Psalm 97

Big Idea:

The LORD is King, even in the chaos.

Intro:

If you follow me on FB or IG, you may have seen me bake cookies with my kids… usually around Christmas time. My boys absolutely LOVE Snickerdoodles. Who doesn’t?

And you may look at these pictures and think, “Oh, what a sweet family!” What you don’t see is the chaos behind the scenes. Like most social media posts, you only see what I want you to see. And it can paint an unrealistic picture.

Don’t get wrong. I’m not trying to deceive anyone. I really do enjoy these moments with my boys. And we love Snickerdoodles. It’s just not the whole picture.

My boys can attest to this. What usually happens is...

We start baking cookies and everyone is excited.

I ask them to help gather the supplies.

We begin to mix together the ingredients… and that’s when it goes downhill.

You see… I’m a little bit of a clean and control freak. I like things nice and neat. I like things done the way I want them done. And when young boys are making cookies… clean, nice, and neat doesn’t happen...

Cookie mix is spilled everywhere.

Egg shells make it into the mix.

Cookie dough is flying everywhere.

The kids are wiping their hands all over the place.

And before long, I end up saying, “Okay… thank you boys. Dad will finish it.” I take control of the chaos.

And after the cookies are done, and I’ve cleaned the mess, I take smiling pictures to post. So, if you see Christmas cookies pics this year… you know what’s really going down!

And that’s pretty petty stuff in the grand scheme of life. A clean kitchen while making cookies really doesn’t matter. But if my urge to grab control is this strong during minor chaos… you can only imagine what’s it’s like during real chaos.

Maybe you can’t identify with me about my need to have a clean, controlled kitchen, but I bet you can relate to wanting to live with control, especially regarding the major things in life. Like when there is chaos in our marriages, workplace, children, finances, and world… like me, when these things spin into chaos, you likely do whatever it takes to try and retake control.

I don’t believe it’s too much of a stretch to say most of us are experiencing some form of chaos right now. Whether it’s family, physical, spiritual, emotional, social or financial. And you are may spend a large amount of energy and effort on trying to control them. And the longer they continue out of control (or if multiple things spin into chaos), the more stress you feel. Can anyone relate to this?

One thing that can make things feel out of control is change. Most human do not like change. It takes effort to deal with change. Change can feel like chaos. And right now, our world is changing. Our community is changing. Our church is changing. And it can make life feel chaotic. And when there’s chaos, we’ll do whatever is necessary to gain control over what we believe matters.

In the Bible, the Jewish people dealt with a lot of change. They dealt with a lot of chaos. And they tried to gain control of that chaos in multiple ways.

For example… scholars divide the book of Psalms into 5 books. And in book 4 (Psalms 90-106) there is a significant shift in the themes of the psalms, but a significant change has happen - a change that has made life feel chaotic.

Exegesis:

Response:

Receive and praise.

There are a lot of things I want to grab control of. I can’t. I have to open my hand and simply receive. And receiving isn’t ignoring. It’s entrusting God with everything. Praying. Praying for God to be King over the situation and trusting by faith that He is in control is the most powerful thing we do.