God Moves In A Mysterious Way

The Apostle Paul instructed the believers at Colosse to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. That is what I hope to do by explaining the meaning of this hymn, against the backdrop of the Framework of Sovereign Grace.

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[An automated transcript of the teaching video]

The Apostle Paul instructed the churches at Colosse to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. That’s what I hope to do by explaining the meaning of this hymn—God Moves In A Mysterious Way. I’d like to explain the hymn against the backdrop of the Framework of Sovereign Grace, which is God’s master plan for the ages.

You’ll notice the hymn was written by William Cowper. He was an 18th century Anglican poet and hymn writer. In fact, his original poems on everyday life made him a forerunner of the romantic age of English literature. But he’s best known among Christians for some of the most beloved hymns that we sing. This is one of them. 

I’d like to read for you the stanzas of the hymn.

1 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. 

2 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. 

3 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 hymn is all about the Christian life and therefore comes under the third branch of the gospel—the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Now, we’re specifically talking (in this hymn) about the subject of God’s guidance. And you realize, there are several ways God guides His people. For instance, He will guide his people primarily through the teachings of His Word, but He also guides them through the events of providence. Now, to be clear on what providence means. We speak of predestination, which refers to God’s decree or blueprint. God has a decree—He has predestinated all things that He will accomplish in time. And, when God brings to pass all of the things that He has purposed from eternity, that is called providence. God’s providential ways through life are all based on His predestinating decree from eternity. And you see, as God unfolds His purpose moment by moment, as events transpire (unfold), the unfolding of those events is a revelation of the will of God; of what He has chosen to do. So, He guides us by His Word. He also guides us by the unfolding events of providence. We sometimes refer to that in practical terms as opened and closed doors—God’s guidance in providence are opened and closed doors. God will also guide us by His inner witness. The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit, and He will impress upon us affections and thoughts and purposes. He puts desires into our hearts. And all of that is also part of the way in which God guides his people.

However, there are times when the Lord conceals His guidance. He does not supply for us clear instructions from His Word. He doesn’t show us clearly what He’s doing in providence. And we cannot discern clearly any particular impressions He’s making upon the heart. We are, as it were, living through a time of darkness. And, what is happening in life seems to be all backward. The Lord seems to be working against us. It seems we’re going in the wrong direction. It seems the Lord is cursing us, rather than blessing us. And it fills us with confusion, uncertainty. We’re perplexed.

Have you ever experienced something like that, my dear friend? Sometimes we’re made to walk in darkness, not seeing the path ahead. Do you know why? Because it then drives us to the Lord Himself. And, rather than seeking direction or guidance, we find ourselves centered in devotion. We enjoy basking under the beauty of the Godhead Himself. We bypass having to find direction and we just enjoy communing with our blessed Lord and Savior. And that is the the point of the hymn we’re now going to consider.

Let’s begin with the first stanza. And much of this speaks for itself.

Stanza 1

“God moves in a mysterious way,”

It’s like a crooked path.

“His wonders to perform;”

His wonders are His decree—His wonders, His decree, His blueprint—to perform throughout the course of history.

“He plants His footsteps in the sea, “

Meaning, that whatever God is doing, if it’s a wind that blows across the ocean, across the seas, His footstep, His footprint, this is the workings of God from His decree through His providence.

“And rides upon the storm.”

That is, He’s the one that’s brought it to pass. He’s controlling it. He’s ruling it, like a man on a horse. He’s riding the storm.

“Deep in unfathomable mines,”

Unfathomable mines is a reference to God’s eternal decree.

“Of never-failing skill,”

Meaning, His decree is based on infinite wisdom. 

“He treasures up His bright designs,”

The design of what God is doing can’t clearly be seen down here (pointing to the Framework of Sovereign Grace). It looks like a mess down here. His design is treasured above. It’s treasured here in His decree. 

“And works His sovereign will.”

 He providentially brings to pass His sovereign will.

Stanza 2

“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;”

So here you are, my dear friend, a fearful saint. Fresh courage take,—

“The clouds ye so much dread,

Are big with mercy, and shall break, 

In blessings on your head.”

The clouds above you. You so much dread all of the rain, the dark clouds, the thunder, the lightning, the storm. That which you dread are big with God’s mercy and they shall break open, and it’s not going to be the dreaded storm you think. It’ll be the blessings of God’s mercy that will pour on your head. Therefore,—

“Judge not the Lord by feeble (weak) sense, 

But trust Him for His grace;”

Remember the covenant of grace—the electing love of the Father, the redeeming grace of the Son, the sanctifying power of the Spirit. Trust Him for his grace,—

“Behind a frowning providence,

He hides a smiling face.”

Because down here it looks like God is frowning upon us—it’s a curse—but behind it is a smiling face. A friend, a Father, who loves us!

Stanza 3

“His purposes will ripen fast,”

The Triune Jehovah’s purposes—His decree, His blueprint, will ripen fast. Ripen, meaning God is bringing it to pass. It’ll soon happen. It hasn’t happened yet in your life, but it’s coming. It’s ripening, it’s—

“Unfolding every hour;”

The bud may have a bitter taste, 

“But sweet will be the flower.”

So, as the flower is growing and it’s not yet fully blossomed, it’s just a bud—the bud has a bitter taste. It’s not yet ripe, but sweet will be the flower. When the bud blossoms, it’ll have a sweet fragrance, a sweet taste. And so it is with God’s providence. Wait upon the Lord for Him to bring to pass His purposes.

“Blind unbelief is sure to err,”

How often has that been your fault and my fault? With blind unbelief, we err in our judgments on God and what He’s doing in our lives.

“And scan His work in vain;”

 So, if we’re here in God’s providential ways (pointing to the Framework of Sovereign Grace), we don’t see what’s ahead of us. We look, we scan, we try to see what’s in front, but it’s all in vain. We don’t know what the future holds.

“God is His own interpreter,”

God will interpret His will in time to come. When the fullness of time comes, God will make known His will. The interpretation of what He’s decided to accomplish,—

“And He will make it plain.”

And that is why so often, my dear friend, we are instructed in Scripture to wait patiently on the Lord. There is one Bible character that comes to mind with reference to this hymn, and it is Joseph, a teenager. He was around seventeen years old when he was thrown into a pit by his brothers. You’ll remember the story. Joseph had a couple of dreams. His first dream—he was in the field with his brothers; they were binding sheaves and the sheaves rose up and the eleven sheaves bowed in submission to Joseph’s sheaf. The other dream—Joseph saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars, which bowed in submission to him. And this greatly agitated Joseph’s family. Even his father rebuked him and said, How can this be? You should not be thinking or nurturing these things—that I and your mother and your older brothers are going to one day submit themselves to you. Well, this was deep in Joseph’s heart, a sign from God that certainly this would occur. And yet, the next thing Joseph discovers at seventeen years old, he’s thrown into a pit and his brothers are talking about killing him. They finally decide to sell him into slavery. He’s brought into Egypt, he’s purchased by Potiphar. For a few years he’s working in that house. He’s then lied about, he’s thrown in prison. Do you know, for thirteen years, from the age of seventeen to thirty, Joseph was on this winding path, which made no sense at all. He did not know what God was doing in his life. It all seemed backward, upside down. How is being in a pit and in slavery and in prison going to bring his family to one day bow in submission to him? And yet, at age thirty, God providentially delivered Joseph from prison. Pharaoh promoted Joseph to become a leader in Egypt. Seven years after that—we’re talking about twenty years since he’s seen his family—there’s a famine in the land and Joseph’s father and his brothers have to come into Egypt to get food. And there they bow themselves in submission to Joseph. How long did it take for Joseph to realize the desire and vision God had placed within his heart through those dreams? It took twenty years before God was pleased to interpret and make plain His will in Joseph’s life. My dear friend, do not be discouraged if God has placed a desire in your heart, and you know it’s God-given. Just because He hasn’t been pleased to bestow that desire upon you today, doesn’t mean He won’t do it tomorrow, or next month, or next year. Wait patiently on the Lord and in the fullness of time, just as the Father sent forth His Son, made of a woman, so He will send forth the provision of that desire, and you’ll see God’s purpose realized in your life.

I like to invite you now to sing with me the words of the hymn. I do hope it’s been an encouragement to review some of the ways that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us, other times to conceal His will from us. But whether it’s revealing or concealing, I trust that we are being drawn nearer to the Lord, and our walk with Him is deepening our love, our affections, for the Triune Jehovah.

Let’s sing the words of this hymn.

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