(This post is the last in a series of other posts about The Storm. If you haven’t read those yet, you can catch up by clicking here.)
Final Thoughts & Faith
Let me be perfectly honest. Thinking about a possible crisis scenario can get pretty dang depressing. It can shake you to the core when you consider the depth and range and long-term impact this would have, both on our lives and, more importantly, our children’s.
I don’t believe this is going to be “armageddon,” or even the tribulation (although it very well could be). I believe this is a result of our turning away from God and His ways. I believe He’s going to remove His hand of blessing and protection on America, specifically, and we will be reap the whirlwind that’s a direct result of ignoring Him. It’s not that He’s being hateful or vengeful, it’s simply the consequence of our actions.
Drop a rock on your foot? It’s gonna hurt.
Eat a handful of red ants? It’s gonna hurt.
Ignore God and His Word? Yeah… it’s gonna hurt.
Despite this, I don’t think the future is as bleak as it could be, at least for some of us. In addition to the distinct impressions I’ve been getting that this will happen, I’ve also had conversations with multiple people who all underscore the same truth: God will provide for His people.
The skeptic in me balked at this claim. I mean, let’s be honest. I can only store so much food and water. How in the world was God going to supply for our long-term needs through a calamity like this? It just didn’t seem possible. At all.
Then I remembered Israel, God’s Chosen People. He took them out of Egypt and led them directly into… a desert. Where He met their needs by feeding them manna. From Heaven. He brought forth water from a rock. Delivered them from a rabid army that had cornered them in. He supplied their every need, and all they had to do was trust and obey Him.
It sounds so easy, but it’s not. To hear Him? To trust Him? To obey Him? It goes against everything we are as self-sufficient, American people, puffed up with American know-how, gumption and pride. Why would we ever want to wait on God, we ask? We’re Americans! We can roll up our sleeves, dig in and get ‘er done now. Right?
Sure we can… but at what cost?
The words that keep floating into my thinking is “threshing floor” and “sifting like wheat.” An American collapse, as terrifying and uncomfortable as it will be, will not be the end of the world. (The end of the world “as we know it,” perhaps, but not the end of the world itself.) God is going to allow circumstances to shake us to the core. What we believe about God, His goodness and His love will be shaken violently.
Will we choose to believe? Despite what our eyes see around us? What our ears hear? What our logical minds or voices of authority will convince us is “the truth”?
Or will we draw closer to listen to the quiet whispers of God and Choose To Believe what He’s saying to us? At any given moment?
We can’t have it both ways. We can’t pledge our allegiance to Him and then turn around and go our own way whenever we feel like it. He’s not looking for lukewarm. The lukewarm “Christians” of the world? Who think they can attend a service on Sunday mornings and tack God onto their egocentric, American-made lives? When the shaking quakes set in they will fall away the fastest as their shaky “faith” suddenly fails them.
Why? Because they worship the god of Comfort. So when the world suddenly becomes extremely uncomfortable? For an extended period of time? Well, their “god” will have left the building.
Nope. God really isn’t looking for lukewarm.
He’s looking for those who are on fire for Him. Who aren’t afraid to cling to the unpopular belief that faith in Jesus Christ truly is the only way to be reconciled to Him. Who will stand up and speak out for His Truth, even when everyone else around them is frozen and mute, petrified of committing the tongue-wagging sin of (gasp) offending anyone.
Lukewarm? Ho-hum commitment? A convenient, “safe” faith?
These will not survive.
Yes, I believe what the future holds will be extremely difficult. Profoundly painful. Incredibly uncomfortable. But I will choose to believe that God is still good. That His word is still true. That no matter what I see in the world around me, the pain that I will personally experience in my life, He is still sovereign and will work everything out for His glory in the end.
My prayer is that everyone who reads this will take a closer look at their lives. What do you worship? What are the underlying forces that direct your life? The omnipresent voice that has driven the direction of your life thus far? Comfort and peace? The goal of retirement with financial security? More and more electronic toys? Recognition? Relationships? Respect?
What do you worship?
…and how will it save you when the world stops spinning?
Take the time today, while you still have it, to draw closer to God. To honestly and completely confess your sins and ask for His forgiveness. To repent for doing it your way, and seek to be led by Him once more. Ask Him what He would have you do, and how to best prepare for what’s to come in your life.
Worship Him. In Spirit and in truth. With your whole heart.
‘Cause lukewarm worship makes God wanna vomit.
-Kevin
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. – Revelation 3:15-17