Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.
J. I. PackerRead
To know that nothing happens in God's world apart from God's will may frighten the godless, but it stabilizes the saints.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding divine will can bring comfort to believers while unsettling non-believers.
This quote reflects the idea that the belief in God's sovereignty offers stability and assurance to those who have faith, while it may provoke fear and anxiety in those who do not share that belief. The contrast between the 'godless' and the 'saints' highlights how different worldviews interpret the same reality in fundamentally different ways.
Themes
GodWillBeliefFaithSovereigntyComfortFear
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon discussing the nature of divine control, this quote can emphasize faith in challenging times.
More from J. I. Packer
All quotes βHe that has learned to feel his sins, and to trust Christ as a Saviour, has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity.
J. I. PackerRead
We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of thankfulness, joy, and zeal.
J. I. PackerRead
The fruit of wisdom is Christlikeness, peace, humility and love. And, the root of it is faith in Christ as the manifested wisdom of God
J. I. PackerRead
Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be ADOPTION THROUGH PROPITIATION, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.
J. I. PackerRead
Only when it is seen that what decides each individual's destiny is whether or not God decides to save him from his sins, and that this is a decision that God need not make in any individual case, can one begin to grasp the biblical view of grace.
J. I. PackerRead
Similar quotes
The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.
Stanley CrouchRead
I am a Negro: Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa.
Langston HughesRead
BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think that we think. That which distinguishes the man who is content to be something from the man who wishes to do something. A man of great wealth, or one who has been pitchforked into high station, has commonly such a headful of brain that his neighbors cannot keep their hats on. In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.
Ambrose BierceRead
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
George WillRead
If the other fellow can't tell you his story, you can never be sure he isn't trying to kill you.
Orson Scott CardRead
A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.
Rene DescartesRead