Profiting from the Doctrine of God’s Decrees

Do you desire to profit from this comforting doctrine? First, seek to rid yourself of inordinate and close attachment to earthly things, and be diligent in renouncing your own will. The things of this earth are not your portion, and therefore cannot satisfy. Have you not often experienced that instead of resulting in more holiness, they rob you of your peace and spiritual liberty, hindering you from running your course with joy? Have you not often perceived in retrospect that it was God’s wisdom and goodness that He did not give you the desire of your heart, and that at times you were uncomfortable when your desire was granted? Why then are you so set upon receiving your desire? Is it not much better to rest in God’s decree?

Secondly, seek often to stimulate love for the sovereignty of God. Do you wish God to be your servant in order that you might receive your foolish desires? Or is it your joy that He is Lord, that He acts freely, and that as supreme Sovereign He rules everything according to His will, so that no one can stay His hand and say, “What doest Thou?” Would you wish God to be subject to you, and to do your bidding? Do you not rather desire that, without the least deviation, His will be accomplished, both in regard to all things and in regard to yourself, even if you would have to lose all that you possess? You would certainly approve of this if you would but quietly contemplate this.

Therefore, rejoice in His sovereignty and render Him honor and glory. You will then find sweet rest in His decree concerning the future, the present, and the past.

Thirdly, consider and believe unreservedly that all that God has decreed concerning His elect He has decreed to their benefit to such a degree that they could not have imagined or desired anything to be more profitable. Approve of this truth and apply it to your own situation. If you may believe yourself to be a partaker of Jesus Christ, God’s decree will be precious to you, you will be able to find sweet rest in it, and you will be able to surrender everything into the Lord’s hand with ease, saying, “He may accomplish in me whatever He has decreed concerning me, and it shall be well.”

Fourthly, you have no prior knowledge of what God has decreed concerning you in various specific circumstances. This much you know, however, that God works out His decree in the way of means, and has bound us to these means. Whoever refuses to use the means which God will cause him to do if He has so decreed has no right to complain, as he himself is to be blamed for it. “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). The promise is, “Ask, and it shall be given you” (Mat. 7:7); “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psa. 81:10). Keep yourself from using unlawful means, for then you are losing sight of God’s decree, thus expecting it from the means. Use lawful means, and use them with the desire that God’s counsel be accomplished rather than having the intent to change it. Let there then be no anxiety concerning the outcome of the matter, knowing that the outcome shall be such as God in His counsel has decreed to be to your benefit. If this may be your practice, you shall avoid or overcome many temptations, and preserve a quiet inner disposition.

By confirming and believing this truth while allowing yourself to grow accustomed to it through much meditation, you shall be armed and strong in all circumstances of life; your desires shall be holy, your concerns shall be moderate, and you shall use the means with more liberty, and yet carefully.

Should there be many evil circumstances, that you are threatened or oppressed with poverty, injury, disgrace, devastation by enemies, famine, pestilence, loss of properly, loved ones, or life, the decree brings quietness since it is not inflicted by man, but is all according to God’s eternal counsel, which you should neither desire to change, nor can be changed by anyone. Consider that His decree is for your good, even though you cannot perceive this beforehand. Then you shall not fear, even if everything were to be turned upsidedown.

If you are currently desirous for something, meditation upon God’s decree shall not remove this desire, but will rather sanctify it, thus encouraging you to bring your desires before God more freely. Or it may cause you to bow before the Lord in holy submission, confessing, “Thy will be done!” without daring to insist strongly upon receiving your desire, but rather to have your desire swallowed up in God’s will. It will soon become evident whether a person is entertaining any impure desires, which in such a frame will readily be extinguished. It will not only keep us from ever doing evil in order that good might come out of it, but rather it will motivate us to yield everything into the hands of the Lord, be satisfied with this, and thank the Lord in all things, confessing, “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).

Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635-1711), a Second Reformation divine, was a leading representative of practical Reformed Orthodoxy in the Netherlands who became most renowned for his major work Redelijke Godsdienst (The Christian’s Reasonable Service).

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