Christmas is a bold demonstration of the sovereignty of God …

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Did God use a mishap with a can of “Beanie Weenies” to save a man’s life?

Probably.

Here’s the short story, as reported in 2009 by Today in the Word:

    Last July the nation’s deadliest forest fire blazed up all at once, like the roar of a tornado. Unable to escape, 14 firefighters were killed.

    But Brad Haugh managed to survive. At about 2 p.m., Haugh and his partner broke for lunch. As he opened a can of Beanie Weenies, the pull-off ring on the lid broke. Haugh pulled out his knife and cut the lid off, a procedure that delayed by about five minutes his return to work. Later, he would conclude that those five minutes might have saved his life by slowing his descent down a ridge.

    At about 3:30 p.m. the out-of-control fire raced toward Haugh. Scrambling through the brush, he reached the ridge top. He started to turn around to look back at the fire, but remembered how Lot’s wife had turned to look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Twenty minutes later he reached safety.

The sovereignty of God can show itself in various ways, including using a can of food to save a life. Sometimes the sovereignty of God is displayed as softly as a whisper; at other times, it is trumpeted loudly. The first Christmas is one of those times.

Christmas is a bold demonstration of the sovereignty of God, as revealed in multiple ways, such as:

Destroying the work of an enemy. For a long time, Satan had wreaked havoc among God’s creation. Christmas is the serious beginning of the end of the devil’s dirty work.

“But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil,” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:8‬.

Satan may have acted as prince of this world for a time, but this world isn’t his! Christmas brought forth the One sent to destroy the work of the devil, a bold revelation of God’s sovereignty.

Mopping up our mess by providing a means of reconciliation. Our sin broke our relationship with God and there was nothing we could do to repair that relationship. But God is sovereign overall; not only was He able to provide a way that we could be reconciled to Him, it was His great desire to do so, as shown in the birth of Christ that first Christmas.

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation,” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:18-19‬.

Pressing into action parents for a baby. The sovereignty of God was certainly displayed in the lives of Joseph and Mary when God didn’t bother to ask them if they wanted to volunteer being the earthly parents for the Som of God. Instead, God sent the angel Gabriel to inform them of how God intended to use their lives to bless all others (see Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38).

Finally, a loud, spectacular, unrestrained proclamation from the hosts of heaven trumpeted the sovereign work of God at Christmas:

“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior — yes, the Messiah, the Lord — has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.’ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others — the armies of heaven — praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased,’” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:8-14.

Christmas is a wondrous display of God’s sovereignty over this world and all created beings. As you celebrate this Christmas, give thanks to God that His sovereignty has destroyed the works of the enemy, provided a means for our adoption as His own children, and that He works as sovereignly in our lives as He did in the lives of Mary and and Joseph.

Scotty