Gloom and Doom or Suffering and Glory

A recent article in the AJC, entitled “Doom and gloom enter the room,” sketched a rather dismal view of the way things are in America. Global warming, increase in the price of gasoline and food, recession, and war in the Middle East cast dark clouds over our nation. If we want to think about sad news, there is a formidable list of tragic events. What about California’s venture into legalized same-sex marriage, the powerful international pornography industry, government schools that seek to propagate an antichristian worldview, the continued clamor for the destruction of human embryos for the sake of so-called scientific advancement, and the recent polls that reveal seventy percent of Americans agreed with the statement that “many religions can lead to eternal life.” In addition to these there is the mad rush to read the latest New Age book, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. All this is only a sampling of the contrary winds that are blowing in our culture. Gloom and doom is not confined to the physical and material. Actually, the greater threats we face have to do with the moral and spiritual evils that abound, seemingly unchecked, even applauded by minds set on suppressing the truth God has revealed about Himself and the world we inhabit.

Five people, from various professions, were solicited in the AJC article to offer their interpretations of the ills that beset us. The responses are a mixture of good and not so good advice. As to the economy it was observed that “short-term thinking convinces us this is a uniquely bad time.” A professor of earth and atmospheric sciences somehow knows that “it (global warming) looks a lot worse 100 years from now than it does ten years from now.” One could have hoped for good news from the contributing pastor, but the best that she offered was, “God, why aren’t you doing something about it (the terrible things happening in the world)? ‘And God says, I’ve already done something. I’ve created you, and you’re supposed to do something about it.’ ”

The Scriptures of the Christian faith are not silent about the direction the world will go before Jesus Christ’s second coming. We do not know when His coming will occur, but we can expect the shadows of the prophesied Great Tribulation events to characterize coming times. What perspective should Bible believing people have toward adversity in the short-term? How are we to think and live when the misery-index spikes upward? We have abundant divine wisdom with which to work. The epistles of the New Testament are unanimous in calling us to hope-filled living. Don’t get too comfortable with this fallen world. The Corinthian Christians were admonished to revamp their thinking about marriage. It might be better to consider the advantages of the single life in a time of adversity (1 Cor. 7:25-31). But whether one is single or married the things of this world should not rule over us. We must rule over them. We are not to be driven by our emotions and possessions. Our conveniences and comforts may evaporate before our eyes. But that is not what our life’s story is about. The apostle John seconds this truth with his affirmation that this “world is passing away” (1 Jn. 2:15-17). Higher gas and food prices, though not desirable, are not to determine the Christian’s joy index. The possibility of Iranian nuclear weapons is not beyond God’s sovereign control and purposes. The Christian is to sit lightly in the saddle of this world’s stuff. The financial stability of banks, the current mortgage crisis, and the drop in the Dow-Jones average can be unsettling. But one’s anxiety about these things is in direct proportion to how many of their eggs they have placed in the basket of this world. Authentic, robustly biblical Christianity tells a different story. The apostle Peter did not flinch at the realities of this world. He told his suffering readers that “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Pet. 4:7). On the surface this statement seems a bit premature. Peter said this about 64 A.D. Here we are almost two thousand years later. Is “the end” still at hand? Yes, it most definitely is. The second coming of Christ looms large on the horizon of our future. It is an any-moment possibility. This prospect for the Christian throws an entirely different light on all the pain and suffering endured in this world. The story of those who belong to Christ is not written in the ink of gloom and doom. Hardships, the uncertainties of the economy, ridicule suffered in the name of Christ, and the ascendancy of God-ignoring secularism are to be met with a hardy appetite for holiness of life. Our eyes are to be fixed on Christ who is coming for His church.

Dear fellow believer, let’s not allow our thoughts to be held hostage to the love of this world. Are we fearful, worried, grumpy, or sorrowful? This is a presidential campaign year. Politicians have much to gain from bad news about the state of our nation (depending on the number of promises they make). Let’s don’t get pulled into false hopes based on the illusory promises of political candidates who are going to make our lives “all better” if we will just vote for them. God’s people are to live by His promises. They know that earthly trials are to be immersed in the joy of the Lord. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself, perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10). That’s far from “gloom and doom.”

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church