Originally posted: 1/07/2020
Chaos: a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order.
It appears as though nothing is going according to plan, well at least not David’s plan. Amasa was to replace Joab as the commander of David’s army.
“Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be commander of the army before me continually in place of Joab,’” (2 Samuel 19:13).
This was, perhaps, David’s political strategy to garner allegiance from those who had followed Absalom under Amasa’s military leadership.
“Absalom set Amasa over the army in place of Joab,” (2 Samuel 17:25).
And meanwhile, Joab defies (yet again) the king’s commands, and murders (yet again) Amasa to secure his position as commander. What an out-of-control, disorderly mess!
As a result of Joab’s action, the question of loyalty ushers in a chaotic paralysis.
“Now there stood by him one of Joab’s young men, and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” 12 But Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still,” (20:11).
And yet another conspiracy led by Sheba, in an attempt to overthrow the throne, brings an entire city to the brink of annihilation.
“…You are seeking to destroy a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?” (20:19).
Where are You Lord, in the midst of all this?
And in that cry, I realized it was not the Lord Who was absent; it was my understanding, attained through my near-sighted vision and feeble attempts to examine Him through the lens of chaos. He faithfully nudged, to search beyond the temporal mess crafted by the schemes of the enemy and observe His Control in the Chaos.
Consider His Control in the Chaos
- His Control in the Chaos completes His plan, not man’s.
- “The mind of man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps,” (Proverbs 16:9). - “Many plans are in a man’s heart,
But the counsel of the Lord will stand,” (Proverbs 19:21).
- “The mind of man plans his way,
- His Control in the Chaos constitutes His strategy rather than military might.
- “The horse is prepared for the day of battle,
But victory belongs to the Lord,” (Proverbs 21:31). - Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts,” (Zechariah 4:6).
- “The horse is prepared for the day of battle,
- His Control in the Chaos confirms His movement in our paralysis.
- “… for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you,” (Matthew 17:20).
- for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure,” (Philippians 2:13).
- His Control in the Chaos compels His protection against destruction.
- “You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you,” (Psalm 91:5-7). - “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
Says the Lord who has compassion on you,” (Isaiah 54:10).
- “You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
How can we respond to His Control in the Chaos?
It is our soul (our mind, our will, and our emotions) most vulnerable to the attacks of chaos. No matter the circumstances, chaos threatens to usurp our Heavenly King from His rightful place on the throne, and set up fear, doubt, discouragement, and unbelief as ruler over our lives.
In the places and times that don’t make sense, the places out of control, chaos lures our attention away from His faithful sovereignty and threatens to drown our faith beneath the confusion, underneath the barrage of questions…Why Lord? How long Lord? Where are You Lord?
It is in the chaos we must choose faith, to unswervingly trust His Control in the Chaos.
- Trust His Plan.
- Life doesn’t always go according to plan, well our plan anyway. It is those times when we find ourselves in soul-chaos, we must trust His plan will be accomplished.
- “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope,” (Jeremiah 29:11).
- Life doesn’t always go according to plan, well our plan anyway. It is those times when we find ourselves in soul-chaos, we must trust His plan will be accomplished.
- Trust His Strategy.
- When things don’t go according to plan, it is those times we find ourselves scheming to make things happen. We must trust His battle strategy, not our own.
- For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
- When things don’t go according to plan, it is those times we find ourselves scheming to make things happen. We must trust His battle strategy, not our own.
- Trust His Movement.
- When He is not moving as fast as we think He should, or we find ourselves unable to move, paralyzed by fear, grief or doubt, we must wait and move in faith. He is with us and He will move in His perfect time.
- Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary, (Isaiah 40:31).
- Yet those who wait for the Lord
- When He is not moving as fast as we think He should, or we find ourselves unable to move, paralyzed by fear, grief or doubt, we must wait and move in faith. He is with us and He will move in His perfect time.
- Trust His Protection.
- Whatever this world brings, it cannot bring eternal harm if we belong to Him through His blood-covenant, ratified through Jesus’ death on the cross.
- “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?… 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Romans 8:31, 38).
- Whatever this world brings, it cannot bring eternal harm if we belong to Him through His blood-covenant, ratified through Jesus’ death on the cross.
May we so grow in faith to trust His Plan, His Strategy, His Movement, and His Protection in our lives, that we would be empowered to live each day convinced of His Control in the Chaos.