Psalm 47

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.

It’s hard to remember that everything that happens to us is “Father filtered” and permitted only for our benefit. For God is working everything together for the good of those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

The preceding is a literal translation. Your Bible might read a little differently, but Paul’s intention was to show that God is actively involved in our lives, watching over us and only allowing things that will ultimately benefit us to occur in our lives. The catch is in the word we translate as love. Of the four Greek words Paul could have used for love, he chose agapeo, the one that describes being completely given over to the object of one’s affection, regardless of circumstance or outcome.  It’s not enough just to know who God is.  The promise only applies to those who actually know Him and love Him on a personal level.

Lots of folks who claim to know who God is often blame Him when things go wrong in their lives. They don’t realize that what they’re experiencing is often the logical and predictable consequence of their own willful behavior, undertaken without a thought about His will for them.

But those of us who  have given our hearts to Him can take comfort in the fact that at this very moment God is on His throne watching over even the most minute details of our lives. He’s orchestrating them in a way that even those things that bring pain and discomfort and seemingly contain no value for us at all are somehow working together for our benefit. We can’t always see how, but we know it’s true and that someday soon we will see and understand.

And on that day, when the physical is brought into congruence with the spiritual, we’ll also see the nobles of the nations bow down and acknowledge Him as King of the whole Earth. We’ll see this because we’ll be there, seated beside Him.

Until then we can take heart in the certain knowledge that this is already true in Heaven, for (God) raised him (Jesus) from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephes. 1:20-21) And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephes. 2:6-7) Notice the words raised and seated are in the past tense.  It’s a done deal.  Have a regal day.