Art Roxby III
Luke 21:5-19
I am one of those people who like to have things planned out to the enth detail. When I take a trip, I plan turn by turn, hour by hour, and stop by stop to reach my destination in the most efficient way possible. Before I take my trip, (often weeks or months before!) I compose a detailed packing list of everything I would possibly need for the journey.
The quickest way to upset me and ruin my whole day is to introduce a variable into the equation that I had not planned on. When I find out that construction is happening along the route, I break out into a cold sweat. When my family travels with me, and they need to make too many unplanned bathroom breaks, it makes me cranky for hours. I simply like to know what is coming up and that I have planned accordingly to make a successful journey.
Jesus was talking to just such people in Luke chapter 21.
The disciples were trying to plan for the coming Day of the Lord. They wanted to know what would happen, when it would happen, where it would happen, and why it would happen. After all, the only way to really be prepared for the Day of the Lord, is to know all of the details. In the passage, Jesus is not really long on precise details. The list that he rattles off, wars and rumors of wars, disturbances, famines and the like all have been in place since Jesus returned to heaven.
The problem is, when he gets personal, things get scary. Persecution and betrayal are not joyful experiences. Judgments before tribunals and appearances before kings don’t sound like my idea of a great day.
It is into this unexpected journey that Jesus speaks his amazing words of hope, “Not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Those who undertake this unexpected journey to the Day of the Lord will find that hope comes to those who endure. The exact details of the journey are overwhelming to us, so ours is to simply trust and endure.
Strength for every trial, every word of defense, every testimony from our mouths will be provided for by the one who walked the journey ahead of us and who is the ultimate destination towards which we walk. Hope comes from those who obediently and faithfully follow the unexpected journey to which He has called us.
While life’s dark maze I tread
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day;
wipe sorrow’s tears away;
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.
-Ray Palmer
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day;
wipe sorrow’s tears away;
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.
-Ray Palmer
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