Boom!

Years ago when I attended baseball games at Miller Park in Milwaukee, cheering on the Brewers, every time they hit a home run there would be a loud cannon blast. Boom!

I think it was actually some kind of fireworks, not really a cannon, but it sounded like one. It was percussive, and I could feel it in my gut. It was loud, even if I anticipated it and covered my ears. It got my attention. Boom!

One by one, God’s Word in Joshua chapter 12 names the mighty, renowned kings of old that Joshua defeated on a mission from God. Like Sihon and Og. 

Boom!—31 times, 31 home runs for God. Boom! Boom! Boom!

God wants your attention. Who’s in charge here? Who’s ruling this world and its nations and governments? Not the kings. Not the rulers. Not the governments. God is. 

The end of the chapter concludes, “thirty-one kings in all” (verse 24).

As presidential tweets are interpreted and political parties bully each other for election priority. As drug cartels infiltrate government powers and lobbyists manipulate government policy. As nations around the world fight in civil war and our own nation struggles to find the nationalistic pride we once had. Boom!

This chapter in Joshua is a reminder. None of this ultimately controls what happens in our world. 

Our saving God rules over it all. Say that 31 times today: “My saving God rules over it all.”