Focus and Light

   Friends of ours invited us to go with them last night to a service at a church over in Brunswick. They had gone to this church for the Sunday morning service to hear a guest speaker talk about "end times and Bible prophecy" and wanted to hear what he had to say further on the subject in the evening service.

   The speaker's message centered on the nations of the middle east, what the Bible had to say about them in the prophecies of Ezekiel 37-39, and the role of the United States as it concerned its support of the State of Israel.

   Without going into a lot of detail, I'll just say that this man's premise was that the events in Syria, Egypt, Israel and the entire middle east were portrayed in those Ezekiel passages, and that America was increasingly becoming a non-player in this part of the world through its neglect of its ally, Israel, and its own moral decay.

   My first reaction to all of this is to say "God is in control and I won't worry too much about all of that". That is true about God, but I wonder if it should be on my part. Is there something I should do? What is it?

   I believe that all events are leading to fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. If God is in control and this is all His story, then that has to be true. The times, the seasons, the events and the circumstances are all in His hands, and they will come together for His purposes.

   I do see our country on a slippery slope of irrelevance on the world stage. I believe that God has blessed our nation because we have stood by His people in these days. I believe that we are declining in morality, and that God will hold us to account on how we have treated Him and His Word on all of this.

   But it all seems so huge in proportion to what I might do about it all. He says not to spend a lot of time in worry about what will happen, just to trust in Him and rely on Him, and He will not forsake.

   But to just go blithely around, without worry, living as if these things and events did not exist, does not seem the thing to do either. As much as I would rather not think about it, I do live in this world, and events of the present and the future do affect my children and grandchildren, and I am concerned about them.

   So, what to do? Is there a reason I am still here in these times?

   A verse from the middle of Psalm 3 this morning:

"I lay down and slept;
    I woke again, for the Lord sustained me."

   After I heard all of the message last evening, I slept, and I woke up this morning, Why? Because God willed that I wake up. And for what reason?

   I used this picture the other day, but I think I can again:

   The vase of flowers in the foreground is not focused and not in the light, whereas the one across the room in the other window is. Which one is me?

   God, give me the focus and the light so that I might be both for You in my time.