Good Tuesday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Here is it, November 5th, 2024. We have finally arrived at “Decision Day” in America. This date has been marked on the world calendar for a long time. Leaders of many nations are watching closely to see who the next President of the United States will be and what that will mean for relations with their nations. Stock markets around the world are watching, seeking to project the economic impact globally of the decision Americans will make today. Militaries around the world stand at the ready awaiting word from their leader in response to America’s decision. Billions of people, of all ages and nationalities will be listening to hear the result of this election, believing their nation, their city and quite possibly their lives will be impacted by this “Decision Day”. And of course, God is watching!
Neither you nor I can with confidence predict what will happen today nor can we predict how America’s decision today will affect our world. But God already knows it all! Do you understand that my friends? Psalm 139 is a famous and powerful Scripture which assures us of God’s complete foreknowledge of everything that will ever happen, long before it happens!
Consider these statements in Psalm 139 speaking of God’s complete knowledge of all things: “You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely.” (Ps. 139:3,4) God is declaring that His foreknowledge is perfect. It means God sees the future, in complete detail, as if it is happening right now, in real time. It also means God knows everything about everyone, everywhere at all times. God also knows every event which will happen long before it happens. This is the Omniscience, all knowing, character of God. This truth should calm our anxious hearts on this “Decision Day”. God already knows the result and God already knows how every world leader, every stock market, every army, in fact every person will respond!
Have you ever felt lost? Did you know Psalm 139 tells us God is everywhere present all the time? “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.” (Ps. 139:7-10) You’ll remember Hagar gave the name “El Roi” to God saying, “you are the God who sees me.” (Gen. 16:13) This is the Omnipresence of God. He is everywhere present at all times. It assures that God will be as fully present tomorrow and 100 years from now as He has always been, thus we need not fear we will ever face a day or a situation when God is nowhere to be found!
And that’s why the closing invitation of Psalm 139 is so important for you and me and everyone today: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23,24) How is your heart today friends, what are your thoughts? Will God be honored by all you do and say today, and if you are a voting adult in America, are you confident God is leading you to discern which candidate will be the better President for America and our world?
Now here is a very significant statement in God’s Word that applies to this “Decision Day”: “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” (Proverbs 21:30) Here’s another declaration by God which may help us gain HIS perspective on this day. “I am God and there is no other, I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please… What I have said that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do… I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away; and My salvation will not be delayed.” (Is. 46:9-13) Now ponder that for a moment. What do you suppose are God’s overarching, never changing, purposes for planet earth and its inhabitants? Listen to Psalm 33:11 “The plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.”
I have an important question for us to consider: will anything happen today or tomorrow or anytime in the future which is a surprise to God? Could something happen which God had not anticipated, something which would move God to frantically scramble to devise His response, like we humans do when we are surprised by something unexpected? Could anything happen today which would create such a global problem God would be unable to accomplish His purposes in our world?
Now, as we watch the news reports today, tonight and tomorrow, I urge us all to take great comfort in these powerful truths about God which we find in His Word. Almighty God is Sovereign over all things, at all times, in all places. While He has given full freedom to every person to think and make their choices, and today those choices will elect a President, God’s overall purposes in our world will never be thwarted by mankind! And every human being will stand in full accountability before God one day, for everything in their lifetime, as Hebrews 4:13 declares: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” And this powerful statement confirms a day of reckoning for each person: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done in the body whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
So today we rest in God’s Sovereignty, and we live every moment of this day following the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives to honor God with every word and action. And tomorrow we’ll awaken to human history being written by human choices, under the watchful eye of Sovereign God within the parameters of God’s overall, unchanging purposes in our world. Here’s a song celebrating these truths and hopefully calming the anxiety all around the world:
Today’s Scripture: Psalm 139.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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