Father, it is a great relief to know this morning that You abide in the realm of perfect tranquility. You are unafraid of missiles exploding, of Ebola infecting, of money disappearing, of immorality abounding or of rage unleashing. You are above the fray and yet not disengaged from it. Your sovereignty is incontestable so we sometimes find ourselves confused at why You do not bring to a swift halt all to these things which are not consistent with Your healing, Your love, Your peace and Your promise of paradise. We wait for You and, on some days, we do not wait as well as we might. The chaos down here troubles us as our impatient hearts secretly wish to see that it troubles You enough to bring it to an end. Yet You let the chaos exist for another day and we who have been granted enduring faith press back into You again for another day and cry with the Psalmist, the prophet Habakkuk and those martyred saint of Revelation 6 who all asked You, “How long, Lord? How long before You answer?”
We praise You because there is perfect peace at Your throne. We are drawn continually there because it is where You are seated, governing both the fathomable and the inscrutable. We do not know what we cannot know, but You have welcomed us to know You and, each time the chaos below drives us to Your throne, we understand more that knowing You is better than knowing anything else. So please keep us coming back. If it means the continuance of sickness and death and war and hate here below – then leave it until it accomplishes its perfect work. I do not believe that You author these detestable things but it is clear to me that You allow for them to be. Use them for Your glory! Make them tools in our lives which bring us to the end of searching for some fabled utopia here below. Convince us, O God, that Your unstoppable Kingdom will continue to stand and that one day each set of eyes will behold it in its fullness and the effulgence of Christ’s glory will be the universal song of human and angelic harmonies. Keep our spiritual salivary glands conditioned for the tastes of eternity and let them not grow dull by being coated by constant consumption of temporal things that are destined to fade. Help us to see You while the earthly dust continues to fly in our faces. Keep us engaged when our hearts wish to run and hide or pray to You for a premature rescue. You have adopted us as sons and daughters so please help us not to cherish our soft-cloth diapers and pacifiers and formula-filled bottles. If You have meat for us to eat then cause us to love to chew and gnaw. Our cravings for soft cribs and elongated nap-times is unfitting for our calling. Please remove from us our whining, selfish outbursts and toddler-tantrums when we do not receive what we presume to be ours. We see the chaos on the headlines but we often fail to recognize it in our own hearts; we seem to easily justify the very thing we hate to see in the world around us when it proceeds from our own mouths.
So keep revealing Your throne to us because it facilitates our hope. I see a smiling Savior seated there. His hands are mighty. His eyes see it all. His garments are glorious and His scepter has no human hand-smudges upon it. Angels sing songs of Kingdom confidence and they praise Him today without ceasing. My sense is that my King is soon to rise and put down all that defies Him on earth. We welcome that day so, until it occurs, please anoint our abiding. Let us be found with faith when He returns to bring us what our spirit craves. Jesus, You are our confidence and we have chosen to wait for You today. If You tarry, our commitment is to wait again tomorrow and the day after until our waiting is no more. There is no chaos on Your throne. Help our hearts mirror that reality.
AMEN, she says with honest tears in her eyes . ap