God Moves In A Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings 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.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

The particular hymn was written by William Cowper. Other famous hymns written by Mr. Cowper include “There is a fountain” and “O for a closer walk with God.” During his life, and even after his conversion, William Cowper struggled with depression and thoughts of suicide. He was committed to a mental institution on three separate occasions during his life. In doing the research behind this hymn, I came across the following story behind it. It is from www.cyberhymnal.com.

“God moves in a mysterious way” is re­port­ed­ly the last hymn Cow­per ev­er wrote, with a fas­cin­at­ing (though un­sub­stan­ti­at­ed) story be­hind it. Cow­per oft­en strug­gled with de­press­ion and doubt. One night he de­cid­ed to com­mit su­i­cide by drown­ing him­self. He called a cab and told the driv­er to take him to the Thames Riv­er. How­ev­er, thick fog came down and pre­vent­ed them from find­ing the riv­er (ano­ther ver­sion of the story has the driv­er get­ting lost de­liber­ate­ly). After driv­ing around lost for a while, the cab­by fin­al­ly stopped and let Cow­per out. To Cowper’s sur­prise, he found him­self on his own door­step: God had sent the fog to keep him from kill­ing him­self. Even in our black­est mo­ments, God watch­es over us.”

I don’t know whether or not this story is a true one. What I can tell you though, is that I believe God moves in these kinds of “mysterious” ways. I don’t believe in chance or coincidences. I believe that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. I believe that God could have used fog and a cab in London, England hundreds of years ago to let William Cowper know that he was special to the Lord, and I believe He still works mysteriously today.

• “Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face” – I recently heard Allistair Begg quote this line in one of his messages. He commented about the honesty and humanity found in these lyrics. He shared how we as Christians sometimes put on “smiling faces” or “put a good spin” on things. But these words from William Cowper were an honest statement from the heart. He, at times in his life, saw God with a “frowning providence.” Does God really frown at His children? Does God hide His smiling face? It was not necessarily that Mr. Cowper was really trying to make a theological statement about God and His countenance, but I believe he was giving an honest assessment of how he was feeling at the time. Allistair Begg reminded me of John the Baptist’s honesty and humanity that came through when Herod put him in prison. Here’s John the Baptist. The powerful preacher. The man filled with the spirit even from the womb. The one who proclaimed “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This same John the Baptist is in the prison sending word to Jesus asking “Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?” Did John not know who Jesus was? Sure he did. But this is a picture of John’s humanity in the midst of troubling situation wondering if Jesus was who He said He was. I love that honest picture because it encourages me to know that godly men of faith sometimes struggle. They sometimes find it hard to see God working when the problems of this world are so great. But I also appreciate the author’s statement of faith, that there is God smiling down on us even in the midst of what appears to be frowning.

• “God is His own interpreter” – I find it interesting how often we sometimes falsely assume God is speaking when He might not be. Often times during apparent “judgment” on a nation or on an individual, we confidently proclaim the disaster to be a “judgment of God,” like we can know the mind of God. I like that the author reminds us that God is His own interpreter. He doesn’t have to answer to any of us. He doesn’t have to explain why He does what He does. Job received several chapters of this kind of admonition from the Lord. God had a pretty frank, honest, humbling conversation with Job regarding what people assumed God was doing or not doing. God is the Sovereign Creator of the universe. He works out His will through providence and through His creation to accomplish His purposes. Pilate did not have the ability to take Jesus’ life. Jesus chose to lay it down freely. What the world interprets as weaknesses was the ultimate display of God’s power. What we sometimes call “judgment” may be God trying to call people to repentance – to seek His mercy and His grace.

Are you the kind of person that loves a good mystery novel or movie? The kind of person that does not want to have anybody talk about a movie ending before they have seen it because it takes away the mystery of it all? I am kind of like that. I want to be totally surprised by the ending of a story, not have the story ruined by knowing the ending too soon.

But the funny thing is, I am not that way with God all the time. Often times, I want God to take the “mystery” out of what He is doing. I want Him to layout His plan clearly. But this hymn reminds He doesn’t always work that way. He chooses sometimes to work in “mysterious ways.” The Bible says in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

My prayer today for you, and for myself, is not that we figure everything out all the time. Or that we necessarily see God’s hand moving in every situation. No, my prayer today is that we have the faith to trust that His is moving, and that He may be moving in mysterious ways in us, around us, and through us. I hope I have the kind of faith, like William Cowper resonated in this song, that proclaims “The clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.” That is one of the “mysterious” ways that God works in this fallen world.