"His Story"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe… 

(a repeat from 2010, addressing one of the most interesting significant events in history, of which most people are unaware)

"His Story"      

    

   During the Cuban missile crisis in October, 1962, the world drew closer to nuclear war than at any time in history. Documents declassified in recent years indicate a Russian submarine off the coast of the United States prepared to launch a missile armed with a three megaton atomic bomb on an undisclosed American city.  An American destroyer,  seeking to enforce the quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John Kennedy, attacked the sub with depth charges.  The captain and political officer of the Russian vessel believed a war had begun.  They determined to launch the weapon.  However, engaging the missile required unanimous consent of the three chief chief officers of the vessel.   Second in Command Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov would not agree to launch.

   Some historians refer to Arkhipov as "the man who saved the world from nuclear destruction."   Indeed, if the story is true, Arkhipov is a genuine world hero.  However, he is not the man who saved the world.  It was God who did that.  However, Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov was His servant.  He served the Lord's purposes in the incident mentioned, as do all regarding the ultimate fulfillment of God's historical intentions.

    Obviously, God allows great wars in accordance with the mystery of His purposes in world history.  However, such a war as would have taken place in 1962 would have altered the world to a degree that the Bible's prophecies concerning the future could not be literally fulfilled.  Thus, our Lord directed His staying hand upon the heart and mind of an officer in an obscure Russian submarine, eliciting our thanks to Vasili, and far more, our gratitude to the living and true God who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).

    As we see the world trending ever downward, great comfort fills the believer's heart who has read the last page of the Bible.  As the saying goes, history is His Story, and while much conflict is allowed by God (and perhaps sometimes determined), our Lord's eternal purpose in Christ will be completely fulfilled in His perfect time and way.  All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, and throughout eternity, the history of time will bear witness to the truth that "as for God, His way is perfect" (Romans 8:28; II Samuel 22:31).  Whatever the news of the day brings, and whatever the challenges we will face in times to come,  believers joyfully and tranquilly plant the stakes of our tent on the solid ground of Divine purpose and providence.  The Psalmist beautifully depicts our security, and we close with the bedrock assurance that history is His story...

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge."

(Psalm 46:1-7)

Weekly Memory Verse

    "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, because His mercy endureth forever."

 (Psalm 118:1)

  

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