"Betrothed"

Preface: I was scrolling way back through the years of these posts....looking for a particular post....a short story that I wrote....the name of which I could not remember....the only clue I had to put in the search was marriage. I couldn't find it....but came across this post from November 14 of 2016....with the title of....Betrothed. I cannot even remember writing it....but I thought it interesting to bring back.....and here it is....

Betrothed

               My wife and I were guests at a lovely wedding earlier today where two young Christians were united in marriage. I have been in the habit for quite some time, and even every Lord's Day in my own church, of entering the sanctuary....sitting down in the pew....opening the Bible....anywhere....and starting to read the first words that I come to on the page. I don't turn around and chitchat with the brother or sister in the pew behind me or look around at all. It's just an idiosyncrasy of mine that fills up the few minutes before the worship service begins.
               So I did that earlier today in this beautiful Lehigh Valley church. Quite frankly it doesn't get much better than this. I flopped open the Bible and my eyes met the 58th chapter of Isaiah. I read the first two verses over and over and over. They read...

        "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them....."  

              I read these verses four or five times and it was then time for the marriage ceremony to begin, and I had not thought about this reading of Scripture until now, after midnight, as I sat down in a hotel room pondering what to write as my Lord's Day post.
             The words "as if" were what affected me most as I sat in that pew, for this most certainly is America today. These verses were written to a people who thought that they were a faithful nation. Contextually for us today, it would speak to the church...and to me... rather than those outside of the church.
            We are in need of a humbling for we have forsaken our God. Even our best offerings are tinged with the pleasures of the American way of life in the year 2016. God is at this time bringing judgments upon America....and at the same time removing veils over the eyes of many within His church, and has actually been doing so for many years....even many decades. Herein is our hope.... that we come to see ourselves as we truly are, a church in great need of introspection, in perilous times, and to cling to the promise from the book of Nahum...."The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him."
           We are today a church betrothed to Christ.....and He is coming for us....surely it would behoove us to make sure that we have oil for our lamps.

Note: I just noticed that in five days it will be the tenth anniversary of that young Christian couple that were married that day! Happy anniversary thoughts to them....wherever they are....for God's continued blessings.