DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Running Out of Time? Or Running Toward a Time?
by Mary Alice McGinnis
I love the changing of the seasons, watching the subtle little hints around us that awaken our senses that soon things are going to change. The daytime and evening temperatures are getting cooler. The daylight hours are getting shorter, and the nights longer. It will soon be harvest time. Soon the leaves will be changing colors, followed by the months of cold weather and even snow.
For Noah, God had given him a glimpse into what was ahead for humankind. God laid out a rescue plan, one in which would cause Noah to be ridiculed. Those who stood by and watched as Noah built this large wooden vessel on bone dry ground, refused to see the signs that things were about to change. After all, since they had never experienced rain, what did they have to be concerned about? And besides, Noah had been at this for years, and nothing had happened yet.
Today’s verses say: “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”
Little did they realize; they were running out of time. Perhaps God was using this time to draw them in, to give them a chance to seek Him. But instead, they stuck their heads in the sand and ignored the signs.
But Noah, a flawed and fallible person just like you and me, had been given a different vision. God had shown His favor toward Noah. He chose to use him in His redemption story for the world. Noah as he followed God’s plan, was not running out of time but running TOWARD a time – the promised of God’s rescue.
So where do you find yourself these days? In trying to cope with all the insecurities of this world, do you find yourself purposely sticking your head in the sand, ignoring the warning signs, and living day to day? Where might God be inviting you into His eternal rescue plan?
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. . . So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”
PRAYER PRACTICE
Take time right now. Focus on running toward that time, when God's eternal plan will be faithfully fulfilled and how He if "folding you into it!"
Jesus, because of Your rescue plan for us, we can “Run to the Father,” and into His arms opened wide for us. You have promised You will never leave us, nor forsake us, and YOU ARE coming back for us soon!
Amen, come, Lord Jesus!
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