Faithful Living In Dangerous Times

Friday I went for a run early, leaving the house just as the sun was coming up. It was a beautiful morning and as I ran past a sign that tells us what the current fire danger I noticed that it was “High.”  High is probably the most common warning we see, sitting right in the middle of the warnings, above Low and Medium and below Very High and Extreme.  A few hours later, still before noon, I went past the sign again and noticed the warning had been raised to Very High.

It has been a fairly dry year. Rain has been infrequent and the last storm I recall, about two weeks ago, was torrential. It rained really hard, with lots of debris washed down the street. Not the kind of rain that soaks into the ground and makes much of a difference. A rating of Very High means we won’t be able to get a permit to have a fire in our firepit, even if we have a garden hose ready, right next to the fire. Two years ago we were on Very High nearly the entire summer and couldn’t even grill outside.

The change in the fire danger rating reminded me of the world that we live in, particularly as seen from a Christian worldview. To my eye nothing outside my window looks any different, but the fire danger has changed nonetheless. In a similar way opposition to the good news of the Lord Jesus is increasing in the world. It may not be evident where you are living, but it is happening nonetheless. For Christians, the times always carry a measure of danger.

This opposition is not new, nor should it be unexpected. Jesus faced it himself, in a manner that was ultimately more violent that anything we will likely ever deal with. He also warned of it, of the conflict his followers would face as they went the way that he was calling them to, rather than the ways of the world.

Last night during our family devotions I read from Psalm 2, which says this in verses 1 through 6:

Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

Resistance to God is, sadly, nearly as old as creation itself. But it is also an exercise that is ultimately futile by all those who practice it. God’s King, the Lord Jesus, sits on his throne, and he will never be moved. He will never fail. He will never let go of all those whom are his children. All of those statements come directly from God’s Word in the Bible, and they will never fail.

You may be living in a place where the danger, because of your faith, is increasing. Fear not, for the Lord is holding you securely.

You may be living in a time or place where all seems to be peaceful. If that is the case then my encouragement to you is that you continue to stay close to the Lord Jesus and what we are taught in the Bible. For living by faith in a fallen world will inevitably bring conflict with the ways that the world celebrates.

Seen or unseen, the danger is present, but so are the promises of God to hold his children as his own, forever. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.