Jeremiah 3:18 “In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.”

This is a magnificent prophecy that has been fulfilled twice, actually, once in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and again just 75 years ago. It’s not at all that prophecy isn’t real, or that we aren’t to pay attention to it, but rather that human interpretation of prophecy is very likely to be off in various ways. We are living in days that seem like the fulfillment of prophecy, from Ezekiel, Daniel and the Revelation to John, and I think the anticipation of Christ’s return is building to a degree perhaps not seen since the 1^st Century. That’s very exciting and encouraging, but at the same time, our primary focus needs to be on what God wants us to do right now. The conviction that “God’s going to make everything right” is something we all need, but we aren’t to sit around just waiting for that to happen. After all, we are among the things He will need to make right!

I’m not sure at what point I started having the strong feeling that I would still be on the earth at the point of Christ’s return, but it was a long time back. While we were in seminary my wife had a dream that she told me about that I’ve never forgotten. We were in a church building, but the roof was gone and people were flying up into the sky, as many have pictured “the Rapture” to be. In the dream, my wife turned to me and said, “Aren’t you going to go?” I replied, “I still have work to do.” I have no idea what that means, but I do know that simplistic interpretations are seldom right – or at least, are not complete. My current focus, particularly since I have just retired from school teaching, is to know and do what God has for me right now. The idea of Christ’s return during my physical lifetime is a very interesting one, since I am currently 75, and I don’t expect to rival Methuselah in any case. I certainly see much in the world that needs to be made right, and God has assured me personally that there is much that He isn’t happy about, but I’m not to try to dictate to Him when and how He goes about making it right. I am to seek to look at each person around me as He does and interact with them accordingly. I am to recognize my own insignificance, and at the same time rejoice that God can and does use even one such as I am for His purposes. I am to be so grounded in the eternal that I am fully faithful with everything in the temporal, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for getting me through the day safely yesterday, with all the driving. Thank You for the service station attendant noticing that my tires were low, and filling them. Thank You for Your plans for today, and that I’m included in them. May I indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, doing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!