Ezekiel 39:7 “`I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel.'”

We often forget, in practical terms, that God isn’t going to put up with the mess we currently see around us forever. Those who do remember tend to wish that He would go ahead and straighten things out, but still fail to recognize how their own lives are dishonoring His holy Name. Just yesterday I was talking with an American pastor whom I respect highly, and he was speaking of how the Church in America knows practically nothing of Biblical discipleship. He’s doing what he can in his church, but it’s an uphill battle against the culture. God calls all of His children to dedication and purity, but sometimes it seems that few respond gladly. It’s now been close to 20 years since the Lord told me personally that He wants many things on earth to be different, but that’s hardly the blink of an eye in cosmic terms. We need to remember Peter’s observation that “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) That’s pretty high-level understanding, when you consider Peter’s educational level. I would say that’s clear evidence that this was something God had shown him, and he was wanting to pass it on. The next thing he said is also important: the only reason for God to delay His judgment is so that more people can turn to Him willingly in repentance and faith. (2 Peter 3:9) Often terrible external circumstances are ripe ground for people to cry out to God in repentance and faith. We need to watch our own hearts to be careful to honor God as holy, so that in unholy times others may look at us and turn to God.

This certainly applies to me, as a believer and as a pastor. I am to be aware of what is going on around me, but I’m not to be obsessed with it or let it draw my attention away from God and what He is doing. I was pretty upset with the results of a recent election, but sometimes things have to get dark for people to understand how bright the light is. I am to seek to let my life be a fulfillment of the first part of the Lord’s Prayer: that God’s Name would be acknowledged as holy (as this verse talks about) and that His kingdom would come as His will is done in and through me.

Father, thank You for the time of sweet fellowship with that pastor and his wife yesterday. Thank You for the reminder that You still have children who are on fire for You with a steady flame, even in cold and dark circumstances. I do ask Your blessing on him, that he would receive every tool You want to give him for ministry, with humility, joy, and obedience. I pray that in these days of political corruption and societal filth that Your children would lift their eyes to You and walk free of the pollution, showing You to be holy indeed. Thank You. Hallelujah!