Daily Affirmations - Day 3 - Divine Sovereignty - In Our Father's Hands

Day 3: In our Father's hands

Those who obey the Lord are daily in His care

[God] changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning (Daniel 2:21).

For all of us, life has its mysterious and painful experiences. There come days when human reason can find nothing beautiful or good in what we are passing through. Everything seems destructive. We can see no love in the dark enigma. In such hours it gives us great comfort to be able to say: “It is my Father, and He loves me and is making no mistake!”

It was this confidence that sustained Christ Himself in His darkest moments on the cross. In the inexplicable mystery of His suffering, when He could not see the face of His Father and felt as if He were even forsaken by Him—His faith found assurance in what He knew of the divine love.

It was still “My God, my God” (Matthew 27:46). The anchor held, and in a few moments more it was light again, and He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

The Master gives us the lesson for ourselves, when He assures us that His Father has in His hands the care of our lives. “My Father is the husbandman,” He said to His disciples (John 15:1).

The gardener has entire charge of the vines. He understands them and knows how to care for them. He plants them where they will grow the best, looks after their culture, prunes them, and does for them whatever needs to be done. They are not left to grow without intelligent care.

When Jesus said, “My Father is the husbandman,” He was communicating to His disciples that the care of their lives is in the hands of God, whose name is Love. It is not entrusted to a being of only limited intelligence and only finite power and love. Still less is it “chance” that directs the events and shapes the circumstances of our days...

The theory of the universe which [Jesus] gives us is that this is our Father’s world. Not only did He create it, adorning it with beauty and fitting it to be the home of His children, but He cares for it with constant, tender care. He has not abandoned the world He made to get along as best it may without any thought from Him.

~ James R. Miller ~ In Our Father's Hands

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