Judg 14:4, However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel. 
	We are in the midst of seeing that the Lord does not work by the limited thoughts and ideas of humanity, whom He created. He has His eternal plan and purposes in Jesus Christ which will never be hindered by any of man’s manipulations and concepts and scheming. All that man does will ultimately serve to show that the Hand of God rules and overrules and brings forth His glory even through those actions of humanity which may seem random and ill-conceived. 
	If you would please open to Josh 11:19+20, we have another of the examples which are before us in scripture. In this case, we see the conquering of the Promised Land through the advancement and habitation of the Lord’s people. They were going into the land and were fighting those nations who were stronger and mightier in the sense of human technology and greater population. However, because the Lord was going before them, the Children of Israel were defeating those much more powerful forces through the Omnipotence of God.
	Josh 11:19+20, There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 
    	Despite the fact that it would have made much more sense for those Canaanites to simply surrender or run away, they did not do so because the Lord hardened their hearts. They saw how the Tribes of Israel prevailed unhindered against the other people in the land, yet each succeeding group of Canaanites chose to fight instead of flee because the Lord was at work to cleanse this Promised Land in order to fulfill His promise to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 
This work of fulfillment had begun through what God had previously done to Pharaoh with the issuing of the 10 plagues. Despite all the suffering in Egypt, Pharaoh’s heart had been so hardened by God in order to bring forth the witness of the Sovereignty of Jehovah over both nature and the will of man. 
Here, the Canaanites refused to make peace with the Israelites because they were to be utterly eliminated from the land. This was the Lord’s means of bringing them into battle for their complete destruction. 
	The next example of how the Lord moved the hearts and actions of men in order to accomplish His Sovereign will in the continued progress of His plan and His purpose is detailed in 1 Kings 12:1-17. Please turn to it in your Bibles.
	1 Kings 12:1-17, Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. Now it came about when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, that he was living in Egypt (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon). Then they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, "Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you." Then he said to them, "Depart for three days, then return to me." So the people departed. And King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How do you counsel me to answer this people?" Then they spoke to him, saying, "If you will be a servant to this people today, will serve them, grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him. So he said to them, "What counsel do you give that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us'?" And the young men who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!' But you shall speak to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins! 'Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'" Then Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed, saying, "Return to me on the third day." And the king answered the people harshly, for he forsook the advice of the elders which they had given him, and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions." So the king did not listen to the people; for it was a turn of events from the Lord, that He might establish His word, which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!" So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. 
 	This was the point of the dissolution of the nation of Israel. The northern tribes split away from the southern tribes creating the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. This was how the Lord ordained for the peoples to ultimately be removed from the Promised Land. This was the declared consequence because they had started polluting themselves with their increasingly despicable and idolatrous adultery against His so wonderful covenant. 
They turned their backs on God and spurned all that He had done for them. As a result, through the stubbornness and the haughtiness of Rehoboam, who could have kept the nation together, the Lord brought about His plan upon these unfaithful Children of Israel causing them to be shattered apart from one another. 
	This was the fulfillment of what had been outlined in the chapter before this account, 1 Kings 11:29-36. There the Lord had made it abundantly clear that the nation would be so sundered for His plans and His purposes to be accomplished, as referenced in the passage we just read, …for it was a turn of events from the Lord, that He might establish His word, which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 
	1 Kings 11:29-36, And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes (but he will have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and observing My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did. 'Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who observed My commandments and My statutes; but I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give it to you, even ten tribes. 'But to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name. 
	The faithlessness of the nation from seeking after the Lord led to this ripping apart of the fabric of their woven relationship with each other and with the Lord. It is a sad and disheartening chapter in the history of the nation as it was dissolving and soon to be removed from the land that could have been their continuing heritage, a land flowing with milk and honey. 
Yet, in the midst of this division and upheaval and dissolution, the Lord still kept a remnant, the tribe of Judah, that would be His and from whom the Messiah would be born. We see that the plan of God always moved forward. This was despite the seeming destruction and elimination of everything that would otherwise appear to be the obvious way of the maintenance and course of human effort to accomplish an everlasting dynasty. The thoughts and the plans and the abilities of mankind always pale and are as nothing when seen in the course of how God moves and works and maintains that which He has ever set into place.
	This brings us to our next consideration in the course of the Lord’s moving in the hearts of men. It is found in 2 Chron 25:17-20. Jehovah moves forward and prevails despite those who do not seek Him or want to know Him. God always accomplishes that which astounds and confounds human wisdom and the thoughts of what should happen or take place. 
Herein is seen that the Lord is always the One in command. He moves heaven and earth, as well as the very hearts of men to bring forth His perfect plan and His absolute will.
	2 Chron 25:17-20, 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. 
    	God used Joash, King of Israel, to exact His vengeance upon the people of Judah when they started to worship the idols of Edom. Amaziah, by the power of the Hand of God, had completely destroyed the Edomites. However, instead of thanking the Lord of Israel, King Amaziah led Judah into the worship of the idols which they had captured and taken back to Jerusalem. 
As a direct result, through the hardening of the heart of Amaziah, the retribution and the justice of God was carried out upon him and the adulterous people of Judah. This was through the victory of the nation of Israel under the command of Joash. Joash, himself, had tried to dissuade this whole course of action. However, because the Lord had hardened King Amaziah’s heart, many men of Judah fell before the victorious army of Israel, thus exacting the righteous punishment of God for their idolatry.
	The Psalmist, in Ps 115:1-3, brings to the forefront the truth that God always does what He determines to be the course of His divine and absolutely perfect will. Man questions and man tries to manipulate human superiority, even with scientific knowledge and the most imaginative of delusions. However, God eternally and perfectly and completely does what God pleases to do! 
The nations may even array themselves with all their combined might and intellect against the Lord, but that is all blown away by the mere breath of God as is evidenced over and over again in the history of mankind. Everywhere we look, we see the Hand of God Sovereignly bringing His plan into fruition while all the schemes and devices and manipulations of mankind dissolve into dust.
	 Ps 115:1-3, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth. Why should the nations say, "Where, now, is their God?" But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. 
    	We will close this morning with the encouragement of the Lord as delivered through the Prophet Jeremiah, in Jer 24:4-7. In this passage, we are given a glimpse into that which the Lord has always had in His heart with regard to a living relationship with His Creation. God is the One Who works to bring this relationship into being. He is the One Who designed it and has done and will do everything to establish and maintain it. The power of God rules and overrules in full accordance to that which He pleases to do in the hearts and the minds of the people whom He calls and delivers and saves unto Himself through the gift of His Only Begotten Son.
	Jer 24:4-7, Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 'And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. 
	Notice the full force of the Hand of God in operation. Despite the circumstances, despite the scattering apart among the nations, despite the captivity and the hardships and the dissolution of everything that was cherished in the hopes of earthly security, despite all that was lost - the gain in the Lord far supersedes and exceeds it all! 
…'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 
The Lord will bring forth that which is His plan and His purpose in their lives. This will be accomplished even through the misery and the desolation and the destruction of everything else that they cherish. 
Then we have the reason for this drastic and unprecedented action on the part of God’s Sovereignty …'And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. 
Oh that we would beseech the Lord to do that glorious work in our lives, no matter what the cost! No matter what the road upon which we must travel! No matter how desperate we may become. We need to set the focus of that desperation on having God change our hearts to want to know Him all the more as each moment passes. Oh that we would desire to be His consecrated and devoted people, returning from our slavery to this world unto Him with all our hearts through any means that He chooses to use in our lives! So be it!    
However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Deut 29:29. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. Amen.