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-6-
The God Who Is
Lord of Life
In Job chapter 12, verse 10, we are told "In (His) hand is the soul (that is, the life) of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." The breath of man is in the hands of God. His life and times are under His control.
Note that there is a very real distinction made here between animals and man. Man is not an animal. The fact that a woman may nurse does not make man a mammal. Man was created in the image of God. But if men can be persuaded that they are merely animals, then they become dispensable. It may then be to their advantage to rid themselves of undesirables.
God is Lord of life, but if men can be persuaded they are simply the products of evolution with its endless changes, then God is not their Creator, and therefore God is not their Lord. He then has no right to issue commandments to men; and men have no duty to obey Him. This is the reason George Bernard Shaw wrote, "The world jumped at Darwin at the very thought of being rid of God."
Since the life of men and animals is in the hands of God, God is their sovereign. He is their Lord. In Exodus chapter 23, verse 28, God told Israel He would send hornets before them to drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites. Someone has written,
He did not compel them to go, no, no; He did not compel them to go. The Lord never makes us to go against our will, He just makes us willing to go.
When in the wilderness Israel rebelled against the Lord, He sent fiery serpents, i.e. poisonous snakes, among the people which "bit the people and much people died" (Numbers 21:6). Yet, when a poisonous snake latched onto the hand of the apostle Paul, God preserved him (Acts 28:3-6).
The Lord spoke through Balaam's ass (Numbers 22:28-30), and He prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17). Even the animals obey the Lord. "Every beast of the forest is mine," He has said, "and the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Psalm 50:10). As Thomas Watson expressed it, "All God's creatures are at His check and beck." He can halt them, or He can summon them. God is the Lord. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. There is no other God but He. "I am God," He says, "and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:22). "Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any" (Isaiah 44:8). All men are at His disposal, for He is Lord of every man and nation.
Lord of Every Man and Nation
In Exodus chapter 4, God called Moses to stand before Pharaoh and to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. In verse 10, the man of God protested arguing "`O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.' And the LORD said unto him, `Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?'" People who cannot talk, and those who cannot hear, like those who cannot see are all as much a part of the creation of the Lord as the eloquent, and the seeing. It is the Lord and not the Devil who makes the deaf and the blind. God is the Lord; and He rules over the states of men.
Lord of the States of Men
Some time ago, a Baptist pastor told me he believed that in life, God and the Devil are in, as it were, a checker game; and that God is waiting to see what the Devil's next move will be. God is neither impotent nor ignorant. He knows the end from the beginning. He who has written the premiere chapter of history has already written the conclusion of history. He rules over the states of men. He is sovereign over he dumb, the deaf, the seeing, and the blind. God is the Maker of them all.
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all" (Proverbs 22:1,2). They are false teachers who preach that the poor are poor because they do not have enough faith. And, they are false as well who teach that it is the Devil who makes people poor. It is the Lord Himself who makes rich, and it is He who makes poor. The Lord gives one power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18b), but to another He chooses not to give such power.
Note first that it is no shame to be poor. The rich and the poor are of equal standing with the Lord. And, note second, that a poor man who has a good name is far richer than he who has only silver and gold. It is the Lord who makes rich, and it is He who makes poor. "Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all" (I Chronicles 29:12). Both riches and honor come from the Lord, and He has the right to give unto each as He will. He has made us, and it is He who has been our Provider and Preserver each moment of our life.
"The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up" (I Samuel 2:6,7). God is sovereign over the states of men and nations. The ancient Greeks preserved this knowledge even in their paganism. They taught the supreme god was "Zeus," whose name came from the Greek word meaning "life," because to the Greeks of old he was the giver of life to all—to men as well as to nations; and he ruled even over the acts of men.