Issue 1389 – Grandmaster – March 7, 2024
I’ve always enjoyed a good game of chess. Although I’ve never been good at it, and even less so after my brain injury in 1991, it still fascinates me.
A good chess player anticipates all the possible responses to their move. Not only do they anticipate the possible immediate response, but they also must think through all the possibilities for the whole game for each move.
I used to be able to think four or five moves ahead, but now, I can plan one or at most two moves. That makes me easy pickings for even an inexperienced player.
The players who amaze me the most are the real grandmasters. 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 in some ways, but it works as an illustration.
The Lord knows the responses to infinite possibilities to billions of players’ moves over untold generations. He can do that, know exactly what is needed in every possibility and provide for it. 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; it was the result of the master strategist at work.
Some skeptics would dismiss that as a coincidence, but when it happens to people worldwide, 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, people write and share how deeply a given Gleanings From The Word issue has touched their lives. These are people I’ve never met, often from places I will never go.
Somehow or another, they had to come across Gleanings and get on the mailing list. Then, God 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.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. Psalm 147:5
Therefore, you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 2 Samuel 7:22
There truly is no one like God. He is the master planner, the great lover and the redeemer of all who will allow themselves to be saved.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. Psalm 86:8
Until next time, let go of your illusions of control. God is truly in control. AND THAT’S A GOOD THING!