“In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.”
Yep.
I’m not sure where I first heard that statement, but I’ve always thought that its truth packs a punch. I did a little “search engine” research and found it attributed to Paul Harvey or Will Harvey. Some versions say “remember” instead of “recall.” I don’t know Will Harvey, but I certainly remember Paul, and he said a great many things well worth recalling.
I know. Lots of things look bad. Lots of things are bad. In more than a few arenas, we are forced to wonder how long things can go on like this.
But hasn’t that always been the case (though we surely do well to remember that blessings not gratefully cherished can be squandered)?
The cave guys sitting around the campfire in the evening, passing around a wineskin and discussing the day’s hunt, also talked about how things had gone south since the “old” days and how this new pre-pre-pre-millennial bunch are lazy, self-centered, dumb as granite boulders, couldn’t find their own foot if they were hunting for it, and couldn’t hit it with their own spit, much less a bow and arrow, even if they did find it.
Haven’t there always been questionable “prophets” who, either self-deluded or biblically illiterate, actively spread delusions or naively pass them along? Not understanding “apocalyptic,” highly symbolic, literature such as Revelation, they pull out their newspapers or, more likely today, ransack the internet for news, and think they’ve somehow lined up all the clues, and write books, sell books, read questionable books (without understanding the questions), and think the “answers” are all there: Here’s when Christ is coming back!
Never mind that Jesus himself said in Matthew 24 that no one knows the hour or day—not even the angels, or the Son (!), but “only the Father.” And I’ll betcha dollars to donuts he was talking specifically in that context about the coming fall of Jerusalem to the Romans and not the “end of time,” though some important “be ready for the end” principles are surely there.
Is Christ coming back? Oh, yes, I absolutely believe that he is! Does anybody know when? Nope, I absolutely believe Christ when he says that they do not. (I surely wish I could figure out an ethical way to sell a few million books discussing heart-palpitating theories, though. I’d love for my present bank balance to be “left behind” with many more zeroes.)
But what about all the natural disasters, plagues and pandemics, wars and fighting, demagogues and despots, disgusting and stupid (and vile and/or terminally dim-witted) pompous politicians? What about morals spiraling downward, addictions and pernicious predilections proliferating, poor-pitiful-woe-is-me-and-it’s-all-your-fault “victims” pathetically and ceaselessly posturing?
More specifically, what about truly current events? Hey, Israel fired a bunch of missiles recently. Does that mean we’re closer to the Second Coming? I very much doubt it. (How much the nation of Israel has to do with spiritual Israel is another question and one Bible scholars and theologians with hard-earned clout reasonably disagree about.) I’m pretty sure it means that organizations with terrorist ties, folks who would lose power if peace broke out, should think twice about starting a fight with Israel.
Oh, you can count on about as many books as missiles coming out in the coming weeks claiming to explain all of this biblically. They’ll likely sell well. And they’ll be equal parts of moonshine and hogwash.
Count on it. Times like these can be hard. Really hard. But all generations have had their own cave writing, smoke signals, newspapers, or internet convincing them that their times were the absolute worst ever. And they could each make a pretty tempting case.
It’s that last fact that bolsters my own case: “In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.”
So pray before your head hits the pillow and then sleep well. Our Father’s got this. Always has. Always will.
Oh, yes, in times like these.
Copyright 2021 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.