Judge Not The Lord By Feeble Sense

I was thinking this afternoon about the profound words that we sang at Metro East yesterday:

Oh fearful saints new courage take,
The clouds that you no dread
Are big with mercy and will break
With blessing on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
- William Cowper

How often we judge the Lord by our own feeble sense. We determine that God cannot possibly be responsible for anything unpleasant and so we diminish His sovereignty and make Him a slave to free will, the forces of nature, or other powers outside Himself. By this we assume we have gotten God "off the hook." But God's own Word nver once belittles His power in such a way as to cast Him as impotent in the face of suffering and pain. Indeed, God makes it plain that both sweet and bitter providences come from his wise hand.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best -
Lovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
- Wilhelmina Sandell-Berg