God-is-in-control

Have you ever had God put a song in your mind/heart, that just kept on "playing" for a good while? I have, for the last 2 days, except HE has only replayed 4 words from it, the title, which is found in it's chorus. It is a song by Twila Paris, called, "God is in control." (For those who haven't heard it, I've made it available at the end of this message)

A number of times I have taken a Bible verse and gone through each word individually. I often find that a way to get a fuller meaning from them. Well, this particular subject is not a Bible verse, per se, but it is a definite teaching of Scripture, so I want to do it the same way.

(I have listed just 3 Bible verses which validate the fact that, "God is in control." In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, (Ephesians 1:11 (NKJV); but it is the same God who works all in all. (1 Corinthians 12:6 (NKJV); And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 (NKJV))

1. God is in control. Right now is a particularly trying time in our home. We have been through a lot of things in the last 19 months, since I first hurt my knee chasing a suspect. I'm not going over them, but it is a long litany of things that have put a lot of strain on us, especially my wife. Now, the State of Alabama, for whom I was working when I got injured, has decided they are not going to take me back; (unlike what they force on private enterprise, they don't do "disability", they just get rid of you) not only abruptly stopping our workman's compensation payment, but, as I learned this past Thursday, also cutting off our health insurance 3 weeks before they sent me a notice offering me the choice of continuing it under the Cobra continuation of health benefits law at $975 per month. I learned they had stopped it as I went to get a prescription filled and the pharmacist told me. I tried not to worry my wife, as I contacted every one I could, including my attorney, to try and straighten out what was obviously a mess up on someone's part. All this was going on just before, during, and after the Easter weekend. I had been told by my attorney it would all be straightened out by Monday, so I thought I could keep her from fretting and worrying. Alas, she had a second tooth break over the weekend, so we had to make an unplanned trip to the endodontist Monday, who would have seen her next week for finishing repairs on the first tooth she had broken. I stayed in the car, calling my attorney who was supposed to be telling me it was all straightened out. "NOT!!" He of course, just as he had the previous Friday, said, "call me tomorrow and we'll get it all straightened out." I then walked into the endodontist's office, and saw my wife at the checkout desk, looking ashen and beckoning me to her. She of course, had just been told by their people that our insurance was canceled, as they tried to prefile for the second tooth. Now, she is convinced that I am crazy, and it hasn't been God telling me to, "stand still! Be still, and know that I am God," as I seek Him about what we are supposed to be doing. This particular "insurance" problem forced me to mail $1,950 to get them to reinstate it for March and April. It is in that context that I just keep hearing those words, "God is in control." I KNOW GOD IS WORKING ALL OF THIS TOGETHER FOR GOOD. I know HE is working all these things according to the counsel and purpose of His own will. All of the crazy mix-ups and errors that have gone into this and all the other topsy-turvy seeming situations in our lives are not just happening willy- nilly and out of control. God is in control. His hand is taking all these situations and circumstances, and arranging them into a concerted thing, taking us in a precise direction, to the absolute destination HE has planned for us. As I stated in the message, "Making chocolate pie," he takes all the various ingredients, which by and large don't taste good at all, and puts them together in just the right measure, then applies the heat, which hurts, but melts all those ingredients into something wonderful. HE works it all together, and HE is in control.

2. God is in control. A "present perfect" state of being is this. There is never a time, for even an instant, past, present, or future, that God is not in control. Despite what things may seem at certain moments, God never leaves being in control. HE never goes out of control, by being asleep (Scripture tells us HE neither slumbers (naps) or sleeps), nor by being somewhere else (HE is omnipresent- everywhere), nor by being too weak (HE is all-powerful), nor by not-knowing what to do (HE is all-knowing), etc. God always stays in control. If HE is not in control of all things, then HE is not God over those things. As the phrase states, "if HE's not Lord over all, HE's not Lord at all. A question sometimes heard during bad situations is, "where is God in all this?" The answer is, "HE's in control!"

3. God is in control. One of God's most awesome attributes, to me, is His "eternality." That just means there is never a time when God is "not", "was", and "will be." If you could go back the supposed billions of years that evolution claims (and has to have to even seem remotely possible), you would find that God already was, is, and will be. HE never began. There is never an instant that God does not exist as God. There will never be a time that God will cease to exist. God is, and is in control.

4. God is in control. Our English spelling of the original Hebrew word translated as God is, "Elohim." This word is plural, not singular (denoted by the "im" on its end, pronounced like "eem"). Scholars argue over what that means, with some saying it shows forth the fact that God is triune, 3 distinct Beings, yet One. Others say it denotes the "plural of majesty, or it denotes the fullness of divine strength, the sum of the powers displayed by God." (Smith's Bible Dictionary) All agree its main idea is that of "power". There is no thing or no one greater, or more powerful than the One True God. God is the Supreme One, and God is in control.

Christian, let us not walk in fear and doubt, worrying that things are out of control. Let us settle our hearts on the truth that, God-is-in-control!