Our God Reigns

OUR GOD REIGNS! | Psalm 103:19

Introduction: It was great to start Sunday school back this morning after thirteen months of no Sunday School due to the pandemic. I know most classes either started or resumed in the Book of Romans in the New Testament. It’s a wonderful book and that is for certain.

Today I would like to go to the old Testament during the preaching hour. Turn if you will with me to Psalm chapter number 103 and I want to begin reading in verse number nineteen. We have entitled today’s message, “Our God Reigns!”

Psalm 103:19 (KJV 1900) 19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; And his kingdom ruleth over all. [THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD, PRAISE BE TO GOD!]

[Prayer]

Take-Away: Our God reigns, therefore Christian dependence is in Him for the past, present and future.

To give you a brief history of Psalm 103, it was written by David to himself. Unlike most of his other writings in the Psalms, this Psalm was not written due to David’s harassment from enemies or any guilt that he felt in his life, but this was a Psalm that was written as a reminder of the blessings that God had demonstrated in his life.

I want you to know today my friend that any God thing is a good thing. Amen! When we stop to think about the past, present, and the future we must understand that it is our God who reigns. God is in control of all things.

You may not realize this, but I am here to tell you despite what has happened in the past, what is going on in the present, and what is to come in the future, our God reigns and He possess supreme power and authority over every single human being and over everything on this planet, therefore He is complete control. Our God reigns, therefore, He can accomplish whatever He pleases, whenever He pleases, wherever He pleases and we can take that to the bank.

When I say, our God reigns, that means that everything that happens, everything that comes about because God either directly causes it or God consciously allows it. There is not one thing that has ever entered into this world in the past or that is currently in this world in the present, or that will enter into this world in the past that does not come under the complete control of God.

Friend, this has a lot of practical implications for the way that we are living our lives. There is one word that I try to never use because I do not believe that it exists and that is luck. I do not believe that things happen by random chance. We hear terms like, “thank their lucky stars” or “I can’t get over how lucky they are.” Friend, let me say something for the record, there is no such thing as luck. You cannot be lucky or unlucky.

There is a God Who is real. He is the real God of this universe. He is our God and He reigns over everything, therefore there can be nothing that just happens by chance. Anything that ever happens to you or that happens to me rather it be a good thing or a bad thing before it happens it must pass through the sovereign hand of almighty God.

A practical Proverb is that of Proverbs 16:33 where the Bible reads, Proverbs 16:33 (KJV 1900) 33 The lot is cast into the lap; But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. In other words, that is literally saying, “We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.” My friends, God is in complete control of even where the dice land.

Something about God that we all need to understand is that He is in perpetual motion all the time. God never sleeps. God never stops. There is nothing that is acting and nobody or nothing that can stand in the way of God’s will and accomplishments. whatever God desires is going to happen.

Isaiah 46:10 (KJV 1900) 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:

One thing that I love to do is go out on a clear night and where I live behind my house facing East there is not light pollution. I love to go out on my back porch area and look up into the night sky. Everything that is seen in the celestial atmosphere that we call space is under God’s control. God has absolute control over the stars, the planets, the moons, the black holes, the asteroids that are racing through space, over every atom, every atomic bomb, over god-less murders and godly believers, over every single moment in time and history. Nothing happens by happenstance or accident.

Illustration: There was a cowboy who was applying for health insurance. The agent said, "Have you ever had any accidents?" The cowboy said, "No, I've not had any accidents. I was bitten by a rattlesnake once, I did have a mule kick me in the head, and I did have a bear claw me across the face, but I haven't had any accidents." The agent said, "Wait a minute. I'm confused—a rattlesnake bit you, a mule kicked you and a bear clawed you. Weren't those accidents?" He said, "Oh no, they did it on purpose." Well, that cowboy had the right idea. Things don't just happen. Everything that occurs, everything that happens to you, or around you, happens under the hand of a God who is in control.

I. OUR GOD REIGNED IN THE PAST!

To look at God’s past we need to go back to the very first book of the Bible. Genesis. Turn to Genesis chapter 50 for a moment. This is a story about Joseph. I recently taught a lesson as I was going through the Heroes of Faith on Joseph. This is one of my favorite stories in Genesis.

Joseph had brothers that were jealous of him and sold him into slavery. He ended up spending thirteen years in prison for a crime he didn’t even commit. After getting out of prison some twenty plus years later Joseph met up with his brothers and listen to his heart after all that had happened to him. Here is what Joseph said to them:

Genesis 50:20 (KJV 1900) 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Things do not always work out the way that we think or would like for them to work out. I want to let you in on something that I have experienced in my own life as a Christian. There are people out there that will be malicious and spiteful and most of the time it comes from the sin of jealousy. Sometimes they have intentions of harming us. Here is the truth. God allows those things to happen sometimes.

Joseph is our biblical example of a man who God allowed decisions and acts to take place in his life that I am sure Joseph did not expect and to be honest, does not seem fair. If you study the life of Joseph you will quickly see that God had His hand on Joseph in a special way. Joseph had 11 brothers who sold him out because of jealousy. By the way the story says that these brothers actually threw him in a pit to leave him for dead, but one of the brothers had persuaded them not to, so they sold Joseph to some strangers.

We know that eventually Joseph becomes a servant in the house of a ruler named Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife out of anger falsely accused Joseph of sexual relations because Joseph said No. So as a result Joseph was unjustly imprisoned and spent thirteen years in jail for a crime he didn’t even commit. With think things are unfair in our life.

Eventually Pharaoh makes Joseph the Prime Minister of Egypt because he could interpret dreams and then Joseph some twenty plus years later was able to provide food for his family and even save an entire nation from starvation.

Now here is the morale of the story. Joseph’s brothers acted spitefully, Potifpher’s wife acted viciously and falsely by her false accusations and Joseph spent thirteen years in prison. Here is what Joseph said to those brothers: “You intended to harm me.”

God was on the throne then just as He is now. God had a plan for Joseph. Here is what Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 45:8, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God."

Here is what God did in the past. God used the evil of other people to accomplish good for Joseph and for His glory. That is why Joseph could say in Genesis 50:20, 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; butGod meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Friend, I want you to know that our God’s reigns!

Even though God reigns over everything in our life, it does not mean that people will not mistreat us.

Illustration: I’ve gone through a couple of situations in ministry where someone tried to throw me under the bus out of jealousy or because of me taking a stance against what was right biblically speaking. Has anyone ever been in that situation? Both times I was in that situation of being falsely accused, God reminded me of this story of the life of Joseph. But God also reminded me through the working of His Holy Spirit that He was reigning over the situation and that I was to live by faith and trust and confide in His great love. It didn’t take long for the accusations to backfire on those who were making the false accusations and let’s just say God vindicated the truth and exposed the evilness through a process called vindication.

God gave me this assurance in His Word that demonstrates He does what He says He will do and He reigns and vindicates His own people just as He did Joseph.

Isaiah 54:17 (KJV 1900) 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness (or vindication) is of me, saith the Lord.

Psalm 135:14 (KJV 1900) 14 For the Lord will judge (or vindicate) his people, And he will repent himself concerning his servants.

I had to get in my mind and heart that God was in control. I was somewhat bitter because of the harm these people tried to cause, but because I knew God was in control I was able to let the bitterness go and rely on “vengeance if mine saith the Lord, I shall repay.” God has been faithful. By the way, If I am going to preach, teach and stand up for what is right in the church according to God’s Word, guess what? I am going to have opposition. I’ve had opposition in the past and I realize that our God reigned in our past!

II. OUR GOD REIGNS IN THE PRESENT!

Because our God reigns and what He has done in the past, I know He is still in control of and He reigns now in the present. The devil would like for us to be bitter, and he would like for us to have fear in our lives right now. But instead of living in fear we need to learn to live in faith.

One day everything in your world can be going great with your job, your bank account, your relationship with your wife and kids and even your mother-n-law and you can be on cloud nine. You can be living what everybody calls “The American Dream.”

My friends, I am here to tell you all of that can chance in less than five seconds. The doorbell can ring and your mother-in-law has come to stay for two weeks! You can get a pink slip at the office. The doctor finds a spot on the X-ray. Here is what I want you to remember, if our God reigned in the past, He reigns today.

Whatever happens today is filtered through the hand of God almighty! If it is a flat tire, the keys are lost and you miss that job interview, I am here to tell you that God has a reason to allow it to happen.

Illustration: The most tragic day in my lifetime was on the morning on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Some say that our government knew about the attack before it happened. I can’t testify to that because I did not have foresight or knowledge of what was going to happen on that day. I know One Who did. God!

That was a tragic day. The second most tragic experience in my lifetime is what is going on in our nation right now. I can’t help but wonder how many tragedies that God stopped before they ever happened?

Maybe you didn't get that job, but maybe that job would have cost you your marriage. Maybe that illness forced you to slow down and rest and realize there is more to life than work. Maybe that financial setback was God's way of teaching you that you can't serve both God and money.

There is no life without problems. Some people on this planet will have a child diagnosed with cancer. Some of you may have a husband leave you for another woman or a wife leave you for another man. I recently heard of someone who lost their job and they were within six months of retirement. Those things happen. The only thing that will help you hold it together and keep you from losing your mind is to remember that our God reigned in the past and He is reigning on His throne right now in the our present.

Jesus once said,

Matthew 10:29–31 (KJV 1900) 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Friend we must live by faith and trust the Lord. Let’s follow what Peter said, “Casting all of your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Our God reigned in the past, Our God reigns in the present…

III. OUR GOD WILL REIGN IN THE FUTURE!

It is one thing to worry about the past – it is gone! It is another thing to deal with today – it is here, but what about tomorrow? By the way let me say this, worry is a sin that never gets you anywhere. Someone tell me the last time worry helped you. Worry only makes our lives more miserable and the devil knows it.

Jesus again said in Matthew 6:34: 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day isthe evil thereof.

Illustration: In Charles Swindoll’s book of Perfect Trust, he quotes something that Augustine said: "We count on God's mercy for our past mistakes; we count on God's love for our present needs; but we count on God's sovereignty for the future."[1]

My friend, Tomorrow is not in the hands of chance, luck or blind faith. Tomorrow is in the hands of a God who is in complete and total control, who loves you and will always do what is best for you. Our God will reign in the future just as He has in the past and as He is today!

The greatest thing that has happened to all of us because our God reigns is the cross of Jesus Christ. What the disciple’s thought was the work of the devil was actually the work of God on that cross. We must trust that God is good all the time and all the time God is good by committing our life to Him and that everything that happens in our life regardless of what it is will bring glory and honor and praise unto Him and peace to us.

Illustration: Billy Graham once said, “God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.”[2]

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time, but may we remember that it will be our God Who will reign in the future. Amen!

Illustration: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness!”

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided— “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me![3]

Pastor Note: Some resources in this message were gleaned from the book 52 Weeks through the Book of Psalms.

End Notes:

[1]Swindoll, Charles, Perfect Trust [2]Billy Graham [3]Baptist Hymnal (1975 Edition), p.216