Stability
Last Friday night my stability was a little shaken as my husband and I listened to a television newscast, which told stories of Ebola and its creeping tentacles of fear in our country, ISIS and the dread of their conquering advance, and the building anxiety over the surely imminent Big quake in California. During the day, I had traded emails with my sister-in-law in Texas about the mayor of Houston’s subpoena of five pastors demanding their sermon transcripts. I also talked to my daughter about her job, which suddenly appears to be in jeopardy.
Like a tree bending in the wind, I felt buffeted by the overwhelmingly negative news. Although being informed is crucial for many different reasons, the net effect of all this dark information simply left me depressed. It was unsettling, even weakening. I felt shaken and afraid of all that was marching my way.
My comfortable and somewhat predictable routine brings me comfort. I trust the walls and roof of my house to remain standing, the roads on which I drive to remain solid. Our medical system with its superior training, facilities and staff have assured me that most any problem can be repaired. Our freedom to worship, a right we have counted on for over two centuries, has always felt as dependable as bedrock. But the dark clouds on our world’s horizons are challenging my thinking about where my trust is placed.
Several years ago in the midst of the 2008 economic crash in America I found these words which stabilized my anxiety then, and again today: “And He shall be the stability of your times.” (Isa 33:6)
There is so much I cannot change or fix about this world and that will always be true. And so the Anchor of my soul must be my sure hope and my stability, not the predictable norms I long to cherish over the Rock of Christ. The eternal truth that God is sovereign is either true or it is not. I’m counting on its veracity because He brings more peace than any treaty or alliance of men possibly could.
As I read my Bible there are predictions that hard times are ahead. At the end of the age, whether that is just around the corner or decades away, life will become harder and not easier. In this too He is the stability I desire, need, and long for. I pray you will join me in growing deeper roots into the only One who can make us safe if Ebola spreads, if ISIS invades or if the ground shakes. And I pray we make the transcendent truth of God and His Word more a part of our conversations that others may also have this hope and stability.