Title: God rules everything
Contents
Bible: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
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A couple had their second child seven years after they had their first child. The trusty couple introduced their younger brother to their seven-year-old eldest son and said: “Your brother is a gift from God. So please be very kind to your brother.” Then the child, who was looking curiously at his brother, said to the baby in a low voice, “My baby, before I forget, tell me what God looks like.”
In John 14:8, there is a scene where Jesus' disciple Philip said to Jesus, "Let me see God." Then in verse 9, Jesus said, “I have been with you for so long, and you still don’t know? He who has seen me has seen God.” Psalm 19 says, “The heavens reveal the glory of God, and the firmament reveals the work of God.” The Old Testament says that we can feel the image and presence of God by looking at nature.
There was a professor who taught that God created the world and a disciple who did not believe in it. The professor was thinking about how to make his disciples believe that God created the world, so he made a sculpture of the solar system in the basement of his house and attached a machine to it so that it can move just like the solar system.
One day, the students came to the professor's house to play and saw the machine and said, "Professor, you have made a very sophisticated and well-made machine."
God is the God who rules the universe. In Matthew 14, as the disciples were crossing the lake in a boat, a storm occurred and the boat seemed to sink. At this time, Jesus walked through the stormy sea and calmed the storm, reassuring the disciples who were afraid. Seeing this, the disciples confessed, "The one who calms the storm is the Son of God who rules nature."
Also, God is the God who rules over all things. In 1 Samuel 4, Israel and the Philistines fight in a place called Aphek. In this war led by Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli the priest, the Israeli army suffered a great defeat, and even the ark of the covenant of God was taken from the Philistines. And Hophni and Phinehas also died in the war. The Philistines took the ark and put it together in their temple to secure their future through the ark taken from the Israelite army. When the Philistines witnessed that the image of the god they worship was destroyed by the ark they had left together in their temple, the Philistines voluntarily returned the ark to Israel.
What we need to think about through this incident is the fact that God rules over all things and rules over humans, not humans over God. It was their fault for using the ark because of the greed of Hophni and Phinehas to win the war, and the greed of the Philistines who tried to stabilize their future with the stolen ark was punished by God.
In this way, it is a mistaken idea for humans to transcend God's place and rule all things. Since God created all things in this world, it is natural for God to rule all things. We must be people of faith who acknowledge this fact.
In this symposium, we studied the 8th century prophets a little more deeply. The 8th century B.C. refers to about 750 B.C. For about 40 years from 785 to 745, Israel enjoyed a peaceful period.
Dear saints, I hope you believe that God rules the world and that God rules our history. The God who rules the universe rules the world today, and the God who rules the world rules us today.
So, in 1 Samuel 2 today, “God makes rich and makes poor; God humbles and exalts; God raises up and kills; He exalts me, who fell on the muddy ground, and raises the glorified into mud. It is God who is lying on the floor.” We want you to believe clearly that God is in control of us. Instead of looking at the world through human eyes and believing in things that are not eternal, I hope you will live by firmly believing in the fact that God is more precious than birds in the sky or lilies in the field.
Dear brothers and sisters, God reigns over us. Please acknowledge this. Be governed by the good God. That's it. That is the way of blessing and the way of receiving grace.
2010-07-21 20:21:51