There exists a disconnect in the hearts of some of God’s people these days. At times I need not look any further than my own life to find evidence that the disconnect is real. Where are we coming up short? Well, it may sound like a small, hair-splitting issue but I believe it contains a great deal of impact on how we respond to the trouble that often finds us. This disconnect may be found in our missing of the mark when we Christians allow ourselves to be half-comforted with the thought that God is merely present in their midst of difficulties without our going farther to acknowledge the clearest truth that He is not only but that He is also presiding. We forget that the God who is omnipresent is also omnipotent. God is no casual observer – He is the Orchestrator.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” – 1 Chronicles 16:31 {ESV}
The Lord is reigning today and Sunday worship with other believers allows me to sense the cohesive power of God. When you worship Him alone it is good and rewarding. Solitary worship occurs in our lives much more frequently than corporate worship because we live our lives much of the time as people moving in different directions. God, however, in His wisdom, has apportioned His people the gift of a day where we may come together and worship alongside of one another. Sunday worship is not some legalistic, calendar-chained rule that we are forced to keep to be qualified as good Christians. I say again that Sunday worship is our gift from God. The New Testament defines this day as the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week – Sundays. This is the day upon which the first Christians gathered in communal worship and fellowship and it has remained a special time of focused celebration, remembrance, instruction, learning and togetherness for twenty centuries. Many things take place when we gather together on the Lord’s Day for singing, praying, teaching and loving. One of these things which is not often discussed is that we experience moments of clarifying assurance as we come outside of ourselves and engage our sensory perception in corporate worship.
We hear others sing. We watch others serve as we also see ourselves in active service. We feel others hurt as we also feel a sharing in their joy. In the Lord’s supper our sense of taste is employed when we place both the juice and the bread in our mouths, commemorating the sacrifice that brought us forth from sin and self. When our eyes rest upon someone dear to us in the family of God, we touch them with loving embrace. We connect with the right hand of fellowship as brothers and sisters in the faith momentarily touch their lives to others who share the same beliefs and futures. I think that, more than the others, the senses of sight and hearing serve to powerfully remind us on Sunday that we are part of something much larger than our own little worlds which try to own us – mind, body and soul – during the week. Sundays contain this reminder that we have been birthed into something bigger which eventually moves our hearts from looking left to right and refocuses us from low to high. If nothing else, Sunday worship reinforces to us that we are small and God is great. We are helped by being with others who are receiving that same reassuring reminder. The greatness of our God is experienced and we sense again that He is not merely present, but presiding.
When we arrive at the back of our bibles, God is still seen in this exact same way: reigning over everything. The scene is one of prophetic vision – it references a moment in time that has not yet occurred. What do we find to be true in eternity future? The God who has reigned in the past is still upon the throne in the future. Listen… see… taste… touch… believe…
“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” – Revelation 19:6 {ESV}
Since God presided in the past and because He is presiding in the future then you can rest assure that He is presiding over you today.