Focus: The First Cause (Pt.3)

Text: Gen.21:6

"And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me."

Our God is the First Cause in the world. He causes us to cause things. What He causes shall be caused at the end of the day.

God caused Sarah to laugh for the rest of her life on earth. God made room for Isaac to prosper and expand his frontiers in a strange land. God made him prosper in Potiphar's house and in Egypt's prison. God caused him to forget his bad past and made him fruitful in a strange land.

Joseph says to his brothers, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath MADE me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt" (Gen.45:8). He makes it clear to his brothers that they did their worst, but God used it to process His best design for the good of all.

God made him a father to Pharaoh, the lord of all his house, and a ruler over the Egyptian empire - a ruler under Pharaoh.

He says again, "God hath MADE me lord of all Egypt" (Gen.45:9). The psalmist says, "He MADE him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance" (Ps.105:21). In his dying bed, Jacob says concerning Joseph, "But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were MADE strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)" (Gen.49:24). Joseph was a God-made man, not a man-made, a self-made or a money-made man. 

God is the cause of all causes and the owner of all things.

The psalmist declares, "Thou hast also GIVEN me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath HOLDEN me up, and thy gentleness hath MADE me great" (Ps.18:35). He says, "Thou hast DELIVERED me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast MADE me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me" (Ps.18:43). What a God we serve!

Let's see more Scriptures from the Psalms. He says, "For thou hast MADE him most blessed for ever: thou hast MADE him exceeding glad with thy countenance… LORD, by thy favour thou hast MADE my mountain to stand strong… For thou, LORD, hast MADE me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands… And he INCREASED his people greatly; and MADE them stronger than their enemies… Ye are blessed of the LORD which MADE heaven and earth… Thy hands have MADE me and FASHIONED me… Thou through thy commandments hast MADE me wiser than my enemies…" (Ps.21:6; 30:7; 92:4; 105:24; 115:15; 119:73,98).

God is the maker. He makes before we make. He creates before we create. He causes before we are able to cause anything. In Him we live, move and have our being. The Apostle Paul in a moment of worship exclaims, "Now thanks be unto God, which ALWAYS CAUSETH us to triumph in Christ…" (2Cor.2:14). 

God makes us winners. He causes us to triumph through the Lord Jesus Christ. We always win because of Christ. He is our First Cause - always making things happen for us, and even using man's worst to produce His best for us. I declare that your story will end well because God said so.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter