all-powerful

Nothing Is Too Hard For God.

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Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. – Jeremiah 32:17-19 ESV

Jeremiah 32:17-25

The armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon were besieging the gates of Jerusalem. Everything Jeremiah had been warning the people of Judah would happen is about to take place. The end is in sight. Jeremiah had been placed under arrest by King Zedekiah because he didn’t like the tone or content of his message. It seems that the king thought that by locking Jeremiah up he could alter the inevitable. But God’s will was going to be done. Jeremiah had simply shared the word of the Lord. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’” (Jeremiah 32:3-5 ESV).

In the midst of all this chaos and confusion, and with the Babylonians poised to take possession of the land of Judah, Jeremiah received a personal word from the Lord telling him to buy a piece of property. As crazy as it may have sounded, Jeremiah did what the Lord instructed him to do, because God had given him the assurance, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (Jeremiah 32:15 ESV). Based on the promise of God and in spite of what he knew was about to happen, Jeremiah obeyed. He bought the land and he put the deeds in an earthenware jar and buried it in the ground so that it would last a long time, just as God had instructed him. And then Jeremiah prayed.

“Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” Things may have appeared bleak and despairing from Jeremiah’s perspective, but he knew that God had it all under control. The same God who had created the entire universe would have no problem handling the Babylonian situation. In fact, it was all His doing. He had sent King Nebuchadnezzar and his troops to besiege and conquer the land of Judah, taking the people captive. And He would fulfill His promise to restore them to the land because nothing is too difficult for him. Jeremiah acknowledged that God had shown unbelievable love for and patience toward the people of Judah for generations. But the consistent rebellion of the people and their constant sinning against Him was about to catch up to them. Their stubbornness and insubordination could be traced back all the way to the generation that He had set free from captivity in Egypt. And their propensity for sin had been passed down from one generation to the next until God had deemed it necessary to put an end to it all. But rather than question the wisdom of God, Jeremiah acknowledged His character. “O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed.” He knew God was in the right. From Jeremiah’s perspective, God was all-wise and all-powerful. He was great and mighty. And as the Lord of hosts, He was ultimately in charge of everything and everyone, including Nebuchadnezzar and his troops. Not only that, Jeremiah knew that God’s “eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.” No matter how unfair things may have appeared to Jeremiah, he knew God was justified in His actions. He was righteous in all His ways.

This simple introduction to Jeremiah’s prayer, when taken in the context of all that was going on, gives us a wonderful reminder to always give greater significance to God’s character than to our circumstances. God never ceases being the Lord of hosts. He is always in control and never lacking in power. Nothing is ever too difficult for Him. We must always balance the knowledge of God’s everlasting love with His divine duty to discipline those He loves. God could not allow the people of Judah to continue to dishonor His name and flaunt their privileged position as His people. Sin always has consequences. But in the midst of it all, Jeremiah kept his eyes focused on God. The eternal, unchanging nature of God was his rock in the middle of the storm. He knew he could count on God to come through in the end and fulfill His promise of future restoration. When everything around us is unstable, we need to rely on the One who is always a rock and firm foundation. When surrounded by uncertainty, we must place our trust in the One who never changes or proves Himself unreliable. Nothing is too hard for Him.

He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.

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The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord‘s, and on them he has set the world. – 1 Samuel 2:6-8 ESV

1 Samuel 2:1-10

The world can be a very frustrating place to live – especially if you are a Christian. We say we believe in a God who is all-knowing, all-powerful and sovereign over all. We claim that He is creator of the universe and that He has full control over everyone and everything. And yet, when we look around, so much of what we see seems out of control. There is sickness and evil everywhere. Floods, famines, wars and injustice of all kinds are taking place all around us. From our perspective it can feel like the crazies are running the asylum. But Hannah’s prayer reminds us that we must have a much more biblical view of God. It is dangerous to attempt to assess God’s character based solely on what we can see. A glance around our planet can easily leave one with the mistaken impression that God is ether indifferent or incapable of doing anything about the injustices taking place. It would be easy to assume that God either lacked the power or the initiative to remedy the problems of the world. But that is where the Bible comes in. It contains a history of God’s interactions with mankind, from the beginning of the world. It shows us just how God operates behind the scenes accomplishing His divine will. In it we read story after story of God’s relationship with His creation, as He sovereignly orchestrates affairs, sometimes blatantly and, at other times, secretly.

The Bible would have us remember that God is in control. It does not matter what we think, believe, see or feel. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Proverbs 19:2 ESV). “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples” (Psalm 33:10 ESV). “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9 ESV). “For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:27 ESV). Even God Himself said, “Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish” (Isaiah 46:10 NLT). The Bible reveals to us the sovereignty of God through the lives of the individuals found on its pages. So much of what we read in the Bible seems unjust and unfair. We read of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. Then we watch as time after time this seemingly unlucky young man finds himself facing setback after setback. He appears to have the worst luck in the world. But the story is less about Joseph than it is about God, who is working behind the scenes, orchestrating every aspect of Joseph’s life in order to accomplish His sovereign will regarding the people of Israel. When we read the story to the end, we realize that God was in control all the time. He had planned every aspect of Joseph’s life in order to put him in place to provide a safe place for His people to live during the coming famine. Even Joseph recognized the hand of God on his life. He was even able to tell his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20 ESV).

Hannah had suffered and struggled with her barrenness. There had to have been times when she wondered where God was in all of this. She had to have had moments of doubt when she questioned God’s care for her. But ultimately, she took her concern to God, because she knew He was the only one who could do anything about it. And she learned that God was in control. He has control over everything from the barren womb to who reigns in the throne room. He lifts up and He brings down. He humbles and He exalts. He gives life and He takes it away. And while this view of God may make us uncomfortable and raise all kinds of ethical and theological questions, it is the key to understanding the world in which we live. Some find this view distasteful and unsatisfactory. They say it paints God as some kind of an evil ogre who sits in heaven wreaking havoc on mankind, indiscriminately taking life and allowing injustice to take place. Their conclusion seems to be that if God puts all kings on their thrones, then He must be held responsible for all the tyrants, dictators, and corrupt despots who bring pain and suffering to so many. The question is really whether God causes evil, and the answer is no. All that God does is just and right. He is holy and righteous. He can do no wrong. He can commit no evil. But evil exists because sin entered into the world He had made. Man rebelled against God and the result has been a steady increase in sin, to the point where all looks lost and the world seems to be spinning out of control. But we must remember that God is in control. He is behind the scenes working His divine plan in ways we cannot see or comprehend. What we see with our eyes may not make sense to us. It may seem unfair and unjust. But we must always remember that our God is loving, just, merciful, gracious, and sovereignly working His plan – for our good and His own glory.

God is in control. We must believe that truth. He is not done yet. He has a plan and He is working that plan to perfection. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by what we see. The Bible tells us that God has a plan in place and that He is working out that plan. He has an end in sight. He has a future resolution for all pain, suffering, injustice and sin. We must give God time to do what He has planned to do, and trust that He really does have the whole world in His hands.

Psalm 60 – Day 1

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With God’s Help.

“With God’s help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes.” – Psalm 60:12 NLT

I can’t imagine what it was like to have been king of the nation of Israel. While I’m sure the job had its perks, it also came with a significant number of headaches. Ruling any nation is difficult, but trying to lead a people group who happened to be the hand-picked possession of God Himself was no easy task. First, you had God for your employer. Forget about Congress, your cabinet, or even your constituents. At the end of the day, every action you took was being carefully critiqued by none other than God. Now that’s pressure. On top of that you had the unenviable task of trying to lead a people who greatly disliked being led. Leading the nation of Israel was like, as the phrase goes, trying to herd cats – nearly impossible. By God’s own opinion, these people were inherently stiff-necked, stubborn, rebellious, and had foreheads of iron. In other words, they were obstinate. And as the king of Israel you were free to make up your own rules as you went along. You were obligated to enforce the laws of God. Of course, some of Israel’s kings ignored that part and suffered the consequences. But for David, obeying God was a high priority and maintaining His laws, decrees and commands was job one.

Then there was the problem of Israel’s enemies, and there were a lot of them. This little land was literally surrounded on all sides by nations intent on their destruction. Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Aramaens, Edomites, Jebusites, and just about every other nation that existed at that time – both large and small. They all had it in for Israel and they were a constant threat to Israel’s existence. As king, David had to constantly be prepared to defend the kingdom, but also the reputation of God. And even though David was “a man after God’s own heart,” things didn’t always go his way. He didn’t always win every battle. His exploits didn’t always meet with success. And this Psalm was written with one of those times in mind. David opens up the Psalm describing what was an apparent defeat at the hands of his enemies. They had broken through his defenses. They had driven Israel back in defeat. And because David was so strongly dependent on God, he couldn’t help but wonder if all this was some kind of punishment from His hand. He viewed this latest military setback as coming from God. So he appealed to God for mercy. He begged God to rescue the nation from the hands of their enemies. “Now rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power” (Psalm 60:5 NLT). David was a powerful warrior and a highly successful king, but he knew where his strength came from – God. One of David’s greatest fears was that God might ever reject him and remove His favor from him. He even asks God, “Have you rejected us, O God? Will you no longer march with our armies?” (Psalm 60:11 NLT). David knew the ramifications if that were ever to happen. He knew that their existence was solely based on the favor and power of God, not him. Without God, David was nothing, and he knew it. Without God, the nation of Israel was nothing, and David understood that sobering fact as well. So he calls out to God, “Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless” (Psalm 60:11 NLT). David knew what we need to know. Without God’s help, we are helpless and hopeless. We are His people. He is our King. It is He who protects us, provides for us, gives us victory, keeps us safe, and meets all our needs. It is to Him we should turn in both the good times and the bad times. All human help is useless. Placing our hope in anyone or anything other than God will always prove dangerous and highly disappointing. We may win the battle, but we will end up losing the war. But David knew that “with God’s help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes” (Psalm 60:12 NLT). Even this powerful king knew that he was nothing without the help of his all-powerful God.

Father, how ludicrous it is to think that I can somehow save myself. How silly for me to imagine that I can somehow come up with a plan to save myself from all the enemies I face every day. Without You I am nothing. I have no strength without You. I have no wisdom apart from You. I have no future unless You provide it. I have no hope other than You. But with Your help I will do mighty things! Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org