"Our God Reigns"

This post comes from the title of a popular church chorus which was also a song from the Delirious album "The Mission Bell". Previously, it wasn't one of my favourites of the amazing band who were Delirious before disbanding last November.

So, does He? Think about it, don't just get the "warm fuzzies", as a friend and I like to call it when evangelical Christians get "good" worship!

Does God really reign?

I ask this question because this has been a tough week of revelations, hard questions and hard truths. Yesterday, as a result of one of these revelations, an extended family member said that they had considered going to church. When challenged by a teen member of the family, the same person admitted that they'd like to believe in God, thought they did but, when they looked back on their life, there were events that made them think the age-old question. Can you guess what it is yet?

If there is a God, who is meant to be good, how can He let bad things happen?

Did you guess the question right? Now this family member, more than ever, has reason to ask this question. I won't go into details here but suffice to say that it involves an alleged serious criminal offense against a member of this family, of which I am an extended part, which has shattered us all.

At the same time, my other half has informed me of negotiations which may leave him in unemployment next year. We have been here before, about 4 years ago, and it nearly broke us then. The stress of the two incidents together has put strains on my beloved, in turn on my marriage which is already creaking in a disturbing way and has nearly ended a number of times in the last three years. So I too have been asking the question "Is God really good?".

I have to believe He is. "Why?" you ask. Well let me go off on a slight tangent, I got asked another question. I was sat in my car, driving around, contemplating all the bad shit that's going on in the lives of those that I love and my own. My iPod was switched to random selection when on came Delirious singing that dratted song that I'm not all that keen on. But I couldn't be bothered to move the song on so I listened instead. The words swirled around me and I felt the pain in them but, through it all, Martin Smith insisted, "Our God reigns!".  I think the last verse kinda summed things up for me. The phrase fell like hammer blows on my ears and on my heart and soul.

Let me share the lyrics with you in case you somehow were under a rock for the last 10 years!

40 million babies lost to Gods great orphanage,
It’s a modern day genocide and a modern day disgrace
If this is a human right then why aren’t we free?
The only freedom we have is in a man nailed to a tree.


100 million faces, staring at the sky,
Wondering if this HIV will ever pass us by.
The devil stole the rain and hope trickles down the plug,
But still my Chinese take away could pay for someone’s drugs.


Our God reigns, Our God reigns,
Forever your kingdom reigns.


The west has found a gun and it’s loaded with ‘unsure’
Nip and tuck if you have the bucks in a race to find a cure.
Psalm one hundred and thirty nine is the conscience to our selfish crime,
God didn’t screw up when he made you,
He’s a father who loves to parade you.


Yes he reigns, yes you reign, yes you reign,
For there is only one true God,
But we’ve lost the reins on this world,
Forgive us all, forgive us please,
As we fight for this broken world on our knees

I played the song about 5 times in a row, letting that declaration of God reigning flow over me, tears streaming down my face as I thought about what that precious family member had suffered, thinking about the anxiety that must be in the heart of my significant other. I finally concluded that if I do believe God is God, then He must be good in a way that I don't understand but is still a fact. If He is good then He must reign. I found myself singing along and declaring with the band "Yes, our God reigns. My God reigns!".

Now I know, before you start stoning me, this isn't exactly a logical argument but it was the way I was thinking. I felt either I continue believe that He is good and does reign or I may as well give up believing in Him altogether as He wouldn't be worth believing in. I know there are bible verses that state that God's ways are higher than our etc. I always thought secretly that that was a colossal cop-out. But it's as though I've been confronted once again with the fact of evil and things being unfair and God has asked, "will you still believe in Me, will you still believe I'm good, that I do have control and that I do care, even if the initial evidence seems to point to the contrary? When the chips are down, do you still believe?"

It's a tough one to face. I don't have all the answers. I can't debate my faith that well or give you a great discussion in apologetics. My mind isn't wired that way (and I feel kinda thick that I can't, if I'm honest). You could call this emotionalism and yes, there may be a tinge of it there because there are emotive things happening right now. But similarly, isn't our natural reaction when things are bad to turn away from God, unless it's impending death then suddenly the toughest amongst us suddenly get religion quickly!

 Right now, at this moment, yes, I do believe God reigns, that in order to reign, He must be good and that forever, no matter what has happened to those I love, what may happen to my beloved, what may happen to my marriage, God does indeed reign and is seated on the Throne of Heaven. I am not feeling emotional at this moment, no tears are falling and I do not have that fuzzy feeling nor do I felt hyped up. I am sitting quite calmly in my bedroom, typing out this post.

But I believe that the cherubim and seraphim are worshipping Him right now and crying "Holy, Holy, Holy".
I believe that they were doing this even as evil and awful things took place that have shattered a person's life. Perhaps, one day, I will understand the whole "Why do bad things happen to good people" but I doubt it will be whilst I draw breath.

Tomorrow, although I hope and pray its not the case,  I might think differently. I have to take this one day at a time. Does it comfort me, the fact that God reigns in the midst of evil, tough times and hardship? Yes, strangely it does. Once the tears were wiped away, I felt calm in myself and managed a smile. That is something that has been in short order during the last week. I'm praying that all my family, extended ones too, will also come to that inner calm, will find healing and will know that God is good and that He does reign. How that happens is really up to God but I'll be praying for Him to do so. If you feel you are able, perhaps you would too?

If you're feeling particularly bold, go ahead and ask yourself the question "does God reign, whatever is going on in my life?"

Click on the link for the Delirious video.