SUDDEN BUT NOT UNEXPECTED

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It was a week of extremes for me. The dear wife of a good friend went to be with the Lord. She had battled cancer courageously for two years; her going was sudden though not unexpected. Then financial market went berserk this week. A western nation went bankrupt (Iceland’s Krona is no longer exchangeable on the currency market) and all the major stock-market indices from the DOW to the Nikkei and FTSE went into freefall wiping trillions of dollars off from pension funds and life savings. It was sudden but not unexpected. The political stakes in our nation went on blink last week. Shortly we will have a new PM by March next year with all its attendant implications; it was sudden but not unexpected.
Almost everybody dislikes the word “suddenly”. We don’t like to be shocked. We want space and time to adjust and prepare. But in the last days, “suddenly” will be very much the watch word. How prepared we are determines how comfortable we will be with “suddenly”. Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24-25 tells us to get ready in four areas: priority (look after God’s house), purity (look after your own inner house), proclamation (look after the gospel) and the poor (look after those who are helpless). Do this and you will always be “ready”.
In “priority” Jesus told the story of the servant who would look after his Master’s house when He was away. In purity, it was the case of replenishing the anointing oil (and our life) in the account of the five wise & foolish virgins. In proclamation, the parable of the talents is essentially about trading our lives for others through the gospel. Finally our response to the poor separates the sheep from the goats.
This is a good time to think about “suddenly”. I didn’t think I’d ever live to see times like these: banks failing, institutions crumbling, markets crashing, currencies in tail-spins. But if we live prophetically, such times- though sudden- wouldn’t be totally unexpected. This past week has been great preparation for my soul on essentials. I found the “suddenly” not uncomfortable and the “unexpected” no longer troubling. The Holy Spirit is a very good teacher! Jeohvah Shammah.
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath
It was a week of extremes for me. The dear wife of a good friend went to be with the Lord. She had battled cancer courageously for two years; her going was sudden though not unexpected. Then financial market went berserk this week. A western nation went bankrupt (Iceland’s Krona is no longer exchangeable on the currency market) and all the major stock-market indices from the DOW to the Nikkei and FTSE went into freefall wiping trillions of dollars off from pension funds and life savings. It was sudden but not unexpected. The political stakes in our nation went on blink last week. Shortly we will have a new PM by March next year with all its attendant implications; it was sudden but not unexpected.
Almost everybody dislikes the word “suddenly”. We don’t like to be shocked. We want space and time to adjust and prepare. But in the last days, “suddenly” will be very much the watch word. How prepared we are determines how comfortable we will be with “suddenly”. Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24-25 tells us to get ready in four areas: priority (look after God’s house), purity (look after your own inner house), proclamation (look after the gospel) and the poor (look after those who are helpless). Do this and you will always be “ready”.
In “priority” Jesus told the story of the servant who would look after his Master’s house when He was away. In purity, it was the case of replenishing the anointing oil (and our life) in the account of the five wise & foolish virgins. In proclamation, the parable of the talents is essentially about trading our lives for others through the gospel. Finally our response to the poor separates the sheep from the goats.
This is a good time to think about “suddenly”. I didn’t think I’d ever live to see times like these: banks failing, institutions crumbling, markets crashing, currencies in tail-spins. But if we live prophetically, such times- though sudden- wouldn’t be totally unexpected. This past week has been great preparation for my soul on essentials. I found the “suddenly” not uncomfortable and the “unexpected” no longer troubling. The Holy Spirit is a very good teacher! Jeohvah Shammah.
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath
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