PERILOUS TIMES

As I write this, in the background I can hear the newscast of the search for the second, living, Boston bomber. The reporter is announcing that the whole city of Boston and surrounding suburbs are under a lockdown. The remaining bomber on the lam could be outfitted with a suicide bomb. The news, I'm sure, will clear up and change some misconceptions by the time you read this, but right now the people of the City of Boston are locked into their homes huddled in fear around a news source. Within the same week the explosion in Texas leaves Americans asking, "What is going to happen next?" All of this leaves a phrase of Scripture echoing in my head: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." (2Ti 3:1). "Perilous times." The best definition of the original word translated "perilous" would be "difficult" and "dangerous." That does describe the days we live. Whether catastrophic effects of nature gone crazy, the psycho deranged roaming about, the plague of criminals, the proliferating terrorists, or the new, medicine-resistant, spreading disease, there are always current reminders that our world is dangerous and difficult, that we are not safe. Oh, we are constantly reassured that we are safe, that peace is coming, that things are getting better. But, that only directs our minds to another Biblical warning: "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." (1Th 5:3). The only safe place in perilous times is in Jesus. With both these calamities this week, there was also the march of destructive storms across the Midwest. One of my daughters told me that the tornado alarms where her family lives kept going off in the night and that they had to twice run to the basement and spent much of the night there. Perilous times. The disciples would describe that night on the Sea of Galilee, when that terrible storm that frightened even the veteran fishermen hit, as a perilous time. Yet, they discovered that when Jesus is on board, the boat isn't sinking and one will come through the storm. Jesus stilled the storm. They were safe with Jesus. So are we.