remember – Snapshots

The Days of Darkness

I recently experienced a sobering vision-like awareness that I have absolutely nothing of this world; no wife (1Co 7:29), no children, no family, no job, no health, no friends, no home, no nothing. (30) I am currently enjoying all these things, but I do not have any of them; they are like a vapor that will vanish away in an instant. (Ja 4:14b) Ownership and control is an illusion; attachment to illusion is a lie. (1Co 7:31)

I can still feel this, as if I am on my deathbed, my whole life passing before me, and nothing of my temporal interests or activity in this world is of any consequence. Eventually, my entire life will be completely forgotten, as if it never happened, just like all who have gone on before me, dropping out into the infernal blackness, never to be seen again. This is the consummation of all worldly ambition, and it will be the same for mine: nothing.

Such is the way of all the earth, focused on our tiny little lives as if we’re going to live here forever.

The wise Preacher says, “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: but if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.” (Ec 11:7-8)

As I navigate this life, I am to remember eternity and focus my heart there. (Mt 6:21) For each of us it will be either glory beyond anything we can imagine (2Co 4:17), or eternal darkness and blackness forever (Ju 13), even darkness which may be felt. (Ex 10:21)

So, what do I actually have right now, in the here and now? I have God, and what He is doing in me to transform me into his image. This is the work of God, and this will endure forever. (1Jn 2:17) This is what I have: the light. (1Jn 1:5) This is all I have; I have nothing else.

Yet who am I to presume this? Many think they have a secure relationship with Jesus Christ (Mt 7:22), that He is their best bud — LGBTQ activists, drunkards, fornicators and adulterers, you name it. False hope in a false religion is a wonderfully deceptive thing. (1Jn 3:7-8)

So very few will find eternal light; even the Preacher fell away (1Ki 11:9-10), and we have no real indication that he ever found his way back. How easily we preach the Word and neglect to do it, deceiving ourselves! (Ja 1:22)

Yet he spoke eternal truth that grounds us in reality when we receive the Word with meekness (Ja 1:21): the days of darkness will indeed be many, dwarfing this life until it is all but forgotten, a tiny spec in the distant past. The souls of the lost will long for any faint strand of light, and there will be none. How unspeakably dreadful! Who can even begin to imagine this?

Remembering the pitch blackness of eternity makes me exceedingly grateful for God’s gift of sunlight (Mt 5:45), and for spiritual light, drawing me again to ensure I am not being led off course by seducing spirits (1Ti 1:4) comforting me in my own deception, as they do the world. (Ep 2:2) The foundation of God stands sure: Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1Jn 2:17)

The key of assurance, as always, is found in Torah, the light (Pr 6:23), the perfect revelation of Jesus Christ (Jn 5:39), exposing the enmity and darkness of all who despise any part of it (He 10:28-29), as a rejection of Himself. (Ro 8:7) We must keep turning back to Torah (Is 8:20) to enjoy the glory of Christ. (2Co 3:14)

Who will come to One Who demands we give up all to follow Him? (Lk 14:33) When He isn’t offering us prosperity in this life, but to take up our cross for Him? (Mt 10:38) When His offer is to give us new hearts which delight in Torah and keep it all? (He 8:10) How many are drawn to His invitation? Barely a handful? These are His elect.

And yet this is the Christ of the Bible, coming to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21), from their violations of Torah (1Jn 3:4), the law of His eternal kingdom (Mt 5:19), that we may walk in the light, as He is in the light, and have fellowship with Him. (1Jn 1:5-7) While we have the light, let’s believe in the light, that we may be the children of light. (Jn 12:36)

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All His Benefits

We’re constantly being lied to about the goodness and faithfulness of God. How easily we forget how graciously He takes care of us, protects us, and rescues us time and again. Remembering specific things He’s done for us, all His benefits, helps maintain spiritual equilibrium and encourages a life of thanksgiving.

JEHOVAH’s benefits include things like forgiving our iniquities, healing our diseases, redeeming our lives from destruction, crowning us with loving kindness and tender mercies, and satisfying our taste buds with delicious nourishment to renew our strength. (Ps 103:2-5) Reminding ourselves, and recounting these blessings to others, is part of how we edify each other in our walk with God.

For example, a few weeks back, my wife and I had just closed on a house and we only had one house key. While she ran some errands, I went for a run on the beach, planning to return before she did and open the house for all the folks planning to deliver appliances, get final repairs done, etc. I put the key safely in the pocket of my gym shorts and headed off.

When I arrived at the beach, noticing only a handful of people as far as I could see in either direction, I stretched out and began my run, thanking God for the cool sunshine, running through the waves and meditating on scripture … it’s one of my favorite things to do.

At a good half-way mark, as I turned to head back, I realized the house key was no longer in my pocket! Somewhere in the last 1.5 miles, over the last quarter of an hour, it had fallen out, lost in the sand and/or the water!

I immediately began thinking what a total inconvenience this was going to be for everyone, particularly my wife, who’d arranged for all of these people to come over and get us set up in our new home! We’d need to call a locksmith and have him bust out the front door lock, reschedule all these appointments, and be without a refrigerator for who knows how much longer! The closing had already put each of us into some stress … and this was just flat out careless on my part! Needless! It would surely mar our joyful memories, especially hers, in finding and securing our “forever home” together.

Praying wasn’t an option — supplication poured out of me as instinctively as breath, begging God for mercy to help me find this tiny little key lost in thousands of yards of sand and waves … I wasn’t hopeful. My dread was palpable.

I began thinking it might have fallen out when I was stretching, lying down on my back in the sand, and that was at least a couple of times during this particular run. Could I find those places based on marks I’d left with my back on the beach? It was a bleak option, but it was my only hope, other than retracing my steps and examining the entire shoreline. That could take hours; I didn’t have that kind of time!

After hunting up and down a while, I finally found the last place I’d last stretched out and started searching carefully. Thankfully, there were so few people out the scene was just as I’d left it, far enough up on land to be undisturbed by the waves … but no key here, best I could tell. I could keep looking trying to find it here, or move on and hope it was back toward at the start of my run. I kept on running and praying, eyeing my earlier footprints and scanning the sand, returning back to where I’d started out.

I got back to the area where I’d begun, searched around a bit, and found a place where it looked like I’d stretched out, and then I recalled it was a couple of different locations, as I’d been hunting for a suitable spot I had tried at least three different places. First one place, then another, scanning the sand carefully and trying not to disturb anything. The dreadful feeling of helplessness and doom looming over me.

Then I saw it! WOW!! Silver, shining, lying on the sand undisturbed, right where I’d been stretching, the first place I’d laid down. How happy and thankful I was to see that little key I cannot say! Whether it was a real supernatural miracle or not really isn’t the point for me; it sure felt like one, another precious token of God’s merciful hand in my life, caring for me and redeeming my life from destruction, chaos, and pain, all of which I fully deserved. Should have been more careful with that key!!

“It is of JEHOVAH’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness!” (La 3:22)

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Remember the Day

There’s a particular day God wants us to remember; every single day of our lives, He wants us to recall that special day: the Day He brought us up out of slavery. (De 16:3)

Individually, we’re all born dead to God, in sin, a captive of the god of this world. (Ep 2:1-2) But God intervenes, delivering His elect from the powers of darkness (Col 1:13), out into His marvelous light (1Pe 2:9), giving us new hearts (Eze 36:26), and eyes to see. If this describes you, remember the Day.

We’re one with the people He rescued from Egypt (Ep 2:14), in mystical union with them across time through Him (Ep 5:30), being delivered from Pharaoh through Christ, our Passover Lamb. (1Co 5:7) He tells us to keep Passover (1Co 5:8), the Lord’s Supper, to help us remember that day, every day.

Never forget where you’ve come from, Who delivered you, and where He’s taking you. Thank Him every single day; thank Him for that Day, the day He saved you.

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Ps 100

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