REAL HOPE AND REAL DISASTER

People are really good at making the Bible say what they want it to say. There are lots of factors that contribute to this. Not the least of which is a widespread and growing ignorance of what is actually in the Bible. People simply haven’t read enough of the Bible to know that what they think it says is absent from and/or refuted by scripture.

One area that seems to fit this sad description is people’s understanding of disaster. Most Americans would say we face the threat of very difficult times, but not world changing disaster. Hard times; yes, the end of everything familiar to us; no. I believe this thinking is prevalent in America and probably most secure first world countries. What we have done is mix a concept of hope, which is biblical, with a concept of security, which is not biblical.

TESTING YOUR THINKING

Here is a question to put my theory to the test: When was the last time you thought through particulars of being enslaved by an invading country and taken away to work their fields? How about a nuclear explosion on USA soil? Not exactly a part of your last conversation over breakfast, huh? It feels utterly foreign and practically impossible doesn’t it? Because of that feeling of impossibility, I think we begin to slip in a false idea of hope. We begin to believe that God’s protection and God’s promises are the hope we have against something like that happening. However, that is the precise place where we are making the Bible say something that it never says.

Only when the Bible speaks, do we have something to put hope in. Scripture is the only vehicle that can tow along hope and faith without fail. When you hook faith and hope up to anything other than scripture, you have lost all guarantees that it will happen. You can put faith in other things, but it is only as good as whatever that thing is. If that thing is not unchanging and omnipotent, you are taking a gamble.

THE BIBLE AND SECURITY

So, our question is, what does the Bible say about security in this world? First, let’s remember what covenant we are in. We are not Old Testament Israelites. God gave them specific promises of land, security, and prosperity. Those promises are not for us. Our promises are better, but only if you have eyes to see how they are better. People locked into materialistic living (most Americans) are not going to think promises that exclude physical security and prosperity are better. However, that is the kind of promises we have in the New Testament.

Our New Testament promises have nothing to do with physical security in this age. Probably the two best verses to summarize this would be the following:

James 5:13-15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

Rom. 8:35-37

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

You should realize from these passages that you don’t know what will happen to you. Anything could happen: everything from making a profit in some city to enduring a famine, naked and in danger. You can make educated guesses about what could happen, but they are still just guesses. You can think as grand and glorious as you like and you can think as lowly and disastrous as you like. Anything is possible. James’ admonition is this: don’t be arrogant; immediately do everything you know scripture is calling you to do. Paul’s reminder is this: even in the worst-case-scenario God’s love in Christ will keep us and bring ultimate good out of it.

GETTING PREPARED

So what do we do about this?

1) Give up notions of security – We are all vulnerable to anything. Don’t view risk-taking as wrong because you are already living in uncertainty. Don’t flee from all unsecure situations because all situations are unsecure. Wisdom is needed here, but may God save us from forgetting that there is great risk in not taking risks. We may waste our lives in pursuing the illusion of security.

2) Begin to prepare your heart for disaster – As you should know by now, I can’t tell you what kind of disaster will come or if it will come. It may be something as personal as the death of a loved one, or something as world-changing as war or economic collapse. Begin to pray that God would move your heart to “count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus” and that you would begin to make choices that show that you already “have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…” Phil 3:8

3) Prepare the only way you can for uncertainty – What way is that? If there are lots of possibilities, then you have to prepare in lots of ways. The financial world calls this a “diversified portfolio.” Solomon says, “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” Ecc. 11:2 (NIV) We all know the danger of putting all your eggs in one basket. The doomsday preppers stocked with gold and guns are foolish because they are only preparing for a national disaster. The stockbrokers vested in cash and companies are foolish because they are only preparing for national progress. One may happen, they both might happen, or neither might happen. You don’t know so prepare accordingly.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Only in the unchanging Christ will you find rest, peace, and security. Hope in Him.