Most believers know that God is sovereign and unless He
allows something it cannot be done. God
may not bring it about but He allows whatever happens, as in the case of Job. God allowed the tests to take place but He
didn’t cause the tragedies to take place, the evil one did, but even the evil
one is subject to God.
Think about Daniel and his three friends, why were they in
Babylon? It was because the nation was
being punished for the sins they had committed. This is what it says in Daniel 1:1-2 “In the third year of the reign of
Jehoi′akim king of Judah, Nebuchadnez′zar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and
besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoi′akim king of Judah into his hand, with
some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of
Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his
god.”
Nebuchadnezzar was the king, and God was using him to
accomplish His purpose without him even knowing it. God had allowed him victories, but he was
accomplishing God’s purposes. But King
Nebuchadnezzar became very proud, thinking that he accomplished all the things
he built and had done himself, saying this in Daniel 4:30, “and the king said, ‘Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by
my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?’”
God humbled the king, it says this in verses 31-33, “While the words were still in the king’s
mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, ‘O King Nebuchadnez′zar, to you it is
spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among
men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; and you shall be
made to eat grass like an ox; and seven times shall pass over you, until you
have learned that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom
he will.’ Immediately the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnez′zar. He was
driven from among men, and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the
dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails
were like birds’ claws.”
God has control over all the affairs of men. Daniel 2:19-22 says:
“Then the mystery was
revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of
heaven. Daniel said:
“Blessed be the name
of God for ever and ever,
to whom belong wisdom and might.
He changes times and
seasons;
he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the
wise
and knowledge to those who have
understanding;
he reveals deep and mysterious
things;
he knows what is in the darkness,
and the light dwells with him.”
The point I wanted to make here is the fact that God will
use non-believers to accomplish His purposes, without their knowledge and then they
will turn around and take all the credit for what God accomplished through them.
Then they will blaspheme God, which in
turn can bring terrible consequences on themselves. For instance, in the case of King Sennacherib
of Assyria, when he claimed he would destroy Jerusalem saying this through his
servants to King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19:10-13, “Thus shall you speak to Hezeki′ah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God
on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into
the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be
delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my
fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in
Tel-assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city
of Sepharva′im, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
This was God’s response to the prayer of Hezekiah, when he
was seeking God’s help in prayer, it is in verses 20-37:
“Then Isaiah the son
of Amoz sent to Hezeki′ah saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your
prayer to me about Sennach′erib king of Assyria I have heard. This is the word
that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“She despises you, she
scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head
behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
“Whom have you mocked
and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted
your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you
have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the
heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest
cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest
retreat,
its densest forest.
I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with
the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.’
“Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of
old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should turn
fortified cities
into heaps of ruins,
while their
inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like
plants of the field,
and like tender grass,
like grass on the
housetops;
blighted before it is grown?
“But I know your
sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
Because you have raged
against me
and your arrogance has come into my ears,
I will put my hook in
your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you
back on the way
by which you came.
“And this shall be the
sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second
year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow, and reap, and plant
vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah
shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; for out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal
of the Lord will do this.
“Therefore thus says
the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city or
shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound
against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall
not come into this city, says the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it,
for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
And that night the
angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in
the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold,
these were all dead bodies. Then Sennach′erib king of Assyria departed, and
went home, and dwelt at Nin′eveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of
Nisroch his god, Adram′melech and Share′zer, his sons, slew him with the sword,
and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhad′don his son reigned in his
stead.”
In this situation there were severe consequences. It also teaches us that God does work behind
the scenes and at times we see the evidence of things not scene. Believers can trust God to work everything out
together for their good, praise the Lord!! My prayer is, if there are any non-believers
reading this that you will humble yourself before the Lord realizing that the
Lord is sovereign over the affairs of men and whatever great things you have accomplished
God has allowed you to do them; in fact the only reason you are breathing is
because of God’s mercy, grace and love, so give Him the credit due Him. Repent of your sins and ask Him into your life,
to be your Lord and Savior and let Him show you what He can accomplish in and
through your life. Something to think
about! God bless you and have a super
day!!
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