We are walking through what I am beginning to call “the event of our lives.” The pivot that we are now in is more significant than anything that I have been through and likely the most significant world-wide event since WW2.
I don’t mean to downplay the significance of any other event (9/11, Natural Disasters, etc), but I don’t want to elevate our perspective so that we respond appropriately. In the coming days, weeks, months and years, we are going to be tested and refined.
It is our faith that is on the line.
All of us have been through challenges and have had to work out our salvation, but some large trials are coming.
The scriptures will likely come alive like never before as we walk this road. Unbeknownst to us, we have been reading the scriptures with a filter–that filter is Western Consumerism which commodifies everything. So, we’ve tended to read scriptures that were written by and to people in hardship and oppression through this lens. So, scriptures like Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” have become trite mottos for individual achievement.
Over the next season, we will experience the gradual removal of that consumeristic filter. In our suffering we will begin to identify more accurately with the scriptures. They will come alive. And, what you’ll find is that you, by the Holy Spirit and through His Word, are more equipped than what you know.
This morning as I was reading Numbers 11 I saw myself in the scriptures. The children of Israel had been freed from bondage, but now as they travelled the desert, they easily forgot the goodness of God and began complaining. Their complaining aroused the anger of God. Complaining seems like it is a big deal to God.
Complaining always feels justified. We tend to complain when there is, in our mind, something to complain about! Nicky Gumbel says,
“Complaining keeps you captive, whilst remembering God’s faithfulness sets you free. Praise, thanksgiving and worship are the antidote to complaining and grumbling.”
Nicky Gumbel
Paul writes,
“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,”
Philippians 2:14-15 NKJV
For the Jesus follower–this is our moment! This is our hour to shine brightly! Some of you may need to remove some Facebook posts or shift your attitude so that you are the light of the world that Jesus calls us.
Fear not! God is with us! Let’s trust him together!