I am currently sitting on a small chain of islands north of the UK, watching the clouds whisk across the bay toward the point of another island just a few miles away. Each morning, I have been waking up, getting my coffee, and simply sitting by the window, looking out over a beautiful green and brown landscape. Rolling knolls descend into the bay, where small fishing trawlers pass by, lighthouses stand in the distance, and gulls catch the wind, carrying them up and out over the water. As I sit here reflecting on God's creation, I see how meticulously He crafted this small piece of solitude, filling it with creativity, wonder, and breathtaking views for our enjoyment. It reminds me of how good our God is, how perfect His ways are, how immeasurable His thoughts are, and how much He cares for us. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to reconcile sinful man to Himself. Through faith in Christ, we are justified before God, forgiven of our sins, and now being sanctified as He continues His work in us.
How incredibly beautiful is that thought? Yet we rarely take the time to pause, think, and consider these things. We are so busy running errands, making phone calls, answering emails, and, perhaps worst of all, scrolling through social media, consuming bite-sized amounts of information with bite-sized amounts of truth. Life is difficult enough on its own. However, when we add a cacophony of unnecessary voices to our minds, we compound the stresses and difficulties of life to an absurd degree. We have access to more information than at any other time in human history, and not just information from our local communities, but from around the entire world. Before social media and the internet, our access to information was much more limited. We relied on newspapers, television broadcasts, and local conversations to learn about current events, often receiving information at a much slower pace.
Yet today, you can flip through sixteen different channels, hearing sixteen different perspectives, each with its own agenda, often leading you into fear, despair, anxiety, anger, and emotional reactivity. For many who maintain a steady diet of news, social media, and other applications, I assure you that they are no better off for "being in the know" than those who consume far less. This constant state of worry begins to drive your decision-making and slowly eats away at you like a parasite, gnawing bit by bit until your thoughts are no longer your own. Instead, they become shaped by whatever you continually consume. We believe that greater access to information and knowledge makes us wiser, stronger, and more adaptable, but in reality, much of it merely adds to our worry.
I am reminded of what Jesus says in Luke 12:25–31:
And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span? Therefore, if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Did you read that? Jesus is not telling us to be ignorant or to bury our heads in the sand when it comes to current affairs. Rather, He is teaching us how we ought to respond to circumstances that cause us worry. Additionally, Jesus highlights something very important that many overlook when maintaining a daily diet of information that produces worry, fear, and anxiety. It is found in verse 31, where Jesus addresses our priorities: "But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you."
When you become consumed with information, doomscrolling through social media, reading headlines without actually examining the content, failing to fact-check what you encounter, and believing the psychological hype continually spread around you, your attention becomes so consumed with your own little world that you fail to recognize what you should truly be seeking. Your access to information has become an idol, and that idol is slowly eating away at you, distracting you from what truly matters.
I am not saying you should never watch the news or use social media. Rather, I am highlighting a serious problem that many of us face concerning control and what consumes our thoughts and desires. Do you believe that Christ is in control? Is God providential in all His doings? Is God sovereign over the rise and fall of governments, leaders, countries, and empires? I want to encourage you to take a break, relax, observe God's creation wherever you are, and reflect on these verses to quiet your nerves, worries, and anxieties.
Isaiah 40:21–22
Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.
In this passage, Isaiah reminds us of the reality of our existence in light of who God is. From the foundations of the earth, God has reigned as the divine Sovereign, the Supreme One over all creation, and all of us are like grasshoppers. God provides, protects, and accomplishes His purposes according to His perfect will. Yet we must remember that we are but grasshoppers, hopping from one bit of information to another, from one worry to the next, assuming that our problems and circumstances are catastrophic. But when we sit back and gain a proper perspective of God and ourselves, we are reminded that we are mere grasshoppers in the grand scheme of things. We need not live consumed by worry because God is in control.
Isaiah 40:23–24
Who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
Reflect on what this passage is telling us. God is in total control over everyone who holds a position of power. He has permitted them to rise to those positions, but He also possesses the absolute authority and sovereignty to accomplish whatever He wills, regardless of how powerful any earthly leader may appear. God raises up empires and causes them to fall. Though man may believe himself responsible for the rise and fall of nations, it is ultimately God who is orchestrating His purposes and plans.
So why do we fear when we see election results and then act as though the outcome has somehow thwarted God's purposes and that we must now make right what has been wronged?
No matter who is in power or who has been elected, does any of it have an effect on our God? Has any of this caught Him by surprise? Does He now need to move on to Plan B?
Since God is in control, and we are His children, we need to rely on Him, trust in His purposes and plans, and continue faithfully carrying out the mission He has given us. We need to start actively living as though this world is not our home instead of continually attempting to build our own little kingdoms and bubbles of protection. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that lasting peace and tranquility will not fully arrive until the return of Christ.
So, believer, turn off the news. Get off your phone. Sit down wherever you live, observe God's creation, reflect and meditate on Christ, and trust in His purposes and plan. Begin living your life in a manner that reflects what you truly profess to believe.
Go to church. Invest in your church. Serve in your church.
That is a far better use of your time and a far greater investment than continually consuming and being pulled into the fearmongering world of informational paralysis.
Coram Deo