Lone and Level Sands

Psalms 80:8–19

“You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River. Why have You broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it. Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son You have raised up for Yourself. Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at Your rebuke Your people perish. Let Your hand rest on the man at Your right hand, the son of man You have raised up for Yourself. Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name. Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make Your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”

God is sovereign over history, cultures, and world affairs. I share some of the anguish of our Christian brethren in Palestine for example and pray for their safety and welfare and especially their freedom to worship. I once watched a Vice documentary on the conflict there and some perspectives on religion (and often aggressive pro-Israel American Christians), there’s one Palestinian brother who frustratedly remarked “since when has God drawn territories and state boundaries?” I can understand where he is coming from, however, I think God has been the sole determiner of nations since Creation: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that people would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:24–27).” The experience of Israel captured here in Asaph’s songs, is ultimately in God’s hands. Israel was a special nation, they heard from God through prophets of old and yet disobeyed and went their own way. The prophet Jeremiah had urged Israel to remain calm and strive to live well amidst the subjugation for it was temporary. “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper (Jer 29:5–7)”, but many want none of it and chose to remain until many were forcibly taken into Babylon. In Israel we see God’s hand that responds to the chosen people’s risings and fallings and with their narrative we see other nations in perspective as well, the rise and fall of empires just like Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a composite statue, nations will be and will not be: And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away (Shelley). Only Christ, the Son, the root, The King, remains (v. 15) and He reigns. God is sovereign over history, cultures, and world affairs. The prophet Daniel prayed: Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him (Dan 2:20–22).” Let us trust in God alone for wisdom, discernment, for life and our future.