Fire and the Fading Year

"...I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza..." Amos 1:7

There is an old spiritual centered on the promise that the world will nevermore be destroyed by water. The assurance to Noah does not mean all judgment will be averted. Hence the song includes the words: "...the fire next time." War recurs in the Mid-East by reason of wounds of long bleeding. The conflict is protracted. The conflict was predicted. The conflict will not abate until the coming of the Son of Man. Our former UN Ambassador mentioned the likelihood of an Israeli strike on Iran between the election and the inauguration. The idea is that Iran's nuclear program must be stopped. If Israel attacks during the transition between two Administrations, immediate American pressure to desist is less likely. In an article in the London Times Britain's former Foreign Minister (David Owen) urged Israel to resist any inclination to attack. At this moment the fire is falling on Gaza not Iran. One day it will fall over the entire earth. I once heard Eric Alexander say that one who refuses the salvation offered in Christ Jesus has no shelter from the wrath of God. It is a truth seldom emphasized in our day. It was the special province of a prophet to warn. But pity the poor pastor who makes his congregation uncomfortable today. When we insist that sermons merely palliate and congratulate (a famous West Coast Pastor just demoted his own son for deviating from that path) we divest our pulpits of the prophetic. It is a trend much to be lamented. While Gazans flee the fire this time we note that there will be a fire next time.
If we have shelter well and good.
Let us press the urgency of shelter upon those who don't. Leisure is ill-suited to this task.
The number of allotted years is fixed and finite.
And the year we're in is fading.