Paul warned Timothy that “in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1). The Greek word for perilous is also translated fierce when describing the demon-possessed men that Christ healed of the country of the Gadarenes (Matthew 8:28). The fierceness of these two men was so great that “no one could pass that way”. Fear had immobilized the local community. This additional adjective gives more insight to what Paul had in mind when he spoke of perilous times.
I don’t think it would be a stretch to assert that our society is experiencing a season of peril or fierceness in our present day. Wickedness seems to have the upper hand and wherever we look righteousness is being attacked. Evil is called good, truth is ridiculed, and men are frozen with fear. To speak out against falsehood is to invite attack upon one’s self. The fact that there is no need for me to cite examples confirms the truth of what I am saying. Every reader can affirm that what I am saying is true.
David, the king of Israel, knew what it was to face the brazenness of wickedness. He wrote “For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:2-3). The foundations were threatened, the wicked had the upper hand, the righteous were invited to “flee as a bird to your mountain” (Psalm 11:1).
And so it is in our day. Things that are and have always been true are now turned upside down. We are asked to believe that men can be women and women can be men. We are instructed to embrace a culture that expects men and women to apologize for the color of their skin instead of judging them by their character. We are asked to accept lawless behavior as the just outcome of past mistreatments and economic disparities. The foundations indeed are threatened and we find ourselves asking as well, “what can the righteous do?”
The answer is just as David found it in his day. “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (Psalm 11:4-5). There is no escape for the wicked from the judgement of God. He notes every wrong attitude, word, action. Though chaos may seem to have its day, God remains on his throne. As Abraham asked rhetorically, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).
What the righteous can do is go to the Lord in prayer and find refuge and rest in him. The Psalmist reminds us of our course when things are upside down. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2). Do the events of our days trouble you? Rest in the Judge of all the earth.
From the Chaplain 