Cracking Open the Nutshell
Welcome to Week 2 of the Nutshell relaunch. I hope you are well and that you are taking it easy during this time of slowdown and separation — which, when you think about it, is not all bad.
Take some time to relax and reflect during this time. The pace of life will almost certainly accelerate in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, think about reaching out to someone by phone, text, e-mail, Facebook, FaceTime, or any of a number of other social media platforms.
Prophecy or Fallacy?
I’m probably one of the last people to respond to “what’s going around on the Internet,” but I couldn’t ignore what I was hearing about a prophetic passage from Isaiah, Chapter 26, Verses 21-22, as it applies to our current situation…
“Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.”
Was Isaiah receiving a message from God about the year 2020? Hard to say with any certainty, but you could definitely make a case for a connection. Is this pandemic a symbol of the wrath of God, or is it another random event in human history? Obviously, there have been pandemics in the past, and there are almost certain to be more pandemics in the future, so is this passage addressing the current situation, or is it more likely about something in the past or in the future — or is it all of the above?
Whatever you believe, the events of the past six weeks should certainly give us pause, grab our attention, and encourage us to ask the question, “Is God trying to get a message to us?”
I believe that he is, but I also believe that he is looking to commune with us on a daily basis. So regardless of the situation — in both good times and bad — pay attention, and listen for the voice of the Lord. He will guide us on the pathway of righteousness.
Something to Crow About
Speaking of communicating, the messenger can come in all shapes and sizes, Shortly after I arrived at the church office on Monday of this week, the crow was back pecking at the glass doors outside my office, but this time there seemed to be more urgency in his message. What in the world is he trying to tell me and all of us here at Oak Chapel?
My mother used to tell me that when she was growing up, grownups would tell her that if a bird pecked at someone’s window, it meant that that person would soon depart this world. What a frightening thought!
We also know about the rooster that Jesus described in the Gospels, saying that Peter would deny Him three times before the cock crowed a second time.
Am I missing something here, or is this just coincidence? I don’t know for sure, but between the coronavirus and the crow, I think God is trying to get our attention. Maybe we should be listening more closely.
Until we meet again, Blessings and Best Wishes! – Pastor John