignty to God. It’s in that light that Job came to write what he did about God’s sovereignty.

I don’t need to re-tell Job’s story. In the 42 chapters of the book of Job, his trials, faith journey, and ultimate release from pain and suffering are well described. If you were to examine my Bible, you would find more passages highlighted in Job than in any other book of the Bible. I have feasted on Job over the years, not so much because I have shared his depth of pain, but rather because of the way he responded as the sovereignty of God, in the form of pain, unfolded in his life. It was Job’s experience of pain that brought him to the place of embracing the sovereignty of God over everything, and especially over the challenges he faced. He came to the place of losing everything, yet at the same time he wrote, “He will complete what he appoints for me.”

It’s in that light that I want to ask you this question. Is God in the process of completing something that he has appointed for you, and surrounding which you currently find yourself, in a time of deep challenge? I know that to be the case for some of you as we have prayed and cried and searched the scriptures together. Further, I know that such things may be in your future based on what Job said at the end of the passage; “Many such things are in his mind.”

If you find yourself currently in a time of confusion, pain and uncertainty, would you let the sovereignty of God do what he intends for it to accomplish; that being to bring comfort and peace into the midst of your pain. We are never in a stronger position than when we are able to tell God that we trust him in the midst of the storms of life. There is never a time when God is more glorified or pleased than when we submit to his sovereignty as opposed to fighting against it (as if we could change his plans). Job said God is unchangeable, that he accomplishes whatever he desires. That includes the circumstances he sovereignly weaves together to bring us to the place of joining with Job in saying, “What he desires, that he does.”

I don’t know how that plays out in your life. I’ve seen it at work in mine, and I am deeply grateful that what he appoints for me, he will surely complete.