They Are Coming
Opening Prayer
Amazing God, so often You have traveled though the shadows in my life to find me. I am humbled before You.
Read REVELATION 6:1-17
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Meditate
“We have a great need for Christ and a great Christ for our needs” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon).
Think Further
Life is hard. We face struggle and, at times, overwhelming odds. In the midst of watching the four horsemen of the apocalypse wreaking havoc throughout all history, from Christ’s first coming to his second, the Church is called to trust in Christ and to keep praying. The Lamb who opens the seals is no stranger to suffering and death—but he also knows resurrection. He who was once the victim of a show trial will now judge the world justly. He calls the horsemen forth but limits what they can do.
The picture is blunt and brutal, and makes no concessions. It is disturbing. It shakes up those of us who have been protected from the horrors and uncertainties of life, the daily experience of so many. We are concerned with our own comfort and well-being and know little of the back-breaking battle for survival that others face on a daily basis. Relentless floods of destruction follow one another in the form of conquest, war, economic hardship, famine and plague. God’s people, far from being spared, are at times singled out unjustly for suffering. In the end, by the opening of the sixth seal, it seems that the end has come—but one seal remains unopened.
We should not be surprised at human suffering, nor be passive towards it. God has not abdicated his throne, and how we live matters to him. For that, one day, we are going to be called to account. If this doesn’t make us tremble and cry for mercy nothing will. The day of the Lord will come and all things will end. Keep praying, for there is hope. The life of faith is to be lived out in the midst of all these things.
Apply
How are you living out the life of faith in the midst of the chaos and suffering of life? Ask God for any needed help to be more faithful.
Closing prayer
While nations rage and life unravels, You, Lord, speak assurance. Right in the middle of the chaos around and in me, You speak and I am at peace. Thank You, Lord.
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