“But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.”–Luke 21:9–11
I preached a message yesterday called “Living Faithfully in a Fallen World”. That’s what God commands and He doesn’t excuse us from duty because of difficulties. We are to be faithful till death regardless of the circumstances. In order to do that we must learn to live fearlessly in fearful times. Commenting on our text Dr. Paul Chappell wrote:
The message of Jesus to His disciples (and to us) regarding the future was not that everything was going to be fine and that there would be no problems to worry about. Instead He said that there would be wars, natural disasters, and all kinds of trouble. Yet despite that grim prospect, He commanded them not to be gripped by fear. Many times we view fear as caused by our circumstances; but in truth, fear is found in our heart, not in what we see around us.
Peter learned this lesson well. When Herod began to persecute the church to stop the spread of the new religion, he first killed James, and then he arrested Peter, intending to kill him as well. The church stayed up all night praying the night before Peter was to be executed. But as for Peter, he went to sleep! In fact he was sleeping so soundly that when the angel came to rescue him, he had to give Peter a good whack to wake him up. “And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands” (Acts 12:7).
Our confidence and lack of fear is not found in the knowledge that nothing will ever go wrong, but in the faith that God is in control. Whether He delivers us by a miracle or welcomes us to Heaven, He makes no mistakes.
