HE IS The One Who Has The Final Say

Every Christmas, we travel from cold, dark Scotland to visit family in sunny Florida. We joke that it doesn’t feel like Christmas until we are barefoot on the beach. The powerful water and vast horizon remind me that God is big and I am small. The words of Job stir in my heart when I behold the ocean— “Who enclosed the sea behind doors…when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, when I declared, “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”? (Job 38:8-11)

Our God has the final word. 

He sets boundaries and borders where he sees fit. He is sovereign over creation, ruling with wisdom. He restrains and sets free. He withholds and gives. He says you may come this far, but no farther. 

And friends—he has the final word in our suffering too. In the book of Job, we see satan asking permission to test Job. In Joseph, we see that what was meant to destroy, brought good instead. In Ruth, we see God’s hand at work when all seems bleak. He is ruling over shocking loss, prison sentences, betrayal, harvests and husbands. 

Our God has the final word. 

Our suffering is restrained with boundaries and borders. Praise God, it will never decimate or destroy us. 

But how can we believe this when it feels like we are drowning under waves of grief? It is true because, in Jesus, we see the One who carried our pain and sin to the uttermost limit. He gave it all—drinking the cup of suffering to the dregs. Because Christ was crushed our pain will only ever go so far. 

My pain will not have the final say. My grief can only ever go so far. My life on earth may be filled to the brim with sorrow, but one day it will reach a limit where it can tread no further. There are gates to a holy city, where my Jesus prepares a place for me. In his presence, there will be no more tears and no more pain. My grief will reach a boundary it may not cross. And my God himself—my God who has the final word—will bend down and wipe the tears from my eyes. 

A boundary has been set. A gate is in place. And one day we will step across the threshold, home, and at rest, at last. 

Press on, today dear friend. Each day we are one step closer to that doorway of hope eternal!