I hear regularly, “Our business is failing.” “We are paying our employees out of our savings.” “The creditors are knocking on our door.” “Our vendors cannot pay us.” “Our retirement fund is all but gone.” “We lost everything.” “I got laid off.” “I’ve given up looking for work in my field.” And this is in the United States. Times are worse elsewhere. Wars and rebellions and demonstrations are everywhere. Each day there are suicide bombings, school shootings, and genocide. The stock markets are convulsing. There are scandals. World events grow more confusing. Our leaders argue as our young men and women die. We are hated.

I don’t need to continue. You listen to the news and feel the same things I do. Dianne and I are cutting back. As I stand in the front yard and talk to our neighbors, their faces are etched in worry. They too are canceling their vacation and struggling to get over winter sickness woes.

And you are in the same boat, aren’t you?

That’s why Revelation 4:2 is an important verse that deserves a place of prominence in your consciousness. There is a throne in heaven, and someone—the One—is seated on the throne. He is magnificent, and His appearance is dazzling. He is surrounded by power and wisdom. Nothing escapes His notice, and the future is firmly in His grasp.