Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Daniel 11:32b The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits
This is a message for us right now, who are facing threats from powerful corrupt authorities even in what used to be a free country. And not just the USA but other traditionally free countries of the west, Austrailia and Canada. Daniel is at least prophesying the exploits done by the Maccabees when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Jewish temple a couple hundred years before Christ, but the prophecy also extends into the future end times context where we are today, and we should take it as a promise that God will enable us to defeat our enemies as we put all our trust in Him.
Oh wow. While writing this I've been listening off and on to Jan Markell's latest Understanding the Times program, just went back to it to hear her guest saying exactly what I just said above about Daniel 11:32, and I have to report this because otherwise it will seem like I got it from him, but I didn't, we both had the same thought. A nice reinformcement at least. (Sure I often do take inspiration from her radio show or other sources but it's clear when I do and in this case I didn't) I think I'll put up her show at the bottom of this post.
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As I mention in my previous post I think Cicely Tyson was a genuine Christian. She also played Christian characters, particularly in "A Trip to Bountiful" and "A Woman Called Moses" about Harriet Tubman. In our current cultueral context we often don't hear about the Christian identify of celebrities. I didn't know much about Tubman except that she is known for helping slaves escape to freedom in the North in the nineteenth century, and for all I knhew she could have done it as an atheist inspired by the sort of thinkinhg we know today as Marxism. But as she is portrayed in the movie we see her as powerfully motivated by her faith in Jesus Christ who called her to the work of leading slaves to freedom. The couple of scenes of her hearing from God I thought were very believably done by Cicely Tyson. I did a little reading up on Tubman and it seems the movie was fairly accurate.
Yes Tubman was black and a woman and she is celebrated as a heroine of both identities, but I want to celebrate her as a Christian above all. Her story is as Christian in its essence as the stories of, say, Brother Andrew who smuggled Bibles into Communist countries, or Corrie Ten Boom whose family hid Jews from the Nazis and ended up in a concentration camp for it. Both those stories are about people primarily motived by faith in Christ, and so was Harriet Tubman. These are people who knew God and did exploits. She "never lost a passenger" she said, she faced some harrowing close calls but was never caught. I don't know of course but if she'd been motivated by her own desires and not by the calling of God and her faith, I'd guess she wouldn't have had such a perfect record of success.
She was illiterate but would have heard the Bible at church. In the movie she quotes something the "spirits" said to her and it was a Bible passage _(2 Peter 4-7 about the characteristics a Christian should cultivate) although it was not identified as a Bible passage. Since I haven't read her biography I don't know how true the movie was to the book but "spirits" doesn't suggest anything biblical, so I was surpised that the quote was straight from the Bible. Later when she is shown praying for guidance it is a soundly biblical expression of repentance and faith. She gives herself to what she experiences as God's call to lead the slaves out of bondage.
I just happen to have seen the movie and it happens to be a good example of a Christian who put all her trust in God, what we need above all right now.
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Here's the Understanding the Timjes show with guest David FiorazoL: When Government Must be God:
