Keep up or Tune Out?

It's getting where I'm afraid to turn on the news. Children under mountains of rubble, buried by  a monster tornado. The IRS targeting, even auditing conservatives multiple times, and the government shouting, "We're clueless."  Journalists bugged, followed, and criminalized for interaction with sources. It's enough to make me want to pull the covers over my head and check out. Friends tell me, "I just can't watch it anymore." But we must not tune out.

It's getting where I'm afraid to turn on the news. Children under mountains of rubble, buried by  a monster tornado. The IRS targeting, even auditing conservatives multiple times, and the government shouting, "We're clueless."  Journalists bugged, followed, and criminalized for interaction with sources. It's enough to make me want to pull the covers over my head and check out. Friends tell me, "I just can't watch it anymore." But we must not tune out.

     Why? Because the Bible predicts crisis and chaos as a sign that He's closer to returning, and these "birth pangs" are wake up calls to non-believers and opportunities for believers. Jesus told us to be on the alert: When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away…Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven…Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life…(Luke 21:9,10,34).
     Yes, it's hard to hear and our hearts ache, but Jesus needs courageous women who stay connected to what He's doing, women who live bravely, and women who speak calm, wise words to desperate and disoriented people.
      You are not just imagining that the birth pangs are growing closer together. FEMA reported that between 1953 and 1989,  23 major disasters were declared per year. In 1990 that average nearly doubled to 42. From 2000 to 2009, the figure leaped to 56. Earthquakes alone killed more than 780,000 people and affected more than 2 billion others. There were 22 quakes in 2010 with a magnitude of 7.0 or greater, the largest ever recorded.
       In 2010, there were nearly 2 1/2 times the number of disasters than the previous annual averages. In the past, the US has experienced an average of 23 major disasters each year. In 2010, there were 81, a major disaster every 4 1/2 days. In 2011 an earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand that was so powerful that scientists say it was a once in a thousand year occurrence. Maybe not. In Japan, a tsunami swept away tens of thousands and caused a nuclear disaster. In April of 2011, 600 tornadoes shredded the US–in one month. Much of our country is experiencing the worst draught since 1895 while others deal with extensive flooding. And the numbers are still rising.
      George Washington Carver wrote, "I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in." What is God broadcasting through His natural megaphone? The typical answer is "His judgment on evil." And certainly, God makes us aware of His holiness, power, and wrath through natural disasters. But If it were just judgment on evil, God would only allow tornadoes to crush bad people.  No, I believe God is communicating something more. We are tasting precursors to the return of Christ! Will this come right away or in the future? I don't know. But I do know that God asks us to stay awake, be brave, trust Him, and refuse to check out because of the crises and chaos.
      We are His Body on the earth, His spokeswomen, His hands and feet. He admonishes us to be warrior women, fighting the good fight with prayer and faith. Jesus tells us that we must not allow our hearts to be weighed down with dissipation. Dissipate means to spread so thin that we vanish. It's a heaviness that causes our courage to vanish and we join the ranks of those who numb their minds with idle distractions so they don't have to face up to reality when it's distasteful. It's tuning out when God calls us to tune in. And remember if you are a mother or grandmother, you are modeling important lessons to the next generation who may, should Jesus delay, be dealing with more chaos than we are. So keep up, dear friends, even when it's hard, not to excess, but to take your place in the ranks of those heralding God's wonderful plan for ultimate good.