How do we even begin to describe this past year? One cartoon posted shortly before Christmas described it this way:
The caption above the cartoon asked the question: What else could go wrong in 2020? The cartoon was a manger scene, depicting the birth of Jesus. The person running out of the manger was shouting, “It’s a girl!”
That really sums up our overall reaction to the year. If it could go wrong, it did. From COVID-19 to murderous riots, to serious economic dislocation, to stay-at-home quarantines, if it could go wrong, it did. The cartoon implies that if Jesus had been born this year, that would have gone wrong too.
But does that cartoon accurately reflect reality? While it certainly feels like it does, even causing us to smile or chuckle, the biblical reality—not to mention the encouragement to us—is that it does not. Yes, from our perspective the year was full of unexpected surprises, but we need to remember that nothing, absolutely nothing, takes God by surprise. He remains in total absolute control.
Think back to the birth of Jesus, and all that from a human perspective wen “wrong” at the time of his birth. Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem just as Mary was coming due. All the inns were full, so instead of having a room, they were stuck in with the animals. Then, Mary gave birth in that stable, with no place to put the child other than a feeding trough. Again, to us, all that seems very “wrong.” Yet, God had foretold how Jesus was to be born. Again, not only did that sequence of events not take God by surprise, they were the very events G had planned.
That brings us back to how we view 2020. Do we look at it strictly from a human perspective, or do we seek to understand it more from a position of faith? Although in a bit of a different context, we need to remember Psalm 2, that God is absolutely in charge and in control. While things may appear and feel to be out of control to us, our perspective isn’t God’s. Regardless of how we may feel, we can rest in, and trust God. Even in the midst of a chaotic 2020, that is a safe place to be.
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