Seeing God's Rule in Success and Suffering

Well, in my life so far, I don't think I've been in real danger.

I've been through plenty of evacuation drills like the one we had here a few weeks ago.

I know I've dodged the odd magpie missile.

And I know that I've stepped back from the curb when someone sailed through a stop sign.

But I don't think I've been in a real emergency.

I've never had to evacuate my home.

I've never had to use an oxygen mask on a plane.

I've never had to put on a life jacket in a crisis on the water.

And if

I ever did, if I found myself in that kind of situation in an emergency, I think I'd struggle to take it seriously.

Because for most of us, most of the time we feel like we're fine in control of what happens to us.

Things go pretty steady most of the time.

And because that's the case, because that's normal life for most of us, most of the time, we struggle when that changes.

We find ourselves sometimes in circumstances that we didn't see coming, circumstances that we didn't choose, that we can't change.

And when we're faced by these things, we can wonder what's gone wrong.

And this is a particular struggle for people who know God, people like us who know that he's in control of the world.

He's in control of everything in it.

He's in control of everything.

And so we think we know how God should work.

These chapters remind us that God is in control, that he remains king, that he rules even when everything is turned upside down.

God is always keeping his word.

He's always accomplishing his purposes, even when everything appears to be falling apart.

And we'll see this.

We'll see God's rule through three actions in this passage.

We'll see God's rule through Absalom's rebellion and through David's retreat and then through David's request.