To Encourage You

Matthew 24:37 “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Luke 21:25-28 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken . . . Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

I was reading the newspaper this morning and discussing it with my wife as I often do.  What stood out to me, maybe more that it often does, was all the news about sin.  On just one page we had the following stories: a woman facing charges for negligence in reporting a vehicle accident in which she had killed a person; an account of an area pediatrician being charged with three sexual assaults; student rallies regarding recent school shootings; an account of two men charged with selling cocaine from their residence; and police looking for someone who had robbed a local store.  Mind you, this was on just one page. 

It is easy to become jaded about life in this world and even depressed as we read the newspaper these days.  And to think there is so much more such news available to us at a moment’s notice via the internet.  So, is there any hope?  Is there a silver lining?  Well, the answer is, yes, there is one. As we look at the sinful acts that dominate the headlines today, be it local, national, international, or even the bad news that so often encroaches on our own families and personal lives, one of the things that it brings to mind is verses such as those above.  Jesus told us over 2,000 years ago that there were days coming in the future that would be just like the days at Noah’s time.  So, what were things like then, right before the flood?  The Bible tells us that at that time “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).  That’s pretty bad!  Things were so bad that only eight people were found that were worthy of being saved: Noah and his family. 

So, as we look at the news of our day, we should remember this.  Things will get bad – really bad – just before Jesus returns.  So, why would such a good God “allow” things to get so bad.  As some like to say “If there’s a God, why is there so much evil in the world?”  I remember praying about just that thing some years ago.  I was praying something along these lines: “Why do you let it go on, Lord? Why not just end it?  Why not just crush the evil that so fills our world?”  And immediately the thought that flooded my mind was God’s mercy and patience.  Can you imagine the incredible mercy of God who is so longsuffering that although men and women sin against Him day after day, millions of sins from millions of people, He waits to mete out his judgment?  He waits for men and women to repent.   He waits for those who have all their lives rejected Him, given no thought to Him, even scoffed at Him in the face of the evidence He has given all of us of not only His being but also His grace and love.  And He waited for me.  I lived much of my life sinning flagrantly against Him, doing things that I absolutely knew to be wrong, and yet He waited for me. And for anyone that knows Him, He also waited for you. Furthermore, for all those whose stories fill the newspapers day after day, He is waiting.  Although each and every day the incredible mercy of God comes to an end for some people as they die and enter an eternity without Him, the fact is, He could have justifiably ended it for every one of us long ago – but still He waits. 

But He won’t wait forever.  He has told us that “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:3-7). 

So, what about you?  On the one hand, are you a scoffer, or on the other hand, are you in despair as you look at the evil around you?  If either of these describe you, perhaps it is time to “straighten up and raise your heads” for redemption, the making of all things right, is coming soon; however, that will only have blessing to those who have first turned to and believed on the One Who waits.