And He Shall Reign Forever and Ever!
I don't like tragedy, or wars, or anything when people get hurt or killed. It upsets me, and makes me sad. That is one reason I don't read further when I see the headlines on the internet about such things. I am aware of the evil and much of the hardship in the world today, but I don't want to read the gory details.
As I was scanning the headlines today, or should I say, as they were presenting themselves to me as a slideshow on my home page, and read a couple of them, resulting in me feeling sadness and pain for the situations and people involved, a Scripture fell into my spirit. It was the one about the future when men will beat their swords into plowshares and not "study war" anymore. I know it was God comforting me by dangling in front of me, this truth of future peace on earth.
It does calm me to know that one day all of this will be gone, and there will be safety in the land, as it says in Ezekiel 34:7. These last chapters of Ezekiel are futuristic, referring, I believe, to the Day of the Lord where all accounts are settled, and where the rejecting ones of Christ perish, and the sheep of His pasture past and present will be justified by His precious blood, eternally and finally.
I long for that Day, and in fact, Jesus gives us a glimpse of it in Scripture so that we don't lose hope, even in the midst of all the evil that is happening, and that will continue to happen around us. He says that when we see all these things happening, we are to look up because our redemption is getting close or drawing near. (Luke 21:5-28) In other words, He is saying that each day that goes by, even as the evil is increasing, means that His coming back and making things right gets closer. So, maybe as all of this is happening, He is saying we should look at things with our spiritual eyes, at things from an eternal perspective, instead of with our physical ones. In this way, we can be at peace.
The other day someone I know began to talk about the terrible things happening now in America, which consumes a lot of conversation these days. He cited a certain situation, with fear all over his face. A brother in the Lord, patted him on the shoulder and said compassionately, "The Lord is in control, brother," to which he replied, "Well, He's going to have to prove it to me!" I then said, "He already has in the Word when He says He is in control." I was going to share some passages with him, but we were going somewhere and we had to leave. I pray that he will have more of the fear of the Lord, then the fear of man in his heart, so that He can go to Him in his fear, instead of try and figure out how he will protect himself in the coming days.
If we, as God's people, don't know or believe that God is in control, even though we don't understand what is happening, or because He's not stopping the evil that is coming down the line the way we think He should, then we have no hope. In His time, God will make all things right and new, as He promises to restore all things one day, according to His ways. He relays many of His ways, in His Word.
Trusting that He is in control, regardless of what we see or think, and that He will do what He says He will in His timing about all of it, is paramount in coping during these days of tragedy and loss and pain in the world. Knowing that His plans and purposes cannot be supplanted by anything that happens in the here and now brings us peace and hope for tomorrow. Perhaps reading in Zephaniah, Ezekiel, Daniel, or other prophetic books will help us know that even better, and will increase our trust in Him. We must first believe that He is Truth, and cannot lie, though. Without that firm foundation of who He is in our spirit, nothing can bring comfort in these perilous times or in the future when they get worse.
Do we want God to be in control or us? It's a matter of flesh against Spirit; between the physical and the spiritual; between something that is being destroyed (this present earth) and something that is eternal.(The heavenly Jerusalem or His Kingdom that will have no end.)
As I was scanning the headlines today, or should I say, as they were presenting themselves to me as a slideshow on my home page, and read a couple of them, resulting in me feeling sadness and pain for the situations and people involved, a Scripture fell into my spirit. It was the one about the future when men will beat their swords into plowshares and not "study war" anymore. I know it was God comforting me by dangling in front of me, this truth of future peace on earth.
It does calm me to know that one day all of this will be gone, and there will be safety in the land, as it says in Ezekiel 34:7. These last chapters of Ezekiel are futuristic, referring, I believe, to the Day of the Lord where all accounts are settled, and where the rejecting ones of Christ perish, and the sheep of His pasture past and present will be justified by His precious blood, eternally and finally.
I long for that Day, and in fact, Jesus gives us a glimpse of it in Scripture so that we don't lose hope, even in the midst of all the evil that is happening, and that will continue to happen around us. He says that when we see all these things happening, we are to look up because our redemption is getting close or drawing near. (Luke 21:5-28) In other words, He is saying that each day that goes by, even as the evil is increasing, means that His coming back and making things right gets closer. So, maybe as all of this is happening, He is saying we should look at things with our spiritual eyes, at things from an eternal perspective, instead of with our physical ones. In this way, we can be at peace.
The other day someone I know began to talk about the terrible things happening now in America, which consumes a lot of conversation these days. He cited a certain situation, with fear all over his face. A brother in the Lord, patted him on the shoulder and said compassionately, "The Lord is in control, brother," to which he replied, "Well, He's going to have to prove it to me!" I then said, "He already has in the Word when He says He is in control." I was going to share some passages with him, but we were going somewhere and we had to leave. I pray that he will have more of the fear of the Lord, then the fear of man in his heart, so that He can go to Him in his fear, instead of try and figure out how he will protect himself in the coming days.
If we, as God's people, don't know or believe that God is in control, even though we don't understand what is happening, or because He's not stopping the evil that is coming down the line the way we think He should, then we have no hope. In His time, God will make all things right and new, as He promises to restore all things one day, according to His ways. He relays many of His ways, in His Word.
Trusting that He is in control, regardless of what we see or think, and that He will do what He says He will in His timing about all of it, is paramount in coping during these days of tragedy and loss and pain in the world. Knowing that His plans and purposes cannot be supplanted by anything that happens in the here and now brings us peace and hope for tomorrow. Perhaps reading in Zephaniah, Ezekiel, Daniel, or other prophetic books will help us know that even better, and will increase our trust in Him. We must first believe that He is Truth, and cannot lie, though. Without that firm foundation of who He is in our spirit, nothing can bring comfort in these perilous times or in the future when they get worse.
Do we want God to be in control or us? It's a matter of flesh against Spirit; between the physical and the spiritual; between something that is being destroyed (this present earth) and something that is eternal.(The heavenly Jerusalem or His Kingdom that will have no end.)
posted by Patti Blount @ 10:37 AM
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