He is always "in control"!

It was only when I logged on to my Blogspot dashboard to start this post, that I noticed that the number of people who had accessed the previous one was a great big Zero! Now, I have had some posts that have been viewed by few people - but had never experienced a zero before. That was when I noticed that I had failed to publish the post!!!!! I had published it on other sites, but not on what should be its premier site! Duh!!!!! [Comments that refer, in any shape, manner, or form, to my advancing years will, obviously, be deleted!!].

Anyway, I am still being exercised by the thought of the absolute control of Almighty God. The recent flooding in parts of Israel, together with the "sabre-rattling" of certain national governments, reminded me of the story of some people who spotted a nine-year-old boy in a swollen river. He was struggling as hard as he could to stay afloat in the raging torrent, but did not have the strength to swim to the river's edge, even although it was only a few yards away. Rescuers quickly jumped in, and pulled him to safety. 

The boy, exhausted and bedraggled, lay panting on the riverbank. After he had recovered sufficiently, someone asked him, "Did you fall in?" "No," came the reply, "I just wanted to find out how strong the current was. I guess that I now know!"

Perhaps the first lesson that we all need to learn from that story is that we must be careful where we go! The adage is true - "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" (it's not from the Bible, by the way!).  To deliberately place ourselves in temptation's path is to mock the providence of Father God!

However, the story illustrates something else. In Psalm 9, David sings about the strength of the omnipotent God, the creator, Ruler, and Judge of all of the universe. He describes what happens to those who decide to challenge His strength, or to exalt themselves above Him. They eventually find out how powerful He really is. They lose their thrones. Their kingdoms, or empires, crumble. Their armies collapse. Yet YHWH endures forever! 

"Thou hast rebuked the nations, Thou hast destroyed the wicked;" (v.5). 

However, David also provides another side to this all-powerful God. He portrays Him as the One Who protects, and cares for, those who take refuge in Him. "But the Lord sits enthroned for ever, He has established His throne for judgment; and He judges the world with righteousness, He judges the peoples with equity. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." (vs.7-9). 

The same God Whose power destroys evil, preserves what is good - and no-one can break through His protection, without His permission (remember Job!!). What a consoling, and strengthening, comfort it is to know that God's power can thwart the wicked, and protect the righteous! That is a God worth trusting. As we look around us, and see the increasingly rapid approach of the end of time, we may ponder the words of the un-named psalmist who penned Psalm 2:

« Why do the nations conspire,

and the peoples plot in vain? 

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and His anointed, saying, 

"Let us burst their bonds asunder,

and cast their cords from us." 

He Who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord has them in derision. 

Then He will speak to them in His wrath,

and terrify them in His fury, saying, 

"I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill." » (Ps. 2:1-6)

In a world of many superlatives, our God is still the greatest. Glory to His name!