Who’s in charge around here anyway?

Fall has arrived in the South, y’all!  And I am so thankful for the crisp air that whistles through the open windows in my office and helps with the usual pervading smell of all things boy. I have peaceful visions of quietly getting some work done while the boys frolic gently in the yard. Ummm… yeah, sure. The sounds from the backyard neighborhood football game make their way through my open windows and I remember that this is real life. With boys. Now don’t get me wrong, I love football, I love boys playing outside and noise is just a fact of life at our house. But. I have my limits.

The problem with these backyard games is that everyone is in charge and no one listens. The rules are constantly changing (and usually make no sense) and some of the players are three times as big as the others. So,  yeah, things get out of hand quickly. The ball is thrown out of bounds, (maybe, is the tree out of bounds or the bush?), the quarterback is poked in the eye, the running back steps in a hole, and someone is yelling that do – overs are allowed!

The yelling, the crying, the arguing and direction shouting all begin to close in on me. And I know that they have forgotten. Forgotten about the open windows. They have forgotten that Mom (the ultimate one in charge of this whole charade) is working about two feet away from where they are. And she can hear everything that is being said. They think that their behavior and their words are going unnoticed.

Until I walk outside and stand right in the middle of the whole mess of them.

And then it starts. The blaming, the tattling,  the I didn’t do  it and he hit me first.

Yeah, I know, you didn’t think anyone was watching. You forgot about the open windows. You forgot who was really in charge and who knows exactly how the game is supposed to be played. You forgot that she can declare the whole thing over and send all the players home. You forgot that she is the ultimate authority. You liked thinking that you were in charge of whole baffling game for a bit.

And I totally get it. Being in charge is awesome. That “you’re not the boss of me attitude” is one we might learn in backyard football, but it stays with us long after we wipe the dirt off our shoes. It makes us leaders and winners and people who get things done. But we can forget that it is not reality.

We aren’t the bosses of the whole thing; our lives, our families, our finances, our political systems, our jobs. They are all gifts from our Creator.

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2).

God is in control. I have had to repeat this to myself all week. Maybe you too?  Every day has brought more crazy news about this impending election, a new leak, a new way that the ones vying for power are unworthy or unfit to become the next leader of the free world. Every day the political game gets a little more out of control.  Is this for real? Is anyone is charge around here?

“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth. His eyes examine them” (Psalm 11:4).

Yes, God is still in charge. And, he has the windows open.  We may have forgotten that he is present. We may think that we are running the show and that we are making the rules. But he is still seated on the throne.

And believe it or not, even though it seems that we have strayed so far, he can still get to us. This political cycle may appear to be chugging along by its own free will; the yelling and the name calling dissolving into the likes of these backyard football games I witness each afternoon. The rules may appear to keep changing and the boundaries may be unclear.

 But make no mistake. There is a God in heaven and he is still in control.

Thousands of years ago, a man named Daniel prayed this prayer and its words have been on replay in my brain this week. “Praise be to the name of God forever and ever, wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons, he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning…” (Daniel 2: 20-21, emphasis mine).

Daniel prayed these words as he stood far from his home of Israel. He was a captive in a foreign land, forced to serve a king who was legit crazy. A king who  set up golden statues of himself and insisted that the people worship them.

But Daniel knew the truth. He knew that it didn’t matter who held the earthly power. God was still the one with the last word.

“He sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2: 21). Politics is no match for our God.

So despite the way the pundits and the talking heads spin it all, despite social media’s ability to make us feel like the world is spiraling out of control, take heart, my friends. It isn’t. God is still seated on his throne. And he knows the rules. The real ones. The ones that he created and came to speak right into his creation.

“Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul and with all of your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.”  Those are the rules.

A football game breaks out again in our yard, and chaos seems to rule yet another fall afternoon. But then I see one of my boys take the ball and point to my open office windows, “Guys, remember!!” he hollers. And they settle. Someone is in charge, and she’s right there. It changes how they play game.

And maybe that’s what we are called to do? In our own little corners of the world; in our offices,  at our bus stops, and around our dinner tables, could we stand in the craziness and point to the one who’s really in charge? Could we play by his rules and trust that his kingdom will come and his will, will be done?

It might make all the difference.

“If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven … and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).