“…until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone He chooses.” Daniel 4:25
This phrase is repeated four times in today’s Word of the Day and perfectly sets the tone for the next several chapters of reading. Not to mention my day. God is in charge, period. He is the Most High God, ruler of heaven and earth. He is the commander of heaven’s armies and the Ancient of Days. He is the Father of every living thing on the planet. He is the holder of the keys of Hell and the Conqueror who overcame this world.
So often I get tempted to think that Satan is gaining an upper hand on my life, but that’s just what he wants me to think. And nothing could be farther from the Truth. In Job chapter one Satan is in attendance for a heavenly meeting where he and God end up discussing Job and how faithful he is to God. It is in this conversation that God agrees to let Satan test that faithfulness. Did you catch that? Satan had to ask for permission FIRST. At the last supper Jesus tells Peter that Satan had ASKED to sift him like wheat. If someone is the head cheese, the big man, the one who is large and in charge they don’t ask permission from anyone before they do something; they just do it. Satan doesn’t get to touch us without God’s permission. And if the God, who loves us enough to send His one and only Son to DIE for us on the cross in order to pay for our sins and give us eternal life, gives him permission to touch us, then He MUST have a good reason to do so. And that’s where faith comes in. When life comes crashing in around us we have to cling to the faith that we have a God who LOVES US and cares so deeply for us that He gave His only Son FOR US.
Tamar Knochel 