Divine sustainability

Fashionable words, we all know them, don't we? They pop up like mushrooms in newspapers, magazines, and online.

You don't remember reading or hearing them quite as often before, but suddenly they're trending on X, and using them in any essay or article guarantees a successful reading.

Such a word is 'sustainable'. There is sustainable energy, sustainable fashion, sustainable development, and sustainable economic growth. I am sure you can come up with more.

I remember I had to look up the meaning of the word 'sustainable' when I first read it (as English is not my first language). It means as much as: 'To be able to continue or maintain something at the same rate or level for a period of time.' Hhm, quite a nice definition.

It comes from the verb 'to sustain' which means to assist, comfort, continue, encourage, help, preserve, or save. A good meal sustains us. Hope sustains us in difficult times. But someone can also sustain (suffer) injuries.

Now, words like sustainable and sustainability may be trendy in our time, but they are certainly not new. 👉God is a sustainer by nature!

Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me (Psalm 54:4). 

Yes, He is the One. Not the government, not a program, not legislation, not ideology. God is the One who assists me, comforts me, preserves me, and saves me. Not just once or twice, not just more or less... but He maintains His care for me at the same level!

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you (Isaiah 46:4).

How wonderful. I love these promises in God's Word. Talking about sustainable energy! His Word revives me and holds me up. And this goes so much further than just personal encouragement, it is global. About Jesus, it is written:

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command  (Hebrews 1:3).

Jesus sustains everything by His Word. In Him all things hold together, even if it seems the world (your world maybe?) is falling apart. Now, that is what I would call divine sustainability!

Power games

In Him we live, we move, and have our being (Acts 17:28).

One of my favorite Bible texts. Such depth in a few words! The 'Him' being Jesus Christ Himself.

For the biggest part of my life (well, up until now) I did not know or understand this. I thought I was the master of my life and my future. I had one life to live and wanted to make the best of it. Nothing wrong with that of course, but without the Giver of life... such goals are unattainable 😉 I know now!

No matter how good and lofty our intentions are to make life great, we will find opposition, we will encounter immense struggles. As long as we do not acknowledge the One who holds the universe in His hands, we will keep bumping into obstacles in our limited little world.

In my previous blog I wrote I wrote about and commented on the vicious battlefield we find ourselves in nowadays, whether we like it or not. We are seeing immense power games in our world today. Political leaders, nations, organizations… all acting as if the world would stop to function when they are no longer there. Such arrogance and misconception.

The truth is: the whole world exists because of Jesus, the whole universe is sustained by Him and by His powerful Word. This is our foundation, this is our hope for today and the future. The world may crumble, but the powerful Word stands forever. I love how it is written in Colossians 1:15-17,

Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.

👉We do not need to learn more about the world, we need to learn more about the Word!

Antidote to frustration

While the age-old battle between good and evil, between darkness and light, intensifies... one might wonder whether we have any influence at all on happenings around the world. How can our voices be heard? How can our responses be of value?

A few thousand years ago, the philosopher sighed: History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Well, I would be a fool to contradict him. In general, humanity does not learn from the past. On the contrary, I would say. Humanity forgets the past rather quickly and conveniently and acts as if every happening is a new issue.

I was reading Psalms 9, 10, 11, and 12 the other day. David cries out to God about the increase of wickedness and chaos in his time. In Psalm 11:3 he asks the following question,

👉The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?

Such a great question! Such a timely question for us today. What can we do as believers? How should we respond? What is it, Lord, you want us to do in such a time as this?

I believe prayer is the answer. Specific prayer that is! Personally, I don't think that praying for 'things to turn back to normal' will be effective. There are larger things at stake than our comfort. Remember: We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Once we truly realize that we are not in a natural battle between people, but a spiritual battle between powers and principalities, we can target our prayers and aim for God and His angels to move on our behalf. We should pray that:

• the evil plot will be exposed, and thus lose its power
• the truth will be revealed
• deception will be replaced with discernment, and
• love will be our language

I truly believe that targeted prayers are the antidote to frustration about the current world crisis.

Give me a U

In my Bible Alphabet Blog Series U stands for Universe.

Despite the fact that we live with an estimated 7.49 billion people on this earth, people often feel lonely. On a bigger scale many even feel lost, knowing that this earth is only a speck in an endless universe.

Thousands of years ago musician and poet David wrote a song (Psalm 8) about such thoughts and feelings...

When I consider your heavens,

    the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

    which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

    human beings that you care for them?

Trying to find our tiny place in a grand universe is not a fatalistic effort, it will bring us to a place where we will be amazed about God's love and kindness towards His creation. It will ultimately bring us to the realization that we will always be lonely and lost without Him, to the confession that we need Him and to the revelation that He cares for us.

And then... the journey of discovery will begin and He will show us WHY we are here on earth!

What are you waiting for? Take that journey!