“The Hand of God”

by Pastor Jess Foglesong

From the beginning of time, God has had His hand in everything. Like a musical conductor, He raised the baton and with a downbeat, the symphony began. Everything had to be perfect, in-order that we may be here today.

This universe, as vast and immense as it is … has been, and is only a backdrop of all that we exist. God had created a marvelous show piece, a canopy made up of trillions of stars and galaxies. He painted the skies from a backdrop of pure darkness and nothing-ness. Slowly, with the gentle waving of His brush, dotting the heavens with wonderful and indescribable things of beauty.

Finally focusing on one tiny little area of the canvas (of the universe) -- a planet that He could place a colony of beings that He could love and provide forever and ever. A colony of humans that He could make a covenant with, to live in perfect harmony, free to enjoy the total provision bestowed to them. God’s hand -- His creative hands -- brought forth all that was needed for a true relationship with this colony of righteous human beings.

The world was all within the same “Sphere” (or level)… there was no separation or barriers. Communication between God, the angels and humans were on the same plain. Evil (Chaos) was unknown -- not part of the vocabulary. God had, with His mighty hand, designed life to be open, free of distractions; instilled into nature a zest for living; a sense of appreciation for all; a gentleness; a caring regard for all. God’s purpose … His hand in creating a utopia, a paradise, a comfortable and secure domain on Planet Earth was realized.

He also -- as part of His nature and His true character -- instilled “free will” to all of his creations: humans and angels. This was His only “glitch” in the mesh of a life-giver: that creating living souls -- even though on a spiritual level ‘above’ of what we are today -- could come back to cause chaos.

God -- as part of His nature -- actively works from the background of darkness (or chaos). With His creative hands, he intuitively will step up to bring forth goodness (righteousness). God is holy, God is Good -- therefore He will always seek the 'positive' side of the situation. But He cannot do this without the ‘negative’ side. Before the universe was a universe, there was darkness -- there was nothing. God hovered over the darkness … then stepped up and said “let there be light.” And time began and history was recorded.

God created that paradise (also called heaven) before the “fall” (original sin). With His hand, He formed human beings and place them on this earth to live in perfect harmony -- all from a backdrop of Chaos … which continually lurk just outside of our reach (just outside of that imaginary door).

God’s tenacity; His constant attention to keeping all that He had created was abruptly halted by a ‘trusted’ Angel (a created being), who wanted nothing less than to be God. He committed the ultimate “Sin” … he turned away from his provider, his father … he decided to take things into his own hands. He felt that he did not need God’s attention, and decided to run things his way. And so …

Chaos entered into the created world … the door opened and the darkness crept in! Paradise, utopia, heaven, was no more … created humans in a perfect place was deleted … erased … gone!

This angel’s name was Lucifer. An archangel of God; a trusted angel -- steward of a domain which included: Earth and all of its inhabitants. Human beings disappeared.

God now had to make an executive decision: whether to move on and go elsewhere … or to salvage what was lost. And due to His nature; His giving and caring character: He made the decision to somehow redeem and (yes) salvage what had been something good -- to make good again. He, by nature, stepped in to the chaos -- a world that was devastated, and without form -- to re-cast, re-create, re-fashion all that was lost, again.

With His all-Powerful hand, He re-formed and literally re-made (from what was left) a banished world. And he made it all against a background of chaos … another words: evil (Satan) was still part of the scheme. He allowed the devil to influence all of nature, from the very beginning: influencing Adam and Eve; the children of Israel, and all us today.

Our world today in the most part is peaceful and calm … our daily lives in general is like clock work: we have families, we go to work, we have friends, we take vacations, we enjoy the pleasantries of what seem like a wonderful world -- for most of us!

But as we know: it is not like this in everyone’s lives: there is despair, there is ugliness, there is strife, and there is death. It is not paradise; utopia, as we would like it to be. God’s hand is still directing the total ‘symphony’ of life, but within the backdrop of choas -- of the darkness -- ever so present, just lurking in the near distance, trying to take over.

But our Rock, our Saviour, our Cornerstone, our Creator, our Father -- who is always “within us” -- is here to prevent the total take over of evil. He has assured us the evil (Satan) will be deleted -- gone -- from the premises, in the days to come. It is a “promise” that He has proclaimed: “I will make a covenant with you” … “Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth, who breathed the spirit into human creatures” … “and on that day I will bring you home” … “and on that day you will be saved, for you are the flock, and like the jewels of a crown you shall shine on my land.” … “and on that day I, with opened arms, will welcome you home.”

With the sweep of God’s creative hand, He created us; lost us; then re-created us -- redeemed us -- and now is calling us home.

The Hand of God is everywhere!