I remember the scare that went across America when we began to draw near to the new millennium. Y2K was in full media effect. People were buying toilet paper and non-perishables by the truck load… literally.
The world was freaking out.
How on earth could our beginning-to-be-technologically-driven world ever survive when the computers have to go to a 00 ending? What ever shall we do? The banks will crash, the stock market will plummet, hospitals will lose power, and everyone will die!
I remember being my ignorant little southern early twenties self and thinking… really? Our world has survived for over 6000 years without all this tech stuff and we really think that a date roll is going to destroy it as we know it?
That, my friends, is how easily the media can create chaos and bring foolishness out in massive proportions. It’s propaganda my friends… and it has been proven over and over to work easily and quickly and almost flawlessly.
It plays on fear. And it plays on the fear of fear.
Whenever we make a decision based on fear you can almost guarantee it’s always the wrong decision. If we say the words, “I’m afraid that if I don’t then….” before a decision we are trying to make, then we need to stop and re-evaluate. Our decisions should be made based on the peace of God, not fear created by the words of man. If we are making a decision based on the words of people rather than the Word of God… then it is the wrong decision.
When the world shouts Y2K and is running around stocking up on toilet paper… the people of God should be found being still and knowing that He is God.
He is the One that controls the end of the world… not a date roll… and certainly not a news anchor.
In the book of Nehemiah we read…
Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding,
Nehemiah 10:28 (NASB)
Obviously the underlined emphasis is mine. Right here in this passage we see the only way that we can separate ourselves from the media induced crazy mass chaos of confusion and fear of the “peoples of the land” is to separate ourselves to the law of God. If we separate from it to anything else we are still in it… just from a different angle. We still will lack knowledge and understanding and find ourselves being led by the words of men and fear rather than the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
As I ponder the world today… as I notice the unrest in Russia and the continued struggles of the nation of Israel… as I see the decay of the moral fibers of our nation… I know without a doubt that God is at work.
I have no reason to feel fear at this time… simply anticipation.
My eyes anticipate the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.
Psalm 119:148
It is just as the Word tells us…
Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
Romans 13:11-14
When my eyes anticipate the night watches what I see is the day drawing ever more closer. As a believer this should not cause me to retreat in fear, it should in fact cause me to persevere in even greater boldness with even more fervency, and should lead me personally to lay aside the things of this world that don’t mean jack and focus on being a faithful servant and child of my God.
The day is near.
Let us not stir pots, but let us instead stir each other unto good deeds…
Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
Titus 3:1-11
As the night fights to stay and rule in this world, let those of us who are of the day not participate in these deeds of darkness, but let us seek ever more diligently what is pleasing to the Lord. If the current chaos of our world drives us to more CNN than HIM, then we have been pulled into the foolishness of the unfruitful deeds of those who seek to stir controversy and confusion.
Let no man’s opinions, or guesstimations, or assumptions lead us to any emotional conclusions. As Paul commended to the church of Ephesus…
…do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:17
If we want true knowledge and understanding then let us be quick to separate ourselves unto the Word of God. The nations are in an uproar and the kings of the earth are devising vain things (Psalm 2), there is no doubt about that… but let us never forget that He who is in the heaven ruling over all this world sits and laughs at their attempts.
Let us be wise.
Let us walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
Let us put on the full armor of light.
Let us speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Let us always give thanks that no matter how utterly foolish the choices and stands of even our own government leaders are, we know that no will of man is able to trump the will and purpose of God.