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The
Lightstand Magazine
1986
• November • Reflections on the way
by Bro. Robin Lamplough
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The
spring is giving way to summer. The jacaranda trees are in
flower. So, this year, are the magnificent Australian flame
trees. The birds begin their morning overtures earlier each
day. We may expect, now, time of icy, driving rain; for this,
not winter, is our cold season. There is a tradition among
our university students that, if it is to be successful, work
for the final examinations must have begun before the jacarandas
bloom. Some students watch anxiously for this sign of the
impending year-end. Are we, in the community of the saints,
as wide awake to the signs about us?
MOBILISATION At army headquarters they are conducting a registration
exercise throughout this district and many adjoining districts,
in a wide arc from the mountains to the coast, in order to
bring the local commando units up to strength. The exercise
affects men up to the age of fifty-four: men this far exempt
from service and in an age-group which has never since its
youth been called in any general mobilisation.
And in the national capital, according to the Press, politicians
and officials grapple with the problems not only of general
security but of the complications attendant upon the death
of a neighbouring
leader whose aeroplane was driven of course by bad weather
and crashed in foreign territory. Do we remember that the
God whom we worship "removeth kings and setteth up kings"
(Daniel 2.21) in His ruling in the kingdoms of men? The implications
of this latest development are not yet possible to perceive
but they are surely a part of the general pattern of Divine
preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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THE
FINALS There is a story of a little boy with a student sister and
a grandmother who lived with the family. One day the little boy's
friend asked: "Why does your Grannie spend so much time reading
her Bible?" The boy took time to consider. "I dunno,"
he said at last. "I think perhaps she's swotting for her finals."
Like so many words spoken in jest, this tale has a lesson and a
warning for all those who from the Scripture have learned the purpose
of God. We understand that the end of all things is at hand. We
acknowledge also the importance of the Word of God in preparing
a people for His Name. How well are we "swotting for our finals"?
All around us signs of warning abound. The flowers of the jacarandas
tell the students that for their studies time is running out. Every
incident of unrest, every new security measure, every news bulletin
should serve to remind us that the Kingdom of God is about to be
established and that soon we shall be required to appear before
the Judge and to give account of our stewardship.
Let us pray, each one, for the wisdom to set our priorities right;
to
have our eyes on the right mark; to distinguish between reality
and
illusion. Then we shall be able to discern rightly the signs of
the
times in which we live and prepare ourselves as we should for the
age to corne.
R.L.
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