How Long Will You Tarry, Oh Lord.

I don't want to believe the Iraqi news I am hearing on the radio. I am deliberately not viewing photos and videos posted on the internet and various forms of social media. I don't want the sights and sounds of innocent people (Christian and Muslim alike) being martyred entering my mind. But, they enter anyway, shaking me to the core.

Part of me wants to believe this is propaganda at its worst. Part of me want to believe Photoshop is being flagrantly misused. Part of me want to believe this is blown out of proportion and misrepresented. Yet I know these atrocities are taking place. I know I am witnessing mankind in his basest, most fallen form because he is acting on his own understanding and doing what he thinks is right. I feel more than ever that the end times are quickly approaching.

I am grieved. I am helpless, but not hopeless.  I pray.

From Genesis to Revelation, events like we are now witnessing have taken place. Probably every generation tells itself that martyrdom, genocide, and other unfathomable deeds will not take place again, at least not in its life time. We have come too far, are too wise, too compassionate, and too civilized to do such things. But we haven't and we aren't. Apart from Christ we can be barbarians. Death and destruction will continue until He returns.

 

As I am writing this, Revelation 6:9-10 keeps coming to mind.

 "When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"…

Yes, Lord, how long will you refrain? When will enough be enough? Surely not much longer. Only you can truly stop the carnage. Only you can protect, strengthen, and deliver every persecuted man, woman and child. Only you can destroy the enemy. Come in all your glory. Reveal your splendor. Come wrapped in robes of judgement, redemption, restoration, and grace. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly I beg. And Lord, if this is not your time for deliverance, I will try to understand that your grace and love for the lost souls of this world are much greater than my desire for vengeance. May I love and grieve for the lost people as much I do for the found.

Jan