When the World Systems are tested

WHEN THE WORLD SYSTEMS ARE TESTED

ISAIAH 56:1 – 12

->Watchmen are blind/dogs who can’t bark: ARE WE AS CHURCH LEADERS (Spiritual Watchmen) AWARE OF THE TIMES WE ARE LIVING IN? IS THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST PLAYING ITS ROLE IN THE WORLD AS LIGHT OF CHRIST AND THE SALT IN THE WORLD? ARE WE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OUR SPHERES OF INFLUENCE AS BELIEVERS? Experts and historians are saying that the world has never gone through tough times as these since the World War 2. The COVID -19 pandemic has pushed the world’s governments, economies, health systems and even religion to their limits. The entire globe seems to be staggering and struggling to keep up.

– Has the Lord allowed Covid -19 pandemic to test the system of the world? If so why?

Why does a good God allow bad things to happen to his beloved creation? We can find some answers in the book of Job.  God allowed the devil to test Job, a faithful man, walking uprightly and blameless before God. He lost his businesses; his family and his health like many people have during this Covid – 19 pandemic. Initially Job didn’t understand why God allowed him to go through all the pain and the suffering, but when he got the full perspective of God’s plan about his situation, Job was glad. The end of the story of the turned out great. I honestly believe that despite the challenges the world is facing, it shall be well with the believers. As the apostle Paul told the church at Rome that, “and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”. Rom 8:28”

The big question is ; what does God expect of us during this trying times? Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, prophet Isaiah of old, spoke the mind of God to the Nation of Israel while in captivity. Isaiah 56 captures what God expects of the believer during difficult times.

Here are some thoughts from the scriptures

1)    Time  to introspect your life

God allows times of testing for us to introspect. This is a time to ‘look inside’ and evaluate every area of your life. A believer needs to ask themselves if they are ‘walking right with the Lord, Are my habits and behaviour in line with the purposes of God? We all need to check and see ‘how our walk of faith is playing out?’ are there areas in my life where I am “out of order?”Is my sense of justice in line with scripture? Do I allow all my major decisions to be influenced by the Holy Spirit,is my sense of right the same as that of the Christian values?

2) Get an eternal perspective

The wrong view of things can make us make wrong decisions and have wrong priorities, goals and objectives. Hence the right perspective of life is crucial. When things are normal we tend to have a temporal perspective of our circumstances. However when we are facing challenges beyond our capabilities like the current covid – 19 pandemic we become ‘open’ to look beyond ‘ourselves ‘ and our current circumstances. Throughout the bible we learn that life only makes sense when we look at it wholistically. The book of Job in the first chapter clearly reveals two perspectives influencing the life of Job and his family. The first perspective reveals the natural or temporal realm where we see Job, his family and their struggles with their circumstances. The next perspective reveals the spiritual and eternal realm where we can here the conversations of God, the angels and even the devil. The conversations show how the spiritual realm influences the natural realm. Although Job experienced hardships in the natural realm, the genesis of the problem was conversations in the spiritual realm. Could it be that the current disaster the world is facing also originated in conversations in the spiritual realm? Isaiah 56 says ‘my salvation is near’, ‘his righteousness will soon be revealed’, the lord’s deliverance and vindication for his people is ‘near’. We are sojourners here on earth with a limited time of 80 or 90yrs if we are lucky. Beyond life here is eternity. You and I need a clear view of eternity.

3) Keep the Sabbath

When God gave his laws to the children of Israel, one of the cardinal laws was keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a time for rest and putting all work aside. (Exodus 16:23, 25; Exodus 20:10). This was a time of sanctification and focus on God and his holiness. (Exodus 20:8). God himself rested and sanctified the Sabbath after creation as an example to us. The consequences of failing to keep the Sabbath were serious, resulting in the death and separation of the defaulter. The New Testament did not diminish the importance of the Sabbath; rather it revealed the true meaning of the Sabbath in the person of Christ Jesus. Throughout the gospels it seems that Jesus Christ is in conflict with the Pharisees about how to observe the Sabbath day. They felt he was rebelling and not properly observing the Sabbath as prescribed by the Law of Moses. Christ makes a profound statement when he declares that the Sabbath was made for man and man for the Sabbath. He goes ahead and declares that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. This revolutionary statement ushers believers into a new dispensation of the Sabbath. In essence the teachings of Jesus Christ point to Him as the believers Sabbath. “Come unto me all ye that Labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28. Christ offer us rest from our labours and efforts. Through his death at Calvary he has provided for us the free gift of salvation. Many believers are too busy to even spare time with God. They are not keeping the Sabbath. I wonder, is it possible that the lockdowns and the curfews we are currently experiencing throughout the globe is God’s way of reminding us of the importance of keeping Sabbath?  In the old testament God allowed the children of Israel to go into captivity so the land would enjoy the Sabbath. I believe this is a great opportunity for you and I forge a strong relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ who is our true Sabbath.

4) Attitude of foreigner       

Like today, in bible times the foreigner’s rights and privileges were limited. They didn’t have the rights of the citizens. When David was a refugee in the land of the philistines, because king Saul was pursing him, he was wisely denied the right to fight alongside the kings of the philistine against the nation of Israel ( 1st SAM 29). The philistine Kings new that although he was living amongst the philistine as one of them, his heart and loyalty was with Israel. Believers today need the same kind of attitude David had, a ‘foreigners attitude’, here on earth. As much as we live and are part of the systems of the world, we must never lose our true identity as citizens of a heavenly kingdom, led and ruled by Jesus Christ. We are all ambassadors of the kingdom of Christ propagating the Gospel of the living GOD.

5) Attitude of a eunuch

Eunuchs in ancient kingdoms served in the courts of Kings and Queens, entrusted with very precious and valuable assets or people in the royal palaces. They were highly trusted and some of them grew to places of prominence in the ancient kingdoms. (Acts 8:26 -39) However becoming a Eunuchs came at a very high price. They had to forgo their rights for procreation and become slaves to the monarchy. The eunuch lived solely for the king and the kingdom. In this era of democracy, civil rights and liberty it is politically wrong to speak about surrendering your rights to anyone. But my brothers and sisters we are not giving up our rights and privileges to just anyone, we are surrendering them to the creator of the universe who is also our loving and caring father. A  Good number of our earthly fathers had good intentions for us as children and brought us up well despite of the diverse cultural and religious backgrounds (equally a good number of them had no idea of fatherhood or were outright abusive).All the same as children our fathers (parents) were custodians of our rights and privileges. They determined what was good for us until we could decide for ourselves. Life assumed that they were wiser than us, therefore they made decisions for us. The word of God teaches us that the creator is wiser than the cleverest of us. (Isaiah 55:8, 9). Like the Eunuchs of old, we need to become spiritual eunuchs and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to understand that without Jesus we cannot reproduce anything spiritually that can last for eternity. (John 15:2). May we have an attitude of a spiritual Eunuch, totally dependent on and living for Christ Jesus.

6) Worship and honour his name

When the systems of the world fail, when all hell break loose when the very foundations we stand on become unstable, what are the children of God supposed to do. Paul and Silas were living their dream; preaching the gospel ,casting out devils, wining souls and planting churches; when they run into trouble.(ACTS 16:16 -26). Instead of complaining and finding who is to blame for their calamity, like most believers have done by  joining , the ‘faithless”, in doing during the Covid – 19 pandemic, Paul and Silas saw a great opportunity to worship and honor the Lord. The bible describes it as such “that the jailer thrust them into the inner prison”, definitely not an enviable place to be. With the current economic upheavals , crisis in the health sector and lack of clear global leadership during this trying time, the entire planet seems like an  inner prison cell.(a good illustration considering the lockdown and curfews issued by many governments because of the Covid 19 pandemic) The Christian brother and sister can learn from the apostle Paul and Silas to worship and honor the Lord in the “dark hour”. When we do this God will come through for us and provide a miracle, like he did for Silas and Paul. Despite the current challenges and hardships, when we make a deliberate choice to worship and honor God, He makes for us a way where there is no way.

7) Become a house of house of prayer, a house of sacrifice

The only time Jesus become really tough and almost physical was he threw out the traders, businessmen out of the temple, who had turned the house of God into a marketplace. He quoted our focus scripture in ISAIAH 56,:”It is written , my house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”(Matthew 21:13). The new testament teaches us that God no longer dwells in buildings, but in the hearts of believers in Christ Jesus who make up the body of Christ. Therefore when God refers to His ‘house of prayer’, He does not mean a physical house made of bricks and mortar or otherwise, but he means believers of Jesus Christ. God expects you to be a house of prayer. Especially tough times like this when humanity can’t really find logical explanations of the global events, no matter how hard they try . There is a limit to science, philosophy and other logical disciplines. Some answers are only found in the supernatural realm. That realm is accessed by prayer in the glorious name of the risen Jesus Christ. Call on that name today on behalf of yourself, your family, your community, your nation and for all humanity. Our God is faithful He will answer us. He has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us. He will gather us into our ‘God ordained destinies’ and to Himself for a glorious eternity.