Sometimes, before I write this column, I go into the archives to see what I was writing about a year ago. Sometimes I’m looking for ideas; most of the time I’m trying to avoid repeating myself overmuch. I scrolled through a couple of columns from around this time last year and found this from the January 2020 newsletter:
… the fact is, no one can see the future. More precisely, none of US can see the future. But God can. Jeho-vah-Jireh, often translated as “God provides” is more accurately rendered “God sees”. He sees it all. God created time itself and sees the end from the beginning. So when we talk about having vision for the future, what we really need is to remember that God sees it already, and will guide us to it and through it. From time to time, He may actually reveal it to us. More often than not, though, He simply guides us, and we trust Him. Whatever the future holds, whatever this year, 2020 holds, nothing will take God by surprise. If we do what He commands, go where He commands, we will find ourselves securely positioned on the path of blessing.
This was written last December, and three months later we were plunged into this coronavirus mess, and then the lockdown, the race riots, and now scary discussions about vaccines and an election that is still being contested. With all the utter insanity going on domestically, it’s easy to miss things like the ramp-up of tensions with Russia, and between China and Taiwan, and of course the Middle East.
Easy for us to miss, that is. God doesn’t miss a thing. And even while we stand on His promises for our good, Christmas is a great time to remember THE promise, the one promise that Christian believers have clung to and stood upon for millennia: He is coming back!
The Incarnation was the fulfillment of centuries of promises that the children of Israel clung to; the arrival of Messiah, God’s anointed, to deliver His people. They had plenty of opportunity to eagerly anticipate His coming, because there were plenty of miserable years. The coming of Messiah meant rescue and redemption.
For us, the promise is supposed to be different. Jesus certainly warned His disciples of hard times to come, of trials and tribulations and persecution. But when He spoke words of comfort to them, the emphasis was on being manifestly reunited with Him. He didn’t just say, “I’ll come back and rescue you from hard times.” He said, “I will receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
In times like these, it is certainly understandable (and, I think, even prop-er) to think longingly of rescue. Lord, come quickly and get us out of here! But the magnificent thing about His return is not what we’re getting out of; it’s what we’re getting into! We will be with Jesus, and we will be like Jesus, and we will be with Him and like Him forever.
Brothers and sisters, I’m not suggesting that we “check out” in terms of fighting for what we believe in, not suggesting that we ignore the possible dangers to our way of life, etc. I AM saying we, as believers in Jesus Christ, must be models of stability in these unstable times. As I write this, it is the day before Thanksgiving. This will be maybe the third time in my life when I have not celebrated it in the presence of my whole family, as in, my parents, all my sisters, and their families. And we will still celebrate it and focus on things we are truly thankful for.
Who, besides God, knows what this world will look like by Christmas? No matter what, it will be a great time to truly focus on the meaning of Christmas. He came, 2,000 years ago, just like God said He would. He’s coming again, just like He said He would. Merry Christmas!
Blessings,
