He's Got The Whole World In His Hands Series

TITLE: He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands TEXT: Isaiah 40:1-31

OPEN: (lead the congregation in singing)

He’s got the whole world in His hands [Repeat 4x]

He’s got the Sun and the Moon in His hands [Repeat 3x]

He’s got the little bitty baby in His Hands. [Repeat 3x]

He’s got you and me Brother in His hands. [Repeat 3x]

APPLY: That’s a great little children’s song. It was originally written by a full-blooded Cherokee Indian named Obie Philpot while he was in training as part of the military in WWII. When he was deployed, he’d left the lyrics to the song in his locker. Someone found the song and managed to have it put on the radio while he was at war.

Since that day, it has been sung by a number of individuals as diverse as Mahalia Jackson and Perry Como. And it’s been sung for decades by numberless children in Sunday Schools and church camps

It’s a great little song.

And it’s a great song, because it is a comforting song.

· He’s got the whole world in His hands

· He’s got you and me brother in His hands

· He’s got itty bitty babies in His hands.

· He’s got EVERYTHING in His hands.

He’s a majestic and caring God who can protect us from all kinds of difficulties and hardships. And the song echoes a powerful promise from Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Here in Isaiah 40 God’s power is painted with broad strokes.

In verse 12 – “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?”

The answer – nobody.

Nobody is as all powerful as God is.

In verse 14 “Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?”

The answer – nobody.

God is all knowing and there is no one who is wise enough to teach Him something He doesn’t already know.

In verse 15 “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.”

In verse 17 “Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.”

In verse 26 “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

And in verses 22-23 “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”

God is God… and there is nothing like Him.

God is God… and you can’t even begin to understand how powerful and majestic He is.

God is God… and if He’s for us - there ain’t nobody who can be against us!

He’s got the whole world in His hands.

I have a Bible program on my computer, and just on a whim I did a word search of the phrase: “hand of the Lord”. And I found a number of times where that phrase appeared.

For example:

· It was the hand of the Lord that brought the plagues upon Egypt.

· It was the hand of the Lord that parted the Jordan river so Israel could enter the Promised Land on dry ground.

· And during the days of Samuel, the hand of the Lord helped Israel defeat the Philistines.

In fact, something is happening the first Tuesday of November.

Does anybody know what that is? (Election day).

That’s right – Election Day.

And while, there are a number of people running for state offices as well as Congress we’ve been exposed to the Presidential race for more than a year now. But now that the two main parties have selected their candidates you can’t help but hear people talk about how much concern and fear they have about what would happen if one or the other of these men became our President.

Now, as an American citizen I have my preference of who I’d like to see elected.