The God Who Reigns Over All
It will make a world of difference in your life if you truly believe that God reigns. No man has influenced my life more profoundly than Samuel Logan Brengle, a commissioner for the Salvation Army. In my teen years I found some little books he wrote, and they influenced me profoundly: Heart Talks on Holiness, The Way of Holiness, and When the Holy Ghost Is Come.
Brengle was a brilliant young preacher whom God led into the Salvation Army. He became the Salvation Army’s great spokesman for the message of personal holiness.
One night a drunken man continually interrupted a service Brengle was leading. Finally, Brengle put the man outside the service.
After the meeting was over, Brengle was the last one to leave, so he turned the lights off and stepped into the street. The drunken man was waiting for him. He struck one side of Brengle’s head with a paving stone, and smashed the other side against the building. Samuel Brengle was in the hospital for an extended period, hovering between life and death.
When he finally began to recover, it was a long time before he could resume his former activities, so the editor of the Salvation Army’s magazine asked him to write some articles while he was recuperating in the hospital. Those little books, which have profoundly shaped many Christian leaders, were the fruit of that accident.
We must believe that God is running our lives. The devil can create minor complications, but God is in control whether you are in a hospital bed like Brengle, in a prison like Paul, or anywhere else. God can and will use your circumstances to accomplish his purposes. He is the only one who can produce fruit out of an apparent disaster.
—Dennis Kinlaw, This Day with the Master
What if we really believed that God reigns—not just in theory, but in the painful, messy details of our lives? Dennis Kinlaw’s story of Samuel Brengle reminds us that God’s sovereignty isn’t an abstract concept; it’s a personal anchor. Brengle’s life was nearly destroyed by a senseless act of violence. But out of that hospital bed—out of the wreckage—came words that would shape generations of believers. What the enemy meant for harm, God used for deep and lasting good.
Wherever you find yourself today—in a place of pain, limitation, or discouragement—remember this: God is not absent in your struggle. He is present, reigning, and able to bring beauty from brokenness. Our setbacks may feel like detours, but in God’s hands, they are often the very soil where our greatest fruit will grow. Trust Him—not just when life is smooth, but especially when it isn’t. He is the God who reigns, and He wastes nothing. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics