A recent conversation with a friend brought this issue to the forefront. She was sharing with me about a gathering with her neighborhood ladies a few weeks ago where one of them said, “I feel like the world is coming to an end.” (Stay tuned for my friend’s response to her.)
Now, we can’t know for sure where this woman is in her faith or what her understanding of biblical end times is, but it’s quite likely she was just feeling the weight of all that is going on around us.
Aren’t we all??
Even just looking at events from a national or global perspective, it can seem beyond bleak. I have friends who choose not to even turn on the news because it’s just too full of discouragement and despair. I can’t disagree with them. I try to watch enough to stay informed, but not become a news junkie!
At the risk of sending you all down into the pits, here is a sampling of what we’ve been bombarded with over the past few years.
- Political unrest and discord unlike anything I’ve experienced in my life. I find myself not wanting to align with either side!
- Natural disasters that wreak devastation through tornadoes, heavy rains and subsequent flooding and landslides, major winter snowstorms, ice storms resulting in massive pileups, volcanoes, both above and below the sea, some resulting in deadly tsunamis, forest fires, derechos, tropical storms, and hurricanes. Oh my goodness! That list alone is enough to make us give up!
- A global pandemic that resulted in deaths and hospitalizations and lives turned upside down for months on end, and that will likely affect how we live our lives for years to come.
- Unrest in the powder keg Middle East.
- Talk and displays of nuclear power from nations antagonistic toward the United States.
- Trade and immigration issues that go well beyond my understanding.
- Inflation unlike anything we’ve seen since I was in college.
- A war in Ukraine that brings most of us to tears as we witness firsthand the total destruction in some of the key cities. Women and children packed into train cars and crossing rivers with no bridges and hiding for days in underground tunnels and safe places. Saying “good-bye” to husbands, sons, and brothers who are staying to fight. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror these people are experiencing.
So if you needed any proof or permission for feeling overwhelmed, there you go. You’re welcome! And yet, we don’t welcome any of that news. I know I’ve just scratched the surface of all that’s going on around the globe. No wonder it causes us to ask the “Armageddon” question!
Add to that whatever personal trials you’re going through, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, with yourself and anyone in your circle, and it’s a miracle we’re standing at all! It seems even normal civility has taken a vacation as people lash out at each other, often behind the anonymity of social media.
So with that horrific background, I want to share a viewpoint that helps me process all of this devastation, and keep my eyes firmly focused on our Almighty God. Then we’ll answer our title question.
Last week I looked at some specific ways we can help ourselves live more victorious lives through our heartaches so I’m not restating all of those. However, they are still applicable in this global picture.
Additionally, I want to suggest a new lens to help you put this catastrophic reality into proper perspective. Its simplicity may leave you wanting more, but if you stop and acknowledge its truth, you’ll see it’s everything we need.
Rather than stressing out or feeling anxious or depressed, or losing sleep or giving up on staying connected with people. Or, even more critical, deciding that God doesn’t see or care about all that’s happening, here’s where I land.
I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through all of this.
Really? That’s all you’ve got, Lynne? It’s not all I’ve got; it’s everything. It all hinges on what Jesus bought for us on the cross when he died in our place for our sins.
And in the end, whenever it comes, we know this, and I quote from “New Morning Mercies” by Paul David Tripp:
“The resurrection [of Jesus from the dead] tells you that God will win. His truth will reign. His plan will be accomplished. Sin will be defeated. Righteousness will overcome evil.”
So, how did my friend respond to the woman who said, “I feel like the world is coming to an end?” She simply replied, “It is.”
That, my friends, is a truth whose certainty is undeniable.
Many of the disasters we’re witnessing today are predicted in the Bible. The book of Romans tells us that all the earth groans as if in the pains of childbirth as it awaits God’s redemption. All of God’s creation longs for the day when Jesus returns to mete out divine justice and take his children back with him to live an eternity in Paradise.
Now here are my questions for you:
Are you ready?
Do you know where you will spend eternity?
Do you want to be certain? (Just a hint – it has absolutely nothing to do with any of your “good” works or any moral character that you’ve tried to develop during your life.)
Ultimately, in what or in whom is your refuge? That’s an apt question for all of us, regardless of where we are in our faith journey.
The only sure way to look at the world around us without a heavy dose of fear and trembling, is to know that you’ve put your faith in Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross. Then you are a Child of God, and no evil will ultimately befall you.
What must we do? “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
That’s how you can look beyond the disasters that surround you and into a future you can trust to a God who is completely sovereign and completely good. In the end, he wins.
The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
Proverbs 27:12
Excellent