“. . . men sure of God, sure of his will, sure of the absolute duty to act in his sight and for his approval. Nothing else mattered by comparison. Consequences were of no account. Obedience alone held the secret of freedom, courage, peace, power, happiness and salvation.”
The Puritans, as described by F. J. Powicke, quoted in Iain H. Murray, David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years (Edinburgh, 1982), page 97.
We should not idealize the Puritans. But the value of this statement lies in its clear description of Christian men to whom God is real and supreme, men not confident in themselves but certain about God.
In our time we have rejected certainty and replaced it with confidence. Certainty gazes outward to Another, while confidence looks within to oneself.
Men sure of God are truly humble. And they cannot be ignored. They stand out. They alone have something to say. Who is willing to bear the reproach of walking through this world humbly as a man sure of God?
This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition