“IF”

It sounds wrong to even say it that way.

As someone who is a Christian, someone who follows Christ, someone who stands up on Sunday mornings and urges others to follow and trust God, OF COURSE I believe God is in control.

However, I still find it hard to live out the incredibly difficult words of Isaiah:

“Don’t think like everyone else thinks.”

“Don’t fear what everyone else fears”

“Fear God”

“Trust him keep you safe”

In a world that values EVERYTHING BUT what God thinks, those values seem completely out of step with reality.   In a world of 24 hour news and constant twitter alerts detailing everything from growing debt numbers, to bombings and attacks in places I couldn’t even find on a map, it’s easy to fear what everyone else fears.   It seems naive and old-fashioned to fear and trust an unseen God to somehow make sense and order out of the  chaos, noise and evil that makes up the news each day.

UNLESS God is in control.  And IF he is…then that fact alone would make me echo the words of the ancient prophet Isaiah.  It would cause me to think differently than those who don’t see the seeming chaos of history as the workings of a timeless and ultimately powerful creator.  It would cause me to fear God instead of circumstances, because in the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

It’s all very simple, straightforward, and difficult.   If God is in control…that changes EVERYTHING.

I’m betting EVERYTHING that he is.  How about you?