Does it feel like the world is raging around you? The waves of strive, hate and anger—crashing over you, drowning out any hope that you have? It’s hard not to become overwhelmed by the daily onslaught of bad news that is at our very fingertips—accessible 24/7. This week, I downloaded one of those apps that is supposed to help you sleep. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of just taking something each night to make my mind shut off and to help me sleep. It seems like that when I lay down, my mind wakes up and decides to take a run! So, I purchased a set of wireless earbuds, and downloaded this app that prays me to sleep.

Of course, since I have not forced my body to sleep with medication, I was awake this morning at 4am! Can you relate? So, I put my earbuds in, put on the sound of the ocean and allowed myself to listen to the power in the waves. Psalm 89:9, “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” Instead of getting angry or frustrated that I couldn’t go back to sleep, I decided that God was calling me to get up and spend some extra time with Him today. Today will be one of those busy days—so why not take advantage of an extra hour with my Lord this morning? Seems like a great way to start my day!

In Psalm 36, David laments the evil that is in the world. But in verses 5-7, he begins to recount the nature of God and His love. “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!” Even though evil walked freely in David’s world, just as it does in ours today, David chose to remember the nature of God. His love and His faithfulness, which is so great, cannot be contained vertically! God’s love and faithfulness knows NO altitude! There is no lack of oxygen when we soar on the heights of God’s love. We can trust in His steadfast ways. He will not change, and He will not abandon us in our time of need. God’s love is unfailing and beyond any cost that we could bare. No matter how wicked man can be, we can trust in the infinite goodness and mercy we find at the throne of His grace.

I’ve struggled, especially recently, with the evil that seems to permeate every fiber of our world. From the seats of government to the lowest working man, evil seems to run free—much like my mind as I try to fall asleep. I have cried out to God in my anger and sorrow, begging him to rescue us from those who are so deceitfully destroying this great country. But God has not turned His eye away from our plight! He sees and He knows—and His time, His justice will deal with those who have abandoned His law. In Psalm 37, David writes again, “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.”

So, my choice—your choice, when met with the evil of this world which seems to roam freely, consuming anything in its path that it chooses—we must remember to trust. God’s righteousness and His goodness is higher than Everest and His justice deeper than Mariana Trench. God wants my energy to be spent focusing on who He is. When I remember His ways, His power, His unfailing love—my heart and my mind will be able to stop running in fear and instead lay back and rest in the arms of His grace.