We all know there will be suffering on Earth but how much do we have to go through and can we embrace it? Have I really read Revelations before---never out loud. A woman who just gave birth flees into the wilderness with empty arms---where she has a place prepared by God for 1,260 days. Four years! God prepared nourishment for her body but she must struggle with aloneness and safety and horror and meaning. The loss of her husband and children. So hard to understand this picture but the scene that follows in Revelations 12 touches deep places within:
My Accuser,
The Deceiver of the Whole World,
The Great Dragon,
That Ancient Serpent,
The One We Call Both Satan and The Devil...
WAIT, there is no place for him in Heaven
and he is thrown down to the earth with his angels.
NOW,
The Salvation and Power and Kingdom of Our God
The Authority of Our Christ has come and
The One Who Accuses Me Day and Night
before our God----HE HAS BEEN THROWN DOWN.
We have conquered him by
The Blood of The Lamb and by
The Word of our Testimony
so keep on keeping on, o my soul.
WE ARE STILL HERE AND WE HAVE WON!
Yet we must face our defeated Tormenter,
Who knows his time on earth is s-h-o-r-t.
REJOICE this day if you dwell in heavenly places.
BEWARE this day for The Dragon sees
the Woman Who Gave Birth, the one who trusts
and The Serpent pursues her in her wilderness.
But even The Earth comes to the help of the woman.
Furious!---The Dragon goes after her children on Earth
back on the sands of the sea.
So much of this text is beyond me.
But there is something to be said about God's Provision.
If a Good God steps in to bring us childless to a wilderness
to protect us there----will we trust Him in this?
Will we trust Him in how much we have to suffer?
Revelation is hard to understand for me as well. It is hard to determine prophecy pertaining to the what has been and what will be. Yesterday, my newest granddaughter was born. She is so precious and my daughter went through the struggle of childbirth and afterbirth, I can't imagine how the woman in the scripture felt losing her family.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think the point of the passage is: We are never alone. God has a master plan which has been in place for all of eternity. I don't believe he has to adjust the plan for us. It has always been there, we need to find the path and follow it. Every time I stray or try to make my own assumptions I get in trouble. Then, He has to gently pull me back. It is important to trust, to follow and believe He will guide, love and protect us. The Great Dragon has no power over us. We belong to King Jesus, the conquer and deliver. Praise be to God.
Revelation is so beyond me...it confuses me at times and places. I agree with Jan, He does have a master plan. We can see now with our limited vision how He has cared and provided for us. He has always gone before us and prepared a place for us and been with us in our suffering. So, it came to me, why would He not provide for us in these circumstances in the wilderness and protect us as He has done in the past. We have to cling to the fact that His love and mercy will follow us, as it has thus far. I know that This day will be far different from now and my little finite mind can in no way grasp what Revelation really means, I am just going to keep clinging to the One who does know and trust His heart. He's never failed me yet and won't in that day.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you Jan to see your children's children. Can't imagine the experience of knowing you did the same for your daughter. Went through birth that she may live. And the Second Birth! What beauty and tenderness and love. May you be filled with such awe this Christmas---sounds like you already are. "Every child is a fresh unheard of Image of God, and children keep coming & coming because the world has not yet conceived of all the Fulness of God's Glory." Mike Mason
ReplyDeleteI love that comfort, Jan and Mary Lou--God has a Master Plan, and He hasn't failed us yet!
ReplyDeleteYes, Jan! Congratulations on your new beautiful grandbaby!
Merry Christmas, Pearls! He soon comes as a baby--just trying to wrap my mind around that this morning, a tiny, helpless God baby! Too wonderful for words!