Recall the Miracles of God, for He Wants to Part the Waters Again
Greetings in the Lord,
In traveling around Europe this week I am noticing a LOT of young Saudi men traveling with young Saudi women, probably their wives. No big deal, you say, but with one young couple I talked to, they left their four kids at home and have no travel agenda--supposedly just wandering around Europe. And they weren't even going to a major city to tour, at that. No way, not in a million years!
First off, young Saudi men travel with their buddies so they can drink alcohol and 'party' without their wives around, period. If they are traveling with their family, they take their family, and they never just wander around without hotels lined up and some sort of travel plan. It just doesn't happen. Keep in mind, too, that they weren't the only couple I saw. Nope, I saw several, and coincidentally the fellas were all wearing just about the same outfit--dark, long sleeve sweaters with tan jean shorts; typical of their conformist culture, I guess. And when I got on the train I could very clearly hear the young man speak sternly to another person on the phone about someone 'not being there to meet them' when they arrived. Oh, no travel plans? You don't know 'anybody' in this European town your're visiting? You only flew several hours from another country and took a train another two to get here and now nothing? These were the things they were claiming as we shared a table together on the train. Hmmm, looks to me like it's open season in Europe this summer.
The routine for years in the West Bank and other areas was for corrupt clerics to find some poor, disenfranchised Palestinian schmuck and offer him a large sum of money--to help his family, of course, and to gain some respect by being a martyr in a suicide mission for them. The lie went, 'It was the most respectable and honorable thing for a Muslim to do.' But where do you think some of that money came from? If you said "Saudi Arabia" you'd be right. Saudi guys would visit and give money to help in the 'infatada', then, the cowards slept with the local prostitues and trotted back to the desert afterwards, gloating to their friends about the "financial investment" they made.
So what can Europeans do? Psalm 77 sheds some light on this for us:
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me...at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint....I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 'Will the Lord reject forever? Will He never show His favor again?...Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?'
Then I thought, 'To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember His miracles of long ago. I will consider all Your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.' Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; You display Your power among the peoples. With Your mighty arm You redeemed Your people....
The waters saw you, God, the waters saw You and writhed; the very depths convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind...Your path led through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Wow! What an encouraging prophetic word! It tells us that even though the days have been and are dark and it seems like God is allowing enemies to reign, that God is going to rise up and lead us, He has not forgotten. And as Europeans go back to the quiet days of WWI and WWII, when they sought the Lord in the long, frightful nights they had and recall the great miracles of those days--the Lord is going to raise up some leaders in the US, UK, and I discern from Austria and Switzerland to begin to lead people by trusting in God. These leaders will be flawed individuals that really have not given us much Christian modeling, but God is going to use them in this hour to lead Europe and elsewhere by faith. I really discern that these leaders will have lots of internal squabbling to deal with as well, just as Moses had Korah and his own family members trying to compete with his God-given authority.
Be encouraged and dig in deep, Europeans. Go back and seek the Lord's face just as you did in the long nights in the wars before, for God is listening and waiting for you to cry out. He has seen your suffering and wants to deliver you by sending leadership to guide the way. Amen!
Be blessed and be a blessing.
In traveling around Europe this week I am noticing a LOT of young Saudi men traveling with young Saudi women, probably their wives. No big deal, you say, but with one young couple I talked to, they left their four kids at home and have no travel agenda--supposedly just wandering around Europe. And they weren't even going to a major city to tour, at that. No way, not in a million years!
First off, young Saudi men travel with their buddies so they can drink alcohol and 'party' without their wives around, period. If they are traveling with their family, they take their family, and they never just wander around without hotels lined up and some sort of travel plan. It just doesn't happen. Keep in mind, too, that they weren't the only couple I saw. Nope, I saw several, and coincidentally the fellas were all wearing just about the same outfit--dark, long sleeve sweaters with tan jean shorts; typical of their conformist culture, I guess. And when I got on the train I could very clearly hear the young man speak sternly to another person on the phone about someone 'not being there to meet them' when they arrived. Oh, no travel plans? You don't know 'anybody' in this European town your're visiting? You only flew several hours from another country and took a train another two to get here and now nothing? These were the things they were claiming as we shared a table together on the train. Hmmm, looks to me like it's open season in Europe this summer.
The routine for years in the West Bank and other areas was for corrupt clerics to find some poor, disenfranchised Palestinian schmuck and offer him a large sum of money--to help his family, of course, and to gain some respect by being a martyr in a suicide mission for them. The lie went, 'It was the most respectable and honorable thing for a Muslim to do.' But where do you think some of that money came from? If you said "Saudi Arabia" you'd be right. Saudi guys would visit and give money to help in the 'infatada', then, the cowards slept with the local prostitues and trotted back to the desert afterwards, gloating to their friends about the "financial investment" they made.
So what can Europeans do? Psalm 77 sheds some light on this for us:
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me...at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint....I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 'Will the Lord reject forever? Will He never show His favor again?...Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?'
Then I thought, 'To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember His miracles of long ago. I will consider all Your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.' Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; You display Your power among the peoples. With Your mighty arm You redeemed Your people....
The waters saw you, God, the waters saw You and writhed; the very depths convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind...Your path led through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Wow! What an encouraging prophetic word! It tells us that even though the days have been and are dark and it seems like God is allowing enemies to reign, that God is going to rise up and lead us, He has not forgotten. And as Europeans go back to the quiet days of WWI and WWII, when they sought the Lord in the long, frightful nights they had and recall the great miracles of those days--the Lord is going to raise up some leaders in the US, UK, and I discern from Austria and Switzerland to begin to lead people by trusting in God. These leaders will be flawed individuals that really have not given us much Christian modeling, but God is going to use them in this hour to lead Europe and elsewhere by faith. I really discern that these leaders will have lots of internal squabbling to deal with as well, just as Moses had Korah and his own family members trying to compete with his God-given authority.
Be encouraged and dig in deep, Europeans. Go back and seek the Lord's face just as you did in the long nights in the wars before, for God is listening and waiting for you to cry out. He has seen your suffering and wants to deliver you by sending leadership to guide the way. Amen!
Be blessed and be a blessing.
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