John 14:1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”
As the media ratchets up the fear factor with the fear topic du jour (swine flu) it is helpful to remember what our master told us. Do not let your hearts be troubled...Notice that he tells us to not let our hearts be troubled. This is something we make a decision to do, its an action of our will. We tell ourselves "in accordance with our Lord's word I will not allow my heart to be troubled." Next we move on to why our hearts should not be troubled....
Trust in God trust also in me. You know what trust means? Its another way of saying "have faith in" or "believe in."
I want you to let your minds drift back over the past 8 years with me. Since 9/11/2001 think of all the thousands of fear laden messages this world has bombarded us with, and what has happened? How many of the fears sold to us actually came to fruition? How about none of them....As I was running this evening the Lord pointed out to me what we should expect and where we see this in his word. Matt 24 and Luke 17 tell us clearly that we should see pre-flood days right up to and through the day we go into the ark. We should expect days like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah right up to the day we leave the place.
The picture the Lord paints for us of the day he comes back for us is more or less a normal day. There are no fearful sights in the heavens, there are no piles of dead bodies for us to step over to get into the ark, there's just the sound of normal things.
The word portrait our Lord gives us paints a picture of a day like today:
Matt 24:36“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,f but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
The "days before the flood" point us to days like today.
Luke 17:26“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
The lesson here for us is this: up to the day that Noah entered the ark, things were normal. Up till the day Lot left Sodom, things were normal. It will be just like this when the Lord comes back for us. The day we leave this place will be JUST LIKE the day Noah went into the ark, and the day Lot left Sodom. Until then...do not let your hearts be troubled.
Our God is a God who meets temporal needs. If you have need of something ask him for it then believe you have received it in accordance with Mark 11:24. Remember this as well: Phil4:4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
My testimony is this: the Lord has watched over me and taken care of me from the womb up through this very moment AND there is nothing special about me apart from him who lives in me. Those of us who boast can boast in one thing: the Lord God Almighty. Be encouraged, trust him, do not let your hearts be troubled.
We are dearly loved. Grace and peace.
Be Anxious For Nothing
5 years ago
