Caryn Rivadeneira 0:07
Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose the word of God. It's Thursday, July 21 and Sunday's coming. This is Caryn Rivadeneira and I serve as Director of Care and Worship Planning. I'll be reading Psalm 138, verse 7.
Caryn Rivadeneira 0:20
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me.
Caryn Rivadeneira 0:32
In the reformed tradition, we talk a lot about the sovereignty of God. This concept seems simple enough, but it's not without controversy. After all, believing God is sovereign over everything - that is God rules and has power over everything - raises the very fair questions of why God would allow evil and suffering the world, if God's in total control. Of course, we try to answer these questions by raising other concepts such as freewill or the idea that allowing is not the same as causing, or even intending. But still, it's complicated. I'm not sure any of us will ever have a perfectly satisfactory answer as to how God can be at once all good and all powerful, and yet allow horrors big and small to exist under God's rule.
Caryn Rivadeneira 1:20
We could talk about this all day, but here's why I bring it up: when the tension between things like sovereignty and free will start shaking my brain and disrupting my spirit, I find the most comforting and helpful understandings of God's sovereignty to be hand metaphors. The belief that God holds this universe - which by the way, if you've seen the recent James Webb Telescope images - we now know this universe is more magnificent than we could have ever imagined. And the belief that God holds me, my family, my friends, no matter where we are physically, mentally, or spiritually, offers a piece unlike anything else. Especially when I consider how big God's hand is. We can wander quite far and never escape God's loving hold and what God's hand can do, which is what this verse offers a picture of.
Caryn Rivadeneira 2:15
I love that God's hand not only holds us, but that God's hand is seen as saving us, rescuing us, calming the anger of those out to get us. I hope that most of us don't have mortal enemies pursuing us on the day to day. Knowing that God can take care of those who might seek to do us harm in some way frees us to love and forgive those enemies and reminds us that we can still keep boundaries and a distance. So today, take some time to consider God's hand in your life. Notice the ways that you sense God's hand holding you, God's hand rescuing you and God's hand sustaining you, along with all of those you love.