Peace! Be still!

I woke at 5:00 am thinking of the sovereignty of God which is a huge topic. Volumes of books have been written. But I am compelled to give a mini-series in the next few weeks. What prompted me is- because my wife is in Adelaide for a double purpose: A) To be with our nearly 7 months old beautiful grandson and family-for medical reason. Mother and son flew via “Care Flight” (Medical plane) last Friday, others followed Saturday and Sunday via commercial planes. B) The second purpose was to see my wife’s nearly 100 years mother who is living in a wonderful home for ‘old folks.’ She has not seen her since January because of Covid 19. She was allowed to see her mother provided she would have a ‘flu vaccine.’ She surrendered to the idea of having one. But here comes the ‘bombshell.’ Because of 17 C19 cases in Adelaide yesterday, all homes for “aged folks” in Adelaide are lockdown. As a prevention, she is not allowed to see her mother. Then, as you know our Northern Territory government lockdown our borders yesterday between South Australia and NT.

My wife called me yesterday almost in tears-“I’m almost there to see mom, but I can’t,” she said. It breaks my heart too and for my children and grandchild. This is because we are truly human. I told my wife trust in God, our greatest comfort in life is the Sovereignty of God. He knows everything. She was comforted by those words-the sovereignty of God. The Bible says Jesus exercised this authority/sovereignty when he rebuked the storm on the Sea of Galilee, provoking this response from his disciples: “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. . . . And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:39-41).Does this mean that God can put a halt to the destructive path of a tornado or typhoon as He wishes. Yes. God is also sovereign over events that from our limited human point of view appear to be entirely random. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33). His sovereignty extends to the affairs of our daily lives and the plans we make for each day. We can take comfort in God sovereignty. As Christians our view is based upon our biblical understanding. True, it is impossible for our finite mind to fully grasp why God allows pain, suffering and evil to come our way. However, our greatest comfort is: GOD IS SOVEREIGN in everything. We are constantly admonish to have faith and trust in the love and goodness of God. There is no single matter that God is not aware that affects our lives-whether personal, church and affairs of nation and the world. As my mother would always say jokingly or not “God knows everything”-in spite of the fact that she only finished grade 4 in school in the 1930s. There are many verses of Scriptures about the sovereignty of God-which will be given in the series.

Let me encourage you, I know some of you are in pain, I can’t see you all and visit you because of my and your circumstances-whether medical, political, economic, social etc. reasons. Pour your tears to God, don’t be embarrassed to shed tears-you are human loved by the Lord, the Sovereign God. Don’t bottled up what you are feeling, every drop of your tears is precious to Him. He is on the Throne, He will never leave you nor forsake you. When I was a young Christian I used and still sing one of my favourite hymns “What a Friend we have in Jesus.” The second verse says: “Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in Prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer!” Our God is Sovereign, His Grace is abundant. All by grace and by grace alone, by faith alone through Christ alone!