The Lord Reigns

1 Chronicles 16:31

http://www.shilohcommunity.com/media.php?pageID=30

The six entires following this post are what I am considering a series titled "The Lord Reigns." Each entry stems from a blend of my words and the words from the above sermon (which, in the end, are all God's words anyways). They will have the same main title, except entries 2-7 will simply be followed by cont. I can only hope that you will read all seven of the entries I've created here. Whether you seek Jesus with your life, or whether you think you are the boldest of atheists, I think this collaboration of articles and audio above will give you a little different perspective on things,
I know it sure did for me. 

Calling myself a devoted Follower of Jesus doesn't mean that all of my doubts magically melt away. This morning after listening to the sermon (link above) by Pastor Jason West from Shiloh Community Church in Phoenix, Arizona, my reasoning for questioning why bad things happen seemed to drift further and further away. I urge you to listen to the incredible words this man allowed for God to preach through him this morning. 

1 Chronicles 16:31 says, "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;  let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” 

THE LORD REIGNS.

Hmm... This verse began to stir in my mind about what exactly this meant. Physicist Leo Smolin said, "it's sort of like God is sitting at this big desk, and on the desk there's these hundreds of different dials, and every dial is calibrated to a very specific number. The question is, if you were able to sneak into the room when God wasn't looking and changed one of these dials, just one, not ten percent,

not five percent, 

not even one percent, 

if you were to change just one of these dials one part in a hundred-thousand-million-billion, there would be no universe. There would be no life."

Every part of creation is continuously crying out, "God Made Me!" This verse is a testament that every breath I take is a gift from God, and a proclamation that He reigns. Think about this...

As you sit here reading this, doing seemingly nothing, your heart is beating an average of 60-70 times per minute. Your cells are constantly dividing, combining, forming new parts of your body every second. Your body is adjusting with your ever changing lifestyle choices, new foods you eat, breaths you take. Your body is vitally functioning on a scale that even the most advanced of microscopes can't even begin to see. 

The Bible was written by forty different authors, over the course of 1600 years, all to come together as one cohesive, and complete story. It offers historical, archeological, scientific, and prophetic evidence that the Bible truly is the Word of God. Examples of this evidence include;

• Ideas of the roundness of the Earth (Isaiah 40:22)
• The Sidereal Universe (Isaiah 55:9)
• Hydrologic Cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7)
• The vast number of stars in the universe (Jeremiah 33:22)
• Law of Increasing Entropy (Psalm 102:25-27)
• Importance of blood in life process (Leviticus 17:11)
• Atmospheric Circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6)
• The Lord Reigns in the Heavens, Nature, and Our Design (Romans 1:20, Psalm 139:13)

Now, even with all of this evidence, when things like the recent tragedy in Boston occur, people seem to turn to the question of, 

"If the Lord reigns, why do bad things happen?"

Hopefully, today with the words from this amazing message, and whatever words God is about to speak through me, an answer to this question can be found.