Kept In The New Millennium

In our Text, we are privileged to overhear David expressing his confidence of BEING KEPT FROM DANGER IN A FUTURE FRAUGHT WITH FEAR, FRACTURES AND FATALITY. He speaks of A TIME OF TROUBLE. A period in which Foundations, Family, Friends, Finances, and even Faith at times, ARE BROKEN IN PIECES in a context of War. And yet, in the midst of this inevitable and devastating Breakage, David dares to believe and confess that HE SHALL BE HIDDENED IN A SECRET PLACE AND PLACED IN A POSITION OF SAFETY BEYOND THE REACH OF THE BREAKERS! "FOR IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE," he says, "HE SHALL HIDE ME IN HIS PAVILION: IN THE SECRET OF HIS TABERNACLE SHALL HE HIDE ME;

HE SHALL SET ME UP UPON A ROCK."

Now, here we stand today nervously in the 2nd Day of a New Millennium, Century, Decade, Year, Month and Week, with mixed emotions of Ecstasy and Exhaustion, Confidence and Carefulness, over what the FUTURE MAY BRING OUR WAY. For we are cognizant of the fact that we are Not Living in Time but In the End of Time. Candis Staton called it "Living on the Edge of Time." And living on the Edge makes life uncertain, danger-filled and tension-packed; because at any moment, one could fall off to one’s destruction.

And so, the Edge of Time is a PERIOD OF BREAKING TO PIECES ALL THAT IS TEMPORAL AND SEEN. A Time Fraught with Fear, Fractures and Fatality. And thus, the Question raised is: IS THERE, THEN, A POSSIBILITY OF AVOIDING THIS BREAKAGE? CAN ONE HOPE TO BE KEPT SAFE IN A TIME OF TROUBLE? CAN YOU AND I ESCAPE THIS TIME OF TROUBLE, AND COME THRU WITH OUR LIFE INTACK, UNBROKEN, FRACTURE-FREE, WHOLE - SAVED?

I wonder, are You interested?

Well, if You would hush your heart and suspend your suspicions for these minutes of the Preaching Event, perhaps the Spirit of Truth just might enlighten the eyes of your understanding to grasp the fact that YOU ARE VERY SPECIAL TO THE LORD AND A SUBJECT OF HIS SPECIAL PROVIDENTIAL CARE. So, let me suggest

I. FIRST OF ALL, YOU ARE SPECIAL TO THE LORD.

Now, I must admit that the Holy Spirit has to bear this truth to your heart, in view of the fact that IN THE PAST YOU WONDERED WHERE GOD WAS IN YOUR HEART-BREAKS AND PAST PROBLEMS.

For if You would be honest with yourself, you will have to confess and admit there were experience of loss, suffering and separation which caused a crisis in your faith. For some, it was a marriage that began with rice and romance but ended with anger and alienation. "What God hath joined together" came apart at the seems; and you wondered where God was in the coming apart.

For some, a cruel disease is at work in your body, stealing strength and hope, and you wonder in the pain about the loving care of God.

For some, there is an empty place at the table where once one you loved shared bread and life, and you wonder about a God whose world holds such loss.

For some of you, there are deep wounds inflicted by parents who cared too little or who gave violence instead of love, and you wonder if God is also this kind of parent.

But you are not alone in your Crisis of Faith, for saints in the Bible have also wondered where God was in their time of pain and perplexity. I remember reading about Gideon. He was threshing wheat by the winepress to hide it from the invading forces of the Midianite army, when the angel of the Lord appeared unto him saying, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." And looking at his situation Gideon was compelled to say and ask this angel a question. Said Gideon, "If the Lord be with us, Why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us into the hands of the Midianites."

I recall reading another incidents involving the disciples and Jesus in a storm. While going to the other side, a great storm of wind arose causing the waves to beat their ship and water to fill its deck. Consequently, the boat began to sink. But in the midst of all of this, Jesus was asleep in the hinder part of the boat, resting His holy head on a pillow. And so, the disciples awoke Jesus, and asked Him what they thought was a relevant question. They asked: "Master, carest Thou not that we perish? At that moment even in the very presence of God, they doubted His Love and Care!!