“But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another” (Psalm 75:7).
When God changes the course of history, he rarely sends an army to rewrite the script. Instead, he sends a baby into the world—a Hebrew child hid among the reeds of the River Nile, a tiny infant placed in a manger in Bethlehem, a baby born in a log cabin or a mud hut somewhere who becomes a leader.
Even in the early years of their lives, you can see the hand of God, guiding, protecting, preserving, long before the world ever takes note of some individuals. Such was the situation described by Robert Lewis Taylor in his book on the life of Winston Churchill. At the age of 23, Churchill, fresh out of Sandhurst Military Academy, was sent to Egypt, where he was intent on seeing action. After all, that’s why you go to war, right? But instead of being placed in command as he anticipated, Churchill was sent to supervise supplies including the mess hall.
Yes, he was disappointed. That’s not what he had in mind. Robert Grenfell, the chap who was given the command that Churchill wanted, wrote home to his family saying, “Fancy how lucky I am. Here I have got the troop that would have been Winston’s, and we are to be the first to start.”
Writes Taylor, “A few days later, in the terrible charge at Omdurman, Grenfell was pulled off his horse and cut to pieces by a howling Dervish mob.” Had Churchill taken command of the group, which was his desire, there would have been no Winston Churchill to lead Britain and help defeat Fascism in World War 2. As Taylor notes: “History is violently altered by very small decisions.” (Robert Lewis Taylor, Winston Churchill, Doubleday & Co., 1952, pp. 145,146).
Looking back, there are many “what ifs” in history. Such as, “What if the rope holding Paul in a basket had broken when Paul was put over the walls at Damascus?” How would the world have been different without him? “What if Martin Luther had died of a childhood virus in his native Germany?” Or “What if Abraham Lincoln, or Margaret Thatcher, or Douglas MacArthur had not been born?”
Yes, you can argue that God is sovereign and should Churchill have died at Omdurman instead of a young man by the name of Robert Grenfell, He could have raised up another to do His bidding.
But an overview of history demonstrates repeatedly that an unseen hand, recognized by those who believe God is sovereign, guides in the affairs of humankind as we move towards the ultimate rule of God on Earth, which the book of Revelation speaks of with detail and clarity.
Rarely do those who play prominent roles on the stage of history understand that God has enabled them to lead. But in hindsight we clearly see that God—not chance or fate—was the one who raised one up and set another aside as Psalm 75 contends.
Question: If you can accept the reality that God guides in the great scene of history, can you not also accept the fact that He will guide in your personal life, opening doors, closing doors, protecting, directing, and overshadowing—keeping you from harm?
Well, if you believe the Bible, you have to accept that. It says clearly, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). Then add that familiar and often quoted passage in Romans 8 which says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
As William Shakespeare put it, “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will.” It is still true in the 21st century.
Resource reading: Psalm 75.
