No doubt you have heard the phrase, “Hindsight is 20/20”. This exact phrase was the catalyst to my excitement on December 31, 2019. I looked forward to a new decade and the adventure it would bring. Indeed, this year was full of adventures both hoped for, intentionally chased after and those unexpected.
It’s the unexpected where hindsight is required in order to see what was missed. Was there something you could’ve or should’ve said, done or abstained from? Where were your blind spots, those things you are caught up wondering, “That was so obvious! How could I have missed that?!” Hindsight is 20/20!
I suspect that is how the people who listened to the prophets felt as they were describing visions from God. To them, a lot didn’t make sense at the time until it happened and then the light came on. “OH! That’s what that was!”
When I am teaching a different perspective of a well-known verse in Scripture, I will preface it with, “forget what you know and listen as if for the first time.” Why do I do this?
Because our minds have a tendency to go back to what we already know. How confusing is it to hear Carrie Underwood sing the Sunday Night NFL theme song without singing the words to Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You”? (A song that was on the first cassette tape my parents bought for me when I was five years old. You can say I have been singing this song all of my life. HAHA)
Let’s look at a prophecy Malachi spoke. After he had described the day of the Lord’ wrath toward the wicked and the reward for those who revere His name, he concluded the prophesy by saying, “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.” (Malachi 4)
What do you think the people of Israel were watching and waiting for? A chariot of fire with horses of fire returning Elijah in the same manner he was taken away? We would call that ridiculous because Scripture gives us what we need to make sense of it but if you were an Israelite at the time, what would you be watching for? They understood Malachi to say that Elijah will come before the Lord. That was their point of reference. Not a wild-looking, bug-eating weirdo called John the Baptist. The one Gabriel told Zechariah that John would “go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.”
Do you know what to watch for? How are you waiting for the things yet to come? How are you interpreting the sign of the times?
Where are we on the Kingdom Calendar? Are the prophecies preserved in Revelation for us unveiling before our eyes? Could be…could be not. How do we know?
Remember 1984? There was the Heaven’s Gate Cult who believed they were living in the end times and there was a spaceship following the Hale-Bopp Comet that was going to take them to their new home in space. How about the turn of the century with all of the hype around Y2K? How many other doomsday prophecies have failed?
The point is we do not know. Scripture tells us to stay awake and keep watch for it will happen like a thief in the night. We are to pay attention to the signs of the times. While it is all unfolding, we are to keep our wits about us and remain focused on what Jesus has commanded us to do.
Go into the world and make disciples.
This we cannot lose sight of.
If you have forgotten The Lord, there is no time like the present to remember Him.
If you feel ill-equipped in making disciples, we are happy to talk to you about our Coaching in HD Disciple-Making Groups.
You don’t want to look back with “hindsight” and say, “How could I have missed that opportunity?” Contact us today to find out about Healing Discipleship.
