Look around the world today and you will see upheaval. There is a worldwide pandemic followed by worldwide lock downs to slow the pandemic. Add to this the perceived fear of government overreach in lock downs and other mandated actions. Of course all of this has devastating effects on jobs and the economies of almost every nation on earth at this time. People who were already facing poverty and hunger are now in an even tighter corner.
Then there is the unrest. Riots and protests have sprung up throughout the world as well. Almost every major city in the U.S. has experienced protests, vandalism, police brutality, and police inaction, creating more confusion and more fear.
We are seeing disasters of epic proportions, both natural and man made. This creates more hardship, and more unrest. The explosion in Beirut Lebanon has further exasperated an already dire situation for the Lebanese people. Other nations are suffering the effects of brutal civil wars, genocide, and the resulting displacement of millions of refugees. And droughts and famines, earthquakes, and on and on. For me, it is numbing at times to see everything happening all at once.
But there is hope....
At night my soul longs for you, indeed my spirit within me seeks you diligently; for when the earth experiences your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9 NASB).
It is through the hard times that God can get our attentions. I heard of a survey taken during the beginning of the Covid pandemic where the question was proposed as to what the pandemic could mean. 40% of the people questioned believed that God was giving us a wake up call. It was time to get right with Him. This was a general sampling of people of all walks of life. Now are all these things judgments from God? I cannot answer that. I do not know, but I do know that God in His mercy will take the hardships we face, and use them to get our attention. That's what happened to me. It took a personal crisis in my life to get me to surrender my life to Jesus Christ. I was an "inoculated christian", one who had enough religion to think I was all right, but not enough to save me.
I hear that refugees around the world are wide open to the gospel at this time. They have seen that their religion is empty, and there must be another way. I have seen reports of multitudes in several countries falling on their knees in repentance and coming to faith in the Lord Jesus during these hard times. My heart is often overwhelmed with the craziness of these times, and yet I rejoice to see God at work in the hearts and lives of the people He loves and gave His Son to save. We have before us wonderful opportunities to reach otherwise unreachable people, and that gives me hope.
