Our old friend, the sun, is experiencing a massive gravitational/magnetic storm. That means the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, are putting on brilliant displays.
Yesterday evening, my social media pages were awash with pictures of the lights. That included people from Northern Canada, where the borealis is a common sight, to Northern Florida, where they have never been seen before. Today’s image is from a friend in Colorado.
Many of the lights were pink. Pink is an uncommon color that is only visible during periods of highly intense activity. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen pink, where I have seen the blues and greens perhaps thousands of times.
Kathy and I spontaneously got out of our comfy evening spots, jumped in the car, and went on a quest to see them. Unfortunately, between the urban light pollution and cloud cover, we struck out. Still, it was nice to take a nighttime drive.
Non-believers are on a quest to find something to fill the void in their lives. They try many things, including material goods, power, substance abuse, sex, and other religions. All of those will fail them. Their only hope is to turn to Jesus.
Believers are on a quest as well. It is a two-fronted quest. We strive to be more like Jesus, and we take the gospel into a world of lost and hurting people. We will never fully fulfill either in our lifetime, but God is on the throne. He will bring all that are His to himself. We will have finished our journey to become all He created us to be once we reach glory.
That doesn’t mean that our quest is futile. Every person who comes to Christ causes a celebration in heaven.
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10
Similarly, God is pleased and glorified when we grow more like the Son.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” – James 1:22
“In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:3
“If you love me, keep my commands.” – John 14:15
Our quest is challenging. We may have disappointments along the way, but through Him we have the victory.
Some years back, when I was pastoring “the cowboy church” in Sherwood Park, Alberta, I was blessed to receive a wonderful birthday gift from my wife. It is a custom-crafted, saddle-bag-style briefcase marked with my brand.
We had to drive to a community a couple of hours away to pick it up, and that involved driving through an area with numerous pothole lakes and plenty of rough farmland.
Since my birthday was in November, the little lakes were mostly frozen. The ice wasn’t thick yet, but it was definitely there. If I recall correctly, we saw several mule deer and whitetails. We likely saw some late migrating flocks of ducks and geese, as that would have been typical for the season.
What I do recall clearly are muskrats. Now, muskrats are not rats at all. They are semi-aquatic mammals more closely related to voles than rats. An adult muskrat weighs about four pounds (a little under 2 kg), about half the size of your average house cat.
Typically, on that particular roadway, we would see a few muskrats on or in the lakes on the drive down and back. Sometimes we would even see four or five on the same tiny lake, which seemed like a lot.
On the return trip, I was astounded to see the population on several lakes. There were muskrats, for sure, but in incredible numbers. We were driving, and I couldn’t stop to count them, but I am a pretty fair estimator over small areas. There were several hundred muskrats basking in the sun on each of the lakes.
That’s more than I would see in a typical year, all in one place. I had read about places up north where the fur trappers could harvest them by the hundreds in a day, way back when the north was being opened, but to see them was breathtaking.
So, what does all that have to do with the Christian faith walk? Maybe nothing directly, but it does bring to mind a few thoughts.
Sometimes, we get to thinking that, like the few muskrats I normally see, we are among the few faithful Christians left in the world.
Elijah, the prophet, felt sorry for himself and complained to the Lord about being the last faithful one in Israel (See 1 Kings 18-19). God let him know in no uncertain terms that he was wrong.
We can get into Elijah’s mindset at times.
We get tired and defensive when the world seems to be spiraling out of control. We can start to doubt and whine. We forget the incredible power and presence of God. We begin to repine (to feel discontent and complain … sorry, I heard that word in a hymn recently, so I had to look it up and find a place to use it)
Now, it is true that only a remnant of humanity will be saved. More will choose the darkness over the light than those who will be faithful. Even the so-called “church” has people who are not believers. It is easy to become discouraged and isolated, particularly if your little corner of the kingdom struggles.
When we feel that way, we need to stop and remember that we are in God’s presence, and we need to consider His long-range plans.
These words from the closing book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, through the Apostle John, encourage me.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”Revelation 7:9-12 ESV
There are multitudes of believers from all over the world. I also remember some encouraging words from the book of Hebrews.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
When you start to doubt and feel discouraged, hold fast. God is still in control. We are united with all the saints (past and present), and victory is ours through Jesus.
When you are tempted to repine, remember that, like the Lord showed Elijah, He has a much bigger picture than we can see in the moment, and stay the course.
Until next time, remember that while battles are still to be fought, the victory is ours.
