Perspectives

God is in the saddle

By Kevin Schmidt
Posted 4/2/20

I read recently of a man who made the following quote, “Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.” I would agree that things are riding mankind all right, but they are not in the saddle. …

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Perspectives

God is in the saddle

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I read recently of a man who made the following quote, “Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.” I would agree that things are riding mankind all right, but they are not in the saddle. The new coronavirus is not in the saddle riding mankind! We need to remember that God is in the saddle. Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.”

This leads me to consider a phrase that I do not talk about a lot because many people have had a misunderstanding of its true meaning, but I think it is a good time for us to consider it due to the current situation we are being faced with as a nation. The phrase is “God’s providence.” We will need to understand three key words in order to have the proper understanding of God’s providence as it relates to his relationship with the material universe and to man in particular.

The first word is creation. There are predominantly two explanations for the universe coming into existence: evolution that is based on speculation, and revelation that is based on the word of God. One is theory and the other is faith.

To understand God’s providence in its true meaning we have to believe that God is the creator of all things. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” We also read in Colossians 1:16, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible, and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”  The coronavirus will not take down God’s creative order of things. 

Now that we believe that God created all things we are ready for the second key word.  That word is preservation, and it means that God holds the universe and everything in it together by his power. So no matter what we do we cannot change that. He preserves the universe as he accomplishes his ultimate plan for it and mankind. Hebrews 1:3 says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”  The coronavirus will not take down God’s preservation of things.

Then onto the third word, which is providence. The basic meaning of providence is that God will provide. A more in depth meaning is that providence is the way God is directing the universe. He is the one that moves it into tomorrow. I like to think of it this way: Providence means that the hand of God is in the glove of human events.  The coronavirus will not take down the providing hand of God.

In conclusion, let us remember that God is still in the saddle not corona. And as we go through our current events, remember that in God’s providence he still has his creative order, he will preserve all things according to his plan and he will provide for us.

 

(Kevin Schmidt is the pastor of  Charity Baptist Church in Powell.)

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