Psalm 121:2,7  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth....The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.

God governs all the seas. In the beginning, He told the waves where they would halt (Job 38:11). On the boat with His disciples, Jesus told the water to be still. But what about hurricanes and tsunamis? Why does God occasionally allow the sea to go past its bounds? According to Luther, God does it because He loves us! He lets the sea escape once in a while to remind us that He is governor.

What a strange way to look at evils! When some little evil attacks us, Luther says we should "dearly...love God" for it. That's not our usual play. We often take evil as an occasion to question God or become angry with Him. Certainly there is a time to voice our complaint to God, as many saints do in the Scriptures. Yet an evil may just as well be our reminder to give thanks and praises to God for His otherwise vigilant defense.

If God were not governor of all things, where would we be? Just how many evils would Satan attack us with if God were not attending to us with His holy angels? Sufferings will most certainly come. But when they do, we'll remember how small they are compared to the daily blessings God sends. The worst evil, death, has already been told to halt its "proud waves" (Job 38:11) by Jesus' resurrection from the dead. We can trust Him to defend and guard us in every other evil.
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