“The Possessor"

"The Possessor"

   

    

    In a coffeeshop today, I heard a song in which a pop singer intoned, "It's my life and I'll do what I want to!"  Sorry, buddy.  Not the case!

   "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).

   Everything in creation belongs to the One who created it, including every human being who has lived, or ever will live.  Of course, this does not mean that every person knows the Lord in His redeeming grace, or that every person obeys the will of God.  Far from it.  However, the Lord is "the Possessor" of all, even if they reject His very existence and seek to run as far and as fast as they can from the reality in which they "live and move and have their being" (Genesis 14:22; Acts 17:28).  God fits even the wicked into the fulfillment of His eternal purpose in Christ.  The Lord who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" is more than able to use unbelievers as the dark backdrop for His light, or as an agent of chastening for His children, or to reveal Himself as a God of both mercy and justice (Ephesians 1:11).  People can run, but they cannot hide from the One wise enough and involved enough to coordinate their existence into His purposes.

   It's not our life, and we don't really do what we want to do.  This includes the wicked.  Unbelievers are governed by sin as their master, in both heart and in flesh (John 8:34).  Thus, they exist as puppets of the world, the devil, and the flesh.  Again, however, their unrighteous doings flow with the current of the Divine river of history.  This does not mean that sin is God's will, or that He determines unbelief and disobedience.  He does not (James 1:13).  We commit grievous and dangerous doctrinal error when we assign the cause of sin to God in any manner whatsoever.  However, just as the worst sin of history - the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus on the cross - served as the very means of our redemption,  so does God fit all things together for the glory of His Son and the benefit of those who love Him.  We live in His creation.  He made us, sustains our being, and we belong to Him whether we believe it or not, or like it or not.  His eternal purpose in Christ will be fulfilled, and all things and all people will have played a part, as coordinated by the Lord.  This truth promises a joyful role both now and forever as the trusting sons and daughters of "the Possessor of Heaven and earth".  And it warns of a role of misery for those who reject Him, perhaps in this life, but surely in the next.

"The LORD hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil."

(Proverbs 16:4)

Weekly Memory Verse

    "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

 (Psalm 46:1)