A Brief Meditation for the Month

April 2023

How presumptuous it is of politicians today who boastfully declare that if they are elected to high office, they and their policies will make the nation great again. While their rhetoric is impressive, such intentions and claims do not take into account God’s word, the Bible, which says: “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, but God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalm 75:6–7. God, who remains in control of the destinies of the nations, warns: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17. While the numbers are increasing of those who strive to remove God, and the very idea that God exists, from the consciousness of our society, God’s bible-believing people remain confident in his word. That word states: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” Isaiah 40:15. History is replete with examples of the demise of great empires, nations, and governments when their political systems rejected God and his laws. Their imperial dominance did not last. Decadence, and moral decay, like malignant cancer, corrupted and eventually destroyed the body politic from within. One of the world’s renowned rulers in history, the mighty Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned from 605 to 562 BC, building his extensive Babylonian Empire, was compelled to acknowledge: “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Daniel 4:35. During his reign, Nebuchadnezzar boasted of his personal greatness and the greatness of the Empire he had built (Daniel 4:30), but God humbled him. For a time, Nebuchadnezzar became so mentally deranged that he was incapable of administering the affairs of his Empire. Upon his recovery, however, he was constrained to acknowledge the supreme reign of One greater than himself. However mighty mortal men are, they are just that: mortal men. They come; they go. They rise; they fall. Their worldly greatness is but transitory. The Psalmist David testified: “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” Psalm 37:35–36. Although the prophet Jeremiah lamented the decimation of his nation because of apostasy, and the captivity of many of his compatriots in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, he retained this confidence, “Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.” Lamentations 5:19.

God’s dear people are in this world by divine appointment as his witnesses, but they know it is not their final abode. Affected like other citizens around them by the actions and policies of their rulers, Christians who believe their bibles have something to sustain them, even if and when they become the target of ridicule and, at times, open hostility. Their source of consolation is the Bible itself which offers them this assurance: “The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27. Amidst all the political, economic, and military upheaval in our world at present, God’s people can remain calm, confident, and steadfast in their faith because it is placed in the Lord God omnipotent, who reigns—Revelation 19:6. Paul confirms this glorious Potentate to be none other than our glorified Saviour as the one, “who is over all.” Romans 9:5. Child of God, our Saviour reigns. He is in complete control of everything. You have nothing to fear but sin.

G. G. Hutton.