We are all in trouble in this world. And this trouble is greater than others can see. People look at us and see good and bad things happening to us from the outside. The Bible says that Humanity looks on the outward appearance. (1 Samuele 16:7) All we can see is what is going on on the outside. So we look and we see that you are going through something.

But the singer says that what you see ain’t all there is. No there is even a greater trouble than you see. You ain’t seen how bad it really is for the singer. No, the singer is in the midst of a terrible circumstance and not only that there is nobody who understands. There is nobody who feels. There is nobody who can even see it!

But then The singer either has a revelation or was holding back some pertinent information for Nobody knows it BUT JESUS. Yes there is one who sits high and looks low. There is one who sees everything. There is one who knows even the full extent of our troubles.

Then after that revelation, the singer says “glory hallelujah”. The singer doens’t tell us here exactly why this is something to celebrate. Perhaps the singer remembers the scripture that tells us that Jesus is able to help us becuase he suffered (being tempted) in this wretched earth and lived where we live. (Hebrews 2:18)

Perhaps the singer begins celebrating becuase there is power in someone simply knowing what the singer has to go through. Maybe the singer uplifts praise to the most high becuase God is there and will not allow my pain to go unheard. God will listen to us when we pray. Maybe the singer uplifts praise becuase God will overturn the pain into good for the Bible tells us that weaping only has a short duration and Joy will come in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

I don’t know, but one thing I do know, we can be sure God is with us. We can be sure that Jesus cares. And we can be sure that “There is a balm in Gilead that heals the sin sick soul.” In Jesus, Our pain is overcome. And yes, in Jesus our pain is heard.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the reality that you are with us in our pain. We acknowledge that you hear us and even when we can’t see the other side of the storm, we thank you for leading the ship through the treacherous waters to the sunlight of a limitless future.

Moses came to God and asked “What is Your Name?” God answered “I am who I am” or “I was, I am” (Exodus 3:14). This old country Gospel song is a good jump off point for this reflection. God simple is. “God Is!” When you are in the midst of despair on the mountain top. “God Is.” Whether you make your bed in hell, “God is.” (Psalm 139:8). Whether God shows up on cue with fire from heaven. (2 Kings 1:10) “God is” Oh Yes God Is. Whether you are in jail and the church prays you out (Acts 12:11). “God Is!” Or whether you find them coming to behead you. (Matthew 14:10). “God Is!”

God is, and we can be happy that God Is. We are not happy that sometimes we have to be in the valley, but we can be happy that “God is” even there. Oh Yes, God is still God. The singer got so happy thinking about the fact that God is still God. God is bigger than my circumstances. God is larger than my pain. I may not get everything I want down here, but I can be happy that a God who has the world’s best interests at heart is above and leading. Oh Yes, “God Is!”

I will not preach to you that “God is gonna give you the house”, I don’t know…But I can preach to you “God Is”…”God Is” is true whether you get the house or not. “God Is” will help you live in the house better or even accept the house you have now. In fact “God Is” will be a blessing to you even if you lose your house…Oh Yes, “God Is!”

It is a brand new day my sisters and brothers. We have entered an era where anyone can be a publisher. We have entered an era where the multitude of voices makes it difficult to be heard. We have entered an era where a 700 dollar laptop and a 40 dollar internet connection will give you the possibility to be heard by millions.

And yet the church continues to live in the past. We continue to live in an era where the leaders could control the members by limiting their access to information. We continue to try to force members to obey the one whom God has talked to.

When the news flashed that President Obama was to make a speech, Then President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the one who was behind the 9-11 attacks on the American twin towers, had been killed.

I see my jubilant sisters and brothers sing the praises of our President for his work that ended in the death of this wanted man.

Like many other Americans I can remember that night when President Obama was elected. Like many other African Americans, I thought that we would never see this. I enjoyed the time like many others, but then i began to see some troubling things emerge.

There was a Facebook group created with the name of “Let’s Change the word’s form We Shall Overcome to We Have Overcome.”

Because of my public ministry, I receive a lot of questions. One question that comes up from time to time is whether the questioner should go to seminary or the location that one should attend seminary.

I see myself in many of these people. 10 years ago, I was in the same boat, just accepted my “call to preach” and ready to go to school to get the entrance requirements into ministry.

OK. Black leaders have never been a monolith, but one could have seen this rift coming a mile away. Cornel West, our resident radical professor, is getting tired of President Obama not being a radical leftist who would attack the corporations from running this country. Why anyone expected President Obama to be a radical leftist is beyond me (unless of course you believe the ridiculous rantings of such right wing demagogues as Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck). Well i guess they bought the bull of “Change” that we all knew was simply political propaganda.

I was listening to a preacher who condemned as faithless those who did not believe that God has guaranteed us perfect health and the best of things. We can expect that God wants us to be the head not the tail and therefore we can expect the best car on the block. If God is truly a good God, doesn’t God want to give us good things?

The preacher gave two texts to support this theology. We will look at both in this short series. The first of these is Matthew 6:33 that you have heard before.

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

No, he doesn’t, but the attempt at humor below seems to imply that very notion. The premise is shocking to many of us who have grown up with the notion that Jesus loves us all. The notion is so shocking that some have questioned whether I am becoming a lackey who is helping to promote such problematic views of Jesus in my look at them. I don’t wish to entirely dismiss that argument. There could be truth there. I doubt that the video really was “banned” by the Superbowl. It probably was not really under consideration.

What I think is very interesting about this video is that it demonstrates how Jesus has become an impotent icon used to support a political agenda among at least some of us.

What I love about this song is that it glories in “not knowing.” I don’t know how I got over, in fact I look back and wonder. But the orientation of the song is instructive. You see the singer is on the other side of the problem. The singer is not in the midst of the mess, but she is on the other side looking back.

Another thing that is interesting is that the singer was there before “getting over” and yet can’t figure out the process of “getting over.” This reminds us that we may be in the midst of overriding conditions and yet if God has the last word, we don’t have to see our way out. God will take us out even if it is in such a way that we can’t even see the “taking out” happen. We may not even be able to see God’s doing it.