God is in Control

I would like to share with you the story of a man who drowned in a lake. When he was discovered the news spread out across the area like a wildfire. Eyewitnesses there at the lake told of the anxiety, tears and of the helpless disbelief on the faces of all of those present at the scene. When the man's wife, Sue appeared on the scene one of her close friends rushed up to her and said, “Oh Sue, he’s gone, Ted’s gone.”

Sue replied with calm assurance, quoting the words of Psalm 115:3 "But our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him." All of the anguish, the sudden loneliness that normally consumes and cripples those who survive did not invade Sue’s heart. Instead she leaned hard upon the Almighty God. As you think about the words of this psalm, does it seem strange to you? Does it seem unusual to refer to a tragic death as being God’s pleasure?

Psalms 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." This is a verse that many have a problem understanding. Matt 10:29 says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them shall fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."

Now honestly answer this question-- do you think God’s control over us is total, or just partial? Let’s look at his word and allow it to speak for itself on this subject.

Psalm 139:5 You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

Psalm 139:15-16 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Isaiah 45:9 Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker--- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of the earth! Will the clay say to the potter, "What are you doing"?

Isaiah 46: 9-10 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Daniel 4:35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

There are many more scriptures patiently repeated, in a dozen different ways so that the word of God makes its point. Whether you accept it or not, God calls the shots, God is in control of your life. God is either in full control or else he is not on the throne. It would be just as foolish to say that God is almost in control as it would be to say that Obama is almost President or that Suzana Martinez is almost Governor or that the surgeon’s gloves are almost sterile.

If you are trying hard to grasp all the deep things of this great truth, stop, you can’t.
Worrying your mind trying to understand all the things that make God who he is and why he does some of the things he does can drive you into a frenzy. It will push you over the edge of your mental capacity. Trust God and understand that the finite mind can never understand the depths of the infinite mind--- so don’t waste your time trying.

I used to worry about not knowing what to say to someone when asked a question about something that I did not know or understand. But I can tell you it was a wonderful day in my life when I realized that God did not expect me to know all things. I’m not afraid to acknowledge that I don’t understand the reasons things happen, but I accept the fact that God’s hand is in everything that happens.

If I could figure it all out and understand everything I would qualify as God’s adviser, but the scriptures make it very clear that God doesn’t need my puny advice.

All God wants from me and you is our unreserved love, total devotion, faith and trust; and not our unenlightened understanding of his ways.

Remember, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways are higher than our ways. God knows what he is doing. One of the marks of spiritual maturity is in having the confidence that God knows everything about us and is in complete control of our lives. There will be times when we may not understand what’s happening however, remember our lives are planned by God. We cannot run or hide from God, he knows where we are and what we are doing. Psalm 139:1-3 says,”You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

Remember the story from the book of Luke about the Prodigal Son. He tried to run from God and look where he ended up. But God’s love for him brought him to his senses and he realized that nothing could separate him from the love of his Father. Reading from the book of Romans 8:35, 37-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Regardless of whatever happens in your life---whether you understand it or not--- just trust God and have total confidence that he is in control and that nothing can separate us from his love.

Forgiveness, Love and Peace

The bible tells us that if we forgive men their trespasses, our heavenly Father will forgive us our trespasses. But if we do not forgive others their trespasses , neither will our Father who is in heaven forgive us our trespasses.

God is telling us to be merciful to others as he is merciful to us.

Be kind to others, give to the less fortunate, help your neighbor in need. God will bless you for it. The more you show love and reach out to others the greater blessings you will see in your life. God loves a loyal servant carrying out his commandments. God says be ye doers of the word, not hearers only.

God tells us to not judge others and we will not be judged; do not condemn others and God will not condemn you; forgive and God will forgive you.

The word of God tells us in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and have come short of the Glory of God“. By confessing our sins to God we have been forgiven and by our faith in Jesus Christ, have received salvation.

In Romans 6:23 the word of God tells us, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord“. Confess your sins to God and he will forgive you of your sinful ways and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If God forgives us; should not we be willing to forgive others?

If we do not have forgiveness and compassion in our hearts as God does, if we allow hatred and strife into our lives it can destroy us. God calls hatred and strife sin. But if we love one another, the word of God tells us that this love will cover our sins. The bible says, God is love - and if we have love in our hearts we dwell in God and God dwells in us.

Above all else we need to love one another because love comes from God. If we have the love of God in our hearts, and show that love to others we can know that we are new creatures in Christ Jesus, having our hearts and minds renewed by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. We are not capable of truly showing God’s love to others if we do not have Christ dwelling in our life.

If God loved us so much that he left his home in Glory to come to this earth as a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, for the sole purpose of dying on the cross for our sins, surely we can love one another. If we live our lives in the manner that God desires us to, we can truly know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge and we will be filled with all the fullness of God.

If we want true peace in our lives we must have forgiveness and love in our hearts, true peace is not possible without it.

I am sure there have been things that have happened in all our lives that may have hurt us. If we dwell on these things without forgiveness we will never have peace in our lives.

If you want total peace in your life, surrender yourself totally to Jesus Christ. Jesus, the one who took your sins upon his body, suffered and died on the cross at Calvary, who was buried and then rose from the dead, proving that we can all have victory in Christ Jesus. Listen and believe what Jesus is telling you.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

PHIL 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

My prayer for you today is that you find perfect peace in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The following is an e-mail that Ginger wrote to a friend of hers from church. This friend suggested we post it as a postscript to my message;
I didn't think to tell you that my brother Darrell passed away Sunday evening about 8 PM. I had spoken with his wife, Wanda earlier in the day and she told me the nurse had told her she didn't expect him to last through the night. It's a sad situation as he and Wanda, are raising two of the grandchildren. It's fortunate that one of the childrn is a teenager and the other is around 12 years old. Darrell and I had issues all our lives and were estranged most of our adult lives. We had been communicating for the last couple of years. He had 4 children by his first wife who became schizophrenic and that issue along with his temper didn't help the children. His oldest son committed suicide several years ago. He was estranged from his two daughters. Hence John's message. John said when he began to think about all the families that have these issues he felt led to do this message about forgiveness, love and peace.

I don't plan to go for the memorial and his wife understands. She and I communicated all during the time he was in hospice. During that time period when I had called she asked him if he wanted to talk to me. By that time he wasn't talking but knew everything. When he would call me he would do all the talking and I couldn't get a word in. Occasionally I would call him and tell him up front that I was paying for the call so I get to talk. This was hard to speak to someone who can't answer back, especially Darrell. When Wanda tried to take the phone back from his hand she told me he wouldn't release it to her. So I finally began telling him some of the memories that John and I had talked about that morning of when Darrell and I were kids. Then I talked to him about the song, The Old Gospel Ship, that John's Mom loved and we sang at her funeral, I then sang it to him as well as another old gospel song we grew up with. Since I don't sing well and was ad-libbing somewhat that was interesting. Wanda told me that during that period the tears began to come into his eyes. When I had finished that I told him I had to go and she said he surrendered the phone. He would have been 77 years old in March. I am sorry he is gone but glad that their ordeal has ended. I feel he has gone on to his reward and Wanda agrees with me. I'm just so sad that his daughters chose to not be a part of his final years regardless of their issues.

Ginger says this leaves her the last leaf on her family's tree.

Thoughts for the New Year 2011

We have passed through another year and are entering the New Year of 2011. At the beginning of this new year the old familiar year is now history. We now stand at the brink of the unknown future and time, which we call the new year.

I believe any one of us can look back over the past year as well as further back in our past and see the hand of God at work in our lives. Down through the ages God has been at work to fulfill his plans for us as well as all of his creation.

The author of the 90th Psalm says, "God is from everlasting to everlasting." In other words, God is timeless. That psalm also tells us he allots us three score and ten years, and if by reason of strength they may be four score years. These years are meaningless unless we have a personal relationship with God. We need to understand what the Psalmist writes in 90:12 "Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom".

With these thoughts in mind as we look back over the past, it is easier to understand why God has placed us where he has, why he brought us into contact with certain people, why certain circumstances happened in our lives; why God allowed us to go through difficulties and pain, why he took us through sad and difficult times and why he has placed us where we are.


As Ginger and I look back over the past we now can see God's guidance in our lives. We know his wise and loving hands have managed our journey bringing us to where we are today.


Psalms 92:4 says, "For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands".


It should make us all glad and fill our hearts with joy to see how often God has assisted, directed and managed the outcome of our lives so faithfully. With God's promise of always being with us, we can rest assured that we can enter into the new year with confidence that God is in control.