In my distress, I called to the Lord, and He answered me. (Verse 1)
"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near." Jesus, Luke 21 Italics, mine
Can it be that God dwells still in the midst of the chaos of our personal lives as well as in the maelstrom that wreaks havoc in every point we can mark on the atlas this morning? That God's finger stirs the nations for His purposes while He keeps track, lovingly, of those of us enduring the strife as His dear children? Perhaps that's why it's important to know, in our individual lives, that when we call to our God out of our own harrowing situations, He answers. We have tested His promises to be with us in the smaller arena of our every day so that we can trust God for the wars and rumors of wars. For the earthquakes and famine while kingdom rises against kingdom. Birth pangs to greater destruction.
I read the paper this morning. Very little good news these days. Nation indeed rising against nation. Earthquakes...right here twenty-five miles from where I sit...followed by a huge one off the coast of Chile. Famine and disease sent workers to a foreign country to help distribute food and water to the hungry. A bicyclist died and the car didn't stop to render aid. Hearts ache and nations quiver. Where is God in the news? Or the hospital room? Or the morgue?
We are God's children through our faith in Jesus. Adopted into a family. Our crest is emblazoned with a cross and an empty tomb. Our heritage is unconditional love. Our inheritance is eternal life in glory unimaginably beautiful with the God Who has sustained our earthly bodies until it is our time to sit down with the greater family to eat heavenly manna and drink eternal wine. We belong somewhere to Someone Who is crazy about us. And one of the ways we understand this to be true here on this planet is that God answers us when we call. It should be the theme of our lives. We cry out. God hears and answers. Yes. No. Wait. His three responses. Even to His Only Son. But our God knows the beginning to the end. Wisdom we can't possibly gain except to read the Bible and to understand that one day it will all burn up and we will remain, indestructible and eternal.
I have dear friends who right now struggle with cancer, divorce, loss of jobs and failing finances. Whose lives are turned upside down. And they are trusting God. Here's the beautiful thing about all these friends--their distress is drawing them closer to the heart of God. Clinging to God's promises as they walk through their need with Him. And in the midst, miracles small and large that whisper or shout, "I will never leave you or forsake you." We must know in our own crushing circumstances that a holy, powerful, loving and steadfast Father loves us to bits for us to push through the greater worldly catastrophes that disrupt and destroy globally. I want to hear the voice of Jesus so authentically that it will be loud and clear over the din of moral impunity and political correctness. I need know what it feels like to hold His hand in personal distress so I can find it in the crowd when the crowd goes berserk.
If Jesus wants us to straighten up our backs and raise our heads in the day of massive earthly destruction, how much more must He desire that in our personal needs we look up with confidence when things around us seem bleak. To acknowledge in our pain and in our joy that He is God of All. That He knows things we can't possibly understand and that our story, personally and universally, turns out great--gloriously. Trusting during our personal battles that God will meet us there, in our Gardens of Gethsemane, to speak His perfect will over the struggle because He knows we will rise again in glory--here or there.
"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near." Jesus, Luke 21 Italics, mine
Can it be that God dwells still in the midst of the chaos of our personal lives as well as in the maelstrom that wreaks havoc in every point we can mark on the atlas this morning? That God's finger stirs the nations for His purposes while He keeps track, lovingly, of those of us enduring the strife as His dear children? Perhaps that's why it's important to know, in our individual lives, that when we call to our God out of our own harrowing situations, He answers. We have tested His promises to be with us in the smaller arena of our every day so that we can trust God for the wars and rumors of wars. For the earthquakes and famine while kingdom rises against kingdom. Birth pangs to greater destruction.
I read the paper this morning. Very little good news these days. Nation indeed rising against nation. Earthquakes...right here twenty-five miles from where I sit...followed by a huge one off the coast of Chile. Famine and disease sent workers to a foreign country to help distribute food and water to the hungry. A bicyclist died and the car didn't stop to render aid. Hearts ache and nations quiver. Where is God in the news? Or the hospital room? Or the morgue?
We are God's children through our faith in Jesus. Adopted into a family. Our crest is emblazoned with a cross and an empty tomb. Our heritage is unconditional love. Our inheritance is eternal life in glory unimaginably beautiful with the God Who has sustained our earthly bodies until it is our time to sit down with the greater family to eat heavenly manna and drink eternal wine. We belong somewhere to Someone Who is crazy about us. And one of the ways we understand this to be true here on this planet is that God answers us when we call. It should be the theme of our lives. We cry out. God hears and answers. Yes. No. Wait. His three responses. Even to His Only Son. But our God knows the beginning to the end. Wisdom we can't possibly gain except to read the Bible and to understand that one day it will all burn up and we will remain, indestructible and eternal.
I have dear friends who right now struggle with cancer, divorce, loss of jobs and failing finances. Whose lives are turned upside down. And they are trusting God. Here's the beautiful thing about all these friends--their distress is drawing them closer to the heart of God. Clinging to God's promises as they walk through their need with Him. And in the midst, miracles small and large that whisper or shout, "I will never leave you or forsake you." We must know in our own crushing circumstances that a holy, powerful, loving and steadfast Father loves us to bits for us to push through the greater worldly catastrophes that disrupt and destroy globally. I want to hear the voice of Jesus so authentically that it will be loud and clear over the din of moral impunity and political correctness. I need know what it feels like to hold His hand in personal distress so I can find it in the crowd when the crowd goes berserk.
If Jesus wants us to straighten up our backs and raise our heads in the day of massive earthly destruction, how much more must He desire that in our personal needs we look up with confidence when things around us seem bleak. To acknowledge in our pain and in our joy that He is God of All. That He knows things we can't possibly understand and that our story, personally and universally, turns out great--gloriously. Trusting during our personal battles that God will meet us there, in our Gardens of Gethsemane, to speak His perfect will over the struggle because He knows we will rise again in glory--here or there.
No comments:
Post a Comment