Revelation 1:8

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'”

When circumstances unsettle us we do well to shift our eyes from the present frustration to God himself. My tendency is to examine what is perplexing me, hoping that I can figure out how something good might come from what is happening. Here I meet a problem – I discover that no matter how I try, I fail to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

I finally admit that I can not recover my faith by focusing on what is going on around me that seems to be out of control. No, the only thing that will settle my soul and give me hope is to deliberately turn my eye heavenward, to assure my soul of God’s unfailing love.

That is what John the elder, is doing here.  How is he going to figure out why the believers are suffering, why he has been banished to an island in the sea were he knows on one, why his hopes are being smashed by Roman might?  I assume these concerns did bother John. They certainly would have me.

What is God’s word for John, for me?  Here it is, “I am…”  The question is not, who is Caesar, a question that we are trying to answer, but who is God? John heard, “I am…almighty.”  v 8  That must surely mean that God is mightier than Caesar.

John also heard God reminding him that he was, he is, and he shall be. God never changes, ever. He is the God of creation, God of our salvation, God of our destiny – he is God!  That is not true because we believe it, it it true because it is!  Like God told Moses, “I am that I am.”

What comfort it is to know that God never changes and that his love for us never fluctuates.

The God who saves me will never leave me, not for a moment!