He is LORD

Remember who is on the throne.

Romans 11: 36 “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Colossians 1:16 “All things were made from him and for him”

As I pray and reflect, I also thought it would be cool to journal. I have a lot of things I still haven’t journaled yet. But yeah trip in Chicago was so much fun and now being back and reading Daniel and just the events of people’s lives that have happened around me really press into this theme of God’s control and God’s sovereignty and even more so- God is reminding me that now all things are guaranteed nor are they for me, but for his glory. And I think I used to type this out knowing this is the right thing to say, but I am really convinced that the Bible reading, Pastor James’ sermon, and even the death of my friend this week is inviting me to not only surrender control but to see God has LORD.

In short, Daniel 3 is something I’ve been meditating one actually all of Daniel- it has shown me God’s power to shape and change lives and encounter even rulers and authorities with simple obedience. It shows me that God keeps showing who is on the throne with the life of Nebuchadnezzar- like it’s crazy how he has this dream and once he boasts in Ch 4: 30 “ is it not this great Babylon, which I have build by MY mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of MY majesty” Bruh it has pride written all over it . And right there and then, like God humbles him and at the end, even through the trials and suffering he comes to know this “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven , of all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.... And earlier he sings a praise of God’s majesty and kingdom reign.

Next P James sermon- his sabbatical, he had plans but it turned into somewhat of a nightmare until he realized God has brought him into deeper trust with Christ through it. But what stood out was this verse from James 4:13-17 “ 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”.

"This idea of boasting in their arrogance as if we have this idea of how our life will go. Control is a facade "That’s a direct quote from the sermon but as I type, I am now realizing that I have been very boastful but I am slowly realizing God’s voice in it all. I think what shook me the most is one of friends from college, we weren’t super close by any means, but one of my friends from college actually passed away from an aneurysm. And that shook me. It still does and sometimes I get anxiety thinking about death etc. Because I think the reality of my life is just a mist hit me. The reality that I can’t really tell what tomorrow or even the day holds, hit me. So me trying to plan all these future trips, thinking about dating, even where I’ll be after PT school- they just, all the pressures I’ve held to feel like I need to control or figure it out becomes a lot more unknown but I feel a lot less responsibility. Not in that I don’t care about these things anymore, but I think now reflecting, I am able to see it through a new lens- it becomes less about what I want and what I can do and for my vain glory. And now taking a step back and being like, okay, what does God want and how I can align myself to trusting him and knowing He is LORD of my life and not me. I say that God is my God but in the day to day, I don’t really let God be God. I feel like I can say and do whatever I want, of course if it’s “biblical” its fine. But I think with the big things and even the small things of how I use my time, spending time throughout my day with God- I think it’s just a reminder to remember who is on the throne.