COVID-19 and the accompanying economic difficulties, coupled with locusts across East Africa and natural disasters around the world, have revealed how vulnerable and powerless we are in these last days of intensifying birth pangs. So, How should we respond in the midst of this shaking?
Habakkuk 3:5
Before Him goes pestilence, and plague comes after Him [Lit. at His feet].
Deuteronomy 32:23-24
‘I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them. They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of the dust.’
While God uses natural circumstances, like pests, pestilence, and disasters, whether causally or permissively, to humble nations and their gods, the world will continue in its course of evil and destruction, for they cannot help but sin in their depravity, being subjected by God to the futility of sin. Therefore, the people of the world cannot turn the world around. Only God in His sovereign will and appointed times, through the witness of His representatives like “Jonah” who know and obey God’s sovereign will in His appointed times, can cause nations like “Nineveh” to turn around. Thus, as God’s holy ‘ekklesia’ is the only witness of the truth, light, power, and hope of salvation for the nations of the world, God is rather exacting on the measure of the stature of His people.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Job 5:17-18
“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.”
One of the (little known) reasons why God took the Israelites out of Egypt is that God was angry with their detestable and idolatrous ways despite warnings, and God wanted to chastise them outside of Egypt so that God’s name would not be profaned (on account of the unfaithfulness of His people being made known) in the sight of the nations (Ezekiel 20:7-11). Thus, God sent plagues, locusts, and natural disasters upon the land of Egypt so that Israel (the elect) could be set apart from Egypt (the world) for God to chastise them in the wilderness.
So, God often uses natural circumstances to get the attention of His people, from shepherds to sheep, and speak to them concerning their thoughts and ways that are not aligned with the thoughts and ways of God for the appointed times. God also uses these events to shake everything that can be shaken from His people, so that whatever that remains will be able to withstand greater shakings in the last days.
Hebrews 12:26-29
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
In fiery times like these, we must understand and respond to what God is doing in the nations and what He is saying to us, His representative, whom He is reproving. It is in these times of shaking of all that which can be shaken when we must ask God and consider our ways as to why we are shaken, where we have gone wrong, and how we need to change; so that we can repent with true knowledge and turn from our worldly ways, whether as individuals or as churches.
Jeremiah 18:11
“So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.’”
In short, we cannot repent and reform our ungodly ways unless we know the wrong things from which we must repent and turn away, as well as the truths in which we must walk or the right ways in which we must build. We cannot just speak the words “we repent” without knowing what to repent, why we repent, and how to repent.
Just like a parent chastises a child, or as a wife who reproves her husband, we will not let them go until they have understood what they have done wrong, acknowledged the need to change their ways, apologised, and even made restitution. Thus, chastisement of God are times of deep searching and consideration of our thoughts and ways in relation to the revealed truths of God for His appointed times.
You may wish to revisit this blog entitled “There is Wrath of God and There is Wrath of God” to understand the different natures of the wrath of God that co-exist in times of such shakings. You may also wish to revisit the blog entitled “Discerning the Signs of the Times“.
COVID-19 and the accompanying economic difficulties, coupled with locusts across East Africa and natural disasters around the world, have revealed how vulnerable and powerless we are in these last days of intensifying birth pangs, especially with the massive financial and socioeconomic upheaval (the third seal of Revelation), expected some time in 2023 to 2026, coming into sharp focus. If we are swept back and forth like the masses by every wind of destruction that befalls the world, how can we be a people who are set apart as a testimony to the all-mighty God, and how can we be the all-prevailing church that is a “Goshen” in the midst of the plagues and calamities of apocalyptic proportions (Matthew 16:18-19)?
As these events at the beginning of this decade are messages of God, we must not simply seek to pray away these shakings without first hearing Him. We must not seek to pray away this chastisement without knowing the reasons for His chastisement, so that we can quickly go back to our routines of living life or doing church as usual. We must indeed heed His warning and change our ways in times of chastisement.
Zephaniah 1:4-6,12-13
“So I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests. And those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven, and those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom, and those who have turned back from following the LORD, and those who have not sought the LORD or inquired of Him.”… “It will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good or evil!’ Moreover, their wealth will become plunder and their houses desolate; yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”
God is searching our thoughts and ways at this time, to expose the idolatry, worldliness, lukewarmness, unfaithfulness, self-centredness, and misguiding falsehoods in the midst of the anemic church across the nations. Unless we repent and reform our thoughts and ways in humility, every fruit of our hands on earth will be laid waste and made futile in the midst of the coming judgment in the last days. This is the first warning for this decade. If we do not heed this warning, the next ones will be more intense and severe, until judgment is irrevocable.
So, the key to praying in such times is not just praying the calamities away, but hearing, knowing, repenting, and responding to what God is speaking through the calamities. It is not just declaring “have faith in God” or “fear not” the virus, but fearing and heeding the One who is speaking through the virus.
Hebrews 12:25
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
His voice is His mercy, and our obedient response is His kindness in place of severity.
Surely, God will limit the power of destruction, and put an expiry date to the time-span, of this pandemic; but our future is determined by how we respond to His voice in this shaking, and how we prepare for the next wave according to His prophetic decree.
So, let us hear God speak in the midst of the fire of chastisement rather than simply praying away the fire that God has sent, else we find ourselves struggling and in enmity with the One who is speaking.
What is God speaking to you, as shepherd or as sheep?
Shalom.
PS. This is my personal response:
Father, we stop in our tracks today, and we humbly acknowledge that we have not lived and built our lives, our families, and our churches according to Your thoughts and ways.
We repent for living carnal lives in the ideologies of the world like the rest of the world except that we go to church. We repent for accumulating wealth and pleasures of the world without actively caring for the weak and the poor amongst us. We repent for building anemic churches that has no power over the gates of hell, just like everyone in the world. We repent for not understanding the blueprint of the church that Jesus is building, and thus not being the true co-labourers of Jesus. We repent for building churches suitable to the contemporaneous times, but not suitable for the fullness of the times. We repent for building churches on a hope of glory, but not on the realisation of the hope of glory. We repent for building a church for escape from the world, but not for the summing up of all things in the heavens and the earth. We repent for building churches for status, but not for stature. We repent for accumulating believers, but not disciples. We repent for using tithes and offerings of the people for vanity projects rather than for Kingdom permeation and social service/action in our communities. Father, help us to hear your voice above the din of COVID news, and see your Kingdom purpose above self-preservation in these times.
Just as the Israelites took pride in the institutions and structures of the temple and Jerusalem, we repent for taking pride in the institutional church that we have built, and in the structures of church operations that do not align to Your truths. We repent for taking pride, confidence, and security in such institutions over the prophetic voice of God, especially when You are speaking to the destruction of such institutional thinking, pride, and structures in these last days so that Jesus can build a church that is suitable to the fullness of the times. We humble ourselves before You, O God, and ask You to show us the glory of the ekklesia of the future, not of the past, so that, just as the body of Christ was transfigured in glory, your church will also be transfigured in the last days as a testimony to the whole world, to the praise of the glory of Your grace.
ARISE, you true shepherds of the Chief Shepherd, and shepherd His people unto glory on this side of the grave!
ARISE, you wise, vigilant, and pure virgins of the Bridegroom, and prepare for the coming of your Lord!
Your voice is Your mercy, and our obedient response is Your kindness in place of severity. Come, reason with us, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Interject loudly into the noise of our world so that we will hear and respond accurately to Your voice today.
In the name of the Head and Builder of the church, we ask. Amen.
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