God Is In Control

Grace, peace and mercy be unto you all who are redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Amen.

Sermon: I want to tell you a story about a little boy who got mad at God. The mother was very concerned with the behavior of her son. When the family bowed their heads to say grace the little boy stared off into space and refused to join in the prayer. The mother became increasingly worried about her son, as his attitude toward God seemed to be hardening with each day. She finally approached her pastor and asked for his advice about how to deal with change in her son.

The pastor asked a series of questions of the young mother to get to the root of the problem. The first question was has anything recently happened in the family? The mother said yes the family dog had been hit by a car and had died. How did you explain the death of the dog? We told him that God needed to take his dog to heaven. Why did you say that? We didn’t know what else to say to the boy when he asked where his dog was. We didn’t want to worry the boy about what happened to dogs when they die. What else did you say to him? We told that maybe there was a little boy in heaven who needed a dog to keep him company.

The pastor met with the boy and talked. The pastor found out that the boy was very angry with God. The boy did not lose his faith because he believed there was a God and He lived in heaven. What the boy was angry about was that God would take his dog and give it to someone else. And this boy didn’t want to talk to God while he was so mad. It took some time to repair the relationship between that little boy and God but God is patient. In time the boy was again saying his prayers. It didn’t hurt the healing process to have the family joined by a new puppy.

The pastor set the young boy straight and let him know that God was not a thief or was God cruel. God was a loving and just God. That death happened to all creatures just as

did birth. But God did love him and would welcome again his prayers

The texts for today are truly the Father’s Voice coming to us the children. It is clear that God was tired of hearing complaining and nagging of Job. Job has been ranting at God about the suffering and misery he has endured and he is letting God have it.

God was laying on the line with Job. Here this man spent his day railing against God and saying, “What have I done to deserve your wrath?” I was a good man who had riches, family and home and all of that has been taken away without any good reason. What Job didn’t realize of course that it was not God by Satan who had robbed him of all that he had. Job didn’t know that it was God who kept him alive when Satan wanted to kill him.

God is saying in this text that he is in control. Everything is in His hand. Who are we to complain when things don’t go our way. Who indeed are we to tell God how to make things right. It is so tempting to do that. I know that I have done it in my life. Haven’t you ever tried to bargain with God to get your way. We did with our parents as kids. We start off telling mom or dad all of the good things we have done in the last week to justify the new toy we want or the movie we want to see. And we remind our parents that our good behavior is dependent upon them doing what we want.

Jesus speaking to His disciples was upset when they were filled with such fear in the storm. He is the Lord. Why should they be afraid and have so little faith in His ability to calm the storm. Jesus is the Word of God He is the one who speaks for God in all instants. The power and majesty His and He will not let them perish.