Psalm 29:10, “The LORD sits enthroned as king forever…”
The News always seems bad. Even when it’s a little-good, it’s quickly buffered by warnings of what might happen next, footnoted with caveats of gloom.
In a sense, they’re right: the world is a fallen place. It was good. Now it’s not-so good. It’s easy to take this to heart, to let it seep into our soul. From there it fills us up with worry, pessimism, negativity, complaints. Over time we are saturated with these woes and we become jaded, mocking, scoffing—we posture ourselves as wise because we know: no good shall last, darkness feasts forever, and hope is doomed. The level of dis-ease rises until it reaches our eyes, ears, and mind. We see selectively; we only notice grief-confirming data. We hear selectively; we filter our inbox for perspectives that echo our fears. We give life the worse possible spin and put things in the worst possible light.
But listen. Yeah, yeah, the world’s a broken place—a ramshackle 1980’s playground that was once filled with laughing children and possibility, and is now full of broken glass, rough concrete, and shattered dreams. But.
But this world is not The Whole Thing. Our thrones aren’t The Throne. Our sight is not The Truth. Our spin is certainly not Righteous Understanding. And our assessments are not Just and True Judgments.
There’s one place from which a far-seeing, big-hearted, all-knowing Person might be able to see truly, understand accurately, and act wisely. One spot. One chair, as it were. And whoever sits upon it would be The King.
There is such a person. It’s not you or me or any one discussing, or discussed on, the news. He isn’t featured on very many magazine covers, and almost never appears in the grocery store checkout line mag-stand. He doesn’t “pop up.” So it is easy to forget about Him. It’s easy to forget that He’s There. It’s easy to forget that all things are under His Rule. It’s easy to forget that He is The King, and so all will be well. He knows The Truth. He has Righteous Understanding. Just and True are His Judgments. His world is The Whole Thing.
And so He is completely trustworthy. We can rely utterly on His communication to us, His promises and commandments and stories.
So we can bring this, our own news—His News—into conversation with the “news” of our lives in the world.
This-that-and-the-other is in trouble, burning, fighting, stealing, pillaging, plummeting, melting, increasing, decreasing, etc. And in other news, “The LORD sits enthroned as King forever.”
If so-and-so does such-and-such then this or that or these… yet “the LORD sits enthroned as King forever.”
But if I can’t or don’t, or they don’t or won’t, …still “the LORD sits enthroned as King forever.”
We have our own news, friends.
Let this good news seep into your soul today. It will fill you up with hope, optimism, compliments and gratitude. Over time, as this message of peace saturates us, we become gentle, patient, empathetic and kind—we become truly wise because we know: all things are being worked together for good, and all the darkness that ever-there-was, if set beside the light, wouldn’t fill a cup. And as this health rises and reaches our eyes, ears, and mind we begin to see grace and love and hear hope and understand truly: the LORD sits enthroned as King forever.
This is The News! Good news as fresh and needful today as when dusty-footed Jesus first set out preaching. Enjoy.
Photo by Johann Walter Bantz on Unsplash