And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18
Have you ever heard something that you have heard your whole life, but then, all of a sudden, it is like a lightbulb comes on? I have heard this Bible verse hundreds of times in my life, but somehow, when I read it the other day while doing my Bible study it really had an impact on me.
Jesus has ALL authority – in heaven and on earth. He is in charge and has control over every single thing on earth and in heaven. If this is true and we believe it, then why do we turn to so many other things to try to fix our problems? Why do we worry and fall apart when things get hard? The answer to that is because we are so human. We want a quick fix. We want an instant bandaid. We want to see an improvement immediately. We don’t want to wait on Jesus and we certainly don’t want Him to fix things a different way than the way we see it happening.
When we try to fix our own problems instead of letting Jesus do it,
we just make bigger problems for ourselves.
We get overwhelmed and worried at times and forget His faithfulness. There is absolutely nothing we could do for ourselves that would be better than what He will do for us, and He has all authority. He has power that we don’t. He has the ability to see the outcome that we cannot. He knows what is best for us, better than we know for ourselves. We can trust Him to work our problems out for His very best in our lives because that is all He ever wants for us. His very best for us is way better than any instant bandaid that we can use to cover up our problems. He is always right. Always true. Always trustworthy.
Jesus saying these words to the disciples because He was leaving them. He had already been resurrected and now He was going to heaven. He wanted them to remember that when He was gone, He was still with them. Some of them were doubting so He was reassuring them and then He commissioned them to go and tell the world about His truth. His last words to them were “And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.” That is just as true for us as it was for the disciples that day. Not only does Jesus have authority over all our mess, but He is also with us in the middle of it all. He has authority over our messes, our finances, our marriage, our kids, and our jobs. He is with us in it all and over it all.
So next time – because in our humanness there will most likely be a next time – when it starts to fall down around you, remember who is there with you and who has the authority. It’s not you. You do not have the authority that He does, so hands off. Let it go and give it to Him. Let God be God. Trust Him. Rest in Him. And thank Him for His love for you and His ability to handle it all.
Lara Cook
