The God of the Gas Pump

What kind of power would someone have if they could control oil? Let’s take you for example. And let’s say that one day you realized you had the power to make oil appear out of nowhere. Or, maybe you realized you could take oil from one place and make it appear in another. What might be coming to your mind is an old TV show called “The Beverly Hillbillies.” As the story goes, the “Hillbillies” were living the poor life until one day Father Jed when out for a hunt. Shooting at what I think was a rabbit, he missed and instead hit the ground.  The bullet struck the ground and up came a fountain of oil. Life changed forever from that point on for Jed and his family. So back to the question, what kind of power would you have if you could control oil? Well, one’s mind could go in a ton of different directions. I think it is safe to say that if any one person gained that kind of ability they would instantly become one of the most, if not the most, powerful person in the world.

Now take this idea and relate it to biblical times.  It does not matter…Old Testament or New.  The one thing that would have to change is the oil.  I would venture to say oil’s equivalent in Bible times would have been water.  One can only imagine how much more powerful kingdoms like the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians would have been had one of their kings had the power to control water. Now, with those thoughts, consider a passage like Psalm 104:5-12:

“5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. 10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; 11 they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.”

What an amazing thought it must have been for David to think of God as the one who controls all the water of the world!  He saw that it is in God’s hand to be able to cause rain to fall in one place and not in another.  It might strike us more if we think about the oil illustration again.  When God made the world He put all the oil reserves right where He wanted them to be.  He opens up His hand and all the cars and machines of the world are satisfied with the oil He provides, and if God wanted to He could move all the oil in the world into one place.  He could even make all the oil in the world dry up or just disappear.  

I know at this point you are thinking, “Okay that is nice, but who cares?”  Well, in a day and time when we spend so much time watching the price at the gas pump and when we hear over and over from politicians that we need to become less dependent on foreign oil, I think it is important to remember who controls all the oil in this world.  The oil reserve of this world does not belong to Islam, Terrorism, Hugo Chavaz, or the Middle East.  While the before mentioned list has and does greatly profit from oil, and while it is a worthwhile question for our political leaders to address, we must never think that God is up in heaven asking the same questions that we do.  He is not wondering how so many Muslim countries gained control of so much of the world’s oil and how He is going to turn things around.  No, the truth is that just like water in David’s time, God has a firm control over all the oil in this world, so do not fear man.  Don’t worry with the rest of the world about what will happen with gas prices and politics because of oil.  Instead, spend that time the world wastes in worrying with fearing, worshiping, and obeying our great God who speaks, and water, oil, and all of creation obeys.

Eric Flintoff

Berachah Bible Church