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Pointers along the way #813

Enduring in trial

- Jacob Ninan

You can listen to this on YouTube

The Book of Revelation is a tough book to understand. It seems that God deliberately wanted to be vague about details while giving plenty of indications about the general direction things would be taking towards the end of this world. Some people try to interpret the book in great detail, for example, trying to identify the Antichrist, only to end up having to cover themselves in shame.

A part of God's intention in doing it this may be to get us ready mentally and spiritually to face difficult times as they come, rather than to satisfy our curiosity over the details. A couple of things we notice are the increase of calamities that will hurt or kill large numbers of people on earth, and the release of many evil spirits to the earth as time draws nearer to the end. Timelines have not been revealed to us. But we can see that people on earth, including God's children, are suffering even now from 'trouble' from these two 'fronts'. This is not the 'great tribulation', because the Antichrist has not been revealed yet, but perhaps we would be right to say that we are going through some level of tribulation right now, and things are likely to become tougher.

Physical trouble is comparatively easy to figure out, though not easy to bear, coming from sickness, natural calamities, accidents, etc. But perhaps what is more difficult to handle may be the attack coming from evil spirits. On one hand, we can notice global level changes that are taking place – gender confusion, blurring of roles of men and women, emphasis on personal rights, disrespect of authority, open immorality, etc. But on a personal level, more people are coming under depression, confusion, anxiety, fears, doubts, suspicion, hopelessness, breakdown of relationship, etc. Christians and Christian families are not exempt from these. In fact, Satan targets us particularly.

What do we do when our own thoughts and feelings trouble us? Do doubts about God and His promises crowd into our mind trying to drive us into hopelessness? We need to run to the Lord – He is our fortress and our shield and we can tell Him we love Him and that we know He loves us (Ps.18:1,2). We look for rest in our mind by holding on to trust in Him even though we don't understand all that is going on and tough times continue. Hasn't He promised us that He will never leave or forsake us (He.13:5)? We believe He is with us even though we can't see Him or feel His presence. We ask Him for help to escape from the trouble, or if that is not to happen, to endure without giving up our faith or compromising on His values (1Co.10:13; Lk.4:6,7).

When God deals with the young in faith He may protect them with miracles. Now it is part of His training for us to take us through trials in order to give us eternal prizes (Ja.1:2-4). When God permitted Job to be tested by Satan, what he had to do was to endure, without receiving any explanations he was looking for. Now it may be our turn, and endurance is the key!

Pointers are available in YouTube audio from #789.

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