We are to listen carefully to the warnings of the watchmen, but we are not to become obsessed with their warnings. We’re to gather all the knowledge we can about the coming storm so we can prepare our hearts for whatever destruction it brings.
However, we are not to let fear or anxiety consume our thinking, dominate our minds or take hold of our hearts!
Darkness is certainly coming, and judgment is at our very door. As God’s people, though, we cannot allow any cloud of darkness to hide the light of his great promises of love and mercy toward his children. We are to be well informed by the Lord’s words and prophets, but we are not to dwell on prophetic knowledge so much that it takes over our lives.
The devil would love for that to happen. He knows if he can’t get you to doubt God’s Word concerning judgment, he’ll take you to another extreme by driving you to a fearful obsession with perilous times. The deceiver will try to rob you of all hope by consuming you with thoughts of foreboding.
The apostle Paul reassures us about such things with this instruction: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Paul is telling us, “You’ve heard all the warnings. Now simply take heed to what God’s Word reveals and to what his watchmen are saying. Then, finally, fix all your thoughts on Jesus and his goodness.”
I have warned that Christians are going to suffer, that there will be great loss and hardship, and that right now multitudes of precious saints all over the world are enduring unbelievable tribulation. None of these things is the focus of all my energies and ministry. No, the deepest expression of my soul is to proclaim the love of the Father and the tender mercy of our savior Jesus.
I acknowledge the world’s evil, and I grieve over it in my prayer closet; but I know that God alone is in control of all these things. When I go to bed at night, I fix my mind on whatever is pure, noble and praiseworthy.