Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

January 17, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: MARK 13

7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

“SUCH THINGS MUST NEEDS BE”
It sure can be discouraging when you consider what is going on in our world. The news is full of “wars and rumors of wars”. Nations are fighting with each other all over the globe. Even America has numerous nations that hate us and wish we were wiped off the face of the earth. It even seems common now to hear about earthquakes in different continents, many of which cause damage and even loss of life. Jesus did not say “if” you hear of these things, He said “when ye shall hear”. Jesus said that these things literally need to happen. It is part of the plan. I admit that this is confusing to me in some areas because if all this is going to happen, and needs to happen, why should we keep praying that it doesn’t and fight to try to keep it from happening?

God says “be ye not troubled”. This word “troubled” means frightened. It means that these things should not surprise us when they happen, and we should not be afraid when they are happening. Why is that? Because Jesus said not to be. Why should I pray for America even though things will get worse? Because Jesus said to. Why should I pray for the peace of Israel even though peace will not come till Jesus rules? Because Jesus said to. Why should I pray “the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers” when it seems it is harder to get them? Because Jesus said to. We do not pray because it makes sense, we pray because Jesus said to.

Jesus said these events would be the beginning of sorrows. This is a word meaning travail, like the pain a mother goes through giving birth. What happens after a mother goes through the pain of child birth? Indescribable joy of the new birth of a precious child after the “travail” of labor. What will happen after the pain and “travail” of these events of the end times? Indescribable joy in the presence of God in our heavenly home. There is always pain before new life.

We keep working and praying because we do not need to be troubled by the circumstances of this world, but we want to reach every single person possible. We cannot change some things, but we can reach some people. We should keep doing everything we can because ”such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.” It is not over yet.