"See now that I, even I am he, and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand."
Deuteronomy 32:39
These words come from the mouth of God Himself - this is God's own description of His sovereignty. There is absolutely no way around the truth that God reigns and rules over all the earth. He gives life and He takes life. He wounds and He heals. There can be no victory over the sovereign Lord of all the universe. All who fight against Him will lose and to fall into His hands is a terrible thing.
He alone sits enthroned as God and ruler of the world and He does as He pleases. No action or choice of ours can thwart His will or catch Him by surprise.
"Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." Psalm 115:3
Compared to the awesome majesty of God we are all like a grain of sand on a vast beach or like a drop of water in a giant bucket.
"Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust." Isaiah 40:15
In His wrath He makes men eat the flesh of their sons and daughters.
"And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them." Jeremiah 19:9
He has readied His bow and whetted his sword to slay all who are opposed to Him.
"If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts." Psalm 7:6
In the end, He will cast into His lake of fire all those who do not belong to Him.
"And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15
Consider therefore, those who do not belong to Him, the goodness and loving kindness of God in Jesus Christ.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
"For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8
And realize that God gave His own son for us. In His sovereignty He made His own Son suffer and die for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God.
"Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief...yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:12
This absolutely sovereign God used His sovereignty to make a way for you to be reconciled to Him.
"...this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." Acts 2:23
Know that there is no other way but through Jesus Christ that salvation and reconciliation with God can be attained.
"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
Consider His kindness and His goodness. You don't need to be a better person - you need Jesus Christ! You don't need to clean yourself up - you need Jesus Christ! Turn to Him and simply fall to your knees before Him acknowledging that you cannot win against Him. Fall in love with Jesus!
And those of us who do belong to Him should remember His sovereignty and worship Him while trembling.
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13
"Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!" Psalm 96:9
It's been kind of a "Sinners in the hands of and angry God" kind of day :)
Blessings!
9 years ago
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