The Way Appointed

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

One aspect of the mystery of God's sovereign will
is how the calculated evil of men is not only
permitted, but actually becomes a necessary part
of the divine plan. We are tempted to think of
the wrongs done to us as hindrances,
frustrations, interruptions. "What has this got
to do with the will of God?" we ask, irritated
and, we suppose, justifiably impatient with human
interference. But the truth is that both our time
and our way are in God's hands--they are
"appointed." Surely it is so for all his sons as
it was for the Son of Man. When He was on the
verge of being "handed over for crucifixion," and
betrayed by one of his own disciples, He said,
"My appointed time is near....One who has dipped
his hand into this bowl with me will betray me.
The Son of Man is going the way appointed for
him" (Mt 26:18, 24 NEB).

Out of the deepest depths of human evil the good
God brought salvation--the very salvation of man
whose sinfulness killed the Son He sent.

Nothing can reach us, from any source in earth or
hell, no matter how evil, which God cannot turn
to his own redemptive purpose. Let us be glad
that the way is not a game of chance, a mere roll
of dice which determines our fortune or
calamity--it is a way appointed, and it is
appointed for God's eternal glory and our final
good.