Who’s at the head of your table?

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Hurricane season is fast upon us. Not a day or two goes by that we here in Florida do not hear about another storm brewing and threatening to reach land sometime soon.

More than once those storms have indeed hit land. It has not happened this year (yet), but in years past, the highways heading north have been practically speaking, gigantic parking lots of people moving at a snail’s pace to head north and evacuate the state in the hope of avoiding the destructive forces of the storms.

When the storms of life attack us, whether related to the weather or not, we oftentimes feel that God has somehow abdicated His responsibility and these things are outside of even His control. Sometimes we want to blame somebody for the devastation that barges into our lives, so we blame God.

I once read of a man who did just that. He blamed God for being fired from his job. Not only did he blame God for the problem, he also tried to collect damages through a lawsuit.

Donald Drusky took God to court. The one-time employee of USX Corporation blamed God for failing to rectify the wrong done to him when he was fired in 1968. Drusky waged a 30-year battle with the steelmaker, before deciding to take legal action against God.

Listen to how he worded the lawsuit. The suit reads: “The defendant, God, is the sovereign ruler of the universe and took no corrective action against the leaders of his church and his nation for their extremely serious wrongs, which ruined the life of Donald S. Drusky.”

Now, in my humble opinion, suing God takes guts. What court would hear the case? And what attorney (in his or her right mind) would try to prosecute that complaint? And as for the damages he tried to collect, Drusky asked for the return of his youth, the skill of a great guitarist, and the resurrections of his mother and pet pigeon!

I understand that Drusky hoped that God would fail to appear in court, allowing him to win the case by default. My question about that is, “How would he ever collect the damages, even if he did win?” My opinion of the court system improved dramatically when I discovered that Drusky’s case was declared frivolous and thrown out by the court.

But the question still remains, “Why does God allow all the tragedy to occur?”

I am convinced that there are a variety of reasons. Even a casual reading of the Bible demonstrates that God allows all kinds of trials to come into the lives of even the most faithful of His followers. They go through storms and floods and famines and droughts and sickness and disease and wars and conflicts all throughout the Scriptures.

God seems to permit these things in their lives for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they come because of sin; sometimes because of rebellion against God; sometimes they happen because God is seeking to grow us up to be more like Him.

Oftentimes, we are never told why these things happen. The Old Testament patriarch Job was besieged constantly with trials and tests. He asked God and his best friends, “Why me?” And he never got a good answer.

But God also did not condemn him for asking the question. The only time God came down hard on Job was not when he asked the question but when he demanded that God answer him!

The point is this: God is in control. We may not understand why or how or when He choose to work, but He is in control! And whether we like it or not, He will be God and He will retain control!

All He wants us to do is watch Him work His will in His way and worship Him as He does!

Sam Bronfman, the late CEO of the Seagram Company, one day entered a crowded conference room and, anxious to get on with the meeting, plopped into the nearest chair. One of his young assistants immediately said, “No, Mr. Bronfman, you’re supposed to sit at the head of the table.

“Young man,” replied Mr. Bronfman, “wherever I sit is the head of the table.”

You know, wherever God sits is the head of the table! Whatever He does is OK! What may seem to be tragic experiences in our lives work out eventually for our good and His glory! (Check out Romans 8:28-39)

God will be God – whether we acknowledge Him as God or not! We can fight Him, blame Him or simply ignore Him, but He will be God! And His desire is that we work with Him rather than against Him!

The only real question is: Will we be on His team or on the losing team?

Whose team are you on?

God bless …

Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for the News Journal and a former pastor in the area. He may be reached at [email protected].

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Chuck Tabor

Contributing columnist

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