God is still in control.

Listen to my podcast of this devotion here.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (Psalm 46:1-3, NIV).

With these words, the psalmist describes a frightening and almost unimaginable scenario, where the “waters roar and foam”, and the “mountains quake”, tumble, and crash into the sea.  In other words, about everything that can possibly go wrong is happening right before the psalmist’s eyes.  The world is literally turned upside down, as the mountains fall, and the seas rise.  Still, the psalmist remembers that God is his “refuge”, his “strength”, and his “help”, and he makes the conscious decision to not be afraid.  He realizes that, ultimately, God is still in control.

We live in challenging times.  As I write these words, our world is suffering the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.  Life, as we know it, has changed, and it doesn’t seem to be returning to “normal” anytime soon.  Still, God is in control.  And, while we may not understand all his workings, especially when it comes to the presence of suffering in the world, we can still trust and believe in him.

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words, that “…(nothing can) separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39, NIV).  A pandemic of disease cannot separate us from God’s love.  Neither can our doubts, nor our fears, our pain, nor our questions.  Even our sin cannot separate us from the love and mercy that God shows us in Jesus.

When our world, like mountains, seems to be crashing down around us…  When the seas rise and threaten to overtake us…  When our world and lives are shaken to their core…  God is still in control.  Trust him, and do not be afraid.