“Divine Purpose” (Luke 7:11)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/14/2026 11:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  “Divine Purpose”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 7:11

            Message of the verse:  “Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd.”

            As we look at the phrase “soon afterwards” it points back to the healing of the centurion’s servant which was recorded in the previous passage (7:1-10).  It is an indefinite time designation, but suggests an interval of a few days at most.  Nain was a tiny village which was about twenty miles southwest of Capernaum, and six miles southeast of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.  Now on the other side of the hill on which Nain stood was the village of Shunem, where Elisha raised a young boy from the dead as seen in 2 Kings 4:8-37.  About three miles away was the village of Endor, where Saul visited a medium seen in 1 Samuel 28:7-25.  Jesus, along with His disciples and accompanied by a large crowd, made the full day’s journey from Capernaum to this small, nondescript town.

            John MacArthur writes “God always acts with a fixed purpose, never whimsically and there are no unexpected contingencies or coincidences for Him. The sovereign plan of God is settled, unchanging, and infallibly brought to fulfillment.  In Isaiah 46:9-10 God declared, ‘I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’’ In Isaiah 55:11 He added, ‘My word…which goes forth from My mouth…will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.’

            “As God incarnate, Jesus also acted with unalterable resolve to accomplish divine purposes.  On His way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus ‘had to pass through Samaria’ (John 4:4).  He had a divinely predetermined appointment with a Samaritan woman, whose sinful lifestyle He would expose, to whom He would reveal His messiahship, and through whose testimony of faith in Him would lead many in her village to believe in Him (vv. 5-42).  He knew the divine timetable for His death, resurrection, and ascension so ‘when the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:51).  In Luke 13:33 He reaffirmed His determination to follow the divine timetable when He said, ‘Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside Jerusalem.’  Jesus knew precisely where and when His death was ordained in the plan of God to take place.

            “One of the blasphemous ideas exposed by some who falsely call themselves evangelicals is Open Theism.  According to that view, God neither infallibly knows nor sovereignly plans the future.  Jesus, however, not only knew the future, but acted to make certain that God’s purposes unfolded exactly as planned.

            “Circumstances that perhaps had not yet happened when Jesus and His entourage began the day’s journey from Capernaum to Nain would be in place to set up an amazing display of Jesus’ divine power.  When they set out neither the apostles, the rest of Jesus’ disciples, nor t he t hrill seeking crowd knew why they were going to Nain, or what  they would see when they got there.  In fact, the young man may not yet have died, since Jewish custom dictated that the funeral and burial take place soon after death.  But Jesus did know, and made this journey to an ‘off the beaten path’ village because it was God’s plan that He encounter a funeral procession there.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  As I looked at this section that I have just wrote, I can’t help but think of the timing of my wife’s death, and knowing that it was in the perfect timing of God.  If I don’t think of it that way then it would mean that He is not in control.  God is in control of all life, the beginning from the end.  This causes me to be thankful that He is in control of all things.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Because of the truth I just wrote above, I have to believe that God will cause me to go through this mourning process in a way that will bring glory to His name, and calmness to my soul.

8/14/2026 11:31 AM