With a “dark winter” approaching for many of us, it is important to seek the Lord while we still can.
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” — Psalm 36:5-6
"The Flood" — Johann Heinrich Schönfeld, Public Domain Image
Verse 6 echoes back to Noah’s day. When the flood came and the people realized what was happening, the ark had already been sealed shut. Genesis 7:16 reads, “and the LORD shut him in.”
The time to get on the ark is now. Be a shut in, not a shut out.
This seems at odds with a lot of contemporary preaching that promises that God is ready, willing, and in fact obligated to save any and everyone the moment they ask him to. But the Bible is full of warnings not to shun the Lord’s counsel when time's seem to be going well for you. Proverbs, one of the most practical books in the counsel of God begins with the following:
[24] Because I have called, and ye refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
[25] But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
[26] I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.
[27] When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
[28] Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
[29] For that they hated knowledge,
And did not choose the fear of the LORD:
[30] They would none of my counsel:
They despised all my reproof.
[31] Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
[32] For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Be a wise virgin and keep your lamps lit through the dark night. Keep an active prayer life and search the scriptures daily. For it is written:
“But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:33
Amen.
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