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We all understand about chaos in this world. Whether its in the news or in our personal lives, we've all encountered it at some point. Moving can be chaotic, especially if things aren't labelled properly!! I know during one move with my ex-husband, I was seeing things I was fairly certain I had never seen before... I asked him, "what did you do, raid the neighbors!!??" LOL Really though, anything can be chaotic, moving, relationships, new school years, etc... But as believers in God, we know that He's in control. That's what this week's message is about.
Let's dig in --
Psalm 93
1 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. 2 Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.
3 The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. 4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty.
5 Your statutes, Lord, stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days.
Only five short, but oh so powerful verses!! As they say, good things come in small packages!!
If we are concerning ourselves with individual message titles, this one is clear -- God Rules!! It says so right in verse one of our passage!! God rules and reigns over the chaos of this world. As indicated above, that chaos can look a couple of different ways.
Our own bad decisions -- relationships, work, family, etc... generally how we react to those directly around us every day.
Anger/division in the world -- How we react to the news and events going on the in the rest of the world apart from our personal lives. (unless, of course, it's actually part of your personal life) Some of us may be tempted to doubt God, or at least question Him during these times. We may ask, "God, where are You??" The cool part is, God speaks into the chaos and calms it if we let Him.
Looking to our passage today, we can take comfort in the fact that, as we proclaim Who God is, it reorients us to Him and gives us peace in the storm.
Verses 1 + 2 -- We see here that, right out of the gate, the psalmist is reminding himself that God does indeed reign. Let's take a closer look at the implications of what's being said here.
King over all creation -- His robe is His majesty. He doesn't need anyone's permission to rule. It's simply Who He Is.
Armed with strength -- He doesn't require any additional weapons. His power was enough to create the Universe, He can certainly maintain it.
Established from all eternity -- Once again, it is simply His nature. His rule and reign cover the entire Earth. It is firm and secure. (no matter what the news tries to tell us to the contrary)
Verse 3 -- Churning seas always represent chaos in the Bible. If you were here a few weeks ago, this was mentioned in reference to Creation. "The Spirit of God hovered over the deep..."
Anything chaotic in this world is showing opposition to God. He is a God of order and peace. The entire point of His sending Jesus down to us was to straighten things up. Nations, empire, dehumanization, greed, lust, segregation, war, and selfishness are examples of the chaos Jesus came to conquer.
If you're one of those brave souls who enjoys going to the beach when a hurricane approaches (like Pastor Matt); then you know the beauty of the power displayed in the ocean.* This psalm reminds us that God is in control even of that.
Verse 4 -- "Mightier" than the thunder of the waters and the breakers. The Lord on high... It's easy to get caught up in the idea of the wind (or chaos) being so powerful, but it's only as powerful as we allow it to be.* That's what we need to remember, and react, or rather not react, accordingly. God is mightier than any of it!!
Verse 5 -- God's statutes are firm. This shows us what life looks like when God is in control, protecting us from the mess. We have peace and thrive. The fact that His statutes are firm, established by the Law and the Prophets, prove that God is orderly and is only out to achieve the correction of the World to His standards. (and our salvation) Once again, the point of sending Jesus because any good king or leader, leads or rules as one of the people he or she has charge over.
We see several times throughout the Bible when either God affected the waters (Ex. 14) or Jesus calmed the sea. (Mk. 4:35-41) God overcomes all the raging waves in our lives.
Healing -- 1 Pet. 2:24
Truth -- John 14:6
Death -- John 19:17-20:29
Psalm 93 plants seeds of hope in Jesus' arrival, both for the early believers and for us. And it's worth repeating again that God doesn't dismiss or demean our chaos, doubt, or questions. He meets us where we're at and helps us fix things.
Three steps that we can take to support ourselves in our efforts to achieve God's peace are as follows --
Worship -- Songs of praise remind us both of who we are and Who He is.
Community -- Fellowship and solid learning with friends is key to a thriving spiritual life. In our culture, we're encouraged to stay separate and keep to ourselves, but that's just one of the Devil's tools to weaken us, first individually, but ultimately en mass. If we don't have the power of community, we don't have influence in the world.
Sabbath* -- Take time to rest in God's victory. I know how hard it can be to find time to rest, trust me!! I raised 3 kids (working at least part of the time) for 16 yrs. The thing is, the busier we are, the more we need the quiet. We need to behave, at least for 5 minutes of the day, like the world can survive without us (because it can). Remember, it's God who rules the world, not you!!
God Bless!!
Footnotes --
Those of you who've been here for a while have seen this before, but it's just so important that it bears repeating. This is my response when people ask how I can be so "cold and uncaring" when I see the news -- "Yes, what's going on is horrible; but I've read the end of the Book, God wins. The rest is details." In my view, if you don't share this perspective, you're either going to go crazy or become deeply depressed. That's not what God wants for any of us. He wants us to trust Him in everything. And believe me, with what I've seen and experienced, I do exactly that!!
"Sabbath" is a word that can raise hackles for some people. There are differences of opinion on what day we're supposed to worship, but you can always point these people to Colossians 2:16 where we're told not to judge (or allow others to judge us) based on food, drink, festivals, New Moons, Sabbaths, etc... I once took a SDA Correspondence Course and mentioned that Saturday (or Sunday) aren't only times we're allowed to worship. The point lies in the fact of doing it at all.
These may not have been the "official" songs of the week, but they fit --
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