Is It True that God has the World in His Hands?
I do not know if you have ever met Marian Anderson or not, but she is a great singer and declared by those who know her as a very great person. Over three decades ago, she made a tour around the world to take the message of good will and the friendship of the United States to the people of other lands. This great singer, great artist in music, also carried another message and one far greater in the solution of world problems. This greater message was carried in the words of a song that she sang, and which song she made popular (it also helped to make her famous). Everywhere she went she sang, “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.”
You know, of course, about the popularity of this song, and how it has been set to popular beat. I am told that our younger generation is more impressed with the rhythm of popular songs than with the lyrics. Perhaps with most of them, this is good. However, with this song, it is the lyrics that account for its greatness. The song states:
He’s got the whole world in his hands;
He’s got the little bitty baby in His hands;
He’s got you and me, brother, in His hands;
He’s got you and me, sister, in His hands;
He’s got everybody here in His hands;
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
What a message to carry to a world in which East and West were struggling to determine which would hold the rest of the world in its hands! What a message to carry to a world of people who were striving for independence but who had forgotten they depend upon God! What a great message to carry to a world where the nation with the largest satellite in orbit or the most powerful missile with which to launch it was expected to hold the world in its hands! What a great message to carry to millions of people who were literally starving to death and who thought that God had forgotten them!
The Message Is Timeless
Although I have spoken of the lyrics of the song and its message “for the past,” I believe the thought is one that is timeless. Was not this the message of Jesus when He said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-30). Jesus is saying that God has the whole world in His hands. Even the tiniest fowl of the air cannot fall to the ground without His will, and every single hair of your head is known by Him.
The Application. I am persuaded that if this is true, no death, or no change in health can escape His attention. I am convinced if this is true that no loss of happiness or injury to body or mind is beyond His knowledge. I am assured that no threat to life or to character or no desire to do wrong is too powerful for Him to overcome. No dictator, no missile, no spaceship, no tariff, no injunction, no tornado, no hurricane, no satellite, no enemy of any kind can separate us from the hand and heart of God.
God has president Francois Mitterrand of France in His hand. He has president Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in His hand. He has Mikhail S. Gorbachev in His hand. He has president George Bush in His hand. He has birth and death, soul and body, health and illness, wealth and want in His hands. He has night and day, wind and calm, flood and drought in His hands. He has the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the male and female, the great and the small, the infants and the aged in His hands. He’s got the whole world in His hands. I am thinking that we all need to be reminded of Romans 8:35-39. I ask you to listen to it carefully.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Language of Scripture. I was a student of ACC when the movie, The Ten Commandments, was released. Dr. Paul Southern was then the head of the Bible Department. The director of the programming for such movies called Dr. Southern, and those of us who were Bible majors had the opportunity of previewing the movie before it was ever shown publicly. I remember seeing the part where “the finger” of God wrote the Ten Commandments in the stone, and I thought to myself, my, if the finger of God could do that, what could the whole “hand” of God do?
The “hand” of God is not a hand like Goebel Music has, but it is an anthropomorphic, a human characteristic attributed to deity. In the Scriptures, almost without exception, the word “hand” is used for a symbol of strength, power, might, and determination. I want us to listen to some passages from the Bible that say what I have been trying to say, as it says it in the most precise and direct language.
“Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord hath done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:9-10, emp. added).
“For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it; for his hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 95:3-5, emp. added).
“In thy hand are power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all” (1 Chronicles 29:12, emp. added).
“As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, . . . This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations . . . his hand is stretched out and who will turn it back” (Isaiah 14:24-27, emp. added).
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24, emp. added).
“The hand of our God is for good upon all that seek him” (Ezra 8:22, emp. added).
“The righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God” (Ecclesiastes 9:1, emp. added).
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6, emp. added).
After giving what I have thus far, if you are average (normal) you perhaps are saying, “My, that sure is interesting about Marian Anderson, the message that was for ‘the world then,’ and it is thrilling to know about what Jesus said and all those verses on ‘the hand’ of God, but what does that have to do with me?” “What does it mean?” “Is it something that affects me?”
Guess what? I am so glad you asked those questions, for I believe that here is something that affects our faith and helps to regulate our conduct while we make our pilgrimage upon these earthly shores. Allow me to suggest a few items as to what it means when the whole world is in the hands of God. If it is true that God has the whole world in His hands, THEN:
The World Belongs To God
We are very plainly told, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and those that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).
We need to learn that everything belongs to God. The Earth is His, it is not ours! Our friends, our relatives, our children belong to Him, and we are not at liberty to misuse or abuse anything that God has placed at our disposal. Listen to these Scriptures:
“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts” (Haggai 2:8).
“For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10).
“Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou rulest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name . . . for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:11-14).
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning” (James 1:17).
“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common” (Acts 4:32).
“Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; for ye were brought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
The world belongs to God! God has given us dominion over the material world, and over the animal world, but God has not given us the prerogative to misuse it or to destroy it selfishly. We are living at a time, when in our own land, our natural resources are being wasted. I would imagine that each of us can look back over the past twenty-four hour period and recall much we have wasted; money that we have wasted; time that we have wasted; food that we have wasted. It makes me want to shout, “The earth is the Lord’s!”
The Indians thought the ground and its yield were sacred. When the white man began to plunder the earth, as he came into the new world, and to waste its resources, the Indians were appalled at the lack of reverence he had for the earth and its fruit. What a fool a hoarder or a materialist is! (cf. Luke 12:16-21). God has merely let us have some things to use for Him, and to take care of for Him.
“Wherefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).
“Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthian 4:2).
The World Is Subject To God
If it is true that the whole world is in the hands of God, then the world is subject to God. The devil might have said, “It is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” The case is that he could not reign anywhere; God reigns over the whole universe. He is the God of all; He is the Lord of all.
We are living in a time when there is a mighty struggle at the top levels of governmental authority. Men are seeking supremacy over other men and doing their utmost to have dominion over them. It is very clear from sacred Scripture that regardless of how high a man may raise himself over other men, regardless of his position, power, prestige or popularity, that man is still subject to the reign and dominion of God. If this is not the teaching of the Word, then I fail miserably to grasp it. Old Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, was the king of a great empire. There came a time in his life, after he had misused his power, that the man of God by the name of Daniel came to him and prophesied that God was going to depose him from his throne. The reason was, in the words of this man of God: “Till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:25). “He removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21).
In the New Testament, in that great Revelation letter, we read, “They will make war on the Lamb but the Lamb will conquer them, for he is the Lord of lords and King of kings” (Revelation 17:14). Last year while in Thailand, I was startled at the way our own people spoke of the king of Thailand. I realize it was his birthday, but when I kept hearing people speak of “the” king, “the king,” and the “king,” I said we need to watch our language as there is but one who deserves that title! An elder rebuttled and said, “We have no problem here ... we are to pray for kings ... that we...” (I knew the reference, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, though it was not given). I said, “Yes, pray for them, as I pray for the Catholics and their priests, but I am not going to call them Father” (cf. Matthew 23:9). Then I reminded all present of the statement by Paul:
I charge them in the sight of God, who giveth life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; that thou keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. (1 Timothy 6:13-16. I told them how the ASV reads in the footnote: “Them that reign as kings ... them that rule as lords”).
It is no wonder that Peter, on the day of Pentecost said what he did in Acts 2:36, as, indeed, he is both Lord and Christ!
I think we need to keep in mind such verses as Exodus 22:28; Ecclesiastes 10:20; Acts 23:4, when we talk about various governments of today and perhaps have a better respect for such. But I need just here to make us think in this realm. Brethren, can we sensibly subject ourselves to any other authority? Can we soberly fret over governors, kings, rulers, and dictators? God sets them up and God removes them, and they are all subject to Him. Our prime business is to go about this world of ours (or His) telling people of the King of those who reign as kings and the Lord of those who rule as lords! Indeed, we need to pray “for” them (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-2), but we need to understand they would have “no power, authority” if it were not given to them by God, “from above” (cf. John 19:11). It is still true today that Jesus has “all authority” both in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
The World Is Ordered By God
If it is true that God has the whole world in His hands, then it is the case that the world is ordered by God. With the thinking I hear expressed today, I am sure that most of us would agree Joseph, when in that blackened pit, might have thought, “This is just my luck.” Or, as he was sold to the Midianites into slavery in Egypt, he might have uttered, “Why does this have to happen to me?” Or, again, when his friends turned against him while he was in Egypt and forgot him in prison, he might have said, “I do not know what I have done to deserve this.”
However, Joseph had an attitude that we need so much to have in our world today. His was one of triumphant faith in God. When his brethren finally came to Egypt and were identified to him and when he was reunited with them, he said, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God ... you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 45:8; 50:20).
His life was ordered by God. God used Joseph to accomplish a great purpose (it reminds me somewhat of Jeremiah 1:4-8). Joseph may not have understood the “why” of the pit, being a slave or in prison, but one thing he did understand and that was that God was working out all things for his good and also for God’s own glory.
I said this on one occasion and was told, “Yea, but that was in the Old Testament.” I do not want to get into brother Connally’s topic, but my reply to the above was that Romans 8:28 was a blessed promise and that was in the New Testament. Brethren, we need to remember the four laws found in that verse:
1. The law of operation — all things work.
2. The law of cooperation — all things work together.
3. The law of compensation — all things work together for good.
4. The law of limitation — all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.
When Paul got back from his first missionary trip, he did not go to Antioch and say, “Let me tell you about the beatings I received from those wicked Jews” or, “Let me tell you of that wicked sorcerer over on the island of Cyprus and his efforts to deter our efforts.” In words clear and simple, when Paul came to Antioch he “rehearsed all things God had done with them” (cf. Acts 14:27).
To the victorious, triumphant Christian who lives by faith, I want to ask, “Is there anything outside the providential care of God?” Does not God have in His hands every single event, that is, nothing is left to luck, or to fate, but all things will be molded together into a common purpose in harmony with God’s will and God’s purpose. Yea, it disturbs me to no end to hear some of my brethren sing, “What will be, will be!”
There are manifold verses we need to commit to memory and let them rule our hearts and help us to mold our lives (1 Peter 5:5-7; Romans 8:31; Philippians 4:4-13; Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:3; Psalm 37:3-5). Indeed, hearts need to bear in reality what our coins say in fact — “In God We Trust!” While recovering from a wreck in the hospital, I constantly heard, “good luck,” and “don’t worry.” Finally, I was “full to the brim” and said, “I do not believe in luck” and “I do not worry.” Luck means chance, wheel of fortune, the fickle finger of fate, how the cookie crumbles, amulet, rabbit’s foot, fetish, voodoo, etc., and I never did think for a person to carry around a “rabbit’s foot” that it must have been “too lucky” for the rabbit! These are two words that I wish we could knock right out of the Christian’s vocabulary. Surely we all believe our world is not run by fate or just by chance. Our world is ordered by God.
The World Is Controlled By God
If it is true that God has the whole world in His hands, it is also the case that the world is controlled by God. I wonder, is this not the reason that we pray to God. Is God not in control of the universe. If so, then can’t He do something about it? In the Old Testament, in Exodus 3:7, God said he had “seen,” “heard,” and “knew” of the affliction, the cry and the sorrows of His people in Egypt. In the New Testament, there is a passage that I call “my power unlimited” Scripture and in it Paul says, “Yes, and God can do something about it” (speaking of seeing, hearing and knowing, I added that thought). Paul said, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
This verse contains so many great thoughts that it about blows my mind. It speaks in the terms that thrills our being when it says:
God,
God is,
God is able,
God is able to do,
God is able to do exceeding,
God is able to do exceeding abundantly,
God is able to do exceeding abundantly above, above all we can ask and above all we can think, and that according to the power that worketh in us! Indeed, we pray because God can change the course of events (and I mean nothing miraculous about that statement, either) (James 5:13-15). God does uphold the world (Hebrews 1:3).
Not only this, but God is in complete control of my life and of your life. Note these verses:
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that we may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
“Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4; cf. Romans 5:3-5).
“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death” (James 1:13-15).
“Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him” (James 5:13-15).
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9).
I am convinced we need to think on these Scriptures (and on many others). God will not let you be tempted beyond your strength! Satan is in his hand and God will not let Satan rise up against you and slay you with a power that is beyond your control. God will, with the temptation, provide the way of escape that we may be able to endure it. Think on that for a moment! Yes, when God has the entire world in his hands, even Satan himself cannot go beyond the limits of God, that is, of those God has placed on him (Proverbs 16:7; Hebrews 2:14-15). May we never forget that God is in control of the entire world! Something is mighty wrong when a Christian lives beside one who is a non-Christian and when some “dark cloud” hovers over us the Christian is as “worried” as is the non-Christian! In this case, who is the greater fool, the man who says there is “no God,” or the man who has placed his trust in God by his obedience to the divine will, then he prays for ... and then he “worries” about that which he prayed for and asked help about? I can tell you immediately who it is! Oh, how we need to live like we pray and realize “he is with us all the way” (Matthew 28:20).
The World Is Saved By God
If it is true that God has the whole world in His hands, then it necessarily follows that the world is saved by God. Remember that statement made in the book of Acts about those faithful children of God who had been scattered from Jerusalem by persecution as revealed by Luke (Acts 8:4). They had gone over to North Africa and over to the island of Cyprus. Some of them had gone from Cyprus to Antioch and had preached there (Acts 11:19). We are told that when they came to Antioch they spoke to the Gentiles the Lord Jesus. Then we read, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21).
The conversion of the world, which we are (that is, the church of the living God) to accomplish, will not be the work of our hands. I do not want to be misunderstood on this point, as I, like all of you realize that God works through human instrumentality (2 Corinthians 4:7). The conversion of the world is going to be by the hand of God as He moves, directs, empowers and guides us through His word. Take note of these Scriptures:
“For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth from my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).
“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me” (John 6:44-45; 14:6).
“For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men? What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him, I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow-workers: ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:4-9).
The same hand that led Israel out of Egyptian bondage and across the Red Sea, the same hand that brought them into the land of Canaan and drove out their enemies before them, the same hand that won victories for David, inspired the prophets and raised up the enemies to punish Israel, is the hand that guides the church and empowers it and leads it into fields of opportunity. If I failed to believe this, although I know God works through His word, I’d just as soon believe in some theory that disposes God from His throne.
When I preach the gospel to someone, I never think that it is through my power when they respond to the Word in their obedience, but it is rather through the power of the living God as the sword does its work upon the heart of that person (Hebrews 4:12-13; Ephesians 6:17). We, therefore, are instruments in the hand of God and the world is saved by God’s power (1 Corinthians 4:15; Romans 1:16; 1 Timothy 3:14-15; Acts 11:14; etc.).
I had a person to ask me on one occasion, “Do you expect a response every time you preach?” My answer was a firm statement in the affirmative. Brethren, we are dealing with a living God, and the power of His breath (Psalm 33:6,9; Genesis 1:3-27) by which He made the world is the same power (2 Timothy 3:16-17) that is in the living Word (Hebrews 4:12-13) and, indeed, it is power (1 Corinthians 1:18-23). May we never minimize the Word of God nor look to some other source for our Power! This is (has been and I suppose will be) the mistake that so many have made and it is the heart and tragedy of denominationalism!
Conclusion
This is the message that is the answer to so many of our problems that are today facing our world. We need to declare to all of those who are too cynical to see the opportunities in the world to preach effectively, to those who fear the future, to those who are beset by tragedy, disappointment and heartache, to those who are demigods and bigots, and who try to lord it over their fellowmen, and to those who have to live under such tyranny, and emphatically state, “God has the whole world in His hands.”
The recognition that the whole world is in the hands of God, the realization that our duty is plainly and simply to respect and submit ourselves to that authority, is the essence of being what Almighty God wants us to be and do. Before Jesus left the Earth, after being on it forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), He stated to the apostles, “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Basically, this is what it means to become a Christian. It simply means, as our song says, “Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way.” Indeed, mold me, make me, use me, yea, have thine own way with me.
If you believe that God has the whole world in His hands and you know your life is being lived outside of His care, His protection, His wisdom, His authority, His providence, then you need this lesson. We repeat for emphasis that all authority, all power and all wisdom, all love and all control on this earth belong to His Majesty, are in His hands. We each need to yield to His authority as has been demonstrated through the Blessed Son, Jesus Christ. The whole world is in His hands and they are “open unto us” (Revelation 3:20) and they will guide us into eternal life as we obey His Word. However, I do want you to know that I would be less than honest if I did not remind you of this passage:
For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:30-31, emp. GM).
Unless we “take his hand” as our strength, our stay and our guide, we will fall into the terrible punishment that His hands will inflict upon the disobedient.
The Providence of God
1989 Power Lectures
pp. 465-80
Goebel Music (1934-2013) was a close associate and friend of Dr. Thomas B. Warren. He received the BA and MA from Abilene Christian College and the BDiv from Vanderbilt University. Music was an extensive writer and speaker, frequently with The Spiritual Sword during Dr. Warren’s tenure as editor.