Day 158

Read REV 9:7-9.

While this is part of the fifth trumpet of the Dark Ages, careful study has unearthed no clear goal or theological purpose in this passage. (There is much speculation). It is as if one image, using simile, is piled onto another for the simple purpose of heightening the terror of the overall picture. What, then, is the point? What spiritual lesson can we learn from horrific images like the above? What role can disasters possibly play in our daily walk with Jesus?

If nothing else, disasters turn our minds back to God and His Word. (c.f. Joel 1 & 2) As human beings, you and I have been designed by God. The Bible, therefore, is like a software manual. It tells us where we came from, how we were made, how we function the best. The best software manual, of course, is written by the one who designed the software. That’s why the Bible is so important for us. The One Who created us knows what we are like and how we should live.

Sin is like a “glitch” in the software of our minds and bodies. Imagine if you could take your software problems directly to Bill Gates. This analogy may help us understand the value of Scripture. As with software, many hands were involved in creating the Bible, but God was personally involved in every part. When we study the Bible and pray we are in direct touch with the Designer.

The judgements of God, in a very down-to-earth way, are attention-getters. They are not vindictive; they are wake-up calls to realign our software to the way it was originally designed. The decision of how we relate to Jesus and His software manual is the most important decision we will ever face. We were designed by God and we function best in relationship to God. The worst possible disaster, therefore, would be to turn our face away from God and try to do things our own way. The trumpets are about the lesser disasters that turn our hearts away from the worst disaster.