What is God telling us in the news these days?  John F. Kennedy and his wife had everything, except years, and now they're gone.  Colorado has unprecedented prosperity, yet a 13 year old girl kills her mother.  The stock market shows we have money more than ever, but our credit card debt keeps growing.  We can stop a nation halfway across the world from killing its ethnic minorities, yet we're powerless to stop our children from killing each other.  What is God telling us these days?

          People all over can't wait for the next election.  Have you noticed the ground swell to draft Gov. George W. Bush for president?  I think both Republicans and Democrats are in favor of him.  The Republicans want to get the White House back, and Democrats want to get Clinton off their back.  What is God telling us here?  I believe He's saying our government won't solve our problems.

          The problems of a nation are always caused by sin, not by inadequate laws or lack of money or a poor education system.  The true problems of mankind are never solved by politics - only by God.  And He makes us a great promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14:  "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  What a great verse!  But will we ever do it?

          This past week I spent a lot of time with three of our young folks in Confirmation Camp.  What a great week!  Every day, besides learning lessons from the Bible and Luther's Small Catechism, each of them brings a question about Christian life that we try to answer.  Their questions show they're really thinking.  One said, "Why would posting Ten Commandments in schools stop violence?"  Another, "How can you reason with religion?"  And another, "Where was God before creation?"  We dug into the Bible and found some answers, but decided some answers only God could know.  One thing God told me this past week is that these kids are a great asset to the church.  If they stay faithful, our church has a great future!

          Another thing I believe God is telling us is that we have to get serious about obedience.  Too many Christians want to have it both ways -- we want to have one foot in the Kingdom, but the other firmly planted in the world.  We confess our faith, but then act as if sin doesn't matter.  No one can serve two masters.  If we try to have it both ways, the world will win.  If Jesus is Lord, we should obey.

          God often lets evil happen to prove a point.  He frequently lets us have enough rope to hang ourselves so we'll see our sinfulness.  A woman came into a butcher shop and asked for a freshly cleaned chicken.  The butcher brought one out to show her.  "Is that the best you have?" she said.  So he went to the back and realized it was the only one he had.  So he brought the same chicken out again and said, "Now here's a really good one!"  "Fine," she said, "I'll take them both!"  I wonder what that butcher did to cover up his lie!

          Often things happen to us because we're not truthful and we want God to bail us out.  But God won't let us off easily when we lie.  A man was driving along the highway with his wife.  He wasn't wearing a seatbelt, something she always begged him to do.  And besides that, he'd forgotten today was her birthday, so she was getting more unhappy at him by the minute.  He noticed a patrol car behind him, so to be safe, he put on his seatbelt.  In doing so, he swerved his car, so the patrolman pulled him over.   "I'm going to have to give you a citation because you weren't wearing your seat belt," the officer said.  "But, officer," said the man, "I was wearing my seatbelt.  You tell him, honey -- wasn't I wearing my seatbelt?"  She thought a moment, sized up her options and said, "Officer, this man and I have been married 35 years, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's not to contradict him when he's been drinking."

          Sometimes God lets bad things happen to us, problems of our own making.  At other times it's the evil around us.  Sometimes God lets us get our feet tangled in our own schemes, and other times He lets us fall victim to the schemes of others.  But we never give up, because Romans 8 gives us the true facts.  "For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

          "All Things Work Together for Good."  Living by this requires faith.  How much are we willing to let God control in our lives?  How much are we willing to let go of?  Half of life?  Just the difficult things?  Or all of life?  We know He works for our good.  But are we willing let Him have control of all our life?  He'd like that, you know.  With Him, all things do work together for good.

          When troubles come it's easy to get caught up in self-pity.  "Poor me," we think.  "No one understands."  But God does.  In times of such heartache, read His Word and listen to Him.  Then talk to Him.  Open up and tell Him your troubles.  And then watch for His solutions.  God never gives us a problem without giving us a solution to overcome it.  "In all things God works for good."

          God never shoves us into the lion's den without putting an angel at our side.  You remember how Daniel was thrown to the lions.  That happened so people of all ages can see how God delivered him.  And how about Job?  He endured terrible pain, unimagineable loss.  He had the physical pain of disease, the emotional pain of isolation and some annoying guys who were a real pain.  But his worst pain must have been losing his children.  Yet he never lost his faith in God.  "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him," Job said.  Faith like that can be a powerful help in the midst of personal trials.  God lets bad things happen, things to Job and things to us, so we'll rely on Him to make it through.

          A few weeks back I told you the true story of Derrick Redmonds who was injured running in the Barcelona Olympics.  In the searing pain of torn muscles, Redmonds ran on.  But only when his father came out of the stands to help him, could he actually finish the race.  Doesn't our Heavenly Father do the same?

          When the accident tears our life apart, He's there to put it back together.  When the illness threatens our life, He's there to heal us.  When our job makes sleep impossible, He's there to give us rest.  When a problem child makes life a living hell, He's there to show us heaven.  When the cancer test is bad, He's there to show us the good.  No matter how weary we may feel, our Heavenly Father holds us up, giving us courage to take another step.  We'll still feel the pain, but it won't knock us down, because Father is at our side.

          "For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  There's a lot of hope in those words!  Above my desk on the wall is framed something called the "Serenity Prayer."  It was given to me by a group of men I used to meet with, and it's helped millions of people:  "God grant me SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change, the COURAGE to change the things I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference."  The author of the Serenity Prayer is usually listed as "anonymous," but I discovered a few years ago that it was written by Rheinhold Niebuhr, a 19th century German Lutheran pastor.  Lutherans have written some great things!  What blessings people have experienced from this prayer.

          "God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change, the COURAGE to change the things I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference."  Praying those words in faith will not make life better right away, but they can give us a godly insight to bring us closer to Jesus.  Our Lord gave His life for us.  Without Him we're lost and gone forever.  But with Jesus at our side by faith, life is made new.  Without Jesus life is nonsense.  But with Him, life is good, because God is good.

          Recently we've all seen too much tragedy.  Hopefully we've learned how important it is to have a moral anchor, something that shows us right from wrong, someone to turn to when trouble comes.  All people, young or old, need an anchor in life.  If you want to ride out a storm, you need to anchor loose and deep.  Max Lucado, noted Christian author, told of a time in the 1970's when he tried to get his sailboat ready for an approaching hurricane.  He lashed it down with hundreds of feet of rope.  But a Florida native told him he'd wreck his boat by tying it down so tightly.  He told him to set out four deep anchors and lash them to the boat with heavy rope that had plenty of slack. When the winds came, the boat would pitch, but would probably survive the storm.

          If you and I want to ride out a storm, we need to anchor loose and deep.  When we're anchored deep by faith in Jesus Christ, we can survive the storms.  By faith, all things do work out for good.

          Trust in Jesus, my friends.  He's called you to be His own.  Trust in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, not in government or laws.  Leaders will fail us, but Jesus never fails.  He's the Way amid the chaos, He's the Truth amid the lies, He's the Life amid all the death.  In Him, all things work together for our good.  You gotta believe it, friends, 'cause it's true!

          Let's pray:  Dear Jesus, life seems so mixed up these days.  We seem to have it so good, yet we're lacking the needful things.  Help us trust in You.  Help us really believe You will work things for our good.  Help us know the important things are not what we can buy or earn, but what you have earned for us - forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation.  Thank You for loving us.  Lord, help us turn our lives over to You.  Grant us serenity to accept what we cannot change, courage to change what we can, and wisdom to know the difference.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Copyright © 1999 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.