It's 9:11, what am I doing on Facebook?

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Jeremiah 8:20

I just glanced over at the clock on my computer and it said 9:11. Maybe to some that does not mean anything, but to me it reminds me of a bad day, a day that changed our country so that it was never the same again. A day when we lost something permanently. And then I thought to myself, "What am I doing?" I really should keep a time log of how much time I waste mindlessly surfing the Internet. Sometimes when the weather is bad my service will go out for a while and in a way, I feel a bit liberated. I don't have to check my computer. Because there is something that is addicting to me about coming to the computer to check on the latest news. Like I really need to know all the bad news anyway?

Sometimes I think about what life was like for me before all this technology. I grew up right before all the technology started invading our lives so much. And I think it probably was better back then, not constantly being connected 24/7 to the world and all its doings. For I think I will miss out if I am deprived of it, but if I sit and surf, it really doesn't do much to create happiness or real human connections for me. What about you?

And yet Jesus knew there would come a day when we would be so "advanced" technologically. As if that impresses Him. Things are changing so quickly every day now it is hard to know what is really going on. But Jesus did warn us that these difficult times would come. I think it is pretty obvious that these characteristics would describe the generation we are living in now, and it is was described even back then:

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" II Timothy 3:1-5

One day this past summer I was searching for related verses on the end of the age. One of them describes not just famine physically, but famine for the Word of God. For some in countries where the Bible is illegal, this literally is true. But what about here in America, with our casual take it or leave it attitude towards God's Word?

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD,“That I will send a famine on the land,Not a famine of bread,Nor a thirst for water,But of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea,And from north to east;They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,But shall not find it." Amos 8:11-12

This led me to think of the place in Daniel where he is told that the book will be sealed til the end of the age. People are running to and fro in that verse also, so I compared those verses in Daniel 12:1-4:


“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end;
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

I always thought that running to and fro meant people would be able to get around quickly on the planet, and that there would be an exponential rise in knowledge. It probably does mean that. But once again, I gained some wonderful insight on this verse from E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible. In the notes, he equates running to and fro with apostasy, turning away from the true faith. He interprets an increase in knowledge with an increase in calamities or wickedness. I think any honest person could say that as our technological advances have made great strides, right along with that is humankind's intention and plan to use this technology for evil.

But, thankfully, we still do have time to take advantage of opportunities to learn God's Word. God has been so very patient with us. One day, His patience will wear out, and He will have to judge the evil on this planet. So, again, I ask myself, it's 9:11, how am I preparing myself for that day?


“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36

Taking the Time to Smell the Fragrance of God's Word

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16

Isn't it amazing that with all of our modern conveniences, most of us are more time pressured than ever? And yet with the advent of technology, there is a certain portion of my day that is given over to it, almost like an obligation. And why? What never ceases to amaze me is that no matter how many times I do the same dumb thing and think I will get a different result, I never, ever do. (The definition of insanity.)

I deceive myself thinking I need to keep up with the news. There is so much information on the internet I could never digest it all, yet I attempt this vain thing all the time. I was reading a writing book by Dani Shapiro called Still Writing, and she commented that she used to take a cigarette break from her writing (before she quit smoking). She said now that had sometimes (unfortunately)been replaced by the internet break. She did not recommend it at all, because it only served to distract from her focus, and yet the temptation to lose focus by surfing the net is so easy to do. How about checking facebook a dozen times a day? Yet this all adds up to precious minutes, minutes that add up to hours, hours that add up to days of mindless wandering all in the name of my "recreation."

On the other hand, time spent in the Word of God is never fruitless. Years ago, my sisters and I enjoyed doing counted cross stitch. We made little gifts for each other. One for my older sister had the verse from Proverbs 24:3 along with a pretty little house. The verse said: "By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established." As I stitched along, I wondered what that verse meant.

The other day, in my reading, I came across the verse again and decided to look up some cross-references.One of them was from Proverbs 9.

"Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; She has sent out her maidens, she calls From the tops of the heights of the city: “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks understanding she says,“Come, eat of my food And drink of the wine I have mixed. “Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.” Proverbs 9:1-6

I looked up some cross references again, for the part about the food that was prepared, and it led me to Luke 14:16-24, about the wedding banquet. The primary application was for the Jews who would not accept Jesus as their Messiah, so the gospel went out to the Gentiles, but in another way, could this not be wisdom from the Word of God speaking to us?

"But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it;please consider me excused.’Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out;please consider me excused.’Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’“And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

Could not the dinner be the Word itself, it is all prepared for us, to nourish us, build us up, to help us build our own spiritual house? But with all the distractions of technology, I let it pass me by. Yet there is no excuse, for as never before do we have the Word available to us for study, with online Bibles and teaching aids.

My husband planted some wildflowers in the front of our house, yet it was not until late in the summer that they finally, gloriously, bloomed. The colors are vivid shades of fuchsia, yellow, white, and reds. Underneath are small lacy white and delicate purple flowers. One day, I noticed they had a beautiful fragrance, but you had to bend close to the flower in order to detect it. Once you put your nose close to the petals, the sweetest smell exuded from it. Could that be how it is with the Word of God? On the whole, it just looks like a big book, formidable, even, until you pick it up and start smelling the sweet perfume within? This perfume reveals to mankind the loveliness of none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My pastor says you have to build an appetite for the Word of God. Well, start with just a taste then. And know that the Bible is from first to last, His-Story.Ask God to reveal to you these truths as you peer into His lovely Word:
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)
"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Psalm 119:18