What's With the Heavens? - March 29, 2011

Tuesday morning, and my idea bank for devotionals is empty. Nothing. Hmm, maybe the devotional is not about me, or me amongst a group. Has 'amongst' been deprecated as a word now? Is it archaic? I like to throw in the odd archaic term every now and then just to show how old I am. I see an article today suggesting 8 other things to do after high school in place of going to college. While college has always been the gold standard so to speak for graduating seniors, from my experience it is good to consider alternatives. Not every high school student is ready for college at 18, I certainly wasn't and it took about a year and a half for me to realize that... an expensive year and a half at that. What is missing from the 8 alternatives in the blog post? Service to your country. Must be one o' dem liberal blogs. Oops, knee-jerk reaction for the day! Okay, the intro is over; what is the writing to be about this morning? When I am stuck for ideas, the answer is almost always the same, "Write about me!" Not me as in yours truly, but Me as in the answer from God to: "What should I write about, Lord?" When we look at the news headlines, we can hardly help but wonder why God puts up with all that he sees in the world. I don't need to cite a bunch of examples to darken your day, you can read all that you can stomach on pretty much any day in the news. Not too long ago, we learned the answer in our Bible study. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) We may not be sure how long the Lord put up with Sodom and Gomorrah, but we do know the Lord has been patient since Jesus ascended to Heaven for around 2,000 years. To us that is a lot of patience, but Peter also reminds us that to God a day is as a thousand years. However, we can turn back a few books in the Bible and read about the coming time when God's patience with the evil world system will finally run out and the judgments will come. We don't know when this end time will begin, but we do know that it will happen quickly. Jesus told the disciples that in Noah's time, life was going along as it had for some time with weddings and babies, sin and suffering, and the normal stuff, when suddenly Noah held a gathering of the beasts of the field, then hollered, "All Aboard!" like any good ship captain, and shut the door of the ark... miles from the sea, not even on a good sized lake, and certainly amid the laughter of the people. "Hee, hee, look old Noah just shut himself in his boat with a bunch of animals!" "Imagine the mess those animals are going to make!" "Yeah, ho, ho, he'll be gasping for air in a day!" "Where are these water drops coming from?" "Yeah, why do I feel wet all of the sudden, and what's with the heavens?" The great flood came soon for those folks just as the end times will come soon for many in our day. As Jesus warned the disciples about the end times, we can see the weddings and babies, sin and suffering, and all the normal stuff going on each day just like in Noah's time. While some might take the daily news and think that God isn't there or doesn't care, we can read in the Word that God is simply being patient in allowing all to hear the Good News of His Son and repent. Time is a luxury right now, just as it was for Noah and his family until the final moments, but the timer is still counting down to zero. No man knows how much time is left, only God knows, but the end will come. Today, we have the modern versions of the scoffers Noah had to listen to in his day. Peter wrote about that too. It won't be long before another scoffer in a later time asks: "What's with the heavens?" Grace, peace, and love be with you today from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ! Bucky