Heavenly Father, as we start a new week, I pray that it will be better than last week. I know that bad things happen each day in your world. People get diagnosed with, and die of cancer. Marriages break up. People turn away from you, Friends move away. People lose jobs, or don’t get an offer for a job they just interviewed for. People suffer from terrible pain without any hope for relief. But, knowing this intellectually, last week still seemed to be a particularly difficult one.
In the middle of the week came the news that pipe-bomb like devices had been sent to several prominent public figures. This went on for a few days, with additional devices being discovered, before law enforcement arrested a suspect.
The week ended with a shooter opening up fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing eleven. In between these events, my wife and I came up a truck that had turned over on its side, the second truck we had seen like this in two days. This one was different however, as we saw a red tarp covering the truck cab. We knew what this meant, and had it confirmed later than a man had died in the accident.
Father, it’s easy to get down and downright cynical about all the bad things that happen in your world. Some will even just dismiss it and say “Same “stuff”, different day”. But You are sovereign. You are in charge of everything that happens in this world. Everything. This is your world and there are going to be bad things happen every day, whether they make the news or not. We trust you, and long for the day when your son, Jesus, returns to make all things new. Until then, Father, we long for the comfort of your Holy Spirit. Encourage us. Give us the strength to go on. Let your word comfort us with these scripture verses about your sovereignty:

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 55: 8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 24:1-2
The earth is the Lord‘s and the fullness thereof,
    the world and those who dwell therein,
  for he has founded it upon the seas
    and established it upon the rivers.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 135:6
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
    in heaven and on earth,
    in the seas and all deeps.

Proverbs 16:4
The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
    even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Colossians 1:17
 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Job 12:10 
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.

Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 What verses about the sovereignty of God bring you comfort, and keep you from being discouraged in the midst of life’s storms?