Is God Still In Control

Is God still in control?  If we look around us at what is happening in the world as well as here in America, then that could be a valid question.  Did you ever think of asking God ... "What is going on?"  Those of us who believe the words of the Bible that used to be written in red ... the words of Jesus ... know that He said these very things that we now see happening, would come to pass. 

So, should the next question be ... "Are we rushing down a slippery slope, returning as it were, back to the days of Noah where God destroyed the earth?"  I wonder just how long God is going to put up with this mess.

Scary isn't the right word, but it just might be for some people when we compare what Jesus said will be happening in the last days that usher in the end of the world, and what is going on right now in 2014.  So to those who might be worried, I speak to you the same few words that Jesus said ... "be not troubled, the end is not yet."

Matthew 24:6-8 ... "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise against nation, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in many places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows." 

Every generation since Jesus has heard the same warnings ... the end is near.  Man is going to destroy himself.  War.  Then world war.  After W.W. II, Albert Einstein was asked what kind of weapons W.W. III would be fought with.  He answered ... "I don't know, but W.W. IV will be fought with sticks and stones" ... alluding to his belief that man would someday destroy the world with the weapons of war that he helped design.      

And if that isn't enough to worry about, now "they say" we are going to be destroyed by some huge asteroid hitting the earth, or some dreaded pandemic. 

Well I say ... God made this earth and He knows how to keep it going "until" He is through with it.  And then He is going to clean up the mess man has left on it when He makes the new eternal earth where there will be no war, no death, no sickness, and no sin.  Sin was ... "the beginning of sorrows."  It really was.

Leaving the grand thought of a new earth, and going back to what we see in the natural ... not only is man making war against each other, it seems as if nature is waring against mankind as well.  It's almost like the earth is rebelling as Jesus said, with "famines, pestilences, and earthquakes" against what is going on with man's control of things.

I'm reminded of the little "Pogo" comic which shows Pogo siting on a high bluff overlooking a vast portion of the earth with the caption ... "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Whether relating to the condition of the earth or to our own bodies, it seems that we are our own worst enemy.

So, just as a point of argument ... let's say that God, as the master watchmaker, has wound up this universe and now time has run down to the next to the last tick.  The end is near.  And so what if it is; does that mean that God is not in control?

What is man to do?  Ah, yes ... why not look to our instruction manual?  You say, "I didn't know we had one."  Yep!  It's called the Bible.  Here's an example from Psalms 46:1-10 ...

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the sea;
Though the waters roar and be troubled, and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof ...
The Lord of hosts is with us ... God is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord ...
He makes wars to cease, He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in two ...
(And He says) ... 'Be still, and know that I am God'."

The Apostle Paul gave us some encouraging words to live by as well in Ephesians 5:15-20 ...

"See that you walk circumspectly, (looking around and being wary) ...
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Be not drunk with wine ... but be filled with the Spirit ...
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs ...
Giving thanks unto God ..." 

Understanding the will of the Lord.  I've been trying to understand that for the last 52 years.  I'm getting closer, but there is more to learn, especially in the area of God's sovereign authority to make decisions over the whole earth and to enforce obedience to His will ... if He so chooses ... over that last part.

I think God's will for us might have something to do with the question in Micah 6:8 ...

"What doth the LORD require of thee?
To do justly …
To love mercy …
To walk humbly with thy God."
  
When Solomon put life on trial, he wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:13 … "I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven" ... (by God and man.)

Finally, after his long search, Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 12:13 ... "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

So, if I re-arrange my first question, it now becomes a statement ... 

God is still in control!


 


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