It’s another sad day and week in the news again. We are living out these verses from 2 Tim 3:2-5, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” How do we live in these difficult last days?
We weep with those who weep. Sadness is real. Pain is real. Weeping is real. We live in a sin-cursed world, and man is sinful. No one does good, no one is righteous. We do wrong, and people do wrong by us. So, “My tears are my food day and night, and people say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God? (Psalm 42:3)’” “Blessed are those who mourn (for sin, for suffering, for injustice), for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:4).” It’s OK, good, and right to weep.
We pray. Always pray. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” “Oh Lord, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” “Comfort, comfort my people…” The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength (Is 40:28-29). We must not neglect the power of prayer in these hard times.
We hope in God. Judgment belongs to God, because “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord (Rom 12:19).” God will exact payment for every wrong done. Jesus took the punishment on the cross and will come again to judge. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left (Matt 25:31-33).” He will ride on his white horse and from his mouth will come a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. He is King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 19:15-16).
Sadness and dismay are real, and we do weep. We pray and hope in God. Jerry Bridges wrote, “Trusting God does not mean we do not experience pain. It means we believe that God is at work through the occasion of our pain for our ultimate good. It means we work back through the Scriptures regarding His sovereignty, wisdom, and goodness, and ask Him to use those Scriptures to bring peace and comfort to our hearts. It means that we do not sin against God by allowing distrustful and hard thoughts about Him to hold sway in our minds. It often means that we may have to say, ‘God, I don’t understand, but I trust you.’”