The Good News: You're Not in Control
“The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Psalm 46: 6-7
Congratulations! If you are alive right now, which I am assuming is the case since you are reading this, then you are living during some truly crazy times!
They say that life on earth has changed more within the last 50 years than in the 300 years before that. The current social and political climate can be confusing to say the least. Throw in huge changes such as a worldwide pandemic, the beginning high school, leaving for college, starting a job, or even starting a family and it’s a wonder any of us can think straight.
Life just feels out of control sometimes, and the truth is, it is out of our control. As much as we try to manipulate circumstances to go our way or wish for others to act a certain way and believe certain things, you and I are not in control.
And honestly, that should be a relief. I can’t imagine the state the world would be in if I was in control. The good news is, we serve a big God who is in control of both this ever-changing world and our own little lives, and he is much more equipped to handle it than we are.
Psalm Forty-Six is one of my favorite books in the whole Bible because it is at once both painfully honest and incredibly hopeful. The image painted in the psalm is one of total chaos. The psalmist (that’s the fancy term for whoever wrote the psalm) describes feeling as though the earth is caving in on itself. Clearly, there is little hope of humans being able to fix such destruction.
To me, that sounds a little bit like our world today. Nobody seems to be sure of what is right and what is wrong, our priorities can be all out of whack, and a lot of people are just plain sad and confused. Hello God, which way is up??
However, even in the midst of the madness we are reminded throughout the psalm that God is with us as a source of safety and comfort during the storm and he is ultimately working everything for our good (see Romans 8:28) and his glory (see Romans 11:36). Our God is much bigger than the monsters we face in this life, and we can rest assured knowing that while we are not in control, the One who calms the storm and offers us sanctuary is.