11-06-16 God Is Sovereign: Trusting God

This week, like so many churches across the country and around the world, we observed the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, praying for our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering for their faith.  But in the midst of that, even in the videos featuring people in other lands who are enduring hardship for being Christians, we reminded one another that God is still God, that God is still faithful, and that God can still work even through horrific circumstances to bring about His will -- His much larger and much wiser will than we can understand.

So we prayed for our fellow Christians, not only that God would ease their struggles, but also that God would use their struggles to touch other lives and bring people into relationship with Him.

We also heard a testimony from Nikki Andrews, who is approaching her due date for her second pregnancy.  The first delivery was marred by some rather intense complications, and it got a bit dicey at the end there.  So Nikki shared about how she’s working to give her pregnancy and her anxieties over to the Lord and trust His sovereignty over her body as well.  It’s one thing to trust God to help brothers and sisters overseas, but it’s a lot more difficult to trust Him when it comes to your own personal circumstances.

In our message, we talked about trusting God in the midst of such a contentious election season, and I’m really, really glad that we did.  I concluded the sermon by saying that I can absolutely guarantee two things about this coming week:

     1)  Any human President will pretty much be an unreliable idiot.

     2)  God will still be God on Wednesday.

Well, it’s Wednesday, and God is still God.  And our new President... well, I’ll let you decide that.  But whatever you decide about Donald Trump specifically, let me encourage you not to put as much faith in human leaders as people obviously have.

Some people are declaring that Trump is the culmination of prophecy -- literally, the answer to our prayers.  Others are declaring his election to be the beginning of a fascist America.  Facebook is exploding in vitriolic hatred, with people unfriending anyone who didn’t vote their way.  California is exploding in violent, destructive riots.  The world is exploding.

But here’s the thing:  all of that is based on assuming that everything that matters in life hinges on what human being gets voted into a single office.  It’s based on thinking that Trump will save the world for the conservatives, or that Clinton would have saved the world for the liberals.  It’s based on leaving God out of the equation entirely.

You have a moment -- right now, and only for a brief time -- to change the world around you through this.  You have this one bright and shining moment to touch the wildly emotive people around you (on either side of the sociopolitical fence) with the love and stability of a sovereign and caring God.

In this moment, you can gloat or you can fume.  Or you can crawl into a hole and try not to think about it.  Or you can step out and show people what Christians should actually be like in times of turmoil.  But whatever you do, you’ll have to do it thoughtfully, prayerfully, actively, and soon.

How exactly will you make use of this moment?