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When we aren’t even watching…when we simply do not see… a celestial symphony continues in its melody without our consideration at all. While we busy ourselves with goings on of every kind, God effortlessly orchestrates the intricate details of a complex universe. God’s power sustains all things, holding them in their place, from the magnitude of galaxies to the simplicity of a purple violet peeking through soil in the spring.
And God is not a minimalist. God’s power sustains the universe with planets like jewels, and stars like diamonds, some of which fall, streaking the sky with a glowing display. God sustains the universe with awe, extravagance, beauty, and order. The same is true of our one life on this planet. God sustains us with meaning, significance, and purpose, all the elements of our lives working together for our divinely orchestrated good. God sustains the universe, and our existence in it.
Feeling Unsustained?
It was during the time when Covid had redefined our world. When the parks were empty and the restaurants no longer bustled with music and hungry diners. Work, school and human contact ceased. The only things that didn’t have the pause button pressed were politics, blame shifting, and fear for our elderly and children.
Trauma gripped the world. One stormy day, I needed to get out of the house, so in between the waves of dark clouds and thunder, when the skies took a pause, I jumped in the car and drove to the park down the road. I didn’t really care if I got rained on, I just needed to be in the open spaces of my familiar park. I needed to see the lake with geese and the swings swinging in the wind, even if no one was on them.
When all is Falling Apart
Once I arrived, it began to rain hard again. I checked my phone while I waited for another break in the clouds. I scrolled through my newsfeed to find that racial tension had escalated and there were riots in Philadelphia. Right below that, the news of an earthquake in Croatia. Below that the latest statistics for Italy’s elderly who were rapidly losing the Covid battle. Was the world falling apart?
The challenges in my marriage and the toll it was taking on my children punctuated these tragedies. I wondered out loud, “Is my world falling apart?” Moments later the heavy drops falling on my SUV slowed until they became more of a windy drizzle. “Good enough,” I thought. I opened the door to feel the chilly air now misting my face. I was glad the sky was gray because I felt gray too. Looking up to the sky I prayed a silent prayer. I stared for a long time without words while my eyelashes captured misty drops mixed with my own tears.
Everything was all falling apart, and I was helpless to stop it.
When our own world feels shaken, it is so easy to forget that stars are being held in the sky while moons orbit planets, and the Earth is twirling on its axis while rotating around the sun. God’s power sustains all things in the universe and yet, somehow, we feel, unsustained.
The Magnitude of the Universe is in God’s Hand, and So are You
Closing the car door, I made my way to my favorite spot on the porch-style swing nestled on the northside of the lake. It had the best view of the sunset-splashed horizon over the water. I reminisced about the many sunsets we had experienced together on the swing. My whole family piled in—no matter how big they were all getting.
I paused before I got to my destination to notice that the drizzle had stopped, and a bit of sun had broken through. Because the gray clouds were so domineering, the contrast was striking. The rays that escaped the darkness sprawled across the smoky backdrop and reflected off the clouds’ edges. The light was growing but the clouds remained the majority. No one was in the park—who would come out in a storm during the pandemic after all?
I stood, eyes closed, letting the wind whip across me, feeling the expanse all around. Then the wind slowed, and I opened my eyes. I’m not sure how long my eyes were closed but, in that time, a rainbow had formed in a perfect arch above me. I could see it from one end to the other, directly over the water.
God Shows His Sovereignty
I had the sky still ominous and looming on one side of me and the sun that was setting below the gray on the other side. Then this spectacular display of electric colors semi-circled above. I felt like I was in a surreal movie, but mostly . . . I felt centered. Aligned. Like I had a place made just for me. I belonged.
Earlier, I read the news as portrayed by other scared humans like me—the world felt chaotic. But here, moments later, standing beside the waters that reflected the rainbow above, all was as it should be. Like God’s divine hand held us all in place and the divine order of things unfolded as a part of the whole. Circumstances and story lines, planets orbiting, and seeds bursting with new growth, all developing, sustained by this one glorious God, willing the universal symphony to keep playing.
When we think it’s all falling apart, God holds it all in place. He sustains the universe by His power, and we are a part of that universe.
God’s Power Sustains Us in Beauty, Wonder, and Awe
So what do we do when we become disconnected from the reality that God is holding the universe and our lives together by His divine power? How do we keep before us the truth that we are a part of the whole, even more important than those stars in the sky—twinkling or falling? What do we do when we feel chaotic, unsteady, unsustained?
Take time to see. Take time to enter into wonder.
Remember God not only sustains the universe, He does it with flare! Style! Pizazz! Have you seen a zebra? The process of fireflies being born from larva to gliding across the summer sky? The steady cycle of golden sunrise to golden sunset? The evidence of God’s power and divine orchestration is all around. It is difficult to forget that God’s power sustains this glorious planet if you take even a moment to look at it.
Rouse Your Curiosity
Enter into wonder. Grab a telescope and look at the stars. Ask questions. Why do some twinkle? What is that constellation and why does it seem to change? Does the full moon really affect the tides of the ocean?
You don’t have to look at the stars, you can look in your backyard. Sit under a tree and just watch for a moment. Birds will appear overhead. You will see ants carrying seeds 50-times their body weight, and I don’t want to spoil it, but wait until you see the tiny blooms close to the ground that you normally walk past. All of this wonder is happening whether or not we stop to see it. God sustains it all, everything in the universe, and that includes you.
Now listen to a short segment of this Abide meditation based on Exodus 14:31: “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
When You Feel Unsustained, Remember:
You belong.
Nothing you are facing is beyond God’s reach.
Return to wonder.
Let the Abide app help you to know that even when things seems hopeless, God’s power sustains the universe—and you. Download the app and get 25% off a premium subscription with this link.
Anna Boneh resides in Nashville, Tenn., with her four daughters and two she-cats. She is a freelance writer and graphic designer, as well as a Literature and Writing teacher for middle and high-school students.
