A good time to turn to God

Revelation 9: There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart.

The final three trumpets are called by some “woe-trumpets” because each one ushers in a period of suffering on earth. John is seeing future events, the end of time. He sees spiritual beings through his limited point of view so his descriptions are of strange, terrifying beings. The “locusts” are beings freed from the Abyss. They sweep across the earth like a huge plague of locusts, inflicting pain on a third of humanity. Angels that have been chained are set free to lead a destroying army that kills another third of humanity. Rather than fearfully turning to God those who survive continue as before: focused on material possessions, promiscuous lifestyles, and worshiping evil rather than God. Even as time draws to a violent end and the judgment of God is obvious they persist in their self-indulgent, God-ignoring ways. It hardly seems possible that it could be this way. Still, I’ve seen just a hint of it. I’ve seen people who’ve rejected the goodness of God and then, in the face of the hardship of life responded by hardening their hearts. In their case, their personal “woe-trumpet” didn’t result in their facing the spiritual facts of life. Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. First of all, God’s love; his mercy and grace: these things should cause us to turn to him in sweet surrender. Second, when hardship does come, it doesn’t have to drive us away from God. Instead, it can cause us to run to him even as a hurt child runs to his or her Father for protection and comfort. It’s not smart to wait for such a time before turning to God, but if one hasn’t done it yet, days of trials and hardship, pain and suffering, are good days to turn to the one who offers us hope even as our world crumbles around us.

Take Away: When life is especially hard it is, as is always true, a good time to turn to the Lord.