Who’s In Charge?
Who’s in charge? You thought you were, then WHAM! Life happened. When my friend, Kathy, got cancer her immediate question was “Why not me?” I asked her why she didn’t ask instead, “Why me?” She said that she was a member of the human race. Rain (and sin, destruction, disease, devastation) falls on the just and the unjust. Kathy got it. She’s not in charge. She kept her spirits up through rounds of chemo and eventual victory over breast cancer, only to die of bone cancer six years later. but she was joy-filled through the ordeal and ready to go dance with Jesus.
When life doesn’t go your way, do you rail against your Holy Heavenly Father? Be honest, now. Most of us do. Jesus promised us redemption and persecution and eternal life (Mark 10:29-30). In John 16:16 we find our Savior saying, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Who’s in charge here? Foremost and over all is God. “The Lord sat as King at the flood; Yes, the Lord sits as King forever” (Psalm 29:10). But God gave limited authority to Satan here on earth. This is Satan’s world. He is the prince of the power of the air, he is the god of the age. If you hang out in a garbage pit, you will get garbage on you. We hang out on earth and we get what earth has to offer all over us. As Christians, Jesus promises to walk through our trials and triumphs with us. He will rescue us completely on the day of our death or at His return.
So how do we survive this garbage dump? We remember that God is the Potter, and we are the clay. He will mold us and make us for His purpose. He is a good God, and will work all things out for our good (even the really bad, terrible, horrific stuff). God is preparing us for eternity. He is more interested in our character than our circumstances. He is right here with us, and will comfort us in our time of need.
2 Corinthians 12:10 reminds us of our position. “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Our strength comes from yielding up our rights to Jesus, opening up our hands and receiving from Him with thanksgiving everything (good and bad) that comes our way.
Who’s in charge? You are! You get to make minute-by-minute choices of whether God will rule in your life, or if you are going to take the reins back. You decide whether you are going to listen to lies from this world or believe what God’s word says about you. You get to decide who you hang out with, what you watch on television, what music you listen to, what job you do, etc…. But there are consequences to foolish choices, whereas wise choices will find you at peace with God.
