So, if you've been keeping up with the news, or if you've personally experienced
one of the tragedies that has struck our world lately—whether it be the fires, or
the hurricanes, or the earthquake, or whatever else it might be—you might be
finding yourself in a place of discouragement. And, worse than that, you
might be asking the question, "Is God really there?" and "Does He really care?"
A few nights ago, I found myself praying about the tragedies that have been
occurring in our world and about the people that have been impacted and
affected by them. And I began to feel this discouragement while I was praying
to God. And I was going for a walk outside, and I remember looking up into
the night sky and seeing the moon, and it was just this full, brilliant, bright moon
in the sky. And I was reminded of that verse in Genesis where it talks about
God giving the moon as the governing light for the night and the Sun to
govern the day. And I remember looking up and thinking about the fact that the
moon, on regular occasions, you can see the moon at night.
And everyday, if you look up in the sky, the sun is going to be there. And I remember
thinking, "God made the moon and the sun, and yet He governs both. He governs His
entire creation. He's the governor of all."
But the thought struck me—sometimes, even if the moon is out at night or even if
the sun is out at day—sometimes when you look up you're not going to see them.
Because there might be cloud cover. It might be a stormy day, or it might be a
foggy day. Something might be blocking your line of sight to the moon or to the
sun, and I think the same thing happens with God. Just because you're in the
middle of a crisis and you can't necessarily see God, does not mean He's
not there. jehoshaphat in the Bible was this Israelite king, who at one point in
time had all these armies coming up against him, and it was this impossible
situation. It was a crisis that he was facing, because there was no way that
they could possibly win, and yet what he did was—because he was seeking after God—
because he had made God his priority in the moment of crisis, the prayer that he
prayed to God was, "God, we have set our eyes upon you." That's amazing to me.
And I truly believe that's the same thing that God desires when we're in a
moment of crisis. When the world looks like it is in a state of crisis, God
desires us to set our eyes on Him. And then I think about Peter in the boat, and
Jesus walking on the water, and Peter calling out to Jesus and saying, "Lord, let
me come out to You on the water." And once he steps out and once he's walking
towards Jesus, he begins to take his eyes off of his Lord and he begins to look at
these huge waves, and suddenly he begins to sink. And I'm just reminded of the
fact that, if we would keep our eyes on God even in the middle of the storm,
nothing would be able to sink us. And I know there's some people out there who
have said these these tragedies and these events that have happened are the
wrath of God. I want to tell you what I do know about God's wrath. It's that man
sinned, and yes, we have fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is
death. But 2,000 years ago, God poured out the entirety of His wrath on mankind.
And Jesus, His perfect Son, stepped in the way, and He bore all of it
on the cross. So, now we have the opportunity to come to God and say, "God, I
get to stand before You because I am trusting fully and completely on the
finished work of Jesus on the cross, and now I know that when You see me,
You don't see my sin. You don't see my mistakes, but You see the perfect
righteousness of Your Son. Even if you feel discouraged right now, know that God
is there, that He does care, and that even in the middle of crisis, He's saying,
"Look at Me, and come to Me. Set your eyes on Me. Draw near to Me. Respond to My grace and
to My love." When we're listening to the voice of God and we're responding to Him,
we're way better equipped to respond to crisis. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God
and He will draw near to you."