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!

Acts of God?

These past days have seen much reporting of natural disasters - what are still sometimes referred to as 'acts of God' (which is really a bit unfair, as He tends not to receive the congratulations when good things happen!).

The major events have been the severe flooding in the state of Queensland, Australia - and now, also, in Victoria State, and parts of New South Wales; and in both Brazil and Sri Lanka.  Because these tragic events, that have resulted in both death and devastation, have been caused by particular weather conditions associated with La Niña (the little girl!) - the extensive cooling of the central and eastern Pacific Ocea!  It is, however, easy to blame 'Mother Nature' ( if one does not accept the existence of any divine being, or even force), or Father God (if one does)!  Some have, apparently, even seen these disasters as some form of punishment by God, much as the AIDS epidemic was once heralded as a punishment on homosexual activity.

Yet a reasoned look at these situations can come up with a somewhat different story!  Those homes that have been so badly effected in Australia are, reportedly, built in areas known as 'flood plains' - in other words, areas that are prone to flooding.  In Brazil, much of the damage, and the higher number of deaths, are apparently due to the fact that unstable homes had been built on hillsides that are prone to mudslides - mudslides, I suspect, that are due, in no small measure, to deforestation with the resultant lack of tree roots to bind the soil and keep it in place.  In Sri Lanka, there is the added complication of landmines that may have been unearthed by the flood waters as they recede - landmines left over from the civil war that ravaged that island nation until so recently.

In other words, much of the devastation is not a 'punishment from God', but the consequences of mankind's own actions.  It was the same with the AIDS epidemic - it wasn't a punishment, it was (and is) a consequence of unnatural behaviour.  Most people appear not to have worked out that that may be why certain behaviour is prohibited, and condemned, in the Bible!

Of course, the weather conditions do have a part to play.  Yet even that is, ultimately, the responsibility of a fallen mankind.  God's written Word makes clear that, when God had completed His creation, He "...  looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good!" (Gen 1:31; NLT).  Sadly mankind, in the persons of the first couple permitted, by their disobediance, the entrance of evil into the world.  And, because of that, we read, God said that "... the ground is cursed because of you.  All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.  It will grow thorns and thistles for you, ..." (Gen 3:17-18; NLT).  Paul expands this, when writing to the Roman disciples of Jesus: "For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." (Rom 8:22; NLT).  We live in a fallen world and, contrary to the theories put forward by the secular humanistic evolutionists, it is not getting better - it is, quite demonstrably, getting worse!

It's not a pleasant prospect!  But, praise God, it isn't the whole story either.  For that same Word assures us that, just as individual lives are renewed when we confess our sinfulness, and look to the Lord Jesus for full and free salvation; even so, there will be a new earth (and a new heaven - but that's too big a subject for a blog post!) in which, as it was in the beginning, "God's home [will be] among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." (Rev 21:3-4; NLT).

It's a wonderful prospect for those who are His.  Be sure that you are among that number!