“The Lord says, ‘Suppose you have run in a race with other men.
And suppose they have worn you out.
Then how would you be able to race against horses?
Suppose you feel safe only in open country.
Then how would you get along in the bushes near the Jordan River?’”
(Jeremiah 12:5 NIrV)
Well it's time to make that change,
people of the world today are fading;
all of us have our ups and downs,
you better think about it or you won't be around….
What is the world coming to,
seems like everyone is running from the truth;
we must stand up and fight,
walk into the light,
we're the people, we can do it, if we try…
It's time, time to make a change,
we are the people who can do it...
(Written by Bernard Bell and Marvin Winans, Carvin Winans, and Teddy Riley; recorded by The Winans)
Jeremiah realized IT WAS TIME some 2600 years ago. The world was crumbling all around him yet even as he proclaimed the judgment of God, people, even his own Jewish people, thought him to be foolish. He was dishonored, put in stocks, thrown into a cistern (water reservoir), and suffering frequent pain and disappointment. Yet he remained faithful and consistent, amid fierce and often extended conflict. Jeremiah accepted the burden of proclaiming God’s plans to the people, no matter how unpopular of politically incorrect. IT WAS TIME!
Has it changed much since 5-600 B.C.? Times are hard. Friends, neighbors, even family are turning away from the doctrines of God’s Word day by day. The more we stick up for God the more we seem to be ostracized and humiliated. We feel like giving in at times: perhaps retreating into our own little world; maybe even just a bit tempted to try their way (a lottery ticket, here or there, a jaunt to the slot machines, perhaps tiny bit of cheating on our taxes or time cards).
But the Lord warns us through Jeremiah that if we can’t win the world’s small games, how do we expect to beat it as the stakes get higher? As the Winans sang in their song, “IT’S TIME” to change things! We have to stand against the status quo and fight the apathy and the lies. We have to act as children of light. We have to accept the burden of proclaiming His Word! We are His people and we can do it!
It’s encouraging to know we do not fight alone. We have one another to lean upon and we have Jehovah Nissi leading the way. The battle is not our, it’s the Lord’s. We are his foot soldiers. And now, as one of my wife’s favorite sci-fi characters would say: IT IS TIME to “Engage!”
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