WHY?

Many persons erroneously think of the Bible as an outmoded book. It is the living Word of God and we do well to pay attention to it.

Sneaking some eight centuries before the advent of Christ, the prophet Amos called upon his people to recognize the hand of God in the providential happenings of that day. “Shall a trumpet be blown in a city and the people not be afraid?” he asks. “Shall there be evil (calamity) in a city and the Lord hath not done it?… The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (3:6, 8).

A little later the prophet, speaking for God, declares: “I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord” (4:6–11). He goes on to speak of drought, pestilence and destruction as being, all of them, the voice of God calling people back to Himself.

May it not be that current happenings throughout the world are intended to have the same effect today? What is our first thought when we read of the crises which affect various parts of the world in 1967? What about the wars, whether the Arab-Israeli conflict, the war in Viet Nam, the Yemen conflict or the riots in our own cities? Can we dismiss them all with the assumption that they are merely circumstantial?

This is not to say, of course, that we can assume that those who suffer adversity have necessarily been singled out for special judgment. Not only the book of Job but also the teaching of Christ warns against this mistake (Luke 13:1–5). Either the nation or the individual, however, who forgets that God is moving through the circumstances of daily life makes a serious error.

Weeping over the ruins of Jerusalem twenty-five hundred years ago. the prophet Jeremiah observed that her prophets “have not discovered thine in-iquity. to turn away thy captivity: but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment” (Lam. 2:14).

In all the hundreds of thousands of words spoken and written daily by commentators, news analysts and columnists, we see and hear little to remind us that God is in the picture. And yet this is a fact of life that we should not forget.

— Selected

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen