The Lord Is Able to Do All Things According to His Will -- 1 Nephi 7:12

The following message provides a further explanation of the Permissive Will of God.



ROMANS 8 – A MOST PRECIOUS PROMISE

My text for today is Romans 8:28-39, which declares:

(Rom 8:28 KJV) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

(Rom 8:29 KJV) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

(Rom 8:30 KJV) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

(Rom 8:31 KJV) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

(Rom 8:32 KJV) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

(Rom 8:33 KJV) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

(Rom 8:34 KJV) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

(Rom 8:35 KJV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

(Rom 8:36 KJV) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

(Rom 8:37 KJV) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

(Rom 8:38 KJV) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

(Rom 8:39 KJV) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Here we find: (1) a Promise Made; (2) A Promise Explained; (3) A Promise Assured and (4) A Promise Experienced with Joy.


(1) THE PROMISE MADE:

(Rom 8:28 KJV) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

(A) Similar promises arecfound in D&C 90:24 – “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted with one another.”

(B) In D&C 59, we are commanded to thank the Lord “in all things” and we are warned of condemnation if we do not see His hand in all things: “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.”

(C) Note that the promise is made, not to all people, but to “them that love God, who are called according to His purpose” – i.e., to the faithful.


(2) THE PROMISE EXPLAINED:

(A) Does this promise mean that all that happens is good, that bad things do not happen to good people, or to bad people for that matter? Obviously not. Sin, pain and death abound in this world (marriages fail; spouses and children are abused; jobs are lost; long and painful illness afflicts; death takes away). These are truly painful and difficult events.

(B) So what is the “good” toward which God works all things for His faithful? Verses 29 and 30 show us the answer

(Rom 8:29 KJV) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

(Rom 8:30 KJV) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The good that can come from all things is – the plan of salvation, our eternal life and exaltation. To God, everything is simple. His perfect love seeks for us perfect joy, which is to be found only in knowing and loving Him, becoming one with Him and receiving the fullness of eternal life. His goal is not our mortal pleasure, or happiness, or contentment – His goal is our eternal life, no matter what the cost to us, and no matter what the cost to Him.

“The Lord is omnipotent, with all power to control our lives, save us pain, prevent all accidents, drive all planes and cars, fees us, protect us, save us from labor, effort, sickness, even from death, if he will. But he will not . . . .

“The basic gospel law is free agency and eternal development. To force us to be careful or righteous would be to nullify that fundamental law and make growth impossible . . . .

“If we looked at mortality as the whole of existence, then pain, sorrow, failure and short life would be calamity. But if we look upon life as an eternal thing stretching far into the pre-earth past and on into the eternal post-death future, then all happenings may be put in perspective.

“Is there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrows to try our souls? Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified?

“If all of the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith.

“If joy and peace an rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be do evil – all would do good, but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

“Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our selfish desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death, and if these were not, there would also be no joy, success, resurrection, eternal life or godhood. ‘For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things . . . righteousness . . . wickedness . . . holiness . . . misery . . .good . . . bad’ (2 Nephi 2:11)

“Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we were to close the doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be excluding our greatest friends and benefactors. Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering and self-mastery. The sufferings of our Savior were part of His education.”

-- Spencer W. Kimball, Tragedy or Destiny, 1977, pp. 2-3.


“I am afraid there are some, even of God’s own children, who scarcely think that he is equal to themselves in tenderness, and love, and thoughtful care; and who, in their secret thoughts, charge him with a neglect and indifference of which they would feel themselves incapable. The truth really is that his care is infinitely superior to any possibility of human care; and that he, who counts the very hairs of our heads, and suffers not a sparrow to fall without him, takes note of the minutest matters that can affect the lives of his children, and regulates them all according to his own perfect will, let their origin by what they may.

“The instances of this are numberless. Take Joseph. What could have seemed more apparently on the face of it to be the results of sin, and utterly contrary to the will of God, than the action of his brethren in selling him into slavery? And yet Joseph, in speaking of it said, ‘As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good.’ ‘Now, therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.’ It was undoubtedly sin in Joseph’s brethren, but by the time it had reached Joseph it had become God’s will for him, and was, in truth, though he did not see it then, the greatest blessings of his whole life. And thus we see how God can make even ‘the wrath of man to praise him’ and how all things, even the sins of others, ‘shall work together for good to them that love him.’ ”
-- Hannah Whitall Smith



(3) THE PROMISE ASSURED:

(Rom 8:31 KJV) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

(Rom 8:32 KJV) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

“All things whatever, in heaven and earth, are not so great a display of God's free love, as the gift of his coequal Son to be the atonement on the cross for the sin of man; and all the rest follows upon union with him, and interest in him. . . . He that has prepared a crown and a kingdom for us, will give us what we need in the way to it.” -- Matthew Henry


(Rom 8:33 KJV) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

(Rom 8:34 KJV) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

(4) THE PROMISE EXPERIENCED:

(Rom 8:35 KJV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress [trouble or calamity], or persecution, or famine [lack of food], or nakedness [lack of clothing or shelter], or peril [any kind of danger], or sword [threat of violent death]?

(Rom 8:36 KJV) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

(Rom 8:37 KJV) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors [not just enduring; not just overcoming; not just victory, but overwhelming victory] through him that loved us.

(Rom 8:38 KJV) For I am persuaded, that neither death [humanity’s most universal and dreadful fear], nor life [with all its challenges and trials], nor angels, nor principalities [earthly authorities of any kind], nor powers [Satan and his hosts], nor things present [our current trials, concerns and fears], nor things to come [worries about the future],

(Rom 8:39 KJV) Nor height [however high we may be, either physically or in whatever success or accomplishment we achieve], nor depth [however low we may be, either physically or in terms of our losses or failures], nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


TESTIMONY:

God lives. His love for us is eternal and unchangeable. It will never fail us, but instead assures us that nothing happens that is outside His eternal purpose of our eternal life and exaltation, or beyond the power of His sovereign grace. We can be assured of all of this because of the life, ministry, atoning death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know that He lives, for I have come to know Him. He has restored His Gospel in its everlasting fullness. This is His Church, led by His living Prophet.

The Lord Is Able to Do All Things According to His Will -- 1 Nephi 7:12

This post covers the third aspect of the will of the Lord -- His Permissive Will. I write this with some concern: this discussion is of theology and doctrine. As you will see as you read, this is not a subject that should be taught, by itself, in the context of trying to comfort those enduring grief, loss or despair. By itself, the Permissive Will of God can seem to portray Him as merciless and uncaring. It is critical, therefore, in applying this teaching to those who suffer, that the doctrine of God's Providential Will (the subject of a later post) be included as well.

The Permissive Will of God is explained simply: it is that which God permits or allows to happen, but which He does not otherwise cause. The concept of the Permissive Will arises from three great truths that are taught so clearly in Scripture that we cannot cite all of the references. These truths are: (1) that God is omniscient, so that He knows in advance (from our perspective) everything that is going to happen; (2) that God is omnipotent, so that He could prevent any particular event from occurring; and (3) that God is infinitely kind, loving and merciful, so that His goal is to bring about the greatest joy for each of His children. It involves the ancient and continuing questions: Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God when appallingly terrible things happen? Why was there a Holocaust? Why did 9/11 happen? Why do tens of thousands of children die every day from disease and famine? Of these things and of everything else that occurs, the Scriptures require us to acknowledge that it is, at a minimum, in accord with the Permissive Will of God.

The teachings of Scripture also outline for us three principles that seem to apply to God's decision whether to allow a particular event to happen. (1) God is fully committed to honoring human agency or freedom of choice. He does not force any of His children to choose either good or evil. He always allows each person to choose how that person will act, even if that decision may have a devastating impact on others. (2) God has established a physical world that is governed by natural law. To teach His children the crucial lesson that breaking or keeping such laws has necessary consequences, He generally does not intervene in the operation of natural law. (3) Finally, and most importantly, God's infinite compassion and mercy require Him to use His unlimited power always to bring good out of evil. God does not allow any event to occur unless, somehow, someday, it will yield an eternal benefit to someone. This last principle is the overriding one. God may allow someone to chose evil, but may intervene to limit the effects of that choice. God may allow nature to take its course, even as He directs the track of the storm.

This can be a hard doctrine, especially if it is not considered at the same time as the doctrine of God's Providence. Yet, if we can learn it during relatively good times, it can be a great comfort in the times of trial. It assures us that the calamity that is a surprise to us is not a surprise to Him. It also teaches us that if God has allowed it to happen, He already knows how it can be turned to a good purpose.

Such is the understanding that inspired 18th century English poet, William Cowper, to write one of the greatest expressions of faith ever put on paper. Cowper suffered throughout his life from severe depression and attempted suicide several times. Having passed through such darkness into one of the brighter periods of his life, he wrote:

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Ye fearful Saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break

In blessings on your head.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding ev’ry hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan his works in vain;

God is his own interpreter,

And he will make it plain.

{Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sovereign will.}

{Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.}

Hymns, #285. (The last two stanzas

were omitted from the 1985 LDS hymnbook.)