Japan and Operation World

I don’t watch the news. Any news that I get either comes from the web, or the car radio to and from UPS. This morning I heard about the earthquake/ tsunami in Japan on the way to UPS. I didn’t think much about it until I got to my office later this morning and watched some of the footage of the tsunami. Amazing! The power of the ocean is breathtaking! And Christ said “Peace, be still” and the waves obeyed!!!! (that last thought was for free, it's not what I was writing about)

What I was writing about was the book “Operation World”. If you do not have this book, stop what you are doing, go to Amazon, and buy the book for 14 bucks now. It will be the best book you buy this year. When ever I think about things going on in our world, I pull down this book from my bookshelf and read about the countries in the news. Today was no different and I began reading about Japan. When I got the “Answers to Prayer” part, this is what I read:

“Uncertainty about the future has prompted spiritual searching.This is partly in response to many economic and social changes that threaten the status quo in Japan. The constant threats of a major earthquake, or economic decline, the widening generation gap and the feeling of social isolation (hikikomori) that so many suffer provoke widespread soul-searching.” p- 489

Wow! This is in the “answers to prayer” section? That fear (or today, the reality) of an earthquake is an answer to prayer? I love this book! Only one with a correct Biblical worldview could have written this. I wonder how many churches in our country are going to praise God for the opportunity for the Japanese people in the midst of suffering to seek God and repent of their sins? Or will we pray only for their physical relief? Don’t get me wrong, I pray that God would physically save and heal the people who suffered in this tsunami. More than that, I pray that God would save their souls, and that this might be the means.

Lest you think, that my thinking is incorrect, hear the words of our savior in Luke 13:

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

May we here in the Midwest, not pray weak man-centered prayers. May the Spirit intercede for us, and awaken our affections for the glory of the risen Christ. May we pray for the Japanese people that their minds would no longer be blinded by Satan from seeing the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Pray! And watch again, as God answers prayer!