Yet Even Now

‎Sunday, ‎December ‎13, ‎2020

Good Morning, Lord

V.O.D.:  Isaiah 7:14 New King James Version

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

M.O.M.:  Ephesians 4:31

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.(English Standard Version)

Today's reading: JOEL 1-3 REVELATION 5

Yet Even Now

The condition of the world and our country has some of us in a dark place. It has been in dark places before. The old Gary Cooper movie, "Meet John Doe" tells a story of a man who played a part, for hire, of a concerned citizen who wrote a letter to a newspaper and announced that he would jump off the top of City Hall at midnight on Christmas eve to protest the 'shape the world was in'. The funny thing was the release date-1941. It was written and filmed before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. If they thought the world was in bad shape before, what did they think after the attack?

Millions came to faith in Christ in the decade that followed the war and there was a renewed hope in this country and in the world. Our country has been involved in nearly thirty years of war since 1945. Over thirty-five of the past one hundred years have seen our armed forces in battle somewhere in the world. This should prove to us that our hope is not in the wisdom and power of mankind.

The part of mankind which ignores the wisdom of God and the salvation He offers in Christ Jesus will never have anything but a hope that is temporary.

Hosea 8:4 They made kings, but not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

But---there is still hope for those in this world who reach for the truth of God in Christ. We hear God say it to Israel in Joel, chapter 2:

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”(Joel 2)

God does not want an outward display. He wants us all to fast and pray. He wants us to see the absolute depravity of our nation. God wants us to see the heart-breaking truth of all our sin. And then, God wants this:

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;

consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

16 gather the people.(Joel 2)

If this happens, then the Lord says this:

28 “And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

We must believe that the Lord is the same always:

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

That being said and true, we must rend our hearts before we reap the whirlwind.(Hosea 8:7)

God says to all of us, "Yet even now, return to Me with your whole heart...and rend it".

The truth is hard to face. Our sin is ever before us.

But God always wants our hearts and not our herds.

He wants our love and not just our words.

His relentless love will never cease.

His word never dies, it always lives:

If we confess, He will forgive,(1 John 1:9).

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Break my heart over my sin. Forgive me for just surviving and not moving when you say.

Merciful, merciful Jesus, empowering Spirit,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen

...because He loves us...