"The Global God"

Scripture Passage

Jeremiah 49:1-33; 2 Kings 24:5-7; 2 Chronicles 36:6-8; 2 Kings 24:8-9

Scripture Focus

“This message was given concerning the Ammonites…”
“This message was given concerning Edom…”
“This message was given concerning Damascus…”
“This message was given concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor…”
                                       (Jeremiah 49:1,7,23,28 NLT)

Observation

Every time I read a passage like this I have to “re-read” my “re-search” in order to “re-discover” what I cannot seem to “re-call.” “Who were the Ammonites, again? Where is Edom, exactly? Is Kedar a place or a people?” I confess to having hard time keeping the specifics intact.

Even without (last time, I promise) “re-newing” that knowledge, today’s passage reminds me of how “global” my God is. As an American—more than that, as a mid-western American who’s always lived within 200 miles of my own hometown—it’s easy to forget that God’s heart is for the whole world and the whole of history; that the 200+ years of my nation’s history is hardly a drop in the bucket on God’s scale; that nations rise and fall as God orchestrates the affairs of humanity for His good pleasure and in His good purpose.

I listened this week to a believing Chinese economist describe his nation’s return to prominence on the world stage. In his mind, China’s minimized standing over the last few hundred years was nothing more than a blip on the radar screen of history and, outside of that anomaly, China has always been a nation and people of world significance. He went on to describe the growth of the church in China and made me wonder to myself—given all the concerns in our country about the precentage of US debt held by China and the trade deficit and...—if it wouldn't seem terribly ironic to Americans were God to hand our declining-in-righteousness nation over to a Chinese nation where people are increasingly numbered as His!

None of this in any way reduces my love of our great country or my appreciation for the privileges of being here or the sacrifices of those who’ve made it great. I’m only acknowledging that “He’s got the whole world in His hands”—with emphasis on the “whole”! The wonder is that even as my God directs the course of nations, He speaks, as well, to me—filling my moment-by-moment, day-by-day existence with His path and purpose, in order that my life might matter in the global orchestrations of the God of the Ages. Re-markable!

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