Vapors

      I read a book some years back which opened with a prayer meeting in a remote village.  The participants came one by one, slowly, being very careful not to draw any attention as to where they were going or why they were going to this remote place.  It was quiet and it was in the dark.  Soon the group gathered into a circle and prayers began to be made.  At the close of the little circle meeting in that remote spot, it was noticed that there was a ring around the floor where the participants had been.  It was a ring of tears as each one had been weeping for the needs of the people.  It is quite a different scene from the warm climate controlled rooms that we utilize in our own prayer meetings.  Usually, but not always, just a few tears are shed and certainly not a sufficient amount to indicate the previous presence of a group of believers.  Adversity sometimes forces change upon people and how they function in a society that no longer allows them religious freedom.  James 4:13-15 says, “ Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”  We have grown custom to our way of doing things and quite often think that they will always be that way.  After all, we live in America, the land of opportunity and freedom guaranteed by our constitution.  The most recent disease forced us to devise new ways to worship and in some cases placed us six feet apart and wearing a mask.  Temporary laws were used to limit the amount of people that could be in one place at one time and for the most part was obeyed by the local assemblies of worship.  Only a handful of worship centers defied the government mandate.  We know from the Scriptures that nothing on this earth will stop the church from being established and growing according to the dictates of the Lord Jesus Christ and certainly not the government or any other group of people, political or religious. The Lord Jesus Christ is growing His church and He has given us ample instructions in His Word as to how to do this.  We may have snickered at the idea of “drive-in” churches but now hear the honking of horns when an “amen” is warranted coming from a parking lot of cars filled with families that decided to worship that way as the pastor speakers from the rooftop of his local church.  The passage for today reminds us that the things of this life are temporary and not guaranteed for any age.  It is all up to God Who is in control.  We may say, Sunday we will go to our usual place of worship and do our ritual as usual as we have done for the past thirty years.  Adversity is coming as the Scriptures have adequately reminded us of that fact.  How long will it take to continue our practice of freely worshiping God?  Most recently, the local churches found ways to continue their worship by utilizing technology that had been developed for other purposes.  That too may be short lived and we may be back at the point of walking one by one, in the dark, to a remote designated spot, in order to pray, and that we will do because nothing will ever stop the church and the Head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God that He still is on the Throne!