Did You See the Sky Last Night????
Down deep inside, we all want to know stuff before it's going to happen. Wonder what the powerball numbers for tomorrow will be? Will it rain tonight? Is my job still going to be here tomorrow? Is the cancer going to be abated? When is Jesus returning? For every reader here, there is something we all yearn to know beforehand.
This inquisitiveness isn't new, in fact humanity has been wrangling with future events for millennia. In Jesus' time, the religious leaders sought to know stuff. They were looking for evidence that Jesus had any credibility to be doing and saying what he was ....well doing and saying. "Show us a sign from heaven!" In essence, they were saying to Jesus, "We don't think you are the son of God and you are more of a blasphemer than anything else. Prove yourself. (Take a look.)
The Demand for a Sign
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4, NIV)
Just last evening, we worshipped at the playground at McVeytown and the culminating moment occurred at the end of our time when the sun rested for the evening and left behind something that only God could offer. Red at night, sailor's delight.
The music had focused on God's greatness and the power of Jesus to defeat all of our foes. The message encompassed our failure at maintaining course toward Jesus and his love. We can be side-tracked, back-tracked, or completely off-track in our faith. Given our propensity for becoming distracted by the smallest things, one could easily fall into any or all of these three areas of faith erosion.
August 31, 2020 really has no more or less the distractions that 31 AD had. There are different distractions now than then but all in all our life of faith walks a tenuous line between flourishing and wilting. It all depends on how we decide to live. Are we laser focused upon God and the transformational Word or are we diffused in our attention to God's guiding principles by superficial things?
The religious leaders of Jesus' day were so immersed in seeking a sign about Jesus that they missed Him. In our day, we seek to know things in advance and often miss something presently placed in front of us by God for a specific purpose. Strange how we can be so worried about things we can't control but ignore the very things we could positively influence. Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, pandemics, racial unrest, illnesses of all kinds, uncertainty, and sin in general stand no chance against the one who said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Focus on Jesus, seek his life giving resurrection power, and set about to stay on track. Keep your faith leaning forward in trust that Jesus will work within God the Father's timeframe to answer all of our questions about the future. How do I know this to be true? The Bible tells me so.
"A Musing Pastor"