Sunday Afternoon Tea - Trusting the Ancient of Days

I really appreciated the kind words about last week's blog post, which I wrote with trepidation.  I have wanted to write a blog post about discernment for a long time.  I honestly thought I would lose many readers but I only had one person email me saying they will never read my blog again.  Although, there are probably others who quietly went away.

Anytime one talks about Trump, it has an affect on people.  I totally get it.  There were numerous times I heard him say something and once again cringed and thoughts of a muzzle entered my mind.  However, it is proof God uses the unlikely to do His bidding and why we need His discernment.

If it were up to me, I would have chosen someone whose policies and personality combined to make an easy and attractive choice in a leader.  I have said before that when I place a vote, I look at the platform and policies of the political party.  

From what I have been able to tell since I first voted in the 1970s, every politician has flaws, even my beloved Ronald Reagan (who is tied with George Washington as my favorite president). There are many things I admire about John F. Kennedy but history has shown him to be quite the womanizer.  How I look forward to the day the only perfect person who ever lived will be in charge here on the earth.

I was a child during the Cuban Missile Crisis and while I didn't comprehend fully what was happening, the fear that was felt in our house and in the small town where we lived was something I will always remember. Reading about the history of that event shows us that Kennedy, no matter how flawed, was the right man for the job at that time.

I've been thinking a lot about that crisis these past couple of weeks since Russia once again is flexing its' nuclear muscles... or, at least, like before it is the leadership of Russia that put it on the table.  Knowing how close we came to a nuclear war back then makes me a little unsettled but also is a reminder that God is in control of all outcomes in world history.

I heard a statement last week from a Bible teacher who was talking about the war in the Ukraine and how it has left many around the world frightened.  He talked about the news reports of a possibility of conflict with both China and Iran, too.  

He reminded people that while it may seem these countries are close to checkmate on the great chess board of history... it was the Ancient of Days that created the chess board.  No human has the ability to beat God's ultimate will.

I loved that reminder!  It was the Ancient of Days who spoke the world into existence, who designed a universe that makes life on this planet perfectly suited for His creation... us.  I always have to remind myself that the enemy of our souls... and this world... is not on an equal footing with God.  

No, He who created all things allows our enemy only so much freedom that came with the fall of man.  But Jesus has already taken back the Keys to the Kingdom at the Resurrection, which means the enemy may still be free to bring conflict and chaos in our current world but the Ancient of Days set borders to what is now allowed.

Knowledge of the Bible and what it has to say about events leading up to the end of this age is like reading headlines from today's newspapers.  How much God allows is up to Him but we must remember that everything is working together just as it was written.  My finite mind does not understand it all, especially when I see the innocent suffering.

Although I walked through various trials over the years and I could not always see His plan at work, I can now see His weaving together of the good times, the dark times, the seemingly unimportant decisions that became life changing.  Just because I did not understand what was happening at the time when I was suffering, did not mean I wasn't walking in His will.

I don't think God fluffs off our "why" questions.  He has answered some of mine through the years.  But if I remember that today's wars and rumors of wars, today's famine in the news, the fear that is felt by so many around the world right now... this is nothing new.  

If we remember that it is only in the Tribulation period that the Word says those events are like none the world has ever known and never will again, we can know that everything happening now has been experienced before.  I see so much of pre-WWII in what is occurring right now and the news reports often call it the worst refugee crisis since WWII.

The questions asked today of the Ancient of Days are the same questions men and women, mothers and fathers, the very young and the very old have asked for millennia. They are the same questions asked in the Bible, the Gulags of the Soviet Union, the underground churches in China, and so many other places in this world.

He has an answer but it isn't always what we want to hear.  We know there is coming a time when there will be no more suffering, when He will wipe away every tear.  When we are in our real home, our Eternal Home.  

When the enemy has been cast into the lake of fire and everyone who followed his ways... every Hitler, every Stalin, every ruthless leader who brought distress and war and bloodshed to the innocents on this planet. 

This is our time to sink our roots into the teaching of the Ancient of Days.  To trust His character and His ways.  He was here before the foundation of the earth.  He knows the beginning from the end.  I don't always understand it but I trust Him.

This is our time... for such a time as this... to do whatever we can to be His hands, give His help, be His intercessor for those who have no one to pray for them.  We can give to those who are on the ground helping refugees fleeing the war zone... even a gift of five dollars will add up if a million people give to Samaritan's Purse, Operation Blessing, or other ministries already helping people there.

Sometimes we think there is nothing much we can do for His work in the world today but I have come to realize one very important thing we can all do, no matter our health, or our finances, or where we live, or our circumstances.  We can be people of faith, voices of calm in a distressing world.

We can remind those whom God has placed in our lives, whether family, or friends, or neighbors, or the waitress who pours our coffee... that we stand firm in the faith of the Ancient of Days.  We can all trust Him, even when we do not understand what is going on in the world.

He is looking for moms and grandmothers, dads and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, cousins no matter how many times removed, and even next door neighbors... who are willing to be people that others can come to for wisdom and for peace.  It can only be done when we have given up our need to have every question answered but to Trust the One who holds this world in His hand.

Image:  The Ancient of Days, artist William Blake (public domain)