In the last few days, I’ve been feeling a weariness and heaviness about the state of, well, the globe. I’m tired and weary of all the global politics and opinions and news and press releases. I’m tired of fighting internally and externally all the differing views and perspectives. I’m tired of thinking of the implications and trajectories of ideas. Everything seems uncertain and confusing and there doesn’t seem to be a clear way to know what is true and what is false and what to even do about any of it. Even within the church, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on what is true and what to do. It feels a little like the mountains will fall into the sea soon! And I am not one prone to much anxiety, but these last few weeks I’ve felt myself growing apprehensive and anxious about the coming changes on a global scale, knowing that any one of these proposed changes will forever alter my life and the life of those who come after me. I want out. I want to pause everything. I want it all to just stop so I can just catch my breathe and think for a beat. It’s bone-wearying heavy.
In my Bible reading over these same last few days, I’ve been in Daniel. …The timing of it couldn’t be better. This morning, Daniel 8:4 jumped off the page: “I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.”
In many ways, because of how little control and power I have to change things, and because of how large and cumbersome the ship of culture and politics are in this country, I have found myself saying something similar to this verse. No one can stand against what is coming, there is no one who can rescue us, there is no where to go. The government will do as it pleases and there is nothing I can do to stop it.
But then my eyes continued to verse 5, “…behold, a male goat came from the west…And the ram had no power to stand before him, and [the goat] cast [the ram] down to the ground and trampled on him,” and as I continued to read to the end of the book of Daniel, I was struck by how often there is a description of a country of great power that can’t be beat… until it can. The Medo-Persians (the ram) were a power to be reckoned with… until they weren’t. Even the goat (Ancient Greece) was an all-consuming force… until it wasn’t.
There’s almost this irony built into the text: this government power is the power to end all other powers. …and yet, here is another to take its place. The book of Daniel articulates more than one prophecy of kingdoms rising and coming into global power, and then crashing as another takes over. Over and over again. It’s almost laughable when the writer speaks of a kingdom’s power and says things like “no one could rescue from his power”!
It reminds me of the passage in Genesis 11 where the people decide they are going to build a “a city and a tower with its top in the heavens” so that they can “make a name” for themselves (verses 4). It goes on to say, “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built” (verse 5). This is like if a world-renown builder came down to inspect the LEGO city his son or daughter has built in the hopes it will make them famous; the people assume so much more power and prestige than they actually have.
There’s a similar kind of power assumption in Job, but in this case, God calls Job out on it: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me’” (Job 38:1-2, ESV). Here God demands that Job and his friends live up to their bold presumption that they know enough to speak wisely on Job’s suffering, on the the assumption that they know anything about the bigger picture.
The Biblical writers seem to know something about the truth of power and control that we often forget. And it’s in this forgetfulness we find ourselves anxious and worked up and fearful. Jesus knows this about us, and in His provision, He provides for our fears and anxieties. In John 14, He speaks directly to this. After telling the disciples that He will be going away in a little while, Peter and the disciples question Him about where He is going. When they are told that they cannot follow Him to where He is going, Peter declares that he will follow Jesus anywhere—even to death! But Jesus rebukes him and tells Peter of his coming thrice-mutiny. What shock and pain that must have caused Peter! And yet, this is where we find those comforting words, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1-2). Later in this same dialogue, Jesus will go on to give specific promises regarding the Holy Spirit, the Helper, and the peace that He will leave with them: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (14:25-27).
Jesus knows our assumptions and anxieties and heaviness. He knows how prone we are to think we’ve got more power and control than we actually do. He knows how that lie creates such anxiety and weariness and heaviness in us. He knows that left to our own devices, we’ll continue stumbling around in the dark and sticky mess we’ve created out of those presumptions until we’re dead. …And in His great mercy and compassion, He lifts us out of that pit.
How does He do that? By reminding us with the stories of Daniel, Babel, and Job that we are far less powerful than we assume and far more loved and cared for than we could ever know, and by hearing our prayers of confession of the sin of assumption, pride, and unbelief.
At the end of my reading this morning, I came to Psalm 75:2-3, which reminded me again that the Lord indeed is in control, that He is so far above all that my eye can see and my ear can hear, that even if the mountains do fall into the sea, He is still in control: “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars”.
And so, when those moments come over me, when my worries about all that is to maybe come threaten to colour everything, I confess my unbelief and idolatry of self, and take my mind by the scruff of its neck to look at what the Word says: “He is a shield for those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of His saints” (Proverbs 2:7b-8). The globe and its troubles are so small and insignificant to His mighty hand, and those who belong to Him are safe in that mighty hand. We aren’t left with “no rescue” like the kingdoms and powers of Daniel’s visions. We have a Great and Mighty Rescuer in Jesus, who not only has dealt with our greatest threats, sin and death, but also in “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
What you’ll find here is a collection of musings, thoughts, writings, and ramblings about things I’m reading, watching, and thinking about. It’s my goal to inspire, encourage, and instruct my fellow sisters in their walk with Jesus and their understanding of the Word.
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Beautifully said Erika. I love reading your honest and Bible-centered thoughts. Thanks for sharing
TL! Thank you! ❤️