Calm Before the Storm

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll,^[a] there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.² I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

³ Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. ⁴ The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. ⁵ Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.

Sometimes,  when it is quiet,  you get that sudden sense of foreboding,  especially if there are kids involved.

And so it proves in this text,  that the half hour silence that we spoke of yesterday,  is the calm before the storm.

The seven seals seem to wait for Seven Angels with Seven trumpets,  bringing about 3 terrors.  And this is all before the Beast arises out of the bottomless pit.

The more I read this, the more lost I feel in terms of any sort of narrative.  All I can really ascertain is that there is a whole lot of trouble coming that is being described,  and the only comforting thing I can see is that God will win in the end,  and he has,  contrary to all appearance,  never lost control.  And for the saints who remain faithful through these times a great reward awaits.

But before the Angels get busy with their trumpets,  (unleashing all kinds of slaughter and misery),  there is an interesting description of the scene before the throne.

Out of the reverent silence of the billions of saint's and angels,  and with all those eyes on him, one angel mixes the prayers of the saints with incense (representing worship) and burns them on the altar.

Now let's be clear.  The context of the prophecy of Revelation is persecution and suffering.

These prayers are not very likely to be requests for a better job,  or that a dental appointment goes well.

I can only speculate,  but I imagine these prayers are outcries for God to save his people and put an end to the misery.

And the smoke of the prayers mingled with the incense goes up before God.  This is code for,  'God heard'.

And seemingly,  as a direct result of their prayers,  the angel takes fire from the altar,  still burning off the incense and prayers, and throws it to the earth,  and there is thunder,  lightening and earthquakes.

The prayers of God's people have a direct impact on earth. 

But not always the impact we might have hoped for.

I can't say today's message is encouraging in the conventional sense. I can't because my message is;

Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.

I have known quite a few people who have prayed about situations,  felt they were in great faith and then seen them deteriorate even more!

The cup is not always taken away. 

The answer is that there is not always an answer.

Sometimes there is more of a question than an answer. 

We have our questions.

God has his.

I remember once,  about 11 years ago,  singing the Matt Redman song,  'blessed be your name', which speaks about praising God through the good times and the bad.

Every blessing you pour out I will turn back to praise,  we sang.

When the darkness closes in Lord,
Still I will say,
Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

I was in a good place at this time.

My first child was about one year old,  I had recently moved back to my countryside town which I had been pining for for years. We had moved back to be near family, so our son would have a relationship with our respective set of parents.  I was in the best paid job I have ever been in.  Had been married for ten years or so,  and I felt like things were on the up.

I became conscious as we sang that song that I had never had anything really bad happen to me up to that point. It was all very well singing this song, but I had not been tested. 

You give and take away,  we sang.

And as I declared my intention to keep praising,  even in 'that desert place' a little chill ran down my spine.  A sense of foreboding,  that out of the stillness of this contented moment,  something bad was coming.

It was just a month or so later that my mother was diagnosed with cancer.

She died three months later. 

A year after that I was sacked from my well paid job.

2 years after that,  my marriage disintegrated.

Okay,  hardly like Job, on whose experience the song was based on ,  but nonetheless a tough and turbulent time for me.

But I knew,  as I have always known,  that whatever my lot, whatever befalls,  my God is in control and is worthy of praise. It is well with my soul.

Lots of good things have come out of the trauma of what happened.  It doesn't make it better.  I would trade it all to have my mum back,  but I acknowledge,  not my will but thine be done. 

In the end,  this pearl of great price is worth hanging onto.

Like Job can I say, 
Will I receive only good from the hand of the Lord?

Like I said, not answers but questions.

We have our questions, 

And God has his. 

How much do you love me?
Were you just paying lip service,  or are you willing to see this through to the end? 

And the encouragement here is that the prayers and outcries of the saints,  arise before God.

He notes everything. 

He notes it and still works out his will for our good. 
And ultimately,  even our troubles are working for us an eternal reward.

Hang in there.

We win in the end.

Whatever comes,

We are more than conquerors, through Christ who loves us,  and gave himself for us.

Amen.