The Short Message and the Long Obedience

You need to endure so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Imagine for a moment that you are a citizen of Ukraine back before anyone has any idea that Russia is going to invade your country. As a follower of Jesus, you notice some things in your society that trouble you — some fast dealing and unjust actions by some of your fellow citizens that take advantage of other people, and they seem to be getting away with it. So, you pray, saying, “Lord, how long are you going to let this go on, with bad people making good people suffer?”

And then God answers you: “They aren’t going to get away with it for long. Vladimir Putin’s troops are coming, and they will disrupt everything.”

You are thunderstruck! “Oh no, Lord! Why would you allow a country that is worse than ours to invade us?”

At the time of this writing, we don’t yet know how Putin’s move against Ukraine will end, but if you substitute Judah for Ukraine and Chaldeans (Babylonians) for Russia, you basically have the prophet...