Confidence (unabridged)

Is Revelation 4:2 stuck to your refrigerator door? Tattooed on your forehead? Emblazoned on our dash? Have you committed it to memory?

In this verse, John simply states that he looked into heaven and saw a throne, and God was sitting on His throne (Rev. 4:2).

Why is this important?

Because if God was anxious—or absent for that matter—He would not be sitting down on His throne. He would be up pacing in some divine frenzy. Or if He was absent, He would have bailed out to find calmer climes leaving us to fend for ourselves.

The fact that John writes and tells us that he saw the throne of God and that our Father occupied His throne is crucial information. We are not on our own. We have not been left by ourselves to sort through the difficulties assaulting us. We are not isolated in the storm or alone in the dark.

God is not in crisis! But some of us are, aren’t we?

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.

Have you ever considered what would happen if you really did lose everything? Or maybe you have. Maybe you have suffered bankruptcy, or divorce, or have been brushed by death’s sickle. God remains on His throne.

And the devil is probably suggesting about now that God is distant, disengaged, indifferent—that He remains on His throne because He doesn’t give a rip about you!

Not true!

He is seated on His throne because there is nothing significant enough to threaten His confidence. The tumult is not sufficient for Him to worry or suffer anxiety or debate since He is powerful enough to be our sufficiency.

However bleak it is—and it could get worse—it is not sufficient to cause God to stand up, pace, and wring His hands. He is confident. He is secure. He has not succumbed to panic. He is at peace, and He lives in you!

What lurks over your horizon? You will have to stand up to see, but He does not. He knows! And He remains confident. He is secure, and so are you! After all, you are in Him.

Challenging times should not surprise us. After all, Jesus promised we would encounter difficulties. But He also promised He would be victorious on our behalf in the midst of the tribulations we meet (Jn. 16:33).

I know. This encouragement does not put money in the account or cause those troubling you to straighten up and fly right. It doesn’t conclude the wars or cause the stock markets to rally. However, we must remind ourselves that our circumstances are not reflective of reality.

What is true?

That there is a throne in heaven and there is One sitting on it who does not pace, sleep, or slumber! Stay focused, and be encouraged.