Tonight this world is spinning along its usual path in a universe so gigantic that we can’t even really conceive of its magnificence. Earth is just one small dot on a grid of millions of heavenly bodies of different kinds. Yet, here we are, special creation, made in the image of God, bent under the weight of incredible sin, grieving over wars that are raging as I write, powerless to control what cannot be controlled. Worried. Terrified. Wondering how it all turns out okay in the end.
And, where is God?
We wonder what He is doing. We question whether He is good. The bad news just keeps coming. And it seems like there’s a hole in our faith bucket. We read the stories that seem to point to the end of the world as we know it, and we tremble inside. We wish that we could see what God’s ultimate plan is. We wish that we could understand what is really happening when it looks like everything is chaos and craziness.
But, we don’t have to know every aspect of God’s plans or His will or His interesting way of accomplishing things. We don’t even have to like what we see Him doing. We don’t have to approve of His methods or be happy about every twist and turn that He has built into our road ahead.
But, even when we are heartbroken, when we are discouraged to the point of despair, when we are crippled by the fear of what is to come, when we are angry at God, when we feel abandoned, when we feel anxiety coming over us in waves, when we don’t even know who we are anymore, the Truth is still true.
Our feelings about the Truth don’t change it. They don’t weaken its power. They don’t deny us access to it. The Truth is always completely real, even when we are feeling around in the pitch black of our own fear just trying to lay hold of one tiny corner of it. It is there.
The Truth is that everything is going to be okay.
If we are in Christ and He is in us, if God has us held tight in His hand, nothing can snatch us out of it, not even our fear. So, in the light of Truth we can imagine our worst fears, things we are too afraid to even give words to, images and terrors that reside in our minds that seek us out as we lie in bed at night. Fears borne in irrational thinking or fears based on what we have already experienced–it doesn’t matter. We can imagine that our very worst fear comes true, and we can face it because we have the hope of Jesus Christ.
A friend revealed that she had a crippling fear that someone would break into her house and murder her family. The Truth came back to her in the echos of Scripture she had memorized as a child: The Lord is good and His word endures forever. . .Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding. . .Fear not, for I am with you. . .I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from my fears. . .If we are faithless, He remains faithful. She agonized over this fear for quite some time before she finally embraced the Truth that even if her very worst fear came true, everything would still be okay.
Because God is in the business of making things right. He is good and trustworthy, and His Truth remains, even when we are having a hard time remembering it.
Maybe you have already faced your worst fears. Maybe you are angry with God. Maybe you are so heartsick that you don’t believe you will ever recover. And maybe you won’t, in this life. But, God is working. Please believe it. His Truth stands, despite our circumstances. We can trust Him. And, at the end of it all, which is really only the beginning, everything really will be okay, if we know Him. Rest in His hand, my sweet, tired friends. He is good.
AMEN!
From Romans chapter 8 (ESV):
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes, that is my story exactly. I didn’t understand why my beautiful, cocky, intelligent son was killed. I stood out by his cross just a couple of days ago and asked God how He could stand it, how His heart could stand all the sorrow and tragedy that occurs. I begged Him to come back and get us so this could all end in the happy ending it’s supposed to someday. But I just have to trust what I know of God: He is good. He is faithful. He is all-knowing. And He allowed my son to die. I’ll never understand why, but I know God never changes.
Pam, what a beautiful testimony. Thank you so much for this.