So much is happening in our culture and within the Church. Leaders are rising and falling. This is a time of resetting when people will have an opportunity to let God heal them of their fantasies and foolishness to align with His heart. That reset will redirect us toward spiritual common sense, where an alignment will take place—an alignment that will lead us to expressions of real hope.
In these times, there is a temptation to align with powerful people at the expense of aligning with God. Scripture is clear on where we should place our confidence. No matter what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future, only God can be trusted with the outcome.
“Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God” (Psalm 146: 3-5).
As this reset and redirection occurs, it will be a time to examine where our hope has been placed in this time of transition. If our hope is not solely placed in the Lord, we will become fearful, angry, and reactionary.
Scripture tells us what the Lord will do when it seems like evil is gaining victory. At just the right moment, “He frustrates the plans of the wicked” (vs. 9). Just when powerful people seem to be winning the race, the Lord will stumble over their plans when it looks like they are approaching the finish line.
If our focus is not on the Lord who oversees all things, we will become upset and desperate moving in the realm of the flesh where there is no promise of peace.
If we know it is the Lord who frustrates the plans of evil people, we will experience the peace of God because we chose to place our hope in Him alone.
At the moment when evil plans have been defeated in dramatic fashion, it will reveal to the culture and to the Church that it was the Lord who has been in charge all along the way.
“So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”
Nehemiah 6:15-16 NIV. He is the same God now as He was then….and all will see it.