Lord of All?

Dad says he knows a shortcut. As he twists and turns down the city streets, the buildings get steadily more dilapidated. Bars appear on the windows of homes. You see more cars on blocks, and every business seems to be tagged. This is not a nice area. This is not where you’re supposed to be. His shortcut has gotten you lost.

You don’t want to say it, but he can see you’re getting nervous. I know what I’m doing, he says. Trust me.

But you're obviously lost.

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In church we sing that Jesus is Lord of all. Outside of church, that can be hard to believe. The world's gone mad. Violence is everywhere. Children suffer, and the wicked win. Our feelings tell us Jesus is not Lord at all.

Head versus heart. Which will win? Will we believe what we know? Or will we believe what we feel?

What do we know? We know that Christ rose from the dead, conquering death, and so everything has been put under his feet (1Cor 15:27). God steered human history for thousands of years to make everything just right for the arrival of Christ. And he says he’s still doing it. He says one day he’s going to step in and make everything right.

People have long asked,

How long, O LORD, must I call for help,
  but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
  but you do not save? (Hab 1:2)

God’s answer is always the same. He knows what he's doing. He has a plan. We don't know what it is, but we know he is good. We need to trust him.

Will we trust him? Or will we give in to despair? Those are the only options. We can’t control anything. We’ve tried, and we know that never works out.

When we are buffeted by the storms of life, we can let it get to us. We can worry about what will happen next and let fear consume us. Or we can trust our Lord and pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Until then, let our songs remind us of the truth. Jesus is Lord. And he’s coming. One day we’ll see. We may never understand why, but we’ll know without a shadow of a doubt he had a plan.

Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend.
Even so, it is well with my soul.

---

You’re sure you’re lost. You’re scared and a little angry. Then the car turns a corner, and you see it. It’s not what you expected, but he really did get you there, and it really was faster. Your feelings were wrong. He was never lost, so neither were you. He was in control. You just needed to trust him.


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