Latest / Reformed Thinking / Forever Settled: The Unchanging Truth of God’s Word (Psalm 119:89–96) | Charles Spurgeon

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Forever Settled: The Unchanging Truth of God’s Word (Psalm 119:89–96) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine standing in a house you build with your own two hands.
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You know every stud in the walls.
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You know because you poured the concrete foundation yourself.
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You feel entirely secure, right? You have that complete sense of
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safety. Yeah, exactly.
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Wait, I mean, absolutely. But suddenly an earthquake
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strikes the ground beneath you, liquefies the structural
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engineering just completely fails.
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It is a terrifying thought. Everything tangible, Your
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savings, your health, your carefully planned career, your
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relationships, it all just collapses in a matter of
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seconds. So where do you look when the
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visible structures of your life are gone and the ground itself
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is terrifyingly fluid? Welcome to reformed thinking.
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Today we are doing a deep dive into an intensive study of Psalm
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119. Specifically, we are looking at
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verses 89 through 96. We are using Charles Spurgeon's
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classic commentary The Treasury of David, alongside insights
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from historic Puritan and Reformed commentators.
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And our mission today is very specific.
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We are going to look at the massive cosmic scale of God's
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decrees. We will study the invisible laws
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that govern the universe and see how that vast theology brings
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very personal, intimate comfort to you, the believer in the
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absolute darkest moments of your life.
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That contrast between the cosmic and the personal is, well, it is
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what makes this specific section of the Psalm so magnificent.
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We are moving from the grand, unfathomable expanse of the
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universe straight into the broken, desperate heart of an
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individual sufferer. Yeah, if you look at the earlier
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verses leading up to this text, the psalmist has been in a state
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of sheer exhaustion. I mean, he's been weeping.
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He is fainting. Right.
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He actually describes himself as feeling like a shriveled
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wineskin hung up in the smoke. He's looking inward and finding
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only despair. He's looking outward at his
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enemies and finding only threats.
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But right here at verse 89, there is a distinct pivot.
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He forces his gaze upward. He stops looking at the shifting
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sands of his own circumstances and fixes his eyes on the
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eternal architecture of God's decrees.
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In Reformed theology, we speak often of the sovereignty of God.
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People sometimes treat that doctrine like an abstract
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academic puzzle, but here it ceases to be abstract.
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It becomes the only reliable anchor for a human soul.
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Because when you realize that the same God who commands the
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galaxies to hold their positions has also spoken a word of
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promise to you, the sheer scale of that reality begins to
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neutralize the panic of your immediate circumstances.
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We cannot grasp the intimacy of God's comfort until we grasp the
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immensity of His rule. OK, let's unpack this by looking
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directly at that pivot point. Verse 89 reads Forever, O Lord,
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thy word is settled in heaven. Charles Spurgeon offers this
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brilliant visceral imagery for this specific moment in the
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text. He says you have to imagine a
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believer who has been tossing about on a sea of trouble.
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Oh, I love that imagery. You are heaving up and down on
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the waves, the wind is screaming, the boat is
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splintering, and you are totally at the mercy of the storm.
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Right. And reading this verse is like
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suddenly leaping from that disintegrating boat onto the
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shore and feeling your feet hit a solid rock.
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The ground is no longer moving. Spurgeon notes that human
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teachings and human philosophies are always changing.
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People are never happier than when they are unsettling
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everything and everybody, bringing in some new paradigm.
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Yeah, but Jehovah's Word is not fickle.
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It is not uncertain. It is determined, fixed, sure,
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and immovable. The glory of heaven has
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confirmed every single sentence that the mouth of the Lord has
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spoken. And it is settled in a place
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where nothing earthly can reach it to tamper with it.
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It is entirely out of the reach of decay, out of the reach of
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human legislation, and out of the reach of our own fluctuating
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emotions. What's fascinating here is how
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the Puritan minister Thomas Manton breaks down the grammar
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and the theology of that statement.
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Right. Manton observes that there are
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actually 2 distinct branches to this idea in the original text,
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which the historic Syria translation highlights
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beautifully. The first branch asserts the
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eternity of God himself, saying, Forever art thou, O Lord, And
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the second branch asserts the constancy of his word, stating,
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Thy word is settled in heaven. Manton argues that the two are
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entirely inseparable. Because God is eternal and
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unchanging in His name, His spoken word must necessarily
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share that same immutability. Yeah, and if we connect this to
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the Westminster Confession of Faith, we find a robust,
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detailed articulation of God's eternal decrees.
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God's purposes are determined before the foundation of the
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world. He does not react to
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circumstances as they unfold. He ordains them from eternity
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past. His promises are not contingent
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on the shifting variables of human history.
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When the psalmist says the Word is settled in heaven, Manton
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points out that heaven is the seat of God's majesty.
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It is the place where glorified Saints and obedient angels
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continuously execute His will without the slightest
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hesitation. By placing the settlement of the
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Word in heaven, God removes it from the sphere of earthly
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corruption. It is a heavenly certainty that
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dictates earthly realities, not the other way around.
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So if I'm hearing this right, the decree isn't something God
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made and a walked away from, it is tied directly to who he is.
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Absolutely, but there is a massive gap between that
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heavenly certainty and my earthly perception.
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That brings to mind an incredibly vivid analogy from a
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theologian from the 1600s named Anthony Tuckney.
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He addresses the very real experience of the believer who
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reads a promise of God but feels like that promise is completely
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unstable. Takni says that when we look at
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our own unsettled hearts, we dream that God's promise is
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wavering. He compares it to looking at the
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reflection of the sun or the moon on the surface of moving
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water. Imagine standing by a lake
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during a storm. You look at the reflection of
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the sun on the turbulent water and the light is shattered.
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It is jumping all over the place, breaking apart and
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looking chaotic. Our unbelief makes us think the
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sun itself is shaking. We project the turbulence of our
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own emotions onto the promise. But the sun up in the sky is not
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shaking at all. Right.
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It is burning with perfect undisturbed stability.
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Only the water is moving. The reality is that God's Word
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is settled not in our turbulent hearts, not in our anxious
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minds, but in heaven. The heavens themselves could
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pass away before 1 jot or title of the law fails.
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But you know, this raises A practical question.
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I understand the stars and the invisible heavens are fixed, but
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how does that cosmic reality actually touch the ground?
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It feels a bit disconnected from my actual physical life on
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Earth. So how do we see this stability
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physically manifested in the world around us?
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We find the answer to that in the very next breath of the
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Psalm. Verses 90 and 91 move the camera
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down from the heavens directly to the dirt.
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The text says Thou hast established the earth, and it
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abideth. They continue this day according
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to line ordinances, for all are thy servants.
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The Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers argue something
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remarkable about this physical reality.
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He states that the rigorous, inflexible laws of nature, what
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modern science observes as uniformity and weather patterns,
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astronomy and physics, are actual physical manifestations
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of God's faithfulness. The constancy of nature is
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taught by universal experience. We wake up expecting the sun to
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rise in the east. We step out of bed expecting
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gravity to hold us to the floor with the exact same force it did
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yesterday. Yeah, Chalmers points out that
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even the most seemingly chaotic elements of nature, the fitful
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agitations of the weather, the intensity of a hurricane, the
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number of raindrops in a localized shower, the formation
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of every single cloud, are following a strict method of
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succession. They are evolving through a
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mechanism that never changes. Every apparent irregularity in
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the universe is due only to the ignorance of man, not to the
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fickleness of nature. Therefore, when God sustains the
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uniformity of nature without fail, He is actively displaying
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his character. If God maintains the physical
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machinery of the universe with such absolute microscopic
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precision, it is a physical guarantee that He will certainly
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maintain His covenant of grace with His people.
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That physical machinery is so intricate.
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It is not just about big concepts like gravity.
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It gets down to the cellular level.
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James Neal brings in some stunning botanical examples to
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show how creation obeys its makers dictates.
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He points out that you cannot force nature to disobey the laws
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given by the Creator. Look at agriculture.
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Turf will not grow in the tropics, no matter how much you
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water it or want it to thrive there.
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Right. And rice requires watery swamps.
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It refuses to yield a crop anywhere else.
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Or take the sorrowful tree of India, the Nictantes
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Arbitristus. It is a plant that absolutely
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refuses to bloom by day. It only opens its blossoms in
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the dark to perfume the night air and then drops its flowers
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at dawn. If you take a growing twig on a
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tree and physically twist its branches to force the underside
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of its leaves toward the sky, over time the plant will quietly
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and irresistibly turn its leaves back around to assume their
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appointed position facing the sun.
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Every single atom of the natural world is acting in complete
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submission to an ancient decree. The seasons follow their
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predestined order, the CEO obeys the rule of the ebb and flow,
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and the planets March in their appointed orbits.
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They continue this day according to his ordinances.
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They are all his servants. And that universal, flawless
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obedience sets up a devastating contrast when we introduce
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humanity into the picture. Wolfgang Musculus, a prominent
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reformer, makes a brilliant observation here.
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When the text says All are thy servants and we see the stars,
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the oceans, and the plants, yielding implicit submission, we
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are forced to recognize the glaring exception to this rule.
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Man, who was uniquely made in the image of God, stands
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alongside the fallen angels as the only creatures that have
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rebelled against obedience. The rest of creation
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continuously acts in submission. The most tender plant will die
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rather than transgress the laws of its nature.
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But man, endowed with reason and an immortal soul, madly
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endeavors to frustrate the purpose for which he was framed.
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He ruins his health, defiles his spirit, and rebels against his
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Creator. So the physical universe stands
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as a continuous witness against human rebellion while
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simultaneously standing as a continuous witness to God's
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reliability. The creation has not aired after
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the pattern of our rebellion. The sea time and harvest have
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not ceased. OK, so the universe obeys
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perfectly and humans rebel. That is a bleak picture.
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If I am the listener and I realize I am the one rebelling
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and my world is currently falling apart because of the
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affliction we talked about at the beginning, well, what
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actually keeps me from just drowning in that despair?
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We see that transition in verse 92.
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Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have
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perished in mine affliction. The focus here has to be on that
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terrifying word. Unless it introduces A
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hypothetical scenario of total destruction.
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The psalmist is saying that without the word of God, his
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affliction would have absolutely crushed him out of existence.
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He would have drowned. The word acts as a literal life
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boy, preventing A drowning soul from sinking beneath the waves
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of calamity. We are not talking about a minor
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inconvenience here. No, we are talking about the
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kind of pain that dazes the brain where reason is well nigh
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extinguished and you are pushed to the absolute brink of self
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destruction. In those moments, human
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philosophy offers nothing but cold comfort.
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The summit does not say unless I had a positive mindset or unless
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I practice mindfulness. He says, Unless thy law had been
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my delights. It is a specific delight in the
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written revelation of God that stands between the sufferer and
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utter ruin. The historical context of the
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Reformation era provides clear, tangible examples of this very
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verse in action. Philip Melanthon share a
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remarkable account regarding the Landgrave of Fess.
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Philip of Hess was a prominent German Prince who was imprisoned
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by the Emperor Charles the 5th after the Schmuckaldic War.
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He was locked away for five agonizing years.
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He was stripped of his dignity, isolated and faced the constant
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threat of execution. The Landgrave survived that
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miserable confinement solely because of the consolation of
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the Divine Word in his heart. He testified later that it would
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have been absolutely impossible to bear up under the manifold
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miseries, the depression, and the sheer terror of his
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captivity. Otherwise, Bible was his only
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comfort. But the Puritan Daniel Wilcox
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raises A vital theological point regarding this Why does the word
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provide this specific delight to some and not to others?
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In Reformed thought, only a spiritually renewed heart can
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actually extract this specific delight from the Scriptures.
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The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.
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They are foolishness to him. Wait, I want to push back on
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that for a second. What does that mean practically?
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Are you saying a non believer gets absolutely nothing out of
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reading the Bible in a time of crisis?
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It seems like anyone could read the Psalms and find some nice
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poetry to calm them down. A person without the
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regenerating work of the Holy Spirit might read the Bible and
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find it historically interesting, or they might
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appreciate the poetic cadence or find moral instruction.
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But they will not find it to be their saving delights in the
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midst of crushing existential affliction.
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They might appreciate it as literature, but they will not
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rest their eternal weight upon it.
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The comforts of the Word are intensely spiritual, and only
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the spiritual heart, renewed by divine grace, has the palate to
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taste and relish those comforts when all earthly joys are
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violently stripped away. When the Landgrave of Hess read
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the promises of God, he was not reading them as nice poetry.
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He was reading them as the legally binding decrees of the
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sovereign who held the keys to his prison cell.
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That is a massive distinction. To bring that distinction down
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to a very relatable, granular level, there is a moving
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anecdote from Alexander Wallace about an impoverished Scottish
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widow. This took place in the 1800s
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during a time of severe economic distress in a large
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manufacturing town in the West of Scotland.
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The industrial depression hit hard.
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Nearly every hand loom in the town was stopped.
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Decent hard working tradesmen were surviving on public
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charity, getting just a tiny pittance of gruel per day to
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stave off starvation. This frail, elderly widow went
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into a grocer's shop with her daily allowance, just a few
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copper coins in her withered hands.
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She carefully bought a penny worth of this and a penny worth
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of that stretching or meager funds to secure the barest
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necessities for survival. When she was down to her very
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last penny, she faced a choice between a fraction more food or
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something else entirely. With a singular expression
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passion of heroic contentment on her wrinkled face, she said to
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the grocer, Now I must buy oil with this, that I may see to
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read my Bible during these long dark nights, for it is my only
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comfort now, when every other comfort has gone away.
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She chose the light to read the word over the calories to feed
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her body. That is the reality of verse 92.
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When every other comfort goes away, when poverty and isolation
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set in, the law of God becomes the supreme delight that keeps
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the soul from perishing in the dark.
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That anecdote illustrates the core application we need to draw
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out when severe trials arrive. Human philosophy completely
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fails to sustain the spirit. Turning to chemical escapes like
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drinking or engaging in endless distraction through
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entertainment only accelerates the ruin.
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The only adequate shield against the worst bitterness of calamity
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is the set of promises issued by a sovereign God.
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The widow in Scotland facing starvation and the Landgrave of
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Hess facing execution both survived because they leaned
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their full weight on the eternal settlement we discussed back in
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verse 89. Because the word is settled in
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heaven, it has the structural integrity to bear the weight of
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human suffering on earth. It is not offering nice advice
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for a better life. It is offering an immovable
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reality that supersedes the current affliction.
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But this raises a huge logical question.
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How does a book actually keep you alive?
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It is ink on paper. It is more than just a
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psychological crutch. According to the psalmist, it
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actually transmits spiritual life.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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This is where we get into the mechanics of how this survival
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actually happens. Verse 93 says, I will never
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forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me.
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The word quickened means to be made alive.
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I want to point out that memory here is directly tied to
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survival. We do not forget the things that
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save our lives. If you are trapped in a burning
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building and a firefighter kicks down the door, drags you through
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the smoke and pulls you out to the street, you will never
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forget their face. You will remember the color of
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their jacket and the sound of their voice.
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The psalmist says he will never forget the precepts because they
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were the actual instrument of his resuscitation.
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Charles Spurgeon gives a breathtaking example of how the
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word operates in this way. He points to Jesus standing
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outside the tomb of Lazarus, a man who had been dead for four
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days. Christ did not fear speaking to
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a dead man. He simply said Lazarus come
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forth. Now a dead man has no ears to
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hear, no brain to process language, and no muscles to
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move. The word of command itself
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carried the life giving energy necessary to make the dead man
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obey. The word did not ask Lazarus to
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find the strength to live. The word supplied the strength.
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That is how the precepts quicken the believer.
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They carry the divine energy required to accomplish what they
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command. To understand the theological
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framework of this, we looked at Thomas Manton's concept of
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double quickening. Manson explains that this life
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giving work happens in two distinct phases.
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First, there is the initial regeneration.
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This is when God brings His spiritually dead soul to life.
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It is the moment of conversion where the heart of stone is
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replaced with a heart of flesh. But there's a second quickening,
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which is the ongoing vitality and comfort given to the
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believer in the midst of distress.
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The believer is already alive, but severe affliction can make
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the soul feel cold, heavy, and seemingly dead.
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It is the difference between being born and needing a cup of
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cold water when you are collapsing from heat stroke in
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the desert. The word is applied to increase
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the life of grace, restoring vigor and joy to the exhausted
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St. We must align this clearly with
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the Westminster Confessions teaching on effectual calling.
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The Confession insists that God the Holy Spirit is the sole
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source of the spiritual life. We do not quicken ourselves.
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We are entirely passive in the initial act of regeneration,
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just as Lazarus was passive in the tomb.
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However, the Holy the Spirit delights to use the written Word
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as the instrument of this quickening.
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The psalmist is very precise in his language.
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He does not say Thy precepts have quickened me, but rather
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with them the Hu has quickened me.
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God is the active agent. The Word is the chosen
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instrument. That distinction is so vital.
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God traces the life from the channel directly back to the
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source, placing the glary where it is entirely due.
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But because God used the precepts as the channel, the
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psalmist values those instruments beyond measure.
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And that shifts the entire relationship between the
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believer and God. Because we have been brought to
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life by God through His Word, we now belong entirely to Him.
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That changes everything about how we face threats from the
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outside world. Look at verse 94.
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It is a passionate, desperate yet incredibly confident plea.
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I am thine, save me, for I have sought thy precepts.
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This is a bold, comprehensive prayer.
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It is fascinating to look at the reasoning the psalmist uses
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here. He does not say save me because
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I am a good person or save me because I'm innocent.
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He says save me because I belong to you.
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Why is I am Vine such a prevailing argument to bring
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before the throne of the Creator of the universe?
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, we find a brilliant
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analysis of this by the Puritan Joseph Simons, who breaks down
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the threefold strength of this specific argument.
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Why does I am Vine carry so much weight with God?
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First, Simons points to the law of nature.
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In the natural order, a parent inherently protects their child.
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A husband protects his wife. A shepherd protects his sheep.
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God has authored this law of nature, and He fulfills it more
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gloriously than any human could. As a father, His instinct to
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preserve his own property and his own children is absolute.
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Second, there is covenant theology.
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God has formally and legally bound himself to his people.
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When the believer says I am thine, they are pleading the
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terms of a legal contract of adoption.
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They're saying you promise to be my God and I am your possession,
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therefore defend your property. 3rd there is the reality of
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responsive love. If a believer can look up to
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heaven and truthfully say I am thine, it is only because God
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first looked down and said I am thine to the believer.
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Our dedication to God is just the echo of His electing love
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for us. If our hearts rise toward God,
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it proves that the heart of God is already set upon us, because
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love originates in the divine fountain.
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Defend your property. That puts the believer's safety
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in an entirely new light. If you belong to God, an attack
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on you is a direct attack on His property, and we see those
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attacks clearly in verse 95. The psalmist says the wicked
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have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy
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testimonies. Notice the intense psychological
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warfare happening here. You have a double waiting
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happening. On one side you have the wicked,
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who are incredibly diligent and patient in their malice.
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The commentators compare them to highwaymen lying in ambush along
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a dark wooded road, or an adder hiding in the dust, waiting
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quietly to bite the horse's heels.
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They are resting in wait, calculating the perfect moment
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to strike and bring total ruin. But on the other side, you have
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the patience of the Saint. While the wicked are waiting to
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destroy, the believer is waiting on the Lord, refusing to let the
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presence of enemies derail his focus.
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The believer is calmly considering the testimonies of
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God while the ambush is actively being laid around him.
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That calm consideration is a magnificent display of spiritual
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immunity. The believer is completely
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immune to distraction. Think about what a normal person
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does when they know someone is plotting their ruin.
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They obsess over the haters. They calculate counterattacks.
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They succumb to paranoia, losing sleep over the threats, but the
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believer intentionally direct their mental energy toward the
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testimonies of God. Richard Greenham, another
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insightful Puritan voice, notes that this specific focus on the
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word is the exact membonism that prevents the believer from
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falling away under the immense pressure of persecution.
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If the psalmist had stared at The Highwaymen hiding in the
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trees, he would have paralyzed himself with fear.
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If he had focused his eyes on the adder in the dust, he would
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have panicked and run the wrong way.
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By turning his consideration to the testimonies, he maintains
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his theological equilibrium. The wicked are the natural
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enemies of holy thoughts. If they cannot physically
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destroy the believer, their secondary goal is to drag the
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believers mind away from Holy Study and Holy aspirations,
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plunging them into anxiety. But if the believer is so
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unmoved that they do not even give the enemy a passing
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thought, the enemy has met with absolute failure.
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Seeing the wicked completely fail in their ambush leads the
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psalmist to evaluate human nature as a whole.
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Watching human malice hit a brick wall prompts him to look
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at the limits of human capability, which brings us to
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the final verse of our section, verse 96.
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I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment
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is exceeding broad. The psalmist has looked at the
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absolute best that humanity has to offer, and he realizes it all
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has a hard limit. It all evaporates.
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The commentator Matthew Henry uses some stunning historical
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examples from the biblical text to illustrate this evaporation
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of human excellence. He points to Goliath.
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Goliath represented the absolute perfection of human strength and
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military might. He was a giant clad and bronze
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armor, terrifying an entire army of seasoned soldiers.
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Yet that perfection was easily overcome by a shepherd boy with
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a sling and a smooth stone. He points to Assahel.
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Asshel had the perfection of human speed, described as being
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as fleet footed as a wild Roe. Yet during his pursuit of Abner,
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his singular physical gift became the literal cause of his
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death because he outran his own backup and was struck down.
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He points to Ahithophel, whose political counsel was so wise it
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was like asking the Oracle of God.
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Yet he was completely befooled, his plans were ruined and he
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hanged himself. He points to Absalom the
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perfection of physical beauty, flawless from head to foot,
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boasting heavy, beautiful hair. Yet he ended up a deformed
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corpse, caught by his own hair in an oak tree and pierced with
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darts. Every single human perfection
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reaches a dead end. Everything human evaporates
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under the searching glance of truth or the sheer weight of the
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trials of life. This raises an important
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question. Seeing all of those human
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perfections evaporate raises an agonizing question regarding the
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second-half of that verse. If human perfection is so
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finite, how broad is God's law? The text says But thy
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commandment is exceeding broad. The English essayist and
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minister John Foster provides A terrifying but brilliant insight
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into this breadth. We often limit our understanding
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of the law to a simple checklist of actions.
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Do not steal, do not murder, do not bear false witness, but.
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Foster argues that the law has a jurisdiction that stretches
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infinitely further. It covers our innermost
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thoughts. It covers our hidden motives.
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It regulates the internal affections of the soul.
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But most staggeringly, Foster points out that the law has
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jurisdiction over the vacant spaces of our lives, the things
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we omitted to do. It rules over our empty wastes.
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If you think of a barren desert in your personal timeline where
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you simply did nothing, you did not commit a crime, but you also
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did not love your neighbor, you did not pray.
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You did not act. The law claims authority over
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that nothingness. It judges the good that was left
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undone. The divine ideal of holiness
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leaves no area of human existence unscrutinized.
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Hold on, I have to stop you right there.
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That is incredibly depressing. You are telling me that I am
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judged on the empty space where I did nothing.
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How was that supposed to be the comfort we were talking about 10
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minutes ago? We started this deep dive
25:45
talking about finding stability when the world is shaking, and
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now you are telling me I am carrying the crushing weight of
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every single thing I failed to do.
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That sounds like a recipe for absolute despair.
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It is a crushing weight, and that is precisely why reformed
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theology violently rejects any notion of earthly perfectionism.
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Anyone walking around claiming they have achieved absolute
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perfection simply does not understand the spiritual breadth
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of God's law. They are measuring themselves by
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a tape measure that is only an inch long.
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They might say, well, I haven't robbed a bank today.
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But what about their motives? What about the vast empty
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deserts of their omissions? The sheer unscalable height of
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this law is designed to break you of yourself righteousness.
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The law's perfection is its glory, but it is the absolute
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death of all self-righteous boasting.
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We cannot cover the wide arena of this law.
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If God gave a law that we could easily fulfill in our natural
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fallen state, it would be a flawed, compromised law.
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Its infinite breadth is what drives us to our knees and
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drives us directly to the cross. The only person whoever walked
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the earth and fully Florida State embodied the succeeding
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breath, covering every motive, every thought, and leaving no
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vacant wastes of omission, was Jesus Christ.
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Because the law is so exceeding broad, it exposes the absolute
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necessity of Christ's perfect obedience being credited to our
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account. We look to the law and see the
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perfect character of God, and we look to Christ and see that law
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fulfilled on our behalf. So what does this all mean
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bringing all of this together? What does this all mean for you,
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the listener today? We started by asking how you
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find your footing when the ground beneath you is shaking
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and the walls are coming down. We have traced a path from the
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unshakable eternal decrees settled in the heavens, far
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above the chaos of human history.
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We saw how those cosmic decrees manifest in the relentless
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reliability of the natural world, from the orbit of the
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planets down to the blooming of a single flower in the dark.
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We then move down into the darkest nights of personal
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affliction, seeing how those settled promises become the only
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life buoy that prevents A drowning soul from perishing.
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We saw how the Word actually transmits spiritual life,
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carrying the energy of resurrection, giving us the
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right to cry out. I am thine save me.
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We saw how that reality makes us immune to the psychological
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warfare of our enemies. And finally, we looked at the
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vast, humbling standard of divine holiness that exposes the
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absolute limits of all human perfection.
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I. Want to leave you with a
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magnificent thought based on John Foster's writing regarding
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those vacant spaces we just discussed.
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Imagine the Day of Resurrection. Foster suggests that on that
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day, not only will physical bodies rise from the earth, but
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substantial forms will rise from the empty wastes of your life.
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The law will raise up the evidence of the things you
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omitted, the good you left undone, the hours you squandered
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in apathy. The breadth of the laws demand
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is staggering. It has full jurisdiction over
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the empty spaces. Yet because you can look at the
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Creator and say, I am thine, save me, even those vast empty
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spaces are completely covered by the exceeding breadth of the
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righteousness of Christ. I want you to ponder the sheer
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scale of the grace required to cover the empty wastes of a
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single human life. If the law is exceeding broad to
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expose our emissions, the grace of God in Christ is exceedingly
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broader to forgive them. Bringing us back to that solid
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rock that settled word in heaven, where our footing
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remains secure no matter how violently the earth may shake.