Presentation 04
Presentation 04
Introduction
Many are familiar with the words of the song, 'He's got
the whole world in his hands'. A song which points us to
God's control over every individual and every aspect of
his universe. It is a comforting thought in the midst of
a world of turmoil, uncertainty and confusion to know
that our world is in safe hands. It helps us sleep at
night. It helps us to face life's sorest trials. The focus
is upon God's control and that is always the best
place to begin when we are thinking about our
future and what lies ahead. Just to know that God
is in charge ministers untold comfort and
encouragement to our hearts. And this is what Mary
makes reference to in an even more famous song .
Presentation 04
Introduction
There is a second way in which we can
approach the phrase 'In his hands' and it
involves allowing the focus to shift from God
to ourselves. It stresses the importance of
putting all of our lives in God's hands in
willing surrender and glad obedience.
It is as we do so that we experience the
fruitful outworking of God's grace in our
lives. This too is seen in Mary's life in v38.
After hearing of all that God had planned for
her future Mary responded, 'I am the Lord's
servant'. That is the language of surrender,
the language of submission.
Presentation 04
Introduction
It is important to see here that there are the
two sides to the same coin, and it is for this
reason that we will spend some time
considering two aspects of the phrase 'In his
hands'.
We will retain the order with the focus first
upon God and then upon ourselves because
our capacity for surrendering our lives to God is
influenced by our awareness of his control.
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God's Control Of History
The great theme of Mary's magnificat is the sovereign
control of God in History. She clearly acknowledges
God is in control of events. He is never outmanoeuvred. He cannot be defeated. His will is
unassailable.
Now we need to remind ourselves just who it is that is
a affirming these great truths. This woman's nation had
been annexed by the Roman Empire a people who
ridiculed and scorned the Jews for worshipping a God
who could not be seen. She was a direct descendant of
the royal line of David but was reduced to humble
circumstances while another, Herod, who had no
rightful claim to the throne had purchased it from the
Roman authorities.
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God's Control Of History
This is the woman who is saying God is in
charge of history. God is in Control! She
realised that things do not happen accidentally
in this world - they are brought about.
To know that nothing happens in God's world
apart from God's permission may frighten the
godless, but it stabilises the saints. It assures
them that God has everything worked out and
that everything that happens has a meaning,
whether or not we can see it at the time. God
always has the last word. He is a sovereign
God!
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God's Control Of History
The claim that God has sovereign control over history is
one that many people find staggering as they look out
on the world or in upon their personal worlds.
How can God be in charge if this or that has been
allowed to happen? How can God be in charge of a
world that is in such moral decline? How can God be in
charge when the church in the land appears to be
collapsing? How can God be in charge when evil men
seem to prosper and those who seek to live righteous
lives suffer?
These questions were as much on the lips of those in
Mary's day as they are among our own contemporaries.
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God's Control Of History
What made Mary so different? Oh you say, 'She had
insider information. God, who had been out of
communication with his people for some 400 years had
sent an angel messenger to Mary. That's what made
the difference.'
Do you really think so? That may have strengthened
her convictions but it did not create them. Mary was
a part of a daring remnant of faith who believed God
despite all appearances to the contrary. When God's
cause seemed to have collapsed, they believed God is
at work in all of this. We do not see how, his activity
is not apparent, but he is at work, he is in control.
That is how faith addresses the bleak, black pages
of human history. Is that how you face them?
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God's Control Of History
Either God has history in his hands or, he does not.
Either he is in control of his world as he tells us in his
Word or he is a helpless spectator, a victim of
circumstance. But there is no higher authority than God.
To discuss the authority of almighty God seems a bit
meaningless, and to question it would be absurd. Can
we imagine the Lord God of Hosts having to request
permission of anyone or to apply for anything to a
higher body? To whom would God go for permission?
Who is higher than the Highest? Who is mightier than
the Almighty? Whose position antedates that of the
Eternal? At whose throne would God kneel? Where is
the greater one to whom he must appeal?
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God's Control Of History
The way in which we view God's control will shape our
attitude with regard to the future. It will mean walking
into uncertain days either with apprehension and
foreboding or with a settled confidence.
On burning his bridges before going to China as a
pioneer missionary Hudson Taylor wrote:
"Had I left: the questions 'Shall I go or stay?' to be
settled by circumstances how uncertain I should have
been. But the Lord has enabled me to take the step
without hesitation because it was for his glory, leaving
everything in his hands, my mind has been just as
peaceful as it would have otherwise been unsettled.”
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Submitting To God's Control
But it is not enough to acknowledge that God
is in charge despite appearances to the
contrary. There is a practical response called
for on our part. If we believe that the future is
in God's safe hands then we need to ask, have
we gladly surrendered our lives into those safe
hands?
Does Mary's words in v38 find an echo of
response in our own hearts, 'I am the Lord's
servant'. Mary was putting the whole of her
life and future at God's disposal. This was an
act of complete consecration, an act of
unreserved surrender to the will of God
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Submitting To God's Control
Martin Luther the reformer wrote,
“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost
them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess.”
Luther's words highlight a reluctance that is found in
all our hearts from time to time and it is a reluctance
to trust God with certain areas of our lives. It may be
a concern for our material comfort, it may be a
determination to preserve our reputation, it may be
some human relationship, our job, or our home.
Something that we hold dear. Something we decide
to keep under our control rather than place in God's
hand because we are convinced we can do a better
job of preserving it.
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Submitting To God's Control
When Luther wrote:
“I have held many things in my hands, and I have
lost 'them all; but whatever I have placed in
God's hands, that I still possess.”
Her is expressing an irony which is clearly
reflected in the teaching of our Lord and a great
spiritual principle which he laid down in Lk.
9:24ff
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole
world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
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Submitting To God's Control
This grasping on to aspects of our life over which
we want to preserve control is nothing less than a
vote of no confidence in God's control and ability
to rule in every aspect of our lives for our good. It
is a mark of Christian maturity to recognise this.
Let me quote Oswald Chambers on this subject.
God never destroys the work of his own hands, he
removes what would pervert it, that is all. Maturity
is the stage where the whole life has been brought
under the control of God… A saint's life is in the
hands of God as a bow and arrow in the hands of
an archer. God is aiming at something the saint
cannot see;
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Submitting To God's Control
he stretches and strains, and every now and then the
saint says, ‘I cannot stand any more'. But God does
not heed he goes on stretching until his purpose is in
sight, then he lets fly. We are here for God's designs
not for our own.”
Mary grasped this lesson very quickly, 'We are here for
God's designs not for our own.' Mary did not argue,
'But look here Lord I have my whole future mapped
out. Joseph and I have plans and, to be perfectly
honest, my having a child right now does not fit in.
Joseph's got a contract to make 500 beds for
Nazareth's new superstore. It simply is not convenient
for me to place my life in your hands right now.'
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Submitting To God's Control
Have you and I grasped that God's ability to
do something significant in our lives is, from
a human perspective, dependant upon our
putting every thing in his hands? Does the
reason that the lives of some are so
spiritually impoverished and unfulfilled lie in
the fact that we have not put the whole of
our lives into his care? Are our hands still
full as we cling onto those precious things
over which we deem it important to
exercise our control? God gives where he
finds empty hands.
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Submitting To God's Control
This of course does not mean that any stubborn
refusal on our part to submit all of our lives under
God's control in any way imperils God's sovereignty.
For God can either bypass us as individuals whom he
might usefully employ or he will out of love for us
chasten us until the hand that holds earthly treasures
so tightly begins to relax and open. Our behaviour
does not undermine God's reign.
“While we deliberate he reigns; when we decide wisely
he reigns; when we decide foolishly he reigns, when we
serve him in humble loyalty he reigns; when we serve
him self-assertively he reigns; when we rebel and seek
to withhold our service, he reigns.” WILLIAM TEMPLE
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Conclusion
Have we consciously placed all of our life in
God's hand? Do we see his hands as safe
hands? Have we understood that we are only
likely to begin to do so as we recognise that
that our God is sovereign over his world and
that in everything he exercises his control for
the glory of his name and the eternal benefit
of his people.
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