6 December 2010

Psalm 25; Isa. 5:8-12,18-23; 1 Thess. 5:1-11; Luke 21:20-28

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” These are dangers for us as well. We need to be wary of this temptation and sin. We have an infection called sin that causes us to think more highly of ourselves and our abilities than we ought. We need a good dose of reality thrown into our thinking, the same reality that Job got a lecture on when the Lord appeared to Him and questioned Him about the beginning of all things, the continuation of all things and, obliquely, the end of all things. Joseph’s statement to his brothers that what they meant for evil God meant for good is a statement which requires true wisdom, the ability to see through God’s eyes and to conclude that God’s plan has come together even when it isn’t your plan. True wisdom comes from resting in the sovereignty of God, not taking matters into our own hands to achieve the outcome we desire in our own timing. Such an attitude will hinder us from a great many sinful and harmful actions.

Has the time of the Gentiles come yet? Jerusalem has indeed been overrun and the people driven into exile but I don’t believe we have seen the times of which Jesus speaks here. Unfortunately I believe the worst is yet to come in that regard. Jesus speaks of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds with great glory at this time and that time has not yet come. Even if the worst is yet to come, Jesus says that time is a time not for a bowed head in defeat but one upraised in triumph to greet the victor! If that is true, how can we do otherwise today?

Life in this world as a Christian is almost counterintuitive. Paul tells the Thessalonians not to listen to the world’s diagnosis of how it is doing for the truth lies outside the world’s information on which it bases its self-diagnosis. The most horrible word we can hear about our health is generally cancer and rarely if ever can anyone diagnose it themselves, there needs to be someone with access to information not directly available to the patient in order to “see” the correct diagnosis. In this life we have some access to that data through the Holy Spirit. God is able to speak to us in ways that the world doesn’t understand and we need to be attentive to His voice but that can only happen in the prayer closet, shut apart from the cacophony of the world. Do we believe God or the world?

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.