What do you do when the world is going crazy? How do you handle it when nothing makes any sense? It seems that there is no normal anymore. Our sanity is challenged by the world’s insanity. I’ve come to believe that confusion reigns where there is an absence of God. By absence, I mean distance between you and God. By not seeking the kingdom of God first, you invite chaos into your life. Simply say, hello world. Dangerous is a world without God.
I have found myself many a time wandering through life like the Israelites, lost without a clue. In today’s world that is not as difficult as it seems. A minister friend of mine recently reminded me that being a Christian is a full time job, believe it or not. You don’t get summer vacations and definitely no spring breaks. Yep, you also work nights and weekends. My point is that you can never get too full of yourself thinking you are doing God’s will. The reason I say this is that the devil is vigilant. When you get tired, the devil has a bed for you to sleep in. When you’re thirsty, he’s got just the right thing to quench your thirst. When you lose focus, guess who has the right thoughts to fill your imagination? If you’re not careful, one day you’ll wake up thinking you’re close to God and find out Satan is your new sidekick.
The good news is that once God gets your attention, He has ways of letting you know that it’s your time to get busy again because He’s still in charge. There is work to be done by you on you. For me it’s Psalm 23. You know the part that’s says “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me?” This came to me one day when chaos reigned in my life and confusion was on the creep. You know once you find the Lord, these things have a way of forcing you to at least try to rely on Him. So when I found myself surrounded by chaos, God came knocking with Psalm 23. It’s the “with me” part that hit home. Somehow God wasn’t with me or I wasn’t with Him. I had let Him fall by the wayside and you can guess who was more than willing to ride shotgun. My point is with just a little faith, God will let you and the devil know, somebody is in His seat and to be honest about it, He ain’t havin it.
I found myself face down in prayer one night wondering what the hell was going on. I wanted to be okay but I wasn’t until I reframed the thought to wondering what the heaven was going on. I then remembered Psalm 22, the part that says “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.” I could then immediately close the expanding gap between me and God. I again submitted all I had and all that I am to Him. Peace of mind can be a powerful thing. Now and again, you need to remember God is able, particularly when you think your situation is impossible. It’s then that you know it’s the impossible that God has already set you free from. With a little faith and Him by your side, He can and will do it again.
May God bless and keep you always.
James, jaws@dallasweekly.com