Quote from Forum Archives on July 28, 2006, 5:09 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional

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07.28.06

The Shock of Your Life

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in
which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the
works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all
these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and
hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the
heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will
melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to
these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without
spot and blameless; - 2 Peter 3:10-14.

Just last week a man received possibly the shock of his life
when a 110-pound Saint Bernard suddenly landed on top of him.
The dog was thrown out of a second story apartment window by
the intoxicated owner. A police spokesperson, Grezegorz
Wierzbicki said, “The dog had a soft landing because it fell on
a man and the dog escaped with just a few scratches. The man
was also more in a psychological state of shock than physically
hurt.” He is bruised but physically okay otherwise. Oskar, the
dog, has been placed in an animal shelter and the police are
investigating possible animal abuse.

Having a dog suddenly land on top of you would be a shock! I
once wrote a devotional that included the story of a cow
falling through the roof of a coffeehouse in Turkey and landing
on top of a man. They both survived. There have been instances
of meteorites slamming through the roofs of houses. I have lost
track of how many times cars and trucks have plowed into and
sometimes through houses usually in the middle of the night.
Small planes have crashed into the roofs of houses. Countless
items have fallen from planes onto houses, vehicles and even
people. All of these incidents have at least one thing in
common and that is that it would have been a shock to the
person or persons that it happened to them. You probably
remember a shockingly unexpected thing or two that has happened
in your life.

When I have had a shockingly unexpected thing occur in my life
it has at the very least made me stop and think. Since I have
been a Christian when something like that occurs it has made me
consider if there is something spiritual of which I should be
aware. Is God trying to tell me something?

If you look at what is going on in the Middle East at this time
we can probably agree that it occurred suddenly and was a shock
for most of us - especially those living in the affected
countries. Is there something going on here spiritually of
which we should be aware?

Consider that Israel had ceased to exist for 1900 years until
1948 when it again became a country. It is a fulfillment of a
prophecy by Ezekiel, “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord
GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the
nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from
every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make
them one nation in the land… (Ezekiel 37:21-22a).’” The nation
of Israel is a miracle of history that the nations of the world
have observed and know that it is true. The point being that
this prophecy is not the only prophecy of God that has come
true and will come true.

The Lord has had great patience but the end will eventually
arrive. The Day of the Lord will come as the apostle Peter says
and “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the
works that are in it will be burned up.” Knowing what you know
of the rapidly approaching fulfillment of prophecy I will leave
you with the same question the apostle Peter asked, “…what
manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of
God.”

Copyright © 2006. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of
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