RacineBuildingFrom the Preacher’s Pen… Protesters in the streets using violence and theft to “prove” that their candidate and agenda should have won the election. “Demands” that California secede from the United States (an act that is by definition an act of treason – anybody remember a thing called the “Civil War”?).

What is the world and this country coming to? Why doesn’t God do something?

Perhaps it is time that we let God answer that question just as He has before. So let’s think for a moment about another time this issue came up and ask…

Who is Really in Control?

The story began long before God gave His answer. His Chosen People, His Holy Nation had been grossly disobedient for years. The nation had gone steadily downhill as both the people and their leaders intentionally disobeyed the commands of God and elevated themselves, their opinions and their worship of false Gods above the Lord.

As God’s people rebelled He began to humiliate them before the world. Some of their own government leaders (including some of the king’s own family) were taken into captivity by the new superpower of the world. The nation responded by rebelling against God yet again and placed their faith and alliances with a nation (Egypt) that God had warned them not to join.

God responded by again humiliating the nation, making the king a prisoner, installing a puppet king, and cleaning out much of the Temple and palace treasures. But the puppet king also rebelled and imagined that he had a right to disobey God’s will and His prophets.

This time God destroyed the nation, the capital (Jerusalem) and burned the Temple, the king’s house and every major building in the city. Some of the poorest were left to work the land and a governor was appointed (Gedaliah, 2 Kings 25:22) but killed by the remaining people only two months after his appointment. As a result, most of the rest of the nation became refugees (including the prophet Jeremiah) and fled to Egypt.

The book of Daniel includes several events over the years that God used to teach Nebuchadnezzar that it was the Lord, the real and only God, that was truly in control. But as the years passed the king of Babylon forgot the lesson and imagined that he as king was really in control.

The final lesson for Nebuchadnezzar came (Daniel chapter 4) much to the chagrin of Daniel. But it was this final lesson that would convince the king of Babylon of the truth and make him a godly man.

So, who is really in control of nations, kingdoms, states and all the earth? Yes, you know the answer but perhaps we should listen to God’s presentation of it:

“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers And the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.”

So before you worry again, God, the Most High is in control. Before you imagine that someone else is in control for even a single second, remember that you are NOT God, the president is NOT God, the governor is NOT God, the king is NOT God. The LORD is GOD and He is ruler and in control no matter what happens

If you find this truly extraordinary and perhaps even a bit daunting or even downright frightening, then you are in good company. Even Daniel felt that way (Daniel 4:19), but was wisely counseled by Nebuchadnezzar not to be alarmed.

One of the most amazing passages of Scripture is Daniel 4:34-37. Read it and realize that this is the sole passage of the Old Testament written by a Gentile, an outsider that God brought into His Kingdom to be one of the inspired writers (2 Peter 1:21).

What will it take for us to realize and acknowledge that God is really in control? What will it require for us to understand that all must be in submission to Him? What must God do for us to learn to be obedient to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and acknowledge that “all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride” (Daniel 4:37).?

— Lester P. Bagley