What I am speaking of is a maturity in understanding God and his ways, and submitting to them, that is of powerful practical importance in our Christian lives. Because predestination draws our minds to God s complete sovereignty in our salvation, it comforts us, and stimulates praise and thanksgiving. This is one of the great practical uses to which the doctrines of predestination and election are put in Scripture. In the face of all the trials, dangers and uncertainties of our lives, the opposition, the stuttering of our own confession of Christ, and the weakness of our faith, it is of enormous encouragement that God is stronger than all these things. If we want our own lives, and the life of our church, to be more confident in the face of weakness, and louder in rejoicing, praise and thanksgiving to God, then we should teach predestination.
Predestination is the basis for dealing with suffering.
Those who have understood the full extent of God s sovereign grace to us can rejoice in the face of suffering. We will not rail against him, or accuse him, or think that he has deserted us. We need to be armed and ready for the time when our trust in God will be tested. Or to put it another way, we need to learn to swim before the deep waters rise over our heads. It is interesting to note, in relation to this, the problems that the charismatic movement has with suffering.