What to do when you doubt?

“Are you in depths and doubts, staggering and uncertain, not knowing what is your condition, nor whether you have any interest in the forgiveness that is of God? Are you tossed up and down between hopes and fears, and want peace, consolation and establishment? Why lie you upon your faces? Get up: watch, pray, fast, meditate, offer violence to your lusts and corruptions; fear not, startle not at their crying to be spared; press unto the throne of grace by prayer, supplications, importunities, restless requests— this is the way to take the kingdom of God. These are not peace, are not assurance, but they are part of the means God hath appointed for the attainment of them.”

John Owen, Exposition on Psalm 130

In other words,

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” (2 Peter 1:10, ESV)

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God’s mysterious and wonderful ways

“The Puritan writings on providence are easy to read, yet they are deeply thought provoking. They are biblically focused, yet they throb with a sense of God’s ongoing activity. They are rigorously Reformed, yet they are wonderfully sensitive to human pain. They were written for people living in a time of social, political, and religious upheaval in the seventeenth century. They were written for people who knew a great deal of the angst that we moderns often mistakenly view as peculiarly modern or even postmodern. The Puritan writings also apply to people in the twenty-first century who suffer massive change. More than that, they spell out clearly some biblical principles that Christians today desperately need to hear:

• God is in control of His universe.
• God is working out His perfect purposes, also in my life.
• God is not my servant.
• God’s ways are far more mysterious and wonderful than I can understand.
• God is always good; I can always trust Him.
• God’s timetable is not the same as mine.
• God is far more interested in what I become than in what I do.
• Freedom from suffering is not promised in the Christian gospel.
• Suffering is an integral part of the Christian life.
• God works through suffering to fulfill His purposes in me.
• God’s purposes, not mine, are what bring Him glory.
• God enables me to read His providences through the lens of His Word.
• I have few greater pleasures than tracing the wonders of God’s ways.

No wonder, then, that Sedgwick admonishes us with the words of Psalm 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” The God of the Bible, the God of sovereign providence, He alone is worthy of such trust.”

Beeke, Joel R.; Jones, Mark (2012-10-14). A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Kindle Location 6876-6894).  Kindle Edition.

HT: The Works of God

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Human trafficking, marital conflict, and the Puritans

Reading and thinking about:

September is “Stop Human Trafficking Month” (this is a huge problem that most people don’t know about or don’t want to think about)

Seven keys for resolving marital conflict

Can The Puritans Teach Us Anything?  Sinclair Ferguson responds.

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Meet the Puritans

Here’s a new website that will acquaint you more with the Puritans. The authors describe it this way:

The purpose of this website is to promote the seventeenth century English Puritans. We intend to do this by means of original research, theological and devotional commentary upon the writings of the Puritans, reviews of books about the Puritans, recommendations of books about the Puritans, and by providing Recommended Reading of helpful materials in your study of the Puritans.

(HT: JT)

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Be sure to thank the Puritans and Squanto

When you give thanks on Thanksgiving Day, among other things thank God for the Puritans.

One professor reminds us in this essay,

Who should we thank on Thanksgiving, as we count our blessings? A complete list, beginning with God Himself, is far above my pay grade. But if we begin at least very near the beginning, we should thank those who gave us Thanksgiving — the Pilgrims or Puritans — for all they have given us. . . .

[The Puritans] “took care of the poor, maintained their highways, kept careful records and registries, secured law and order, and, most of all, provided education for everyone — through high school. The purpose of universal education was that everyone should be able to read the Bible to know what’s most important — his or her duties to their Creator — for themselves. Everyone must read in order that no one be deceived or suckered by others.”

And another author asks,

Most of us know the story of the first Thanksgiving—at least, we know the Pilgrim version. But how many of us know the Indian viewpoint?

No, I’m not talking about some revisionist, politically correct version of history. I’m talking about the amazing story of the way God used an Indian named Squanto as a special instrument of His providence.

Read his brief account of “Squanto: God’s Instrument of Providence”

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