Praise Him

 January 20, 2024

How active is God in the world? We Christians have no trouble saying that he is in control, we aren’t slow about praying his intervention in matters political, medical, relational, or climatological. We pray for success in our endeavors, for healing of the sick, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual. We pray for broken relationships to be restored, and for the weather to be cooperative. But do we really believe God is active in these matters?

Hear Job speak:

”“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released. If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land…He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste.“

—Job 12:13-15, 23-24 

I grant you that when you look at some of the decisions made by the world’s leaders, it is no stretch to believe that God deprives them of their reason, but when we look at droughts and floods, we tend to see natural causation rather than the direct hand of God. That’s because we are children of the Enlightenment, where scientific method has for many, squeezed God to the edges of reason. Occurrences that once were attributed to God we now know to have logical and natural origins. Does God actually hold back the rain or order a flood? There was a time when such thinking was commonplace, but not anymore.

Droughts and floods, the rise and fall of nations we may attribute to natural processes, but what about our relationships, our health, our endeavors? Do we actually believe God will directly intervene though our prayers? Job believed it, as did all the Biblical saints. How God chooses to work in the world is his business, not ours. So do I check the weather app on my phone before going outside? Sure I do! The technology that allows us to track storms is a gift, but I cannot forget that it is God who created the wind and rain, the cold and snow. He has intervened in the world before, and he can do it again. So…

“Praise him, sun and moon; 

praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens 

and you waters above the skies. 

Praise the Lord from the earth, 

you great sea creatures 

and all ocean depths, 

lightning and hail, snow and clouds, 

stormy winds that do his bidding, 

you mountains and all hills, 

fruit trees and all cedars, 

wild animals and all cattle, 

small creatures and flying birds, 

kings of the earth and all nations, 

you princes and all rulers on earth, 

Let them praise the name of the Lord, 

for his name alone is exalted; 

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.”

—Psalm 148:3-4, 7-11, 13