"The Lord kills and mades alive;

He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The Lord makes poor and rich;

He brings low, He also exalts."

Samuel2:6-7

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Everything belongs to God. EVERYTHING! Not only is He self-governing but He has the right to govern everyone and all things. Think about the rightness of that for a minute. A position such as His...a position of such magnitude, is hard for us to understand I know. It is above us and beyond us as human beings. There is no like earthly position or power or authority anywhere on earth. There is none that is equal. But in spite of our inability to comprehend the sovereignty of God, it is an important issue just the same. One that we should expose ourselves to and consider.

Unfortunately the Lord's sovereignty is a subject that often gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to our personal quest to know and understand Him. We're human. We tend to explore and focus-in-on those aspects of God's nature that appeal to us and, to be brutally honest, minister to our O-so self centered and needy egos. For example: God is love. We like to think about that one. Or there is the fact of His ever-presence. That's another one we focus on and derive much comfort and benefit from. Then there is His energy and super-natural power that He is willing to share with us. Being the weak and needy people that we are we gravitate towards those characteristics that promise to benefit us the most. It's only natural, unfortunately. But the fact is, ultimately, when we examine God's sovereignty, embrace, and submit to the fact that he has the right to rule over us, in the end, that is what sets us free from self and this fallen world and Satan's power over us. You see it is when we examine and explore and submit to God's sovereign rule over our lives...that we grow and excel and serve God the most effectively.

I suppose the bottom-line in all of this is, who can stand in the presence of God and not be humbled? Who can stand in the light of His infinite power and remain arrogant and apathetic to the awe-inspiring fact of who He is? And who can grapple with the fact of His sovereignty and the right He has to govern our lives and not be changed, from within? Listen to what Isaiah wrote,

"'In the year of King Uzziah's death,

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne,

lofty and exalted,

with the train of His robe filling the temple'

and then he exlaimed,

'Woe is me,

for I am ruinted.'"

(See Isaiah 6:1-5)

Isaiah saw God. In an instant he knew that God was the Master of All, including him. And until you and I see that we were created by God and saved by God and that He does have the right to live in and through us and rule over us...we will never be the first class saints and servants God intended and needs us to be.

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The Christian instincts of trust and worship

are stimulated very powerfully by

the knowledge of the greatness of God.

J.I. Packer

GOD IS IMMUTABLE

The Bible says that God is creative.

He was. He is. He always will be.

He still creates new life in an expectant mother's womb.

He still creates breathtaking sunsets everyday.

We plant a bulb and he creates a brilliantly yellow

daffodil in the spring.

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Think about this. The Bible says that God delivered His chosen people, the Israeliets, from captivity. Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, He still delivers thousands of people from eternal death into new life everyday. The Bible says that God parted the Red Sea and made a way for His people to escape Pharaoh's army. God can still part the Red Sea of the oppressive circumstances that Satan puts in our lives and lead us into a life of safety, peace, and rest.

So what's my point? God is still God! He hasn't changed. He never will change. Never! And what's more, He has not compromised or altered His plan for our lives, in the least, and He never will. He hasn't run out of love. He hasn't grown feeble and weak or turned into a lesser God with the passing of time. The God we read about in the Bible...the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...Peter, Paul, and John...He is our God and

...Hebrews 13:5 states that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

I suppose the question I should ask you right now is, Should the fact that God is immutable, unchanging, make a difference in the way we think and live our lives?

Well, to my way of thinking anyway, it definitely should. If God is still God, which He is, if He is the same holy and awe-inspiring Great Divine that we read about in scriptures...then that means He can still do the things He did. That means we can depend on Him. He can be trusted. We can have faith in Him. If we know and believe in the immutibility of God...the God of the Bible...then that means we shouldn't have any trouble putting the whole of our lives into His hands, complete with all our personal problems, fears, worries, and concerns. Because? Because He's God and He can be trusted. He can!

I appreciate what the apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7,

"Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God,

which surpasses all comprehension,

shall guard your hearts and minds

in Christ Jesus."

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Why does Paul speak so confidently about God? Because Paul knew God, personally and experientially. He had faith in God. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus his Savior was God...the eternal and immutable Jehovah...the Great I Am.

Our Lord wants us to accept the fact of His immutability, right now, today. He wants us to hold on to the reality that He does not change, with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our might. And when uncertainties and conflicts enter into the sanctuary of our souls...He wants us to enter boldly into His presence, focus on Him, bask in His love and rest in His goodness. You and I might change, but God never does. Never!

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TAKING IT PERSONAL

Think today why the fact of God's immutability should change your: Faith, The way you think, and the way you live your life. Write a letter of praise to God and thank Him for being...God.

"The character of God is today, and always will be,

exactly what it was in Bible times."

J.I. Packer

Until next time, Love in Christ, Patty Clark