And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.
I have been told that among those who have a long illness, very often, just before that person passes away, they have a brief period of lucidity. It sometimes appears that they are about to recover. Medical science says that the brain, having through fasting been cleared of all the chemicals that sugar and carbohydrates produce in the brain, it has an opportunity to function on the food it is designed to live off, fat, and revives (though the body is still dying).
I think it is more of a moment of grace from God.
If that person is a believer, they have opportunities to express love for family and perhaps give testimony concerning Christ. I have heard of them describing eternity in more than a few incidents. I witnessed it once in a dying lady named Diane. She spoke to my pastor and me as she spoke to the Lord. Pastor said she was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, between heaven and earth.
If the person is unsaved, it provides them with a final opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel. For example, I was able to present the Gospel to my great-grandfather just hours before he passed away. Though he had suffered dementia for many years, it seemed to me that God gave him a period where, though his body was racked in pain, his mind was able to both hear and respond to the gospel.
I think the medical field sedates people so much now that those moments of clarity are rare. Leave it to the scientific world to steal from man any opportunity they might have to turn to God.
It seems to me that Josiah served as one of those final moments of grace. The death knell had already sounded for Judah. There was no turning from the inevitable consequences of sin. But just before the hammer of judgment fell, God gave Judah a last chance to turn to Him.
I wonder if God did something like that with our last president? There is no question that our nation faces the judgment of God. The current administration seems to be, spiritually, one of our history’s worst, if not the worst. But just before, we had an opportunity for revival. The economy did well. Our standing on the world stage improved vastly. We had freedoms of worship that had been slowly stripped. Whether we used those opportunities well is questionable. Whether we have them ever again is, in my estimation, doubtful.
If we do, I pray we take full advantage of the grace of God.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824
Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”
For this and, more than 6000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more
Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give.
No comments:
Post a Comment