Driving home from work this evening I was listening to a radio show about the signs of the times we are in. One of the commentators remarked, "Most Americans are not aware of the signs because they are asleep." I nodded my head thoughtfully, and then heard Holy Spirit say, "ALL the virgins went to sleep." I had to rush into the house, grab my Bible, and turn to that wonderful scripture in Matthew 25 so see what He was showing me: "At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they ALL became drowsy and fell asleep." (Matthew 25:1-5)Does it seem to you that our Bridegroom is taking a long time in coming? It does to me! I pray for His return every day. But when He does not yet return, do we then get drowsy and just turn on the TV? Do we seek out entertainment to escape all the bad news around us? Do we keep so busy with work and kids and activities that we manage to just stay in our own little bubbles? These are probably all pictures of the way we have fallen asleep.
"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!' Then ALL the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. " (Matthew 25: 7) By that time there has been a great cosmic disturbance of the earth, as we can read from Matthew 24, Luke 21, Revelation 6, 8 and elsewhere. By this point of course ALL the virgins are awake, for the earth has been shaken beyond recognition and life is no longer as we know it! And unfortunately, half of them still have no oil - no relationship with Messiah and no understanding of His Word.
But what about right now? Life as we have always known it is pretty much still going on except that we know some folks are losing their jobs, a lot of us have vanishing 401ks, and some people in Kentucky are without power in a terrible ice storm. But Congress is getting ready to pass another $800 billion stimulus plan, so hey, isn't everything going to get right back to normal pretty quickly? If you think so, you are asleep! And you are not alone - the Bible says we ALL go to sleep - but praise God some of us awaken with the wisdom, understanding, and intimacy with Yahshua that has been planted in our hearts and sustains us through the shaking and into the Kingdom! Maybe NOW would be a good time to wake up, keep watch for the signs our Lord has given us, and put that extra oil into jars.
