Dr. Packer Has Come To the End of Active Ministry
I would be remiss if I did not note here the news that my beloved father in the faith, J.I. Packer, has come to the end of active ministry.
Dr. Packer has lost vision in both eyes, thus, he can no longer read or continue writing.
I’ll have much more to say about this in the days ahead…for now, I’m taking the news harder than he is.
From the linked interview: “God knows what he’s doing,” Packer recently told me in a phone interview.
Rather than being paralyzed by fear or self-pity, Packer is confident that “this comes as a clear indication from headquarters. And I take it from him.”
Whether his response stems more from the British stiff upper lip or decades’ worth of sanctification, Packer is living out a truth he has long believed and proclaimed: God is sovereign and good in all things.
“God knows what he’s up to,” says the author of Knowing God and Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. “And I’ve had enough experiences of his goodness in all sorts of ways not to have any doubt about the present circumstances.” He adds, “Some good, something for his glory, is going to come out of it.”
This is the essence of what I learned from him and it’s these truths that grant me rest and a desire to rise in the morning in any circumstance.
We may be losing him in life, but the gifts he gave us will last forever.
my hope is that en enjoys family & friends as they care for him and tell him what they see to let his imagination do the rest
Amen, G.
Not to worry if God still calls him to active ministry by writing, the voice to written word software these days is unbelievable. Just look at cell phone voice to text apps. His lack of sight will not be holding him back.
SJ,
Packer is a bit of a technophobe.
He writes his books out in long hand on paper, then types them out on a… typewriter.
He’s decided this is it and we can all honor that.
he has decided? God’s man? i’d rather lose my sight than my mind and this man’s mind is packed with Divine Viewpoint, so who knows if or how he’ll still be used, eh?
just sayin
The greatest book I ever read about God was Packer’s “Knowing God.” Very scholarly yet written in terms layman like me could understand. I still love that book. I wish him the very best as he transitions to his new station in life.
“God knows what He is up to.” A summary of a lifetime of studying the Sovereignty of God.
Amen. May the man be blessed and able to enjoy doing ‘less’ work and continue to commune with his Lord, as seeing the invisible. God bless him.
89 years old…..He’s allowed to sit back and rest in the Lord.
Let us thank God for this good man and his great journey. Let us seek to know the one he knows and be known of our God. Oh God bless this man and let your favor increase even now.
Em…that was my very first thought. Dr. Fee has Alzheimer’s and that has been terribly hard to watch. I know that the blindness will be an enormous challenge, as his life is so marked by writing. It will be such a tremendous change to just the habits of the day….but others are correct that his mind is so full of great truths.
He is such a kind man. Praying for great grace, and yes for a wonderful time of being cared for by family and friends.
It was be disingenuous for me to claim him as my father in the faith, simply because I’ve only read one of his books, but Knowing God absolutely blew me away, absolutely.
Also, he was a stark reminder of the type of man God can and has used throughout church history without the need of the Moses Model.