Nothing Rogue. Nothing.

I am addicted to the TV show Alias. Jennifer Garner – who stars as CIA Agent Sydney Bristow ­– is my celebrity crush.
 
One of the things I’ve noticed by watching all five seasons of Alias several times over the years is how often agents “go rogue.” That is, they do something totally unpredictable, or “off book.” Of course, when an agent “goes rogue,” tensions escalate and drama skyrockets.
 
As I was praying recently, my own internal tensions escalated as I thought about what looks like a totally rogue, “off-book” world: ISIS, Trump, Clinton, Obama, the Orlando shooting, sex ed policies in public schools, the national debt, our expanding culture of death, drivers on the freeway, the moles and chipmunks in my yard (little villains!), aspects of my personal life, and much more.
 
My momentary thought – that the world is ungoverned, or worse, is governed only by what I see around me – terrified me: “If no one good is ultimately in charge, if this world really is rogue, if nobody can get it back ‘on book,’ then we’re all without hope.”
 
Suddenly, in the thick of my internal heart-drama, God prompted me to ask, “Well, Lord, I’ve been talking a while. What do You want to say?” Here’s what He said.1  
 
My beloved son in Christ, everything is going according to My plan. Nothing is flying around by chance. I am not worried. I am not scurrying around trying to adapt to rogue and random persons, places, and things. I am not confused, overloaded, frustrated, or stumped by any of it. Instead, I am in control of all of it. It’s all going according to design – Trump, Clinton, shootings, sunny days, chipmunks, friendships, Orlando shooters, vacations, angels and demons, vital signs, population sizes, food supplies, ozone particles, trade policies, weather patterns, space launches, terrorists, school plays, buy-one-get-one sales, “missing” socks, cancer, births, preemies, innovations in hair gel, drug dealers, funding for Planned Parenthood, taxes, engagements, disengagements, Obama, ISIS, Fox News, CNN, CFL, Satan worshipers, earthworms, dung beetles, cumulus clouds, newborn stars, dying stars, black holes, platypuses, posies, The Voice, shipping lanes, pollution, judges, moss, fungus, genetic mutations, species undiscovered, and time and eternity. Yes, I see it all at the same time and exercise total sway over all of it without feeling even the slightest blip of want or pain or confusion or angst. I am “large and in charge” of it ALL – all the time.
 
So, don’t worry. Everything is going according to My plan. Nothing is random or rogue. No, nothing. Not . . . one . . . single . . . atom.
 
Good night, My beloved son in Christ. Rest easy.
 
Ah, the peace and joy that come from seeing what looks like a rogue world through the eyes of faith! Oh, how wonderful to know that everything is written in “God’s Book,” including what looks, on the horizontal level, completely “off book.” Amen.
 
For further reflection:
 

1. If we had been Jesus-followers during Jesus’ passion, I’m pretty sure we would have thought that the world had gone totally rogue. I mean, there was our Lord who could calm storms, heal lepers, feed thousands, evict demons, and raise the dead – being arrested, bound, dragged away, mocked, scourged, and crucified! The world was rogue! Off-book! How would remembering a text like Isaiah 53 have restored us to biblical sanity and calmed our hearts back then? How does the fact that Jesus’ passion was in “God’s Book,” even though it looked (on the horizontal level) totally “off book,” bring us peace for every event of our modern lives that appears rogue or “off book”? 
2. The truth that God rules everything all the time is commonly known in theology as His “sovereignty.” Look up “sovereignty” in a couple of dictionaries (online ones will do). By God’s grace, how does believing that God is sovereign affect your heart in light of the apparent chaos in your life? 
3. Just because God is totally sovereign doesn’t mean that He’s the author of sin. God is totally holy – morally pure and separate (cite Isaiah 6:3, James 1:13, 1 John 1:5). This topic, and others related to God’s sovereignty and “decrees,” is deep and wide. Consider this statement from the Westminster Confession of Faith as an entrée into this topic: “God's decrees are the wise, free, and holy acts of the counsel of his will,2whereby, from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time,3 especially concerning angels and men.” 
4. One of the best books I’ve ever read on this topic is The Sovereignty of God by A. W. Pink. I recommend it. HERE is a free PDF.  

 
 
1 To assure you that my cheese hasn’t slid all the way off my cracker, I didn’t hear an audible voice. I did hear the Holy Spirit testifying in my heart according to Scripture, just as Jesus promised He’d do in places like John 15:26 and 16:13.
2 Rom. 9:14, 15, 18; Rom. 11:33; Eph. 1:11.
3 Ps. 33:11; Rom. 9:22–23; Eph. 1:4, 11.