A cursory look at the headlines let’s you know there is a great deal of unrest in the world.  We are living in times of unprecedented change.  The middle-east is in turmoil with world-wide implications (just consider the price of gasoline).  This could be a cause for worry and concern unless you realize that God is not surprised.  The Psalmist wrote, “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?” (Psalm 2:1)  Be encouraged that God is not surprised but He is in control, “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them” (Psalm 2:4).

It’s a question of where is our focus?  Is it on our changing circumstances or our unchanging God?  Abigail Adams wrote these words to her son John Quincy Adams, “These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.  The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”   What a great quotation – “Great necessities call out great virtues!”

We live in challenging times and they will most likely become even more difficult.  The reality is people don’t think much about God when life is going well, the book of Judges attests to this fact.  It’s been said that you don’t realize that God is all you need until God is all you have.  God must have a great deal of confidence in you to have you on planet earth at this time.  God is at work and you have the opportunity to join Him in His great redemptive work.  These are great times to be alive!