The God who watches...

This is what the Lord says to me: "I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." - Is 18:4

When I first read this verse while doing the bible study homework, it resonated strongly. In times like ours..where the world is one big insane mess. full of fighting and disasters and death and innocent suffering, and even worse.. full of derogatory culture. and everybody wonders where God is? Well...there He is. Looking on from His dwelling place. Sounds like one cold and cruel God? No. It was a knowledge of assurance that swept over me. His eyes are never turned away..He may choose to be quiet and we think He isn't there, but He is always watching. The rich and powerful, the oppressive and God-less of our world may think they have it all..but no...

For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches. They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter.
- Is 18:5-6

There was something else that stood out in another chapter (22) about the prophecy of Jerusalem. There was trouble and the Lord called for them to turn to Him for help. Instead, they were eating meat and drinking wine, saying "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!", and the Lord said in response, "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for."

Doesn't that "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!" sound familiar? I hear that all the time today, just packaged differently. Everybody knows that life in this world is chaotic and fleeting. It is full of trouble and suffering..everybody suffers in their own way. Among the people of my generation, the popular response is this: LIVE FOR THE MOMENT. who cares? life is short and so fleeting.. you may not get to see tomorrow so you better do whatever you want to right now.
sigh.. that is the worst and most dangerous response to the fear of life's uncertainty and the fear of death. People don't believe that they can find an answer that takes us to the very heart of these fears, conquers them, and makes sense of our world's and life's reality. All we have to do is to turn to the very Maker of this life on earth.