Storm at dawn

This morning there was a storm at dawn. Dark skies flashed and danced with shafts of white fire to the rhythm of rolling thunder. As always, my windows were flung open, so night, whatever else it brings me, can dispel the dreariness of indoor life as it gradually grows into day. Rain pounded the hard ground below my windows, softening it, blurring the cracks and blending the earth by scattered rivulets. The air was clean, fresh and warm, and soon would be filled with the sounds of waking and work. I arose, gave thanks, and then fearfully entered the world step by step, where He would send me.

Moment by moment we inch closer to another great war. No, probably not world war three. We have been expecting it for decades and have failed to notice that we are, in fact, engaged in the midst of it already and, yes, it will possibly culminate with the end of the world—as we know it.

Countries are waving sabres threateningly at one of their number because it may have crossed the (imaginary) line of what the world agrees is acceptable mass homicide. Regionally, what is called ‘the Middle East,’ formerly known as ‘the Near East’ and, even earlier, ‘the Levant,’ is at it again.

Even with the state of Israel supplying sufficient reason for its neighbors to go to war against her, they would rather play it safe, go to war against themselves and kill each other, so hopefully to fly below the West’s moral radar. But, it’s not working. As ‘Arab spring’ led to ‘summer’, now it’s ‘Arab fall.’

Soon it will be all over. It will be ‘Arab winter.’ Or has it always been ‘Arab winter’? Always winter, and never Christmas. We have failed again to notice. First, world war three. Then, Arab winter, a cold, dark age that has plagued them for fourteen centuries. All because of a tall angel in a cave.

Face it, my brothers. We are passing through a very dark age, an age prophesied apostolically as ‘when the love of men grows cold.’ For those of us who have the light of Christ and walk in it, the world we inhabit is not dark. But there are some who say they have the light and have only a switch.

They turn the light on when they want to, and when they don’t want the light, they turn it off. They scoff at the idea that the present age is dark. For them it is full of opportunities. Yes, more opportunities than ever before. They feel confident, in control, and that is their only morality.

They call darkness ‘light,’ and light they call ‘darkness,’ but usually they do not pause to make the distinction at all. They simply follow each other, vying to win praise and renown. Who among them is the most moral, humanitarian, progressive? Meanwhile, another day dawns, and thousands die.

Who will be the winner in this latest battle of the great war? Certainly not the people trapped in the besieged lands. They have been plundered and enslaved for centuries and this is, for them, a fact of life. They know they will not benefit from their would-be rescuers for long. They know who they are.

Only those who suffer thus know who is the winner, even when they cannot speak His name. He is the same to all, all who cry out to Him, knowing Him or unknowing. He alone is the rescuer, and they who call upon Him know it. Even as they take leave of this life, He meets them and delivers them from death.

For You alone are Holy, You alone are Lord, You alone, O Jesus Christ, are the Most-High, to the glory of God the Father.

O Lord, save your people, and bless your inheritance!