When the bottom falls out 
More and more I seem to be sharing with people for whom the unthinkable has happened. What can one say, and how can one minister to people for whom the bottom of the world has just dropped out? Usually this has come in the form of something that had previously been taken for granted, or considered unshakable,  (like a marriage bond or a theoretically rock solid vision, health or job) dissolving. Simply to trot out the familiar concept of everything being ‘shaken’ seems inadequate in the face of such suffering, whatever its primary cause. But from time to time, and without in any sense becoming 'end-time junkies,’ it is important that we lift our eyes away from our immediate circumstances and measure trends and events against a wider framework. A lot of things only begin to make sense when we grasp that our life has an ultimate destination to head towards.    

There is a delightful moment in the ‘Prince and the Pauper’ film when Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, takes a thread from a carpet and declares that we need to see things from heaven’s perspective. A single thread does not look much in itself, but it has a vital part to play in the whole – all of which can be a great deal easier said than done when you are in the midst of a spiritual whiteout (with too many pressures thrusting at you at the same time) or a spiritual blackout (when the scale of what you are suffering has made it all but impossible for you sense His presence or leading). 

I heard David Pawson on Christian television this morning claiming that earthquakes are becoming much more frequent in the world these days. He predicted that disasters of tsunami proportion are going to become increasingly common. He explains this in many ways, not least in that God is lifting His restraining hand from over the world and therefore allowing us to experience consequences the have to some extent been shielded from in the past. His judgements can therefore be said to be building across the planet in the sense that we are reaping the consequences of what we have sown, whether in terms of sexually transmitted diseases or green house effect gases. 

To understand where all this is leading to, we need to bear in mind that the Lord Jesus Himself, the Saviour of mankind and the Lamb of God, is the same One who is graphically depicted in the book of Revelation (Rev. 5:2, 9-10, 6:1ff) as breaking the seal to the scroll that only He is able to read. These seals represent a time of intense testing of Christians, as well as a time of unparalled suffering in the world, as well as unleashing the flood of end time woes that culminate in the world as we know it being consumed by fire.  

How will this come about? David Pawson points to the colossal energy that is latent in the matter God has packed into the world. When God releases this energy, it will be countless times more explosive than the colossal power that is achieved through splitting just one tiny atom. That is why Scripture speaks of the present earth and heavens as being reserved for fire  (2 Pet. 3:7, cf 2 Pet. 3:12: ‘That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat’). By any normal process of logic, that would be the end of the story, but in this case we know that it is not: God is equally clear that He is preparing the way for a new heaven and earth. And that is something he would have us look forward to eagerly, for it will be the home of righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13), from which the things that have so marred this world will be specifically barred (Rev. 21:1-5ff).  That is when the small services we render, and where the hidden sacrifices we offer will all find their full expression. May the Lord be with every one of you now who is going through prolonged times of difficulty or uncertainty, and grant you the nearness of His presence and the certainty of an eternal perspective.