Relaunch In Freedom

Life has a way of holding us in tension. One moment brings breakthrough, the next brings heartbreak. We receive good news in the morning and devastating news by evening. Our circumstances shift like sand beneath our feet, leaving us wondering if anything remains stable in this unpredictable world.
Charles Dickens opened A Tale of Two Cities with those famous words: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." He was describing an era of revolution and redemption, chaos and stability, despair and hope. But if we're honest, doesn't every season of life feel this way? We live in the constant tension between expectations and reality, between what we hoped for and what actually unfolds.

The Gap Between Expectation and Reality
Disappointment is painful precisely because it represents the gap between what we expected and what we received. Sometimes the disappointments are small—a rained-out beach day, a minor inconvenience. But other times, disappointment arrives with life-altering force: job loss, broken relationships, unwelcome medical diagnoses, or the death of someone we love.
When enough disappointments pile up, they don't just shake our confidence in ourselves—they can shake our confidence in God. We wonder if anyone is truly in control. We question whether our prayers are heard. We struggle to see purpose in our pain.
This is where Psalm 93 meets us with powerful truth.

The Lord Reigns
Psalm 93 opens with a declaration that changes everything: "The Lord reigns."
In the original Hebrew, this isn't just a statement—it's a proclamation of the name Yahweh, the great "I AM." This name carries past, present, and future in its meaning: He was, He is, and He always will be. When we call on Jehovah Jireh, we're declaring that He was our provider, He is our provider, and He will always be our provider. When we cry out to Jehovah Shalom, we're affirming that He was our peace, He is our peace, and He will forever be our peace.
Even when we can't feel His provision or experience His peace in the moment, His nature doesn't change. His throne remains secure. His character stands firm.
The psalm continues: "He is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength. Indeed, the world is established, firm and secure."
When disappointment clouds our vision, we lose sight of God's sovereignty. We wonder if anyone is actually steering the ship. But this ancient prayer calls us back to reality: our King is still on His throne. When we can't trace His hand, His presence and peace remain.

Louder Than the Waves
The imagery in Psalm 93 becomes more intense: "The seas have lifted up, Lord. The seas have lifted up their voice. The seas have lifted up their pounding waves."
In Scripture, the sea often symbolizes chaos, danger, and the uncontrollable forces of life. The psalmist acknowledges the roaring reality of life's storms. He doesn't minimize the waves or pretend they're not crashing. The chaos is real. The noise is deafening.
But then comes the pivot: "Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty."
Life can feel like being knocked down by wave after wave. Just when we regain our footing, another blow comes. We're hit from sides we weren't watching, by circumstances we never anticipated. The apostle Paul described it perfectly: "We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
It's not the single punch that devastates us—it's the combination. The uppercuts we didn't see coming. The losses that compound on one another until we feel we're drowning.
Yet even in those moments, God's voice is louder than the chaos. His presence is more powerful than the storm.

The Shoreline Changes, But God Remains
After a storm passes, the shoreline never looks quite the same. The landscape shifts. Familiar markers disappear. What was once recognizable becomes transformed.
The same is true in our lives. After loss, after heartbreak, after disappointment, our personal landscape changes. We don't have the same relationships to lean on. The future we envisioned evaporates. The life we knew is gone.
But here's the promise: there's always water, and there's always land. The fundamental realities remain. And most importantly, God still reigns.
This is where grace meets us—in the changed landscape. "His mercies are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23). Regardless of how different things look, His faithfulness greets us with each sunrise. That's the promise of a God who reigns through every season.

Promises That Stand Firm
The psalm concludes with this assurance: "Your statutes, Lord, stand firm. Holiness adorns your house for endless days."
God's promises aren't fragile. They don't crumble under pressure. While we may be fragile, His Word is not. The waves don't break His promises. No earthquake shatters His commitments.
His promise isn't that we'll never face divorce—it's that He'll be with us through it. His promise isn't that we'll never battle illness—it's that He'll walk beside us to the end of the age. He doesn't promise to remove every hardship, but He guarantees His presence in the midst of it.
This is what makes Him different from every other king. He doesn't rule from a distant throne, issuing decrees while remaining untouched by our suffering. He became flesh. He walked this earth. He felt rejection, loneliness, pain, and betrayal. He experienced everything we face, yet remained without sin. Then He took our sin upon Himself and died so we could be made holy.

What We Do With Disappointment
So what do we do when disappointment threatens to drown us?
First, we lift our eyes to the throne. We don't speak to the waves; we speak to God. We acknowledge His sovereignty over every circumstance.
Second, we listen above the roar. We pause. We step away from the noise long enough to hear His still, small voice reminding us that He rules over the chaos.
Third, we cling to His Word. We anchor ourselves in promises that have stood for millennia and will stand for eternity. His Word is the lighthouse in our storm—unmovable, unshakeable, shining light into our darkness.

The Coming King
Revelation 21 gives us a glimpse of our future: "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
Our God who reigns today will reign forever. The One who walks with us through the storm is preparing a place where storms will cease. He's coming again—nothing can stop Him, and nothing we experience is greater than Him.

In your best times and your worst times, in the chaos and the calm, this truth remains: the Lord reigns. Let that be your anchor when the waves crash. Let that be your hope when the shoreline changes. Let that be your song when words fail.

Call on His name. He is Jehovah—yesterday, today, and forever.