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There can be no altering or hurrying the fulfillment of God's purposes; our attitude is
to rest assured that any appearance of delay is only because of our own ignorance and
limitation. The attitude of heart that God looks for in the perplexed believer is that:
"(5) The just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2: 4),
which is an exceedingly practical as well as a basic truth. Ecclesiastes speaks twice more
about the purpose of God and its relation to time:
"I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time
there for every purpose and for every work" (Eccles. 3: 17).
"Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is
great upon him" (Eccles. 8: 6).
The context of these passages needs examining, but for the moment we are listing the
different references to the Purpose of God in order that all that is said may be before us as
we go into details. Another thing to remember is that the purposes of God are the results
of "counsel". They are not the arbitrary dictates of a despot.
"Without counsel purposes are disappointed" (Prov. 15: 22).
"Every purpose is established by counsel" (Prov. 20: 18).
Here the essential feature is "counsel".
A specific purpose occupies Jeremiah's prophecy, that which deals with the overthrow
of Babylon.
"Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, that He hath taken against Babylon, and
his purposes, that He hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans . . . . . At the noise
of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved" (Jer. 50: 45, 46).
"Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon" (Jer. 51: 29).
Here judgment of evil and the certainty of its performance are stressed. This is true
also of the Assyrian oppressor:
"The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass, and as I have purposed so shall it stand."
"This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth . . . . . who shall disannul
it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back" (Isa. 14: 24-27).
Quite apart from what is purposed, we see from these verses that there can be no
disannulling of the purposes of God, whether for judgment or for blessing, as Jeremiah
and Isaiah declare.
"Every purpose . . . . . shall be performed" (Jer. 51: 29).
"Declaring the end from the beginning . . . . . saying My counsel shall stand, and I will
do all My pleasure" (Isa. 46: 10).