In spite of all the turmoil of this current age and its constant and insistent demands upon every minute of the day and night, there is always time available to stop and be still.
Time is our most precious commodity, more valuable than gold and money, more expensive than houses and jewels. We spend it glibly, lose it constantly, and kill it when we have nothing to do.
'What is this life if full of care? We have no time to stand and stare', wrote the poet of old. He was quite right of course. Our fleeting time on this earth is bombarded with the demands of others, the expectations of friends and family, the encroachments of troubles and distresses, the anxieties of the evil that is being perpetrated throughout the world these last two years.
We need to stop; to stop and consider; to stop and think upon our ways and our reason for being here. Somebody once wrote a song with the words, 'Stop the world, I want to get off!' How perfectly that resounds with millions of people today.
We may not be able to stop the world from spinning, but we can stop the crush of everything that seeks to imprison us and shut us up into the confines of the dictates of a society gone totally insane. You may feel that is a bit strong a thing to say, but there is a moral insanity and a reckless stupidity across the nations right now that is being driven and enforced by dark powers that seek to enslave the entire world.
The human agitation that has been masterfully created through the media, films, governments and economists, has left our world with a seething mass of flesh seeking its own selfish purpose, intoxicated with violence, drunk with confusion, and being driven like demented sheep round and round in never ending circles. If we could look down from a great height and see the nations all spread out before us, it would look like a cauldron of writhing creatures bent on their own self-destruction, cannibalising one another, while stretching up through the mass to gasp some air every other moment.
The earth is ripe for judgement, for cleansing, for destruction.
To find peace, consolation, assurance and a sound mind, we need to stop, break away from the never ending madness, and be alone with our thoughts: and be alone with God.
He only is our place of refuge, our strength and hope, our peace and sanity. He only is the source of our stability and confidence, the rock which does not move and stands high above the deafening din of a wicked age.
The psalmist said, 'God is our refuge and strength; a present help in time of trouble'; but if we never take the time to come to that refuge, to draw on that strength, then how shall we endure the troubles and times of distress that seem to be increasing every hour of the day and night?
We go to sleep, hoping to forget all the unwanted pressures and worries, only to wake up again and again with the anxiety and stress still ever-present. We hope that things might get better and a new day will arise with the sun leaving all of yesterday's thoughts behind. Sadly, we find nowhere to run to and the mobile phone, the texts and calls all reminding us that we must catch up and join in the rat-race along with every other poor victim of this age of fear.
It is time to return to the Lord our Creator. Only he can bring us back to sensibility and harmony. There is a clock on the tower of a church in Ilfracombe down in Devon. When you look up to see what the hour is, instead of a clock face, you see the words, 'It is time to seek the LORD.' Oh, what a message that is!
Jesus said to his disciples, 'Come aside for a while;' come away from all the noise, the world and its demands, the people and and the business; come and sit down with me and learn my ways; see through my eyes; draw on my strength; fill your mind, your heart, with my peace.
There is only one hope for you and me to survive the coming months and years. There is only one hope for our personal peace, joy, happiness and confidence in this dark night. We need to stop what we are doing, turn off our phones and connections with this world, turn off all the voices in our heads that play games with our emotions and feelings, find somewhere to be still, and seek God with all of our hearts.
Even going to church is not the answer. God is not necessarily in the church you may attend. Going to some famous 'preachers' conference is no guarantee that God is there either. There may be lots of 'atmospheres', but that proves nothing whatsoever. There is plenty of that at a football match. There may be all sorts of commotions and phenomena and even weird things happen in the meetings, but it may have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit at all. People and preachers use the name of God an awful lot, but who says they even know him? Many religious deceivers have fooled millions of church goers already and taken their money in the name of Christ.
According to what the Bible teaches, it is when we leave all behind, climb a hill alone to meet with God, that we will find him. We do not find him in the crowd. He is in the wilderness of life, the lonely desert where nothing seems to grow, the rugged mountain that few will climb, the cave where we find ourselves at times when all have forsaken us.
Like an old hymn says,
'Standing somewhere in the shadows, you will find Jesus;
He's the only One who cares and understands;
Standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Him;
And you will know him by the nail-prints in his hands.'
'But you will not come to me that you might have life.' (John 5:40)
