What does it mean that God is sovereign, that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is not just our Savior but our Lord? We say these words so often in worship and prayer, but what do they mean to us in our lives? What does that look like?
For me it has to boil down to trust, and an understanding of God’s promises in the midst of a broken and sinful world and my own brokenness and sinfulness. This is so easy to gloss over, to pass by, to ignore, to forget.
We know the end to the story, right? As those who confess the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of God, the Lord of all Creation, the one who will return in glory to bring all things to completion in his hand and rule, we know what the end is. And the end will be good! Really good, as it’s not only an end but a beginning as well, and what a beginning!
But the getting there? That’s a lot murkier. A lot harder to discern the hand and active will of God in any given moment or situation from the passive will of God which allows the suffering which sin always causes from playing out. Without that suffering in some form, it is so easy to lose sight of who and what we are – broken people in need of a Savior. Without that sight, we can’t see the Savior God has provided in his Son. Without that, we truly are lost. Not just for a moment but forever, and that is far more tragic than any short-lived suffering we might need to endure as witnesses to this truth and reality.
Thank you for your prayers over the last 24-some hours – special prayers for a solution to the conundrum of shifting Covid regulations which has stranded us for the moment in San Francisco. We are so blessed in so many ways! We had a good night’s sleep and are actively working on the situation right now. I have hopes – though not assurances! – that we’ll have an answer within a couple of hours, and that answer will be either a flight on Sunday or Tuesday. We have all we need for now – thanks to all of you!
We’ve had lots of messages of prayer and support and concern. But this is the nature of international travel. We’re somewhat familiar with it and know things can change. But Covid does complicate things a lot more! To have a country change policies when you’re literally on your way there is not something you can plan for, you just have to adjust to it. And that’s what we’re doing. Adjusting. In the meantime we’re waiting, and giving prayers of thanks because our God is sovereign. Perhaps these delays are for good reasons, reasons we may never know. But even if there aren’t good reasons as we would define them as such, God is still God. The end of the story remains unchanged. And we look forward ultimately as well as daily not just to the resolution of fleeting inconveniences and setbacks and struggles that are all very real and to varying degrees terrifying or life-threatening, but to the end of all evil and sin and death and the beginning of real life and joy!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 