Critters and the End of the Age

I am grateful for the warm weather this weekend to finish cleaning up in the garden and other outside chores!

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4, KJV

Me: Good morning, Holy Spirit!

Holy Spirit: Good morning, Jon!

Me: I cannot adequately express my gratitude for Your presence in my life! You are at work in ways that I don’t always even recognize. Help me to be more attentive to Your leading and not so dominated by the momentum of whatever I am doing at any given time.

Holy Spirit: Then attend to these words of Solomon, for they are wisdom. Yet do not follow his example, for he did not always do what this passage says.

20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. 25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

Proverbs 4, KJV

Me: I do recognize the need for diligence in relating to You. I know You are always seeking relationship with me, but I also recognize that I can be oblivious to Your voice if I am not listening for it.

8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

1 Kings 19, KJV

Holy Spirit: Yes, I do not override your will. At the creation, when we spoke all into existence, we did not strain nor raise our voice. Do not, therefore, expect Me to yell at you. Do not be like a child who has been trained that his mother only means business if she resorts to shouting. Consider Elijah. The tumult of the wind and the earthquake and the fire were raging without. Noisome fear and despair were raging within. Yet even with Elijah I did not raise My voice over his distractions. It was not until he turned his attention to me that I delivered instructions as to what he was to do.

Me: The angel prepared Elijah for his flight to Horeb. Was going to Horeb to hide in a cave Your idea?

Holy Spirit: In his fear of Jezebel, Elijah was like a horse with the bit in his teeth, wild-eyed and running headlong. I sent the angel to help him survive until he was able to listen to me. At Horeb, I sent the rock-breaking wind and the earthquake and the fire to get his attention. He was completely self-absorbed in his fear of Jezebel, as he knew she intended to make good on her threats against him. He was focused on her and on his own inadequacy, not on Me.

Me: It is easy to sit in my chair in peace and safety and be critical of Elijah’s fear. I am mindful of the lengths to which You were willing to go to get him to return to listening to You. I am grateful that You are speaking to me about minding my own heart. I know You are going to great lengths on my behalf as well. Thank You!

Holy Spirit: You are welcome!

Me: I hope You won’t think this a silly question. We have pets that are dependent on our daily provision for food and water, that are contained indoors such that they cannot fend for themselves. That is also true for many other people. Farmers have animals they have a responsibility to care for. What will be the fate of the critters that believers are keeping at the time of the rapture?

Holy Spirit: Consider Genesis 1:24-31

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Though every beast of the earth was subjected to the futility brought about by the sin of man, the animals were not responsible for it. You recognize I can rapture believers from the earth, including deep-sea divers, submariners, airline pilots, spelunkers, and diamond miners. Do not think I will be stymied by mere doorknob or farm gate latch.

Note the mention of the four fantastic beasts at the throne in Revelation 4 and 5. There is revelation of beasts in heaven. You recognized that the animals of earth obviously have life and that life is of Me. Have you wondered whether all the cats and canines born between creation to the marriage supper will be caught up to eternity in recognition that My creation was very good? What about cockroaches and mosquitoes? They are part of the life that I created. It is not their fault that the fall corrupted them from creature to pestilence.

I leave you with this mention of beasts from Isaiah 11 to consider:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Me: Yes, Amen! Thank You Holy Spirit! I love You!

Holy Spirit: You are welcome! I love you!

Late garlic planting / mulching – November 4th.

Featured photo mine, November 5th.