Only a few years after Christ’s resurrection, Emperor Nero tried to persecute the filth of Christianity out of the world. Despite his efforts and those of several Caesars after him, the Lord’s church persisted on. More recently, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote that “God is dead” and that the age of religious faith was coming to a tragic end soon. But though secularism has grown alarmingly, the church across the world persists on, and even grows stronger. It’s funny how, even though the world’s strongest forces have clamored to destroy the people of God, God’s people remain undestroyed.
God is perfectly sovereign. In all things, his will will be done, and his people whom he wants to flourish will flourish. The Moabite prophet Balaam, for example, even though he was by no means a worshiper of the Lord, and even though the Moabite king had instructed him to curse the Israelites, found himself entirely unable to do so. The Lord met him and told him exactly what to say instead. He would not let any curse fall upon his people the Israelites, because he was a steadfast God who steadfastly and sovereignly protected his people.
Should this not be a story of comfort for his church today? Even when we’re surrounded by calamity and evil, God will not allow us to befall anything that destroys us. Christianity has always been under attack, just like Israel was before Christ—but never has any attack been able to overcome the perfect power and will of the God who sustains us. Do you think the Israelites feared Balaam’s curses? How could they when they had the Almighty sovereign God of the universe on their side? That same God is on our side too, and he has promised that his will will be done, his protected people will flourish, and his kingdom will stand for eternity. Praise God, we have nothing to fear!
