"Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post–World War II era. We're still weeks away from the end of '09, but it's not too early to pass judgment. Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade. Call it whatever you want — just give thanks that it is nearly over."
Andy Serwer
Let's face it, the past ten years have been pretty tumultuous for our nation. From the 9/11 attacks, to Hurricane Katrina, to the near economic collapse, to health care reform. Mr. Serwer, writing in the November 24, 2009, issue of Time magazine, recounts all the gruesome details of the worst of the worst people and events of the last decade. (I don't wish to make an issue of the question of when the first decade of the twenty-first century ends; it really is not important to me.) You can read his article for yourself at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1942834,00.html. As I read it, I was thinking, "I remember that, and that, and that." But, I also remember how kind and gracious God has been to me and my family during the past decade.
For about two years now, I have been meeting with a dear friend once a week for an hour specifically to pray. Recently, a third gentleman has joined us, for which I am thankful, both to God and to him for the encouragement that the expanded circle has brought to me. Since January 2009, our prayer meeting has grown 50 percent! More importantly, I think we have matured in our faith since we have begun praying together. We are now praying more boldly, more confidently, and more humbly that God would manifest his sovereignty over all of his creation and church.
Mr. Serwer and others view the events of the last decade as the result of man's shortcomings. It is easy to evaluate an event, whether good or ill, in terms of secondary causes. We are bogged down in Iraq because of the last administration's failure to fully appreciate the strategic consequences of the invasion. The financial industry imploded because of greed and the lack of proper government regulation and oversight. Hurricane Katrina caused such damage and loss of life because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was negligent in the construction, improvement, and maintenance of the levee system surrounding New Orleans. These causes and effects may be true enough, but it doesn't tell the full story. The events of the past decade were not random chance events, nor were they cyclical historical events. All of these events, good and ill, occurred because God sovereignly decreed that these events would occur to the end that his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be glorified in the sight of all men. The blessings of this life, as well as the calamities, are wrought by God to drive men to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
For about two years now, I have been meeting with a dear friend once a week for an hour specifically to pray. Recently, a third gentleman has joined us, for which I am thankful, both to God and to him for the encouragement that the expanded circle has brought to me. Since January 2009, our prayer meeting has grown 50 percent! More importantly, I think we have matured in our faith since we have begun praying together. We are now praying more boldly, more confidently, and more humbly that God would manifest his sovereignty over all of his creation and church.
Mr. Serwer and others view the events of the last decade as the result of man's shortcomings. It is easy to evaluate an event, whether good or ill, in terms of secondary causes. We are bogged down in Iraq because of the last administration's failure to fully appreciate the strategic consequences of the invasion. The financial industry imploded because of greed and the lack of proper government regulation and oversight. Hurricane Katrina caused such damage and loss of life because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was negligent in the construction, improvement, and maintenance of the levee system surrounding New Orleans. These causes and effects may be true enough, but it doesn't tell the full story. The events of the past decade were not random chance events, nor were they cyclical historical events. All of these events, good and ill, occurred because God sovereignly decreed that these events would occur to the end that his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be glorified in the sight of all men. The blessings of this life, as well as the calamities, are wrought by God to drive men to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
"Do we not rest in our day too much on the arm of flesh! Cannot the same wonders be done now as of old? Do not the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth still to show himself strong on behalf of those who put their trust in him? Oh that God would give me more practical faith in him! Where is now the Lord God of Elijah? He is waiting for Elijah to call on him."
James Gilmour, missionary to Mongolia
As we begin a new year and a new decade, not one of us knows what events God will bring to pass so that his Son will be glorified. But, we know this. In the words of E. M. Bounds, "The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere." We often forget (or perhaps don't believe) that the welfare of our neighbor depends upon our seeking the ear of God in prayer. I do not mean intermittent, spasmodic, short-lived prayer. The type of prayer I mean is that type in which we plead with God upon our knees that he would fulfill the promises he has made in his Word. That the kingdom of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would cover the earth as the seas. That his will would be done in earth as it is done in Heaven. That he would magnify his Name among men, converting them (and yes, even Osama bin Laden) to repentance and faith in Jesus.
As the missionary Adoniram Judson has said, "The prospects are as bright as the promises of God." Beginning today, let us close together in concerted prayer for the spiritual and temporal welfare of our neighbor. Let us close together in concerted prayer as if our neighbor's life, and ours, depends on it. For it surely does.
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning. And the nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the LORD will designate. You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God. It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said, "Desolate"; But you will be called, "My delight is in her," And your land, "Married"; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.
Isaiah 62:1-4
