A Time of Distress

A Time of Distress

“But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.”  Psalm 18:6 (NLT)

I really didn’t want to write about Las Vegas, but because it is so fresh I feel I should.  In May of this year, I wrote a Blog about “Suddenly”.  When I saw what happened in Las Vegas, my mind immediately went to that word, “Suddenly”.  This killing spree was so sudden; fun and music one minute, to terror and death the next.

A massacre, as they called it, is nothing new.  It happened many times down through the ages and there seemed to be no way it could have been prevented.  In the olden times they didn’t have television, radio, computers or Facebook to spread the news around.  I dare say that today everyone has heard about it around the world.  Then the critics began their tirade about whose fault it is along with the madman who did the shooting.

First critic I heard was that our guns had not been confiscated here in America.  They complain that if we didn’t have guns this wouldn’t have happened.  My answer to that is, if the average American didn’t have guns, there are millions out there on the black market, and if you wanted someone dead, you would find a way to do it. 

The second thing was, there was not enough security at the hotels.  My thoughts on this is as big as these hotels are, they are not going to frisk everyone who wants a room.  Hotels are not like airports with all their security systems.  No one is going to go through all your luggage or shopping bags each time guests are going in and out.  This is not a police state.

Now for the big one; why didn’t God stop it from happening?  Our God is a big God and he can do anything He wants.  However, we live in an evil world and evil things happen to the rich and the poor; the old and the young, the leaders and the followers.  God created the world to be wonderful place and then He put people in it. Because of their disobedience, it became evil. We are not puppets who do only what our master tells us, but God also gave us a mind so we could choose what we wanted to do.

We live in perilous times. We are threatened all around us and within us. Our country has been blessed by God, but we have turned away from Him.  Most Christians are aware we are living in the “latter” days. The years of freedom in America has gone from good to bad so quickly. I know I have said this before, but what was once good and righteous is now evil and fanatical. Christians are now “Haters” because they want people to follow God and they don’t accept the evil of the world.

God has a plan for every person’s life, but that doesn’t mean we choose to follow it.  Prisons are full because of bad choices.  We don’t have to follow His choice or plans if we don’t want to although God’s ways are the best.  It was not Gods plan for this madman to go into a hotel and start killing all these helpless people. Where do you think this man is today?  There are only two places to go when you die; Heaven or Hell.

Any one of us can die ‘suddenly’.  Are you ready?