[The following article was published on September 23, 2009 following terrorist's threats in New York City. With the recent natural disasters and global calamities, this article seems more up-to-date than ever and concludes with a biblical perspective that will comfort many.]
Luke 21:26 - People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. (NLT)
ABC’s, Good Morning America® welcomed the day, opening their show with their happy theme song then showing bomb, sniffing dogs searching intently throughout New York’s airports. Governmental officials received terrorist’s threats that's made them nervous. Meanwhile, I don’t think the little town I live in has missed a beat. It’s not that we don’t care, it just that it takes something like jets running into skyscrapers to make us feel the affect here.
Terror. It’s part of the plan, you know. None of this has taken God by surprise and He’s not nervous. He warned us this was coming. Now, it's here. With all our inventions and gadgets to make life sweet, we are filled with terror. Everywhere, people are terror-fied! And you know what? It will get worse.
The terror is somewhat like a young mother giving birth to her child. She read the books, but reading words is nothing like the real thing. “THIS,” she insists, “is hard!" I suppose that's why they called it “labor.” And I imagine it’s easier to write a manual on it than experience it. When the baby is birthed, however, labor turns to joy.
“All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:8).
“It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world” (John 16:21).
These are days when it feels as if everything is ending. This, my friend, is not the end, it's the beginning. There's a birth taking place, not a death. And like a natural birth, things get messy before new life emerges.
When I speak, sometimes I quote a passage from Eugene Peterson’s, The Message. Often I follow the quote by telling everyone I didn’t open with this translation because there wouldn’t be anything left for me to say. Today, on this Terror-Alert filled day, I’m going to let this text from The Message bring the conclusion. Nothing further needs to be added.
"It will seem like all hell has broken loose--sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking. And then--then!--they'll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!" (Luke 21:25-28).
Amen.
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