Archives article 40
“He’s got the whole world in His hands . . . “
American Slave Music is just what we need now – March 2011
Here in Italy we were all mortified by the terrifying scenes which flashed across our television screens when on Friday 11th March 2011 at 2:46 p.m. a massive earthquake (8.9 on the Reichter scale) shook the earth just off Japan’s northern coast precipitating a devastating Tsunami with waves over 30 feet high. No one who saw those images can ever forget them. What was left of a highly ordered society seemed nothing more than a toy shop turned upside-down. The video clips which came later were shockingly real. The surging power of the massive wave of dark water hurling everything in its way, willy-nilly onto the roof-tops of the waterside hotels and shops was horrifying and unforgettable. Nothing could ever have stopped it. It was totally irresistible and not only created immense damage but also a nuclear risk of dramatic proportions.
And this, all on top of last year’s earthquakes and natural disasters which are still in our minds. Who can forget the huge earthquakes in Haiti and Chile - not to mention the catastrophes in Pakistan, China, Russia and Bangladesh? The entire skies of Europe were filled with ashes from a seemingly innocent volcano in Iceland: for 5-plus days no one could fly anywhere! Our town’s newspaper seemed to have captured the latest Japanese disaster very well with its title: “Japan’s apocalypse”
But it’s that title which gives us a clue as to how to understand these repeated tragedies not caused by man - yes, the biblical book of the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible, the “Revelation”! And the reason is simple. It’s the best book in the Bible to show how, when the earthquakes and nature behaves in a totally unnatural way, it’s really all well held in hand by God. Every unexpected cataclysm has precise limits. God has set them. There is no capricious ‘natural-disaster’. Everything happens in a vast design of God.
Many of the American Slaves knew this very well. Just think about this very familiar Spiritual:
“He’s got the whole world in His hands (x3)
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands (x3)
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the little bitty baby in His hands (x3)
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got you and me, sister, in His hands (x3)
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got you and me, brother, in His hands (x3)
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
Even though their own world was tragic and they were treated just like objects which could be traded and even destroyed, they knew that their sufferings had a limit. Their God had the whole world in His hands.
This hope wasn’t an illusion – ‘’pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by’! It’s the truth of
Psalm 46;
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Dear reader, please know that despite every appearance, God is very much in control. The American slaves knew this and chose to sing of His triumph despite the world in which they seemed prisoners. What a sweet invitation – “turn to God”. Seek Him for as this same Psalm tells us: “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 There’s no better choice!!
Pastor Paul Finch,
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