Somewhere in Alaska
Direction, Part 2
We live in a chaotic age. History is filled with times like these, when things change rapidly. It seems that everything is in flux. We are questioning everything, including the very foundations upon which our forefathers built. We have judged them harshly and condemned them for their failures, refusing to acknowledge whatever contributions to the good they may have offered. As Bob Dylan wrote of his turbulent times, “the times they are a changin’.”
In such times, we draw strength from order and from things that we know. These are things that have been proven and found true. My faith in God provides such an anchor. It doesn’t exempt me from the upheaval of the storm, but provides me something to hold on to during the chaos.
Some like change for change sake and welcome the chaos. Others resist change, preferring the comfortable confines of what they have always known and where they have always been. It is inevitable that change will come. Yet not everything should change or will change. Some things should never be discarded and left behind. These are the things that are true eternally. Though they may be questioned, scrutinized and judged, they will endure and stand the test of time.
This is true of God. Though the world He created is evolving and changing, Scripture says that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). His words are also eternal and don’t change (Psalm 119:89). The sunrise and sunset declare His faithfulness. The new birth of spring after the sleep of winter, and the harvest of autumn after the growth of summer all declare the faithfulness and order of God. All creation bears this testimony, from the structure of an atom, to the orbit of the planets, and everything in between. God is an expert craftsman who birthed the world in divine order. God is also just, and in His everlasting kingdom “justice will roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Amos 5:24).
God is faithful, God is orderly and God is just. But of all the things that God is and of all the descriptions of His nature and character, by far the clearest and best description is this; God is love. And what is orderly or logical about love? It’s not that love contradicts order and logic, it supersedes them. As the apostle James declared millennia ago, “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
Know that your heavenly Father has crafted you with precision and order. As you journey with Him, much of your life will make perfect sense. At the same time, much of it won’t. So it is with love. G.K. Chesterton called the Christian life “a furious love affair.” As with all love affairs, many times your heart will be ablaze for no reason other than love. You will do things that make no sense. As you commit your path to God and look to Him for direction, know that God directs with both logic and love. I pray that your mind is fully engaged with what you have learned along the way. I also pray that your heart is fully ablaze in the furious love of God.