God's Got This!

Have you ever heard that phrase?  Has someone spoken this directly to you in the midst of a struggle that you were enduring?  Have you ever wondered if that statement is really true? 

I mean if it is, then why were things not fixed or healed up or accomplished in the way that you wanted?  If God really had IT handled, then why do so many things seem so far outside of our control?  

I admit that I heard this phrase repeated many times over throughout my life.  When dad nearly died when being hit by a drunk driver, when my mom was dying from brain cancer, when my grandma was slipping away with alzheimers, when my uncle was diagnosed with ms, when we were going through our difficult adoption processes, when the Columbine shootings affected those that we loved, when our Haitian family lost property and lives in the earthquake, when Susan lost a job.  We heard these words, “God’s Got This,” when our friends lost their jobs, when divorces happened, when unexplainable tragedies impacted their lives, when wars broke out and towers came tumbling down and lives were forever changed.   I’ve heard these words in the hushed tones spoken at funerals and memorial services.  I’ve heard these words spoken aloud when new opportunities emerged through the midst of loss, when new love was discovered after a time of hopelessness, when new seasons and new insights were discovered.  God’s Got This!  

I think this phrase was planted deep in my soul in my childhood years as we stood in the midst of a rural congregation and sang loud and proud, “God’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”  You too know that song well.

God’s Got This.  God’s Got This.  God’s Got This.

What is THIS?  The THIS is not the situation.  The THIS is not the circumstance in which you find yourself. 

The THIS is YOU!

God’s Got YOU!  God’s Got YOU!  God’s Got YOU!

And YOU live in the midst of a messy world.  You live in the midst of the out of control.  You live with the challenges and the hurts and the sickness, unemployment, broken relationships, and chaos.  And it’s there in the midst of your THIS that GOD’s GOT YOU!  That is God’s promise.  And that Church is Call for Celebration!  This Good News Changes our Lives!

We hear in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 3, of the Baptism of Jesus.  Jesus, down in the river Jordan, was given a promise.  The Holy Spirit did not descend upon the situation – the issue – the concerns that Jesus would face.  The Holy Spirit descended upon Him!  The Holy Spirit entered his life.  Why?  Because God’s Got Him!  God Holds Him!  God will Raise Him!  

Did the Holy Spirit save Jesus from hardship, temptation, suffering, and distress?  No.  Did the Holy Spirit make his life easier?  No.  Was the Holy Spirit of God with Jesus in every moment of every passing day.  Yes.  Was that Holy Spirit there on the Cross?  Yes.  Was the Holy Spirit there in the cold dark tomb raising him to life?  Yes.  Ahhhhhhhhh……..that’s why we can say with faith conviction…..God’s Got This!  God’s Got Him and God’s Got You!  This is great news!  It is humbling news.  It is hopeful news.

The writer of Isaiah 43 reminds us……God redeems, God calls, and God promises to be with us through it all.  Redeemed from the pit….from despair and depression…from pain and loss….from our mistakes and accidents…..redeemed from the beautiful mess called us.  Called….called to live by faith and not by sight…called like Peter to step out of the boat and take on new challenges….called to fully live life and pour out our lives so that others too can experience life in all its beauty and splendor….called to never throw in the towel and quit but to be empty tomb people in the midst of every situation…the call of life is to live in the light of the resurrection.  All while living as redeemed and called people….never forgetting who holds us and shapes us and refines us….God with us through it all.  

This redemption, call, and promise that we see in Isaiah and see in the Baptism of Jesus, reminds me of the character Joshua in the Bible.  The whole book is a powerful read.  It is filled with every dynamic of life.  Many of the things we wish were not part of the human ordeal and many of the parts that we also enjoy.  If you have never read Joshua, pick up your Bibles this week and give it a read and see how God speaks to you.  

In Chapter One we hear how Joshua is commissioned to takes the reigns of leadership after Moses has died.  He is reminded that God promises to Moses still are intact and now given to Joshua.  The Lord promises that he will be with him and that God will not fail him.  Over and over again he is told, “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Powerful words.  Maybe we need to hear that more in our lives as well.  “Be strong and courageous; the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  A shorter version of that:  “God’s Got THIS – God’s Got YOU!”  

The ensuing pages are filled with everything that life can throw at a person.  In the midst of the challenges, Joshua stays the course, he holds onto the promise.

We get to Chapter 24 where Joshua’s life is coming to a close.  On those pages we read of how the Tribes all renewed with Joshua the same covenant God had given to him and to Moses.  We read of God’s generosity, of God’s leadership in their lives.  Then we get to verse 14 and following:  

“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 

Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem. Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak in the sanctuary of the Lord. Joshua said to all the people, “See, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a witness against you, if you deal falsely with your God.” So Joshua sent the people away to their inheritances. 

After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred ten years old. They buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. 

We are witnesses to this same faith and same promise of God.  Over and over the words jump off the page:  “God’s Got THIS!”  “God’s Got YOU!”  So……All of YOU……US Together…..no matter what the world seeks to throw at us or whatever the challenges to come may be, “Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!”  The Israelites were Redeemed, Called, and God was ever present.  For Moses and Joshua the same was true.  Dare I say, I believe it is true for us as well.

A vision was birthed through the challenges the Israelites faced.  The vision: “All the days of our lives we will serve the Lord!”  And they did.  Never perfectly, but faithfully.  And it wasn’t easy.  

Hear today, “You are God’s kids……God loves you….God is proud of you!”  Trust the promise: “God’s Got THIS…..whatever your THIS is…..because God’s Got YOU!  

Pastor Chad