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 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |