In the Hand of Jesus
Alec Motyer ministered to me this morning with these timely words from Isaiah By the Day. When it appears that the world we live in is out of control, remember the Lord has all things in his almighty hand.
“To say the world we live in ‘doesn’t add up’ is a pretty accurate description. Hardly a day passes but we ask why this or that has happened, why it has happened to him/her/them/me/us, why now, why so prolonged—and so on. This is what Ecclesiastes meant by saying ‘all is vanity’ (1:2; etc). Trying to explain the world and what happens in it is like trying to grab a handful of wind! Bible in hand, we know that this is because a higher wisdom than ours rules all, a more complete justice than we can bring to bear. An almighty power is having its way, and a total love, quite beyond our understanding, is directing everything, parceling out experiences, determining times and seasons. But as regards the sort of logical description of things that the unbelieving mind seeks, the world around us simply ‘does not add up’. From the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 to the United Nations mankind has been striving after a world that is safe, organized, neat, unified, fortified against threat. This is a correct aim, and we should constantly feel obliged to obey the apostolic command to pray for ‘kings and all in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life’ (1 Tim. 2:2). At the same time, we know that sin is ever divisive, Satan is ever sowing weeds in the best soil and seed, and humankind’s best endeavors for peace can suddenly become literally explosive. Our security is not in human organization nor national strength nor personal insurance policies and sound banking, nor in our ability to ‘explain’, but only in the hand of Jesus, enfolded in the hand of the Father (John 10:28).”
