When Things Go Crazy

by Lisa Leidenfrost

With things in the world the way they are right now, with extremists muslims taking over territory and with the homosexuals gaining their victory at the expense of everyone else, things seem like they are turning upside down. It is the same feeling as being in an earthquake where the ground underneath you starts to shake, a ground that before, had always remained stable. Yes, things are changing. And they may keep changing for the worst. But, is our security in the idea of ‘changelessness’ or God? I Chronicles 29:10-12 shows where we should plant our feet and remain on bedrock, no matter what change we will face in the future or what things are taken away. This is our bedrock:

I Chr. 29:10-13

“Blessed are You Lord, God of Israel, our Father forever and ever. Yours O Lord is the greatness, the power, and the glory, the victory, and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;”

Lets take a look at the first important aspect of this verse. Who is the “You” in the verse above in relationship to us? If you’re going to lean on Him you need to know who He is to you. This is important.

He is
-Lord
-God of Israel (and we are grafted in)
-our Father

He is all this to us. This states His relationship to us which sets the framework for the bedrock. We are His. And He is Lord.

The next part of the bedrock is knowing the things about Him which He has that don’t change.
He has:
-greatness
-power
-glory
-victory
-majesty

He has all the power in the universe at His command. His greatness, glory and majesty are secure and He will have the ultimate victory. And, we are His. We already know the end –He will be victorious over all. We are on the winning side even though there seems to be present defeats. Present defeats are not stopping the process of God gaining ground.

Further bedrock is to know His character which also doesn’t change.

Ps 36:5-6
“Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds
your righteousness is like the great mountains
your judgements are a great deep.”
Ps 145
“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy.”

What else do we need to know that is part of the bedrock from I Chr 29?

“For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours”

This is reassuring. So, who owns the earth? Extremist muslims? Homosexuals? American politicians? Liberals? No, the Lord does, whether they acknowledge Him or not. But, they will at some point know He is Lord and will bow down to Him.

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:10,11

But, just how far does His influence go? Can there be anywhere that man can escape from Him? Let’s look at Psalm 139:7

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold You are there, If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”

God is in every corner of the earth, nothing excepted. And He is Lord and we are His.

The next part of I Chr. 29:11 states God’s authoritative position on the earth:

“Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”

This is the culmination of this whole passage. He is head over all. Period. This is what we have to remember when things get tough. He is at the head and nothing will ever change that even if things take a nasty turn. And we are His. He has the power to give strength to all. That is a pretty secure place to be in.

And this is our response:

Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name…

This is the bedrock we stand on when everything else is turbulent. It is always reassuring to know that these things will never change.