Issue 1226 – The King – August 19, 2023
This morning, a bit of a throwback to 2003.
I used to enjoy a good game of chess. I was never really good at the game, even less so after my brain injury in 1991, but it still fascinates me.
A good chess player anticipates all the possible responses to his/her move. Not only do they predict the possible immediate response, but they also must think through all the possibilities for the whole game for every move. I used to be able to think four or five moves ahead, but now it’s one or at most two moves that I can plan. Needless to say, that makes me easy pickings for an experienced player.
The players that amaze me the most are the real masters. They can play twenty, thirty or more games at once. They can play those games simultaneously and win the vast majority of them.
I think of God sometimes as the ultimate chess player. It’s a flawed analogy but apt in some ways. The Lord is omniscient, so He knows the responses to the infinite possibilities of billions of players’ moves over untold generations. He can do that, understand and provide for what is needed in every case. He must know exactly what decisions every person will face on a given day and all the possible outcomes of those decisions.
Think of little things, like the cheque that arrived unexpectedly in the mail for the amount you needed. That didn’t just happen; that was the result of the master strategist at work. Some skeptics would dismiss that as a coincidence, but when it happens over and over again to people all over the world, the probability of it being a random event becomes nil.
What about those divine appointments? You know, the ones where the right person had to be at the right spot and say precisely the right thing to touch your heart or encourage you. Consider the planning that went into making that happen.
How many people were involved in the process that led you to a personal relationship with Christ? It took 35 years of situations and circumstances, none of which I could have planned, before I finally saw the truth. Only the ultimate chess master, God, could have arranged for that.
Sometimes I have readers who will write and share how deeply a given issue of Gleanings From The Word has touched their lives. These are people I’ve never met, often in places I will never go.
Somehow or another, they had to come across Gleanings and get on the mailing list. God then had to inspire me with the perfect thought to fit their circumstances. There was no way I could know what they needed to hear. It could only happen by God’s moving and planning.
God truly is in control. He is KIng of the board in every sense of the word.
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. Psalm 68:20 NIV
How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 2 Samuel 7:2 NIV
There truly is no one like God. He is the master planner, the great lover and the redeemer of all who will be saved.
Among the gods, there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. Psalm 86:8 NIV
Until next time, let go of your illusions of control. God is truly in control. AND THAT’S A GOOD THING!
Praise Him for His infinite, all-encompassing knowledge and perfect planning. Give Him the glory.
Be Blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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