A year ago, nobody would have believed that one single event would bring all of humankind together to question and reevaluate our modern life. But suddenly, everything changed on a scale that no human being could control. The current world crises have led the human race to search for answers and look for salvation. ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐งโ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅโ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐. In the past, Godโs economy and heartโs desire may have felt very abstract, the Bible seemingly unreal and remote. But while most people are sleeping, drunk, or numb to whatโs going on today, this situation is not a surprise to those of us who know the signs of the times from the Bible. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญโ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐จ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฆ. This is His pattern as shown in the Bible, specifically foreshadowed in the history of the Israelites in the book of Jeremiah.
At that time, the children of Israel were in an unfaithful, resistant and shameful condition: โ…they went far away from Me and walked after vanity and became vainโฆโ (Jer. 2:5). And thus God brought famine, war and destruction to both their land and their cities. Some may wonder what kind of God would use such an evil nation as Babylon to chastise and to discipline His people. But through all of the discipline in the book of Jeremiah, we see Godโs intentionโHis heartโfor His people. The state of God’s chosen people had become so off and so hopeless that Jeremiah wept over their condition (9:1).๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐๐๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐๐กโ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ . The Lord arranged the outward situation to expose the condition of His people and to restore them back to their rightful position, chastising them and ultimately judging the nations: โI am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you; yet I will not make a full end of you, but ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐โฆโ (46:28).
The Lord uses the outward world circumstances to turn His people back to Him under His righteousness. He tells us, โOnly acknowledge Your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Jehovah your God…and have not listened to My voice, declares Jehovah. Return, O apostate children…โ (3:13-14). His dealing with usโthe exposure and the chastisementโis to bring us back to the proper standing to receive His all-sufficient supply. God loves us in His righteousness; that love, which includes His judgment, always brings us back to the right ground. He cannot ignore our sinful condition. It is for this reason that the Lord chastised Israel for her idolatry and independence. The chastisement is not punishment for punishmentโs sake; through it, we have a way to confess so that we can be restored out of our own stubbornness, shields, camouflage, and dignity (Jer. 38:21-24) to return to Him and that right position with Him as our righteousness. Godโs love brings us back to righteousness, and we can never have His love without that very specific standard of His righteousness; it is the shortest route back to Him.
๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐๐ก, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฌ. He wants us to know Him and to be restored to Him. Oftentimes, our daily life reveals that we still are in favor of our own belief system, our own way of working, our own way of serving the Lord, and our own lifestyle. And despite the hardships that come to us, many of us still, for the moment, choose to stay in a life of comfort and convenience. This condition makes us hard, unapproachable, and unbroken because we still think we are good in Godโs eyes. Yet, through very specific circumstances, the Lord in His righteousness shows us clearly where we deviated: we have turned away from Him as our source to pursue our own way to live and to be satisfied. Jeremiah 2:13 says, โFor My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.โ We try to produce our own water sourceโour own little, self-produced system of supplyโto become self-sustaining. The Lord, in His wisdom, makes those systems run dry. In the same way today, He is arranging many circumstancesโour personal life, our families, the brothers and sisters, and even the nations and world situationโso that we may rely on and manifest Christ rather than ourselves. Only when these situations cause us to repent and turn from our self-reliance do we find the true fountain of living waters.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง๐ก๐๐๐. This is a very tangible moment in time for us to say, โWe do know God, we do recognize His chastisement and His judgment. We know His love and His righteousness.โ We have the faculty and capacity inside of us to know Godโthat is our spirit. The clarity to see, the purity to turn, and the boldness to live well come only from our spirit. When we turn, we find ourselves joined to a noble band of believers, His true overcomers, in the midst of the fallen world; we are in His triumph and redeemed by His love into His righteousness. As His people, we are clear: there is no more struggle, no more fear, no more searching elsewhere for our satisfaction and supply. It is time for us to take Him as our only source and enjoy the freedom to live absolutely unto Him as a testimony for His ultimate goal in this age.
(๐ด๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ค๐ โ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ 07/10/2020, ๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐.)