A Sovereign God

 What are the consequences of having a casual attitude toward Jesus Christ? Those who dismiss him as a good teacher or moral example make a big mistake. Those who ignore him are equally mistaken. Those who claim to follow him but take him for granted are no better off. The Bible declares that Jesus is God! We will recognize him now or later.

David understood that bringing the ark to Jerusalem was a significant undertaking. Therefore, he called for 30,000 soldiers and many other representatives from Israel to accompany him in this venture (2 Samuel 6).

The ark was a gold-plated wooden box approximately four feet long, two feet wide, and high. Moses made it according to God’s instructions. It was fitted with gold rings, through which gold-plated wooden poles were placed for the priests to carry it. A pure gold cover with a solid gold cherub was at each end. It contained a jar of mana, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets engraved with the words of the Ten Commandments.

The ark had specific instructions about moving it, and they were ignored. It was to be covered when moved, but it is being carried in full view of everyone. Only the priests were meant to carry the ark by its poles, but it was transported in a new cart (1 Chronicles 15:13).

The tremendous procession had not gone far when an incident occurred. There was a slight stumble by the oxen pulling the cart and a quick response from the priest watching the cart’s precious cargo. However, when Uzzah touched the ark, the Lord struck him down.

The music stopped, and everyone was stunned. There, “beside the ark,” was the lifeless body of Uzzah. David was angry because he could not understand what had just happened. The Lord had been angry that someone had touched the ark, and David was angry because it had happened. David hated what had happened, but this did not mean he hated the Lord. He was deeply troubled by what had happened. The narrator writes: David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9)

The question expresses the opposite of presumption. The person who asks David’s question has learned that the Lord God is not under our control. We never fully understand him. We certainly have no control over him. He is the holy God. This may have been the occasion for David writing Psalm 24: “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god” (Ps 24:3-4). Daniel later wrote: “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him” (Daniel 4:35).

Seeing the Way God Sees

Seeing the way God sees is very difficult for us. First of all, we are human beings. Secondly, we judge things by how they look. God told Samuel that “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). The context of this was the choosing of David as the next king of Israel. What was strange about the choice was that David was only a teenager. He had none of the experience of a grown man. Samuel had immediately eyed his older brothers as suitable candidates, but God said no to them. I think the following story illustrates how we mistakenly see the value of a life from the way God sees it.

This little story called Autumn Dance, written by Robin Jones Gunn, illustrates that the quality of life is not dependent upon perfect circumstances.

 

She stood a short distance from her guardian at the park this afternoon, her distinctive features revealing that although her body blossomed into young adulthood, her mind would always remain a child’s. My children ran and jumped and sifted sand through perfect, coordinated fingers. Caught up in fighting over a shovel, they didn’t notice when the wind changed, but she did—a wild autumn wind spinning leaves into amber flurries.

 

I called to my boisterous son and jostled my daughter. “Time to go. Mom still has lots to do today.” My rosy-cheeked boy stood tall watching with wide-eyed fascination the gyrating dance of the Down syndrome girl as she scooped up leaves and showered herself with the twirling rain of autumn jubilation. With each twist and hop she sang deep, earthy grunts, a canticle of praise meant only for the One whose breath causes the leaves to tremble from the trees.

 

“Hurry up. Let’s go. Seatbelts on.” I start the car. In the rearview mirror I study her one more time through misty eyes, and then the tears come—not tears of pity for her. The tears are from me, for I am far too sophisticated to publicly shout praises to my Creator. I am whole and intelligent and normal, and so I weep because I will never know the severe mercy that frees such a child and bids her come dance in the autumn leaves.

 

One Messed up Family

As I look at Jacob’s family, the third patriarch who fathered the twelve tribes of Israel, I am stunned at how messed up his family was—forced to flee for his life because Jacob had cheated his brother and father. He wound up under the influence of his uncle Laban, even more of a scoundrel than Jacob. His uncle obligated him to serve for seven years for a wife—Rachael, but when the wedding came, he gave him Leah, Rachael’s older sister, who masqueraded as her sister. So much of Jacob’s scheming and deceitfulness came back to him in these years.

Jacob and his two wives, Leah and Rachael, were very adept at scheming themselves. The births of their children and those of their handmaids were opportunities to hurt each other. They celebrated at the expense of the other and to put each other down. This dysfunctional family during these early years was building negative patterns of interaction that would live on in their children.

But what is so amazing is that God used this dysfunctional family to form the twelve tribes of Israel. The family started with Rachael being the most loved wife and Leah, not so much. This produces strife and untold misery. Leah’s hopes for love and with the birth of her first son, Rueben, she thinks, perhaps now her husband will love her. That, however, was not to be. Leah keeps having sons longing for her husband’s love while all the while, barren Rachel felt increasingly diminished by her sister’s successes.

The story of Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s two wives, is one of two desperate women. They both want what the other has. Rachael’s cry is to have children while Leah cries to be loved. Rachel has the love of her husband, while Leah has children. Leah’s pathetic cry is to be loved (Gen 29:32). We were all made to be loved and connected to other human beings. Marriage is that extraordinary place where we can experience love to a higher degree than any other relationship. However, if we are not loved—we will feel pain not equal to any other. In this pathological family, Jacob could not love two women with the same intensity. God did not make him that way. Only in a marriage where a man and woman are fully committed to each other and are willing to learn to love each other will this need be met.

Rachel and Leah have a bitter exchange about mandrake fruit (Gen 30:14-16), which they believe will enhance sexual fertility. The conversation that bargains Jacob for the fruit shows the extent to which this family had sunk. All polygamous and polyamorous relationships arrive at this point sooner or later. Once multiple people have entered into this kind of relationship, it will evolve into the sewer of shame and spite. We were made for fidelity, and the human heart rebels against infidelity no matter what lies they have told themselves. In all my years of counseling couples—I have yet to see one couple that did not intensely desire fidelity—the very kind of faithfulness that God gives us through marriage.

If God can use Jacob’s family as messed up as it was—he can use you with all your flaws. God’s grace is the most amazing thing.

An Unstoppable God

God is a sovereign God whose plans are unstoppable. Isaiah said it like this: “For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” (Isa 14:27). David described him this way: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Ps 115:3). Daniel’s description is similar: “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’” (Dan 4:35).

When we read the history in the Old Testament, we are startled with the many mess ups and failures of the characters, but we are amazed at the marvelous way God fulfills his plans in spite of their sin and tragedies. When Adam and Eve sinned, God shed the blood of an animal to cover their nakedness. When Cain murdered his brother Able, God gave Eve another son, named Seth who worshiped God. When evil increased so much that God chose to destroy the earth—He saved Noah, a righteous man, and his family.

When Abraham and Sarah could not understand how God’s plan for an heir would come true, they took matters into their own hands. Abraham produced a son through Hagar, Sarah’s servant, but God overruled their mistake and gave them a son in their old age. When Jacob the deceiver had to flee for his life, God never wrote him off but changed his character and his name to Israel.

How God ever chose Judah, Jacob’s son to be in the messianic line is beyond me. He was rebellious, immoral and self-serving. Nonetheless, chapter 39 of Genesis (which reads like a soap opera) is in the Bible to show that God can transform the worst sinners if they surrender to God.

The story of Joseph, more than any other, is evidence of God’s sovereignty. Joseph, sold into slavery by his treacherous brothers, became the prime minister of Egypt. Endowed with God’s wisdom, he presided over the administration of preparing Egypt for the worst famine in its history. Who would have imagined that his brothers would seek relief from him and he would recognize them, and more, forgive them. Joseph summed up this unstoppable God in these words:

Genesis 50:18-21

“His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said.

But Joseph said to them, ‘Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”

God works out his plans right in the middle of our mistakes, our scheming plans and tragedies. God always keeps his promises no matter how long it takes. We can trust him even when life seems totally out of control.