I was sitting in a parking lot in Panama City, Florida, when my phone rang. A familiar voice on the other end said he wanted to discuss with me the possibility of coming on staff at Peachtree. I had waited more than ten years for such a phone call. Much of that waiting occurred without the patience that would be expected of a seminary-trained and officially-ordained minister. There were moments during those ten years when I questioned whether the Lord had, in fact, called me to the ministry. That invitation from Chuck Roberts rang with a beauty that truly made me feel I had not wasted the previous decade as I sought to follow a call that, at times, I was not sure existed.
The prophet Isaiah’s words resounded with the people of Judah as they found themselves in exile in Babylon, hearing the good news that they would one day return to their homeland. The people who had seen their country conquered heard the promise that God had not forsaken them. They knew, once again, that the Lord reigned, not only over their kingdom but over all of the ends of the earth.
Many of us need the reminder in our own lives that God rules over the heavens and the earth, even in a time when it feels as though everything is out of control. Nearly every one of us has experienced at least some disruption in the way we usually function. This disruption could be something as simple as not grocery shopping the way we like or facing the daily fear we could be exposed to a disease that has raged around the entire world. Despite all that is happening, God continues to reign. We are called to trust that one day, hopefully soon, “all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God,” and we will return to some kind of new-normal living.