He tells you exactly who he is; you can rest in him.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." - Revelation 1:8

Have you been loving this verse?

I have. It keeps on telling me who God is, reminding of his power and control, right smack-dab in the middle of my helplessness. I just keep praying it back to God when I feel small and out of control. I keep speaking it to my friends and my kids when they need it. I keep whispering it to my own heart in the night. Guys, we need this, don’t we? We need God to remind us who he is all of the time, but especially right now. So, here are the things I keep hearing God tell me in our verse.

God says, “I know you, and I see you.”

Sometimes we can falsely assume that God’s not really paying attention, like he doesn’t know (or maybe care) about all of the things we’re dealing with. God is telling us an emphatic “NO!” to that assumption in this verse. He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In other words, he’s the Beginning and End of everything. He’s “the Beginning”, meaning that before anything even existed, he thought about it all, held it in his care, determining each and every detail. He knows each of us intimately, as our loving Creator. He cares about us and is at work even right here in the messy middle of it all. But, he’s also “the End”—working out ultimate restoration, complete goodness, and forever joy in his presence for all of us. He’s not distant or remote. He really does see us and care. And, even though we may struggle to understand his purposes, his “end game” is clear. He promises complete healing and gladness for this broken world and all of his children.

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God says, “You can count on me.”

The only consistent thing we can really rely upon in this world is change. Especially in this time of ever shifting medical advice and social boundaries, I find myself longing for something I can hold on to that’s not going to change. God is saying, “Hold on to me,” in this verse. He tells us that he’s reliable and never changing. The same God who was for eternity past, still is; and he will continue to be the same good God into the eternal future. We can trust that he will always keep his promises, always love us, never be unjust or unkind. We can rely on his perfections and his plans because he will always be in control of the world, just as he has always been. When nothing else lives up to my expectations, I know that he always will, because he always is who he is. He is trustworthy.

God says, “I’ve got it under control.”

Sometimes it takes a pandemic to pull back the curtain on my perceived control of my own little world. The truth is, I really need to understand how little control I have. I have almost no power over the most basic things, like my health, my finances, and my loved-ones. Just considering it makes my head spin, because I’ll never have it “all under control”. But, God does, and he is good. In this verse, he is reassuring us, “I’ve got this.” He is Almighty, powerful in all ways and in all circumstances. But, if you recall, this is the same God who is “the Beginning” and “the End”. He’s the one with the plan. He is all-mighty and all-good, and he isn’t going to go changing on us. So, we can trust him. We can breath out a sigh of relief and rest our Covid-weary minds. We can just stop and curl our little souls up in his strong and tender hands and take a much needed rest right here.

What ways do you need to hear God telling you these things?

“I know you and I see you.”

“You can count on me.”

“I’ve got it under control.”

Thanks for reading,