Call to Repentance

Earthquakes are occuring at an increasing frequency these days.  Apart from those in Japan, we now have the recent one in Myanmar.  The physical shaking that are occuring now represents the spiritual shaking that God is going to do.  Firstly in the hearts of all men and secondly, in the kingdom of darkness. 

As part of our family devotion, we were reading Luke 13:1-9 the other day.  We were talking about the triple whammy afflicting Japan and why it happened.  It's always so easy to apportion blame to people over unfortunate things that happen; the cause and effect rationale thinking in our human make-up.  In the days of Christ, they had incidents that come close to what is known as "acts of God" - for example, the tower in Siloam that fell and killed 18 people.  Jesus, reading the minds of the people who first came and reported the atrocities committed by Pilate against the Galileans, asked a rhetorical question, "Do you think they were worse culprits than all other men in Jerusalem who lived?"  And to address the report, He asked, "Do you suppose these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because of the fate they suffered?" 

Jesus cleverly side-stepped the issue of apportioning blame and directed their attention into looking at the larger scheme of things in God's economy.  God is interested in the repentance of all men; He wants us not to look outwards but to search our own hearts.  All of us will die one day, whether through violent/peaceful means or otherwise.  The calamity that had befallen the Jews could very well have fallen on His hearers.  The important thing is to be ready to meet your Creator.  The people may have wanted to fighten Jesus into not going to Jerusalem because wicked Pilate was around, and his notoriety preceded him. Jesus had by this time set His face like flint towards Jerusalm to accomplish His Father's will (Lk 13:22) and He was not going to be swayed by what men can do to Him. He came to earth of His own accord to lay down His life for lost humanity (Jn 10:17-18). 

Putting things in our context today, are the people of Japan, NZ and Myanmar worse sinners than the rest of the world that are not afflicted by earthquakes?  Certainly not, unless we repent, we shall likewise perish; not only physically but spiritually as well, separated from the love and presence of God.  Jesus also brought up the point in the fig tree parable following His rhetorical questions, that God is looking for fruits (of repentance) among the people of Israel and He has given them time and grace to produce them.  However, His patience has a limit, after which they would incur His wrath of being cut down.  In the light of what is happening around us, may I humbly suggest a few things we can do:

1.  Pray for ourselves that God would continually soften our hearts to repent of our sins.
2.  Pray for the people affected by natural disasters - search & rescue work, reconstruction of life and society, comfort and consolation, financial and other necessary resources needed, expertise and manpower support, God's love and peace to flow, moving forward and not being paralysed by what has happened, etc.
3.  Help through giving of cash and kind.

When we repent individually and collectively as a community or nation, we are pushing back the kingdom of darkness that envelops us.  God will one day destroy the powers of darkness that is actively working to bring lives to bondage and slavery.  Praise God that the unseen hosts of angels are greater than the unseen hosts of darkness (2 Kg 6:16-17).  And the good news is that God ultimately triumphs despite the chaos we're currently experiencing!