This morning, I read straight through Psalms 94 and 95 and found something that might inform my future fears, if I take heed. The Psalmist in 94 is uttering his complaint about the rise of the wicked, those who crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage, those who frame injustice by statute . . . and condemn the innocent to death. (Sound familiar?) He then confirms what he knows to be true: The Lord our God will wipe them out.
Now you and I and the Psalmist all know that God doesn't always wipe the wicked out according to our timetable, but according to His own. Praise Him for that! In fact, the very next line in the next Psalm is this: Oh come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Read: focus, people, focus. In times when the wicked seem to be rising in influence and by mandate we are to keep our eyes fixed, not on the decline of our culture, though we are NOT to bury our heads in the sand unseeingly, but on the Lord who will finally and forever reign in our midst. We are to continue to obey the command to worship and bow down, as Daniel did when things went dark around him. For He is our God, not another; He is the One who rescues, and commands our allegiance. Obedience, then, becomes simple: He is the One we are to obey.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. So today, if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart and think He is out of control. Trust me and trust Him when He says that the best is yet to come. And if you don't quite believe it, read Revelation 21 and 22. And make a joyful noise!
A verse I've gone back to a lot recently is from Psalm 94. Verse 19 says "When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul." I can be consoled because indeed, He is not out of control!
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