The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1.

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide in you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17 NKJV.

This morning in our Friday Zoom Retreat, we looked at an example of the darkness right now in this world. And we need to recognize the darkness because it was for that darkness in the hearts of mankind that Jesus, the Son, was nailed to the cross. As Jesus taught, the darkness springs from our own hearts and minds. We can be indifferent to the suffering of others right up until the time that it impacts us or those we love. That too, is why Jesus went to the Cross. There are consequences to sin. And our chapter, Joel 2, describes the plague of locusts that compares to the plague of armies. Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come…At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale…Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? v. 1-2, 6, 10-11. And what does Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, tell all of us? “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. v. 12-13. It goes on to describe all the good and needed things God gives to us every day that exist only because He created them to exist. Contrast that with the fruits of darkness bearing down upon us in this our own age of mankind. Do we have eyes to see, hearts to mourn, spirits to cry out to Creator God? Don’t kid yourself. We need God! He is the only One who can save us from ourselves. “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. v. 28-32.

Don’t be blind to the darkness in this age. Jesus wasn’t afraid to confront the religious leaders of their time. He called them blind guides…hypocrites…blind fools…blind men…snakes…brood of vipers…Matthew 23:1-36. Why? Because they refused to see the darkness in themselves and others for the great harm it was doing in leading them away from God. And in their blindness, they crucified the Son of God. Who are our leaders crucifying? We can’t afford to be blind. Our Creator God will return. There will be consequences. And there is hope. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! My soul has been so troubled of late because the same sins that existed when Jesus was crucified exist today. We who love God need to hang on and put our trust and our hope in Him who is faithful. And pray. Pray for those lost in darkness and despair that they will wake up and cry out for God to heal them. He paid the price of our sins. He was the only One who could. Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:28-30. Paid in full by Creator God. The Creator God who is ready to help you. When the darkness closes in, cry out to Him. How can we not? Do you think the blind guides, the hypocrites, the blind fools, the blind men, the snakes and brood of vipers will save you or give their own life for you?