Even Still

Even Still

Is it just me, or are the bullets coming faster these days? The sound of a breaking news bulletin on my local network station feels more ominously frequent of late, and I sometimes walk right past a screen or a newsstand without so much as a glance at the headlines. I don’t want any more bad news, thank you. I’m already quite full.

And if these times don’t seem dangerous enough—unspeakable acts of terrorism, terrible natural disasters, an anemic economy, high unemployment numbers, and utter disregard for the rule of law—there are rumblings of still more dangers to come. I recently completed two separate studies of the book of Revelation. (A coincidence, I assure you. I did not mean to bone up on the Apocalypse just now.) Neither study reassured me that our present troubles will soon be over. In fact, just the opposite.

Large-scale dramas we have plenty of. But every day I’m made aware of smaller yet just as daunting threats. The life-threatening illness of a friend. Infertility. The loss of a business, a home, a marriage, a mate. Sometimes I just want to cry out, “Who’s running this show? And could we have just a little order in the house, please?”

Here’s one thing my simultaneous end times studies are teaching me: whether I’m pre- or post- or amillennial, whether I’m pre- or post-Trib, whether I believe I’ll be able to identify the Antichrist when he comes or not—the prince of this world can have no power over me or this world that the King of glory has not allowed. None. It may be hard to see God’s sovereign hand when things go badly wrong (just ask Job!), but my limited vision proves neither the Almighty’s absence nor his indifference.

Even in the midst of terrible things, my God is still at work. Even still he is sovereign over kings and rulers, events and history. Even still he is making all things new. The darkening backdrop of the times may appear frightening, but it is like a black velvet cloth laid out to make a single jewel—Jesus—shine ever more brightly than before. Even still.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Revelation 22:13