When all else fails
Restore us, O God;
Let your face shine, that we may be saved. Psalm 80:3
Read Luke 21:25—28
This is disturbing. What does it mean when I am disturbed? How do I interpret what is going on within me? I find the apocalyptic signs are like the daily headlines in their most unsettling form. I can’t ignore them because they are on the lips of Jesus. I am not to settle here. Here I have no lasting city.[1] No permanence. Rather, I am made for this encounter to come, the encounter with the Son of Man, who has himself endured for me all that disturbs human life, the very judgement and disaster and cruelty and injustice of death. In that he brought to an end all else that I or that anyone can trust, the very confidence of Israel in its own righteousness. When I am most deeply disturbed, truly, I am being shaken loose of all false assurance. I am being prepared to meet him.
Lord Jesus, you are the Son of Man. You have encountered what I fear most of all. In the face of my coming death, whenever and however that may come, there is nowhere else for me to turn. So when my little securities become insecure, my hopes hopeless, my self-assurance unsure, my profits turn to loss, and I am in unpayable debt; when good friends turn sour — then let me turn to the One who is true. The Son of Man: true to God, true to the human nature as I am to be. True to life over death. True to me. Prepare me for the meeting with your true self.
[1] Hebrews 13:14