God is on the throne. We need to remind ourselves of this often. I need to remind myself of this often. At times, we can look around and feel frustrated, and say “do you remember when?” Do you remember when work was going better. Do you remember when the family was doing better, do you remember when the community was more together, when we didn’t feel like we where harried and frustrated, and living a life marked by struggle and tension. Do you remember when the church was full? When it didn’t seem like culture was against Christianity. Do you remember when it seemed like God was on the move? Its easy to feel discouraged during certain seasons of life. It feels like the bottom is dropping out, things are going nowhere God, and yet, the fact is, God is on the throne and at work no matter what.
A few weeks
back, I was reminded of this in a wonderful way. Teen challenge came and lead
us in worship, and shared about their ministry, and the church was rather empty
that Sun-day. And all through the worship service I was feeling particularly
discouraged. I try not to look at numbers. I try not to count faces. I try to
remember that there is hope at all times, and that counting faces shows that in
the back of our minds we equate size and health, big with blessedness, and that
this is not the case. I try to remind myself of the fact that far true signs of
health are found in the depth of disciples, and their love of the gospel, and
in their desire to live on mission for the glory of God.
But I was
forgetting all that, and counting faces, and feeling down. I all but apologized
to the leader of the Teen Challenge team for such a low attendance Sunday. And
then I went down to lunch. We had an all church lunch so that we could spend
more time with the men and learn more about what God is doing in their lives,
and that’s when Lucy Mbugua came and sat down next to me, and introduced me to
her friend Joyce. Joyce serves at a church of 700 back home in Kenya. And she
told me that she is interested in bringing Teen Challenge back to Kenya. IN
that moment, I was reminded once again the God is sovereign. That God is
working even in what seems like a moment of failure, and de-feat. I was
reminded that He is doing His will even when we have no idea what's going on.
Even when
we're think we think were blowing and He’s not there, and just feeling totally
crushed. The reminder for me, and I believe for all of us, is that God is on the
throne. God is in control, and we need to find our life in him I need to find
my life in him, and only/ in him.
He's at work
in the great and glorious, and he is at work in the mundane things like an invitation
to Teen Challenge and invitation by a friend to visit the church. He’s working
in the time you leave the office, and the interactions you have on the way out
the door. We never know what He is doing, but we do know that we can trust Him,
and hope in Him, and find our life and our rest in Him. So often we run around
trying to control the details of our lives. We are constantly stresses and
worried that if we don’t do something it won’t get done, and if we don’t act
and speak in a certain way, we’ll ruin everything.
And yet,
what we are reminded is that we don’t have to live with this sword of Damocles
over our heads. He is in control, and we rest in His finished work, and then
live out of it with hope and joy. In Psalm 42, the writer frets speaks about
how frustrated and distressed he is. And he talks about how he frets and
worries in the midst of tense times. He says his tears have been his food day
and night, while men say to him all day long, "Where is your God?"
And he remembers how he used to hope, and how he lost his hope, and he lays out
his frustrations. But in the midst of that he says something profound. He says
it twice. He says “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within
me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God”,
and he rejoices, saying, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your
waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD
directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life.”
Even when we
are frustrated. Individually, or corporately, even when we feel like the
bottom us dropping out on us, He Is Sovereign! We can find our hope, our rest,
our life in him. Trust Him. Find your life in Him. Seek to glorify Him, and
then trust that He will indeed work for the glory of His name no matter what it
seems like at first glance.
