Friday, October 30, 2009

Scary Times, Great Promises! - October 30, 2009

Good Friday morning! We did not get the blizzard last night, but we do have cold and wind to greet us this morning. I see stars though, we may see the sun this morning! Wouldn't it be great to live without fear? We fear storms, darkness, heights, depths, powerful people, governments, bugs, creepy-crawlies, lions & tigers & bears, and many other things both real and imagined. We even fear old age. In Isaiah 65, God makes a few very interesting promises. In this time of economic difficulty, one stands out - no one will work in vain. Isn't that one of the fears we have today? We work and work, and then a medical condition wipes out our savings, health, home, and comfort all in one fell blow. We work and work, and then an employer goes bankrupt or cuts us loose without so much as a fare-thee-well. The promise that our work will not be in vain may not strike us where it should until we look at it from a perspective like we have now in this troubled time. The fear that all our work might be for nothing is much worse than our fear of being 'et these days. In other parts of the world, they do their work with an eye over their shoulder for fear of wild animals.

God also promises that the wolf will eat with the lamb and the lion eat hay like the cows. We hear of deaths by wild animal fairly often these days and know from prophecy that it will get worse in the end times. Just the other day I read a news report of a young lady killed by coyotes. "Very unusual", "rare", "won't happen again" were used to describe the attack. Uh huh, seems like those same words were used by the wags not that long ago when a young man was killed by wolves. We can seize on God's promise that one day, these things will be a part of the distant past. Perhaps at 500 years old we can tell a great-great-great grandson that we are old enough to remember when animals attacked us in the wild. Why 500 years? I'm just guessing, but another of God's promises is that 100 years will no longer be considered old. The Lord does not speak of an upper limit, only that 100 will not be old. Sounds pretty good to me! One of the first promises is that no longer will there be sorrow or tears. We won't be 500 years old or more and full of pain and medical conditions...our medical condition will be pain-free and healthy-perfect! Isn't it good news that Jesus will return to fulfill those promises?

The morning after a storm has passed is always good to reflect on God's wonderful promises. We won't be sitting around strumming harps for eternity; we will have work to do, but rewarding and satisfying work while praising God!

Have a wonderful day. Let the warmth in your heart stand firm against the cold outside!

Bucky

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