When All That Is Good Falls Apart

"When all that is good falls apart,

what can good people do?"

The Lord is in his holy temple;

the Lord sits on his throne in heaven.

—Psalm 11:3–4

isn't david's question ours? When all that is good falls apart, what can good people do? When planes pierce strong towers, when flames crown our fortress, when cities shake and people plunge, what are we to do?

"When all that is good falls apart, what can good people do?" Curiously, David doesn't answer his question with an answer. He answers it with a declaration: "The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord sits on his throne in heaven."

His point is unmistakable: God is unaltered by our storms. He is undeterred by our problems. He is unfrightened by these problems. He is in his holy temple. He is on his throne in heaven.

Buildings have fallen, but God has not. Wreckage and rubble have never discouraged him. God has always turned tragedy into triumph.

Did he not do so with Joseph? Look at Joseph in the Egyptian prison. His brothers have sold him out; Potiphar's wife has turned him in. If ever a world has caved in, Joseph's has.

Or consider Moses, watching flocks in the wilderness. Is this what he intended to do with his life? Hardly. His heart beats with Jewish blood. His passion is to lead the slaves, so why does God have him leading sheep?

And Daniel. What about Daniel? He was among the brightest and best young men of Israel, the equivalent of a West Point cadet or an Ivy Leaguer. But he and his entire generation are being marched out of Jerusalem. The city is destroyed. The Temple is in ruins.

Joseph in prison. Moses in the desert. Daniel in chains. These were dark moments. Who could have seen any good in them? Who could have known that Joseph the prisoner was just one promotion from becoming Joseph the prime minister? Who would have thought that God was giving Moses forty years of wilderness training in the very desert through which he would lead the people? And who could have imagined that Daniel the captive would soon be Daniel the king's counselor?

God does things like that. He did with Joseph, with Moses, with Daniel, and, most of all, he did with Jesus.

What we saw recently is what the followers of Christ saw on the cross. Innocence slaughtered. Good-ness murdered. Heaven's tower of strength pierced. Mothers wept, evil danced, and the apostles had to wonder, When all that is good falls apart, what can good people do?

God answered their question with a declaration. With the rumble of the earth and the rolling of the rock, he reminded them, "The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord sits on his throne in heaven."

And, today, we must remember: He still is. He is still in his temple, still on his throne, still in control. And he still makes princes out of prisoners, counselors out of captives, and Sundays out of Fridays. What he did then, he will do still.

It falls to us to ask him to do so.

In these pages we'll ask the questions on all our minds: Who is our God? Where is God in all of this? Can good come from evil? And prayer—is God really listening? As we ponder these questions together, I pray that God's peace and understanding will touch our hearts and bring healing to our spirits.

—Max Lucado

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