Sometimes the Lord has a pretty funny sense of humor. He chooses some strange times to speak to me. This morning it was in the shower. Over and over I heard him say ‘God is sovereign, God is sovereign, God is sovereign”
At first I didn’t identify it as the voice of the Lord. I imagined it as the voice of my teammates as they tried to comfort me and I really didn’t want to hear it I actually stood there for a few minutes and tried to reason it away.
In my head I shouted back “how can God be sovereign in the face of the poverty that surrounds us every day? How can God be sovereign in death? How can God be sovereign in the horrific living conditions my favorite neighbors exist in? How can God be sovereign in cancer?” On and on I went�I made up all kinds responses to my teammates. I wasn’t in the mood to be comforted and really didn’t want to hear anything they had to say. So imagine my surprise when I slowly came to the realization that the voice in my head was not that of my teammates, but of my Heavenly Father.
I had just returned from a “technologically challenged” conversation with home in which I learned that my mom’s cancer was indeed growing and they would need to start chemo. And here was the Lord saying “I am sovereign, I am sovereign, I am sovereign” Really, God? I am not in the mood. How are you sovereign in the midst of all this nonsense?
I was at a point where I just sat down and cried and started the “Bible flip”�you know the one where you just start flipping through the Bible with no real direction and hope that something hits you. Almost like you dare God to speak to you through his Word.
Lo and behold, he did.
“Consider, what God has done:
who can straighten what he has made crooked?
when times are good, be happy;
but, when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his
Future.”
I couldn’t get past the first word: CONSIDER.
Consider God’s faithfulness to me. Consider God’s love for me, consider God’s grace and mercy for me, consider all he has already done for my family. Consider that he gave Mom nine cancer-free years, consider that he has given wisdom and discernment to her doctors, consider that he has blessed her with opportunites for early retirement, consider how faithful he was to walk her through treatment the first time, consider how he has surrounded her with family and friends, consider that he has put me in a perfect position to pray for her complete healing, consider his perfect love for her.
I wept in repentance. How could I doubt even for one second that this was beyond his control? How could I think for even one minute that he had stepped off the throne?
Consider what He has done for us and rejoice.
I ask for your prayers for my mom, Joy. Her faith astounded me as she let me trounce all over the world in the name of Jesus, and will continue to amaze me as she meets this challenge with grace.
Pray for peace that passes all understanding.
Pray for wisdom, knowledge and discernment on the part of her doctors.
Pray for her strength to face chemo yet again and win this battle with such an ugly disease.
Pray for my dad and sisters and the rest of my family as they offer moral support and comic relief.
Pray for her complete healing. AMEN in the mighty name of Jesus!
And ps�God is Sovereign! Consider that today.
