There are some serious tragedies going on in our world and we need to remember them.  Burma has seen some 60,000 plus killed in cyclone-type storms and central China is seeing the death toll rise to no less than 15,000 after a major earthquake.  In fact, even now Burma is bracing for another similar storm.  We must be in prayer for the churches of Burma and China, that they would endure and shine brightly in this apparent darkness.

What are we facing?  Higher gas prices; a recession (even though last quarter Wal-Mart exceeded sales of this time last year); some of us are actually having to reconsider what “level” of Cable we have.  I don’t need to go down this line of thought much longer for you to get the idea.  We are a nation of plenty and need to use our freedoms and resources for the gospel.

These tragedies are very real and far exceed even our own devastation after Katrina.  Isaiah gives us some perspective…

Isaiah 45:3-7;18-25

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I name you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,

I am the Lord, who does all these things.

18 For thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I the Lord speak the truth;
I declare what is right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

24 “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
all who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.

May those who are facing such tragedy find the treasure of Christ in this darkness.