A few thousand years ago, the philosopher sighed: History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Well, I would be a fool to contradict him. In general, humanity does not learn from the past. On the contrary, I would say. Humanity forgets the past rather quickly and conveniently and acts as if every happening is a new issue.
I was reading Psalms 9, 10, 11, and 12 the other day. David cries out to God about the increase of wickedness and chaos in his time. In Psalm 11:3 he asks the following question,
👉The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?
Such a great question! Such a timely question for us today. What can we do as believers? How should we respond? What is it, Lord, you want us to do in such a time as this?
I believe prayer is the answer. Specific prayer that is! Personally, I don't think that praying for 'things to turn back to normal' will be effective. There are larger things at stake than our comfort. Remember: We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
Once we truly realize that we are not in a natural battle between people, but a spiritual battle between powers and principalities, we can target our prayers and aim for God and His angels to move on our behalf. We should pray that:
- the evil plot will be exposed, and thus lose its power
- the truth will be revealed
- deception will be replaced with discernment, and
- love will be our language
I truly believe that targeted prayers are the antidote to frustration about the current world crisis.
Prayer is definitely the answer, Marja, and you've hit the nail on the head in saying that these prayers need to be in the form of moving forward in God's plans for us. The evil will be exposed, and the truth will be revealed; deception will lose its grip, and love will prevail. The Lord wants us to face and fight the battles before us, and not look back to what was. His love will see us through.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, my friend!
Amen Martha Jane, thanks for commenting. If we keep looking back, we might miss what is ahead!
DeleteMarja: Thank you for this timely message. We have to understand what happened in history in order to not let those things happen again. We can only do that through looking at events through God's eyes. We receive God's eyes when we learn of Him and His heart for His children. Peace and blessings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for adding your thoughts to this post Cecelia, I am convinced that looking at events through God's eyes will offer a totally different perspective!
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