“All people that on earth do dwell…”

My wife and I are currently in the process of selling our home. We used to live in Mochdre and have moved to Llandudno Junction. Whilst thinking about this, I thought of the scripture where it says that “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.“- Acts 17:26 (NIV). In the NKJV it goes like this “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,” or in the NLV “He made from one blood all nations who live on the earth. He set the times and places where they should live.”

That then made me think of the Hymn ‘All people that on earth do dwell‘, which is based upon the 100th Psalm. Its lyrics were written by a Scotsman, William Kethe in the 1500s and the tune is ‘Old Hundredth‘ which is said to have been composed by a Frenchman in the 1500s, Louis Bourgeois.

The hymn encourages everyone on earth to worship God as God. It focusses us back to the truth that He has made us all and knows best how to look after us, like a shepherd looks after his sheep. It is a great hymn that gives us confidence in God’s goodness and also His Lordship. He truly is in charge. At times in our lives this can seem hard for us to understand and believe in. Especially when disaster or tragedy befalls us.

When we see all of the troubles in the world around us both internationally and locally, we can wonder, is God really in charge, is He really good, is He really God?..and our faith can be tested.

However, this hymn and the scripture from Acts reminds us of the truth that God IS God and He IS in control. He has even ‘determined their (all the nations of men throughout history) preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings‘. God knows what He is doing. Speaking of the birth of Jesus, when writing to the Christians in Galatia, Paul writes; “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” – Galatians 4:3-7

When the ‘fullness of time had come‘; in other translations it says the time ‘that was set by God the Father‘. God is faithful, and the fact that you were born when and where you were born, He is fully aware of and has a plan for your life.

That plan is for you to come to know Him; “God did this (see Acts 17:26) so that they (all people) would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” – Acts 17:27

So as you look around you and see all of the trouble and strife and even look at your life and wonder why?.., look up and realise you were made to know God and make Him known; so ‘All people that on earth do dwell; sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell. Come ye before Him and rejoice.‘

With that said, I want to say a big thank you to all of our amazing volunteers that help us to share the good news of Jesus with the young people of North Wales. God set the appointed times and places that you should live; and part of that is being such valued members of our team at LLYFC. Thank you for being obedient to God and being such valued members of this ministry.

If you feel that you would like to volunteer with Llandudno Youth for Christ, then please do contact us.

Be blessed!