Numbered days

I hate to say this in an arena where I do not know who reads the stuff I write. But I don't like the "seventh month" or any festival which have lots of incense burning or people torturing themselves via self affliction. I may sound intolerant in a society where intolerance will incur great wrath. However, there are several reasons why this is so and I plead you hear me out.

Firstly, I don't like the incense and offering burning which causes my throat and chest to tighten and my air well just closes up in a stifled cough or choke. The huge wafts of smoke going up to the air in mortal prayer often threatens to trigger my long suppressed asthma. Secondly, this and festivals which see people inflicting themselves with much pain, getting possessed etc are pretty scary to me and tend to send shivers up my spine or make my hair stand. You may wonder why I would have these reactions when I am not supposed to believe in these things. I don't. I do not believe that doing all these things will appease whatever it is that they believe in, and even if there are spirits on this earth, I do not believe that such practices will make our lives any better. I just cringe... And think about the spiritual warfare that is on-going, even in my mind by making me fear the unknown. So it is simply these 2 reasons that gave rise to my dislike.

As I ponder about my fear of the unknown, I realize that I really do not have anything to fear. For there is nothing unknown to God. There is nothing new under the sun. If there were spirits, Christ has displayed God's power and might through his living, death and resurrection. In his living, he not only caste out spirits, they recognized and were afraid of him. He conquered Satan and all that Satan used to wage war against God on earth and God's people by dying a righteous death on the cross in our place and rising from the dead so that those who hold fast to his word may be protected.

I should therefore not fear these festivals or talks of encounters but have a quickening and saddened heart. In fact, not just for those "supernatural" but for all that I see and hear around me - strife for monetary gain, devastation of lives due to economic plunge, strife for personal power and gain, need for security, beauty and health, aimlessness etc. For short is life and numbered are our days. Do not the burning incense and offering to those passed on reflect lives that were once on these earth but now are gone? Is not the market volatility an indication of the unpredictability of something even man-made? Our countless idols and fears in life... Do they not show Satan's increasing attempt at drawing us away from God? I should be sad... For judgment has come and the final judgment will surely come to pass. For when that time comes, those who do not believe in the blood of the lamb and hold fast to His word will be judged for eternity. Numbered are our days here on earth... Numbered are we. Quicken our hearts and pace, for we know not when the time comes and many are the lost. Fear not the things that will come to past, but fear the one who numbers our days and overcame death and evil.