“I know whom I have believed…” (2 Timothy 1:12).
The world, it would seem, is falling apart. In the course of the summer, we have witnessed shutdowns and roadblocks in Bolivia, bombings and blockades in Nepal, marches in Nairobi, “hartals” in Dhaka, and security unraveling throughout Central Asia. Earlier this week, I received an email from one of our missionaries serving in an Asian country. It is his custom to walk to work – his office is just across the street from his place of residence. “There is a lot of rioting….I hope that I make it,” he wrote. “Just kidding,” he added. But he wasn’t kidding much.
Add to this the many personal tragedies that consistently characterize our human condition – illnesses, accidents, frayed relationships, deflated hopes, etc. Last week, a friend of ours fell off a ladder while changing a light bulb in Manila – and suffered brain damage. Yesterday, a dear personal friend died young and tragically while I held her hand, following a cruel battle with cancer.
I am glad that God remains the Sovereign.
Things are not, you see, just as they seem. Behind the scenes, a Gracious Sovereign operates his will. It is a creative will: he is able to call grace into being out of sheer impossibility. It is a redeeming will: he is able to remake puny obedience and half-baked efforts into something truly remarkable. If it were not so, quite frankly, you and I should find another business. But it is.
God wields his mighty baton from the rostrum at the center of the stage. As a masterful conductor, he brings the noises that surround us into his own perfect harmony. The Almighty’s baton enables us to bring our own noisy “note,” too – our own contribution to the Kingdom’s melody. With St. Paul we may confess: we are not “competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us.” The notes we sound are pretty feeble, at times; we find it difficult to carry the melody. But with Paul we may also confess: “Our competence is from God!” (2 Corinthians 3:5). “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1).
No, the world is not falling apart. Ask the widow who contributes a “mite”; she finds that Jesus makes of her offering something better than the rich man’s thousands (Luke 21:1). Ask the boy who contributes a handful of fishes and loaves; he watches as Jesus makes of them a miracle (John 6:9). Ask the foolish, weak, low and despised; God chooses such as these “so that no human being may boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:29). And they will tell you. The world isn’t falling apart. The Master holds the baton still. You may still contribute your own feeble note. God will make of it a symphony.