Who’s in Control?
Sennacherib was a brutal and power hungry tyrant of the seventh century BC. He conquered much of the middle east, founded Nineveh, and destroyed the Northern kingdom of Israel to the extent that it never recovered. He also wreaked havoc in the Southern kingdom of Judah, threatening its very existence.
In 2 Kings 19:25-28, God speaks to Sennacherib through the prophet Isaiah.
Sennacherib, now listen to me, the Lord. I planned all this long ago. And you don’t even realize that I alone am the one who decided that you would do these things.
I let you make ruins of fortified cities. Their people became weak, terribly confused. They were like wild flowers or tender young grass growing on a flat roof, scorched before it matures.
I know all about you, even how fiercely angry you are with me. I have seen your pride and the tremendous hatred you have for me. Now I will put a hook in your nose, a bit in your mouth, then I will send you back to where you came from. (Contemporary English Version)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+19%3A25-28&version=CEV
This ruthless ruler had the illusion that he was in control of the situation. He had contempt for God and felt he was able to destroy the people of God at his own whim. But that wasn’t the reality. Instead, he was merely enacting a small part in God’s eternal plan. He was used by God (as was Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon) to refine the people of Israel and to bring them to a place of repentance and readiness for the coming of the Messiah.
Could it be that through the strange and awful actions of current leaders both nationally and globally, the Church in America, particularly white Evangelicals, might be refined and shaped in new ways just as the ancient Jews were? Perhaps they might rediscover what it means to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” They might once again find their place among the “peacemakers” (i.e. “wholeness makers.”) They might have their eyes opened to what it means to really be “pro-life” in the full sense.
No matter whether earthly leaders are morally good or bad, or whether they are largely viewed as effective or ineffective, our eyes need to shift. We need to realize Who is really in control. As our focus sharpens, earth-bound success will be ultimately understood as inconsequential. We will attend more and more to how God might be at work in His people “to will and to do His good pleasure.”