The Loss of Our Heroes & the Sovereignty of a Good God
If we fail to affirm the sovereignty of God—his divine will to do whatever He pleases—you will be absolutely lost in the complexities and cycles of life.
The loss of another hero is becoming a difficult thing to bear. Some of my friends have spoken eloquently about Voddie Baucham from a personal relationship. My favorite comes from Lennox Kalifungwa, who concluded poetically his eulogy of Dr. Baucham:
A giant has fallen asleep; his life and death have rippled across the world. The world is better for Voddie having passed through it. And while the saints on earth await the day when they will see him again, may many lives be a testimony to the ideal by which Voddie sought to live: excellence for truth.
Indeed, Voddie was a giant, an embodiment of intellect and strength. His presence was something to behold, leaving a profound impression wherever he went. He was quiet at first. He spoke almost cautiously, but then in a second, he could convey his idea with the fervor of a Billy Sunday, but the precision of a skilled apologist.
Voddie was the kind of man who sought the favor of God, and that favor took him to Zambia for a season to start a classical college. He could have easily remained in the U.S. and used his notoriety to build a megachurch, but he took his wife and children to Southern Africa. In fact, on the only occasion when he and I spent some time together, he was here in North Florida doing some fundraising for young ladies from the college. We spoke for a few minutes about New Saint Andrews College and its impact on his own ministry in Zambia. Voddie was already committed to returning to the U.S., but it was quite clear that his heart was also deeply rooted in the friendships and legacy he had established in Zambia. He spent nearly a decade as the Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka.
His vision for nurturing families through a distinctly Christian education, combined with his famous and fiery sermons against public education, has left a lasting imprint among many evangelicals.
It’s hard to fathom that within just 30 days, we lost John MacArthur, Charlie Kirk, and now Voddie. This world was unworthy of their presence, and so God prepared for them an everlasting city.
The Sovereignty of a Good God
So, what then do we do when our heroes die?
When I was a child, there was a thermos at every morning breakfast table. I poured that coffee into my mug. My mom had already made the coffee before any of us rose. And it was delicious. So, as a child, I always assumed that coffee was sweet and creamy. Then I grew up and left childish things behind, and I discovered that the original coffee is made when the beans are ground and boiling water is poured over them, resulting in a black liquid flowing down into the chamber. Coffee is naturally black and strong, with no added sugar or cream. Yet many walk through life imagining God to be someone who tastes better only when we add our own flavors.
But when heroes die, we should not rely on a pre-flavored God. Let me phrase it this way: The Bible is black-coffee Calvinism. Unless you encounter an unadulterated, sovereign God, you are going to make Him into something entirely different. You will try to fix what God has done. How do you make sense of the senseless? How do you grasp the death of a 56-year-old titan who has served the church so faithfully these last three decades of ministry and done enormous good? You can’t, unless you embrace the God of Scripture.
The Scriptures teach us that life is outside our control (Eccl. 1:1). Life is outside our control, but God is not out of control. He is very much in charge. The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks clearly:
He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleases.
Try that for your morning coffee! This is the God we worship—a God whose will stands, whether or not man consents. True wisdom recognizes that there is nothing I can do to change what God is going to do. We put our hope in God, who makes all things new. What God has decreed, no man can alter! As Job says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return.” Speaking of Job, remember how his friends reacted to this righteous servant? They argued that Job was not righteous because if he were, God would have given him a better life. King Solomon states in Ecclesiastes that days of prosperity and days of adversity all come from God’s hands. This includes individuals like Charlie Kirk and Voddie Baucham. We grieve through days of adversity in our evangelical land. But we do not grieve under the tutelage of a capricious and cynical God. We grieve under the care of the God of all comfort!
If we fail to affirm the sovereignty of God—his divine will to do whatever He pleases, and to bring about the greatest pleasure and good—we will be absolutely lost in the complexities and cycles of life. The death of the righteous will seem like cosmic bad luck, rather than God’s causative benevolence.
Sometimes the righteous die young. Our minds ponder the many whys of such a hard providence. But those who remain behind will remember their labors. And we know they are not in vain. It’s the sovereign God who gives and takes away. It’s the sovereign God who consoles when we weep, and it’s the sovereign God who will bring forth much fruit.
Rest in Peace, Voddie! We shall meet again!
