Horrible… horrible days are described. The destruction named, a third of this and a third of that destroyed seems impossible to fathom, at least they are unfathomable to me. Terror reigned! The fright endured during those days would be beyond anything experienced on the earth since the rising of the floodwaters of Noah and the cries and screams of people dying in panic.
After all the horror described the chapter closes on an even more ominous note. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” (13).
Things will even get worse!
The wrath of God, the punishment of evil and unbelief is staggering in its magnitude and ferocity.
People guilty, yet unsuspecting, are on the path to destruction.
My heart breaks. People all around me are on this path. As my church prays for the various countries of the world, so so many people are on this path. And I don’t know what to do. Too much of my life seems to be simply caring for me. Right now I am overwhelmed, with guilt rising.
A story about Mother Teresa flashes in my thoughts. The memory is a bit jumbled but it goes something like this: When asked what she does with all the pain and suffering in the world she replied, “I can help one life at a time.”
I cannot allow the great need to paralyze me into inaction. But neither can I be content to do little when there exists so much pain, injustice and unbelief in the world.
I am torn and conflicted today by the text of Revelation 8…
Lord, come to me in my confusion. Speak with me about what You would have me do today and what You would have me do with my life. Speak Lord, I am listening… Through Christ, I pray. Amen
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