Lord, there is a great tumult in the world right now: we pray you overrule it for your glory. Grant that the best ends of progress, of truth and righteousness, may be subserved; and may it be seen still, that the Lord reigns. Even though the people should riot and rebel against the truth, advance your cause; even by disaster and defeat if so it must be, or by success and prosperity.
-Charles Spurgeon (Taken from http://spurgeonbooks.com from their daily Pray with Spurgeon newsletter)

The tendency in our day, and perhaps in every generation, is to think that our historical context is unique to the annals of time. However, as I have been talking with folks who are 20 years and older than me, it is amazing how many of them reference the tumult of the ’60s. This pattern of comparison reminds me that as Solomon stated in the book of Ecclesiastes, ‘there is nothing new under the sun’ still proves itself true and relevant to our own times. Racial, political, global conflicts, and pandemic-like trials have been present in nearly every generation. But even more important is the fact that the witness of Scripture and the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the ages points to the centering and priority of its own life: the Sovereign God of the Universe.

These two sources provide us a biblical framework for how we are to think about our unique places in time. They point us away from humanity’s best thinking and onto the center of the universe. They reminded us that the story of history is not about us; but about the glory of God and His grand story to redeem all things back to Himself. When I understand my life in view of this eternal perspective, I realize that our present scenarios are but small pieces of a grander story, which the Lord our God oversees.

May the Lord help us to not lose sight of the centrality of God’s story in our lives.