Ok, ok I know it may be a stretch, especially in light of all the craziness happening in our world today, but at least hear me out...What if it's all about to change for the good? What if God really is, as the song goes, about to turn it all around? What if all those television prophets from a few years back, who told of all the good about to come, weren't wrong after all?
While ministering recently I had an idea, if it is indeed from the Lord, I will call it an epiphany. First, let me give you the backstory. My life, as I knew it, actually blew up and got completely rearranged about three months before I found out about it. In August of 2017 a Machiavellian plot was hatched to completely destroy the work of God in our city and silence my voice through discreditation from false accusation. I only found out about the timing a year later. What was interesting is the date that the plan was hatched was actually the timing of that "once in a generation" eclipse that went through our nation. Remember that? Well, I got to thinking, it wasn't just my life that got rearranged on that day, from that day forward it feels like the entire world went hay-wire? Is it just me who sees it that way or can I get an Amen?
Think about the madness of the last several years. Before the eclipse I actually believed that there were only 2 genders, now it turns out there are some 38! : ) I had no idea! (Sarcasm implied) Before the eclipse we were some 30 months away from the global pandemic, that some say became a "scam-demic" by the way it was used to rearrange the global order and serve as a license to take away freedoms that were once considered 'inalienable rights,' and so on and so forth the madness goes. WELL...believe it or not, that "once in a life time" eclipse is coming back, this coming April, nearly 7 years later. Huh! 7 years...sounds kindly biblical doesn't it? In Hebrew this is known as a Schmita, the completion of a 7 year cycle. When the eclipse returns it's going the opposite direction of the one in 2017. While that one started in the Northwest and went to the Southeast, the 2024 one will start in the Southwest and exit through the Northeast, making a cross through our nation. '
Sooo...what if the eclipse marked a significant time of shaking and testing from the Lord that was preparing us for the goodness that lies ahead? Before you call me cooky would you at least consider it? You might say, well Cameron, you are sounding a little crazy pointing us to the stars. Well, remember their original purpose. According to Genesis 1 the sun, moon and stars aren't just for our calendars but serve as "Signs to mark sacred times on the earth." In other words, they are God's billboard saying, "Pay attention! I am doing something significant, don't miss it." While God's people shouldn't be into astrology, we should at least pay a little attention to astronomy. Remember the wise men knew the Messiah had been born because they noticed a new star appearing in the sky and they followed it to encounter the Christ. The Bible says, "The heavens declare the glory of God the skies proclaim the work of His hand. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge" (Psalm 19). So, if what I am saying is indeed an epiphany from God, then the question becomes why? Why would God allow us to go through this intense time of shaking over the last 7 years? Well the Scripture speaks of going from Glory to Glory. It just never tells you what the land of "TO" looks like! Just ask Jacob. The Lord told him not to be afraid to go down to Egypt, there he would be made into a great nation, God would be with him, and would bring him back. (Genesis 46:3-4) He failed to mention that his people would be persecuted, beaten and enslaved for 400 years before they would return! Someone said, "God tells you what you need to know on a need to know basis." He likes to omit crucial details in the process because we would likely never go on the journey, yet it's through the journey that Lord is preparing us to inherit the promise. I used to have a mentor who was an executive at Kentucky Fried Chicken. He would say, "Cameron, chicken out of the oven too early will make everyone sick!" What did he mean by that? He meant that a person's character has to match their destiny. Your destiny, too early, will crush you. So it's through the journey that we get basted, marinated and cooked to completion becoming ready for what God has for us... and the bigger the calling, the hotter the oven!
One of my favorite movies is The 10 Commandments with Charlton Heston. As Moses is fleeing Egypt heading to the wilderness for his time of preparation there is a dramatic scene where the narrator says, "Into the blistering wilderness…the man who walked with kings now walks alone. Torn from the pinnacle of royal power, stripped of all rank and earthly wealth, a forsaken man without a country, without a hope, his soul in turmoil like the hot winds and raging sands that lash him with the fury of a taskmaster's whip. He is driven forward, always forward, by a God unknown, toward a land unseen. Into the molten wilderness of sin, where granite sentinels stand as towers of living death to bar his way. Each night brings the black embrace of loneliness. In the mocking whisper of the wind, he hears the echoing voices of the dark...Moses! Moses! Moses! His tortured mind wondering if they call the memory of past triumphs or wail foreboding of disasters yet to come or whether the desert's hot breath has melted his reason into madness. He cannot cool the burning kiss of thirst upon his lips nor shade the scorching fury of the sun. All about is desolation. He can neither bless nor curse the power that moves him, for he does not know from where it comes. Learning that it can be more terrible to live than to die, he is driven onward through the burning crucible of desert, where holy men and prophets are cleansed and purged for God's great purpose, until at last, at the end of human strength, beaten into the dust from which he came, the metal is ready for the maker's hand." Isn't that awesome? What a perfect description of God's process in our lives to prepare us for what He is calling us to.
So perhaps, like Moses, maybe the earth has gone through a similar period of chaos to prepare God's people for the promises of good that lie ahead. The old country preacher used to say the formula in the Bible is always, "Promise, Problem, Provision." That's good to remember. The Lord gives you an amazing promise and no sooner does the word go forth that all the opposition hell could throw at you comes and the promise looks like a lie, until the fulfillment comes. What if we are entering the fulfillment of all the good promises? Who knows? Only time will tell. Perhaps I am being naive, perhaps that's just a pollyanna outlook and things are not getting better, they really are about to get worse. Well if that is the case, if nuclear war is imminent and our nation has fallen with no hope of return, remember God is still with you, you were born for this hour (Acts 17:26) and He will partner with you to use you mightily in the coming days ahead all for His amazing purposes. So either way, for those who are saved and called according to His great purposes, good lies ahead, so be encouraged and remember if it ain't good, it ain't over, because in the end God will turn it all for good. Could be a tough time getting there...BUT the end is still the same...Jesus wins!
Cameron McDonald
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