Please stand as we recite the Shema together.
The Shema
Hear O Israel!
The Lord is our God – the Lord Alone.
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart,
With all your soul,
And with all your might,
And love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.
Thank You Lord for all that You have provided for Your people in Your great and glorious majesty and splendor and grace. Amen. You may be seated.
2 Sam 17:14, Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For the Lord had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, in order that the Lord might bring calamity on Absalom. 
	We are continuing our consideration of the fact that man may try to bring about his or her plans and plots to derail the ordained will and purpose of The Lord God Jehovah, but that will never happen. All that God has put into place to accomplish His will and His designed purpose will take place. Everything that this created realm would put forth in any effort to derail that which The Lord has deigned to happen, will never succeed. That is a surety of eternal force and it is maintained with all the Omnipotence and Omniscience of Our God. It is always mankind who must adjust and accede to the plan and the will of The Lord, never the other way around!
	Accordingly, we are tracing how this glorious truth of the will of God in place is set forth through the entirety of scripture. God always accomplishes that which He has ordained before anything was created that has been created. We can count fully on His ruling and overruling to bring into place all that is His heart’s contentment in the course of human history.
	Please open to 2 Chron 25:14-16, where we have the account of one of the later kings of Judah, Amaziah, who forgot that everything in the course of the leadership of God’s people always needed to be in line with Who God is and all that He had done. Amaziah so easily set aside the God of Israel to embrace the gods of the Edomites. The really puzzling part of this account is that he did not recognize that these gods had not protected the Edomites, so why would he trade them for the God Who had so fully and amazingly worked throughout the history of His people. Such is the folly and the stupidity of the human mind in trying to justify why we turn our backs upon our Creator.
	2 Chron 25:14-16, Now it came about after Amaziah came from slaughtering the Edomites that he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down before them, and burned incense to them. Then the anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their own people from your hand?" And it came about as he was talking with him that the king said to him, "Have we appointed you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?" Then the prophet stopped and said, "I know that God has planned to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not listened to my counsel." 
	King Amaziah, in the pridefulness of the victory over the Edomites, reveled in flaunting it before the Lord God, Jehovah. Because he had been so successful in this campaign against the Edomites, he planned to attack the northern kingdom of Israel in order to show his superiority. He was flaunting his supposed success, forgetting that the Lord was the One Who determined who was victorious and who was defeated. He was so puffed up and planned to show it without the realization that what God determined to happen was absolutely set into place in the course of man’s walk on this earth.
	We have the results of this folly of Amaziah recorded for us in the verses that follow, 2 Chron 25:17-22. Such is the flagrant madness of man to try to bring forth some action or some result that is other than what God has ordained to take place. He, Alone, directs and rules in the manner in which the history of humanity unfolds completely in line with His directed will.
	2 Chron 25:17-22, Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, the king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us face each other." And Joash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The thorn bush which was in Lebanon sent to the cedar which was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' But there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trampled the thorn bush. You said, 'Behold, you have defeated Edom.' And your heart has become proud in boasting. Now stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble that you, even you, should fall and Judah with you?" But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from God, that He might deliver them into the hand of Joash because they had sought the gods of Edom. So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth-shemesh, which belonged to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and they fled each to his tent. 
	Notice how in this passage, once again, it is declared that God intervened according to the heart of Jehovah that this disaster befell Amaziah because of his idolatrous behavior and prideful will that showed that Amaziah had no regard for the Lord God Almighty. As successful as Amaziah considered the works of his hand in battle, all was ordained by God for the showing forth of His divine plan and will in the course of the leadership of His people. God would not countenance such a display of earthly pride and adulterous behavior in the manner in which His people were being lead astray by the wicked intentions of this age.
	As we are told in the Book of Job, Chapter 5, verses 12-14, God rules in the manner in which those who belong to Him live their lives. Jehovah has laid out the course that is to be trod by every one of His created beings. There is nothing that will alter that which God had predestined. Everything will flow in full accordance to His will. No plotting or scheming of anything of this age will ever be able to derail His plan. All the wisdom of this world is utterly frustrated in coming against God’s design in operation. 
	Job 5:12-14, "He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success. "He captures the wise by their own shrewdness And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted. "By day they meet with darkness, And grope at noon as in the night. 
	The Psalmist joins in this consideration as detailed in so many of those songs of praise to the One Who rules heaven and earth. There is an absolute assurance that is ours as the family of Christ. We know that what God has promised to take place will absolutely and unreservedly happen. We have that pledge and that assurance that God is the Sovereign. All must bow to His will as it unfolds, no matter the breadth and depth and knowledge and power of this age. God rules now and evermore, His will to accomplish!
	This is declared so fully in the bedrock guarantee of God’s Word as in Ps 33:8-12. Ps 33:8-12, Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. 
	Even as God so rules over the course of the walk of humanity, there is the fact in place that He does so in order that He may be known by mankind in His capacity as both Savior and Lord. This is brought to the forefront as in Ps 83:15-18.
Ps 83:15-18, So pursue them with Thy tempest, And terrify them with Thy storm. Fill their faces with dishonor, That they may seek Thy name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever; And let them be humiliated and perish, That they may know that Thou alone, whose name is the Lord, Art the Most High over all the earth. 
So very often, it is the failure of our plans, when our ideas fall far short of the reality of the walk that we have on this earth, when our plotting and scheming backfire and we find ourselves with no viable options to get ourselves out of the mess of our own creation, that we call out to God to save us. We beg Him to do whatever it takes to deliver us and to cause us to have some forward motion in this life that we have been given. 
We are so very desperate and humiliated in the walk that we have premeditated for ourselves that we declare that we want His will and His will, alone, to be the walk of our feet now and evermore. We bow to His Sovereignty and we rejoice in His ruling and overruling in all that is involved in our lives. We are humbled and we are contrite and we learn to be absolutely satisfied in all that God has ordained.
	We echo that which the Psalmist declared in Ps 106:6-12. Ps 106:6-12, We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Thy wonders; They did not remember Thine abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known. Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up; And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness. So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left. Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. 
	Such are the praises and the adoration and the songs that we sing forth to the honor and the majesty and the glory of God. We learn, as each day unfolds, that The Lord reigns magnificently and with manifold grace and mercy from His throne on high. There is the recognition of our hearts and minds as voiced in Prov 19:21. Prov 19:21, Many are the plans in a man's heart, But the counsel of the Lord, it will stand. 
	The Prophet Isaiah has much to add to this consideration of the divine Sovereignty of God over the planning and plotting of any of this creation’s elements. As much as this age strives to put a wedge of doubt and fear into the inhabitants of earth, there is a surety and certainty in the will of Jehovah being carried forth to the complete satisfaction of Our Lord God, Almighty. As the people of Yahweh, in Christ Jesus, we have an absolute and bedrock assurance that God is working in and through us to His purposes coming into fruition. 
	Consider what we are told in Isa 8:9+10. This is with regard to what even the most powerful of men have to face when God frustrates that which is devised in the human heart and mind against those who belong to The Lord. 
Isa 8:9+10, "Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. "Devise a plan but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us." 
	There is no manner of scheming or plotting, even as presented in this morning’s passage, that will stand against what God has put into place. The greatest minds of humankind, the most technological advancements, the manifest scientific calculations and theorems are as nothing in the scope and sequence of God at work! 
When we take the time to consider how each element of God’s great plan of the redemption of His family is presented in the course of human history, we must humbly prostrate ourselves in utter awe. His divine plan and purpose in Jesus Christ has completely shattered the every plot of this age! At every turning point and pinnacle of this age’s influence, God has intervened and shown Himself as the victorious and glorious and all sovereign King.
	Again hear the declaration of God’s dominion as proclaimed in Isa 33:2-6. The Lord has ruled and continues to rule through the manifold working in even the nations that do not know Him. As much as every power tries to show forth its grasp of each situation, God moves and intervenes and directs in full accordance to that which He has predestined. 
	Isa 33:2-6, O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for Thee. Be Thou their strength every morning, Our salvation also in the time of distress. At the sound of the tumult peoples flee; At the lifting up of Thyself nations disperse. And your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; As locusts rushing about, men rush about on it. The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. And He shall be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is his treasure. 
	Isn’t is absolutely vital and encouraging to know that God is the One Who is really in charge of all that is happening on this earth? There seems to be so much that is chaos and wicked and evil with violence and depravity seeming to rule the day. There is no peace and no means of stability within the governments or any of the societies of what we call civilization. All is in upheaval and turmoil, and doubt as fear rules the lives of those who do not know the truth. 
Our God reigns! He is the One Whose plans and purposes are being accomplished, even in the midst of what this world decrees and tries to establish against the rule and the righteous reign of the One, True, and Awesome, King of kings and Lord of lords! 
	We are to have no fear of what this age puts forth! Our complete trust and reliance is to be set in the One Who is even now seated on the Throne of all creation, Our Precious and Glorious and Victorious and Exalted Lord Jesus Christ! We keep our eyes on Him! He is our Hope in the midst of the most perilous and vile of plots and devices of this age! 
	Lord willing, we will push forward with this consideration next week as we continue to see how God always makes His will to be done. This is on earth as it is in Heaven. So be it.
Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For the Lord had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, in order that the Lord might bring calamity on Absalom. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Prov 2:6. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Amen.