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As Christians, since we know that “GOD
IS LOVE.” It can only strengthen us in our walk for us to also
know “GOD IS IN CONTROL.” He is in control of ALL THINGS.
Not one speck of dust can move on the farthest side of the universe without
God’s decree. No tragedy can strike that He has not ordained. “Shall
there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?”
And He says, “I form the light and create
darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all
these things.” So for us who know that God loves us, it is
a great comfort to also “know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.” (Amos
3:6; Isaiah 45:7;Romans 8:28)
The Scriptures teach us to meditate
on this very fact as we see various “good and
evil” events take place. “When
times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God
has made the one as well as the other.” After all the
misfortune of Job’s life, he tells the Lord what he has concluded, “I
know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”
(Ecclesiastes 7:14; Job 42:2)
This is the same man who after the
loss of everything, including seven sons and three daughters, declared, “The
LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be
praised.” And afterward, when he lost his health and was covered
with boils, looking and smelling like death, responded to his wife’s
depressed state saying, “What? Shall we
receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”
Then the Scripture tells us, “In all this did
not Job sin with his lips.”
SingleVISION Living is seeing God in all things. “The
light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body shall be full of light.” Jesus told us, “Blessed
are the pure (single or unmixed with good and evil)
in heart: for they shall SEE GOD.”
Knowing that GOD IS IN CONTROL, that your God Who is LOVE
works “all things” “together
for good” to you who “love Him”
and are “called according to his purpose.”
What peace! What joy! What rest! All is yours when you know that
God Who loves you is in charge of EVERYTHING that is going on in your
life RIGHT NOW.
This is NOT a comfort for
everyone. This is only a comfort for “those
who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
This is FOR CHRISTIANS ONLY. The literal translation is “those
who are loving Him.” Loving Him is the most freeing
experience of your life. As Augustine said, “Love God and do as you
please.” Your God Who is in Control of ALL THINGS is to be loved
“with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.” To be bound to Him is to be free in
everything and every circumstance. “For he
who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman;
similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.”
The Scriptures teach us that ALL
THINGS are under the control of our Lord. Everything is held together
by His power. “For by him all things
were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created
by him and for him.
He is
before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Knowing He is in control of ALL THINGS, we can easily believe “in
all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
And “He who did not spare his own Son, but
gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously
give us all things?”
“So
then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul
or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the
future-- all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”
“For
even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed
there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God,
the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there
is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and
through whom we live.”
“And
God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at
all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every
good work.”
“He
made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,
which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have
reached their fulfillment-- to bring all things in heaven and on earth
together under one head, even Christ.”
“And
God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of
him who fills everything in every way.”
“We
will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
“For
by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by him and for him.”
“He
is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
“In
these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of
all things, and through whom he made the universe.”
“The
Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his
being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had
provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty
in heaven.”
"You
are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they were created and have their
being."
So we must conclude from these and
other Scriptures that He is before and above ALL THINGS; ALL
THINGS were created by Him and for Him; ALL THINGS were given to
Him; ALL THINGS are sustained by Him; ALL THINGS come from
Him, and He works in ALL THINGS for our good. The point is, whether
things are good or bad, GOD IS IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS.
As a result, our lives show that
even if “we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered," we will not be filled
with despair. Instead knowing GOD IS IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS we
say, “No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
“For
from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the
glory forever! Amen.”
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