I got a call about 6:30 a.m. yesterday. I was terrified to answer. Calls that early are almost always bad news. It was, with the mother of a dear friend having died. That got me to thinking about all the things that we're scared about that have no real meaning or substance.
We're scared of bad news coming via phone calls. We're scared of calls from an "unknown caller." We're terrified of lightning on a clear night and we're scared of massive thunder on a cloudless afternoon. All of these things have one thing in common: they point the way to something coming.
A friend told me about the strange color of the sky just before a tornado was formed and touched down in Bush, La., about 10 days ago. "It was the weirdest looking thing I'd ever seen," he said. Though small on the scale of destruction that this spring has had, two houses were destroyed and 30 damaged. It's not paranoia if there is someone really watching you, and it's not bad fear if the signs point to something that truly happens.
Jesus said this about looking about for those signs in Matthew, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
In other words, be ready, but not fearful.
David said it this way, "Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.
7 They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD."
If indeed we trust Him, then the fear of bad news, of those early morning phone calls and on and on, will be blanched from our system.
O, come Lord Jesus, come. That's the good news of the day (at 5:51 a.m.)
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