He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

I've been reading a lot of books lately. Picture books, mostly! Last trip to the library I picked up one that piqued my interest - He's Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson. I sang this hymn when I was a boy and have sung it many times since. Reading the picture book gave me a different perspective on it, though.

When I sang that hymn as a boy I sang it in a mostly white congregation and didn't understand the origin of the hymn as a black spiritual. Seeing the black family of the book and thinking of the origin of the hymn made me think about the words. Instead of being an innocuous hymn about our Creator God it is a hymn of defiance to earthly authority. The slaves or oppressed who first sung it did so in defiance of the power of their earthly masters. For them, ultimately all authority rested in God's hands--a God who loved them and would free them one day.

White Canadian born people are not oppressed in this way but when we sing this hymn it can still be a hymn of defiance. Instead of earthly corporations putting a cost on everything in life (think buying seeds from Monsanto, buying land that was taken from the First Nations, buying health from the drug companies) we know that ultimately God is in control. He's got the whole world in his hands, and one day he will bring an accounting to those who abuse the world. Amen!