My dear readers,

God’s Sovereign Control Over All Men 

Proverbs 16:1: “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.” 

That God controls all of creation, absolutely, as the Creator is a lost revelation in the hearts of many believers. The evidence belies this truth. How many times have believers fretted and worried over loss of jobs and sickness of loved ones as if God had gone to sleep or was on a holiday and had deserted them and broken His promises! If believers truly believe, then such worrisome behaviours ought not to characterize their lives. To have faith in God is to trust Him unconditionally that whatever they receive in life comes from their heavenly Father, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Such an absolute unconditional trust is the only way to obey God in Christ. Any other way is a sin and cannot be of God.

All of us will have concerns that require daily attention but we ought not to worry. The Lord is in absolute control over every man. But believers will find it very hard to apply this to their lives when they worry about tomorrow or their future. That is why it is essential to apply the truth of God's absolute control over all men on a day-to-day basis as Matthew 6:33 teaches. Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Living one day at a time reduces life's problems to a very manageable size so that even when we are concerned for the daily activities, trusting in the Lord to see us through them might even be considered easy for almost all believers. Proverbs 16:1 affirms this truth.

The literal translation of Proverbs 16:1 is: “In man are the preparations of the heart, but from the LORD is the answer of the tongue.”

Man thinks – Sinful man conjures many thoughts and ideas. He always thinks of ways to make money or advance himself or grow his business into a global empire. He plans his present in light of his future. He orders his days and months to get what he wants. He sincerely thinks that he is in control of his life, that he is the captain of his destiny. Self-made millionaires and billionaires devise every way possible to make their millions, good and evil. It matters not to them. They give orders to kill and murder. They rob and steal. They seduce and flatter. As long as their hopes and aspirations are fulfilled to the maximum, they do not care how they fulfill them. They bully. They slander and cheat to get more and more wealth. 

There is no end out of this bottomless pit of greed and life of debauchery. The seat of these desires is their heart. Their heart prepares or arranges their life accordingly. They give orders to carry them out. From the day they started school to the day they graduate from the best institutions of higher learning, they order their lives in the direction of gaining as big a piece of the global pie as possible. As they think, they speak, command, and act! There is no stopping their drive and determination. The world encourages and advocates such aspirations as good. Those who succeed are rewarded and lauded. The world places them on a pedestal for others for emulate. They think that what they plan in their heart and what they carry out by their commands and actions are all their own determination and actions!

How wrong can man be! How foolish is his sinful heart!

The LORD speaks – The world believes that they plan, say, and control all things. They want to control the climate. They want to control every creature on earth, in the skies and under the seas. They think they have succeeded. The reality is that they have not! Behind all of their thoughts and deeds is the omnipotent God most high. What man thinks remains within his heart until it is expressed. Man commands and instructs others to do what they want. If they think of cursing, they will curse. If they think of blessing, they will bless. If they think of slandering, they will slander. It seems to be the norm. Yet this “norm” is not the normal. It might be what the world (that denies the existence of God) thinks. But just because they think so does not mean that it is true. Man’s thoughts are powerless unless they are turned into reality.

The reality is that “the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.” The LORD controls what man says. Balaam is a good example. He wanted to curse Israel and be rewarded by Balak, the king of Moab. He tried a total of three times (cf. Num 22-24). Every time he tried to curse, the LORD controlled his mouth. He ended up blessing Israel. There was nothing Balaam could do. His heart planned to curse, but his mouth blessed Israel. This is not an exception. It is the rule. Children of God must be consciously aware of such a powerful God, especially in times of slander and backstabbing by their enemies. They need to trust in their heavenly Father that these enemies cannot say anything except what their God permits. This truth applies to all the kings, presidents, and even powerful despots of the world. No laws could be written without the LORD’s permission. 

The LORD controls absolutely every spoken and written word throughout the ages. The LORD determines every nation’s direction from its beginning to its end. The LORD determines the sequence of the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms. Do we not see this in the prophecies of Daniel in Daniel chapters 2 and 7? God chose the Babylonian empire's rise, followed by the Medo-Persian and then the Grecian and the Roman. All of them impacted Israel just as the LORD determined they would. By this truth, verses like Psalm 76:10makes so much sense, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” 

That the LORD controls every word also applies to His children. We make mistakes and bear the consequence of our mistakes. Yet through these mistakes, all things work together for our good because we know that “the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.”

Food for thought – It is so comforting to know that every word uttered is from the LORD always!