Presence and Peace

As I saw the sun rise above the horizon this morning, I wondered for a moment why it was rising.

The last few days have made it seem to me as if the world should have stopped.

We just learned that my sweet, amazing, courageous, awe-inspiring, beautiful sister Laura will be fighting cancer for the third time and that the road ahead will be unbelievably difficult.

It seems to me like the world might just be spinning out of control.

But I know that it's not.

God is still in control.

The sun rose in the east this morning, at God's command, just like it does every day. I know because I watched it. I even snapped the picture above as evidence.

I've been reading in Job this week, fitting I know, and I was thinking this morning in the light of the sunrise about how God responded to Job's lamenting.

God asked him, Have you commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?

God reminded Job that the whole world was in His capable hands.

That He commanded the morning.

And that He caused the dawn to rise in the east.

I'm certain that Job, like me, had watched the sun rise in the East on days when he thought that perhaps the world should stop spinning

I'm sure that he, like me, had mulled over things that he simply could not understand in the early morning light of day.

Life gets tough when circumstances are beyond our control.

When things happen that we just cannot understand.

But God knew that we'd have days like today, and He made a plan for them.

He wrapped up the perfect present of His presence in our lives.

And gave us the gift of peace for our hearts and minds.

God breathed onto the pages of scripture these words, In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

God doesn't promise us understanding in every situation, but He does promise us His peace, that transcends our own understanding when we turn to Him for the kind of comfort that only He can give.

When we make God our hope, and place our trust in Him.

When we present our requests to God in prayer, He promises that His peace will come to us.

Even if understanding doesn't.