7 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards. Psalm 69:7-12

Tucked inside these verses is a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled (verse 9) when he overturned the moneychangers’ tables in John 2:17. The rest of the passage details the humiliation he endured at the hands of his former subjects. It’s difficult for non-royalty to imagine what it was like to go from having everything to having nothing, from ruling over hundreds of thousands to being the scorn of the lowliest. It’s pretty bad that even the drunks were singing songs about him.

At some point in his life, David had to think that there was no stopping him as king. He probably thought his reign would never end.

Even though we are from being kings and queens, we think our nation as well as the comforts and freedoms we enjoy will never end. Well, unless we are completely different from hundreds of civilizations before us, we too will fall. It’s not a warning or threat or prophetic utterance, just an informed guess based on my view of history.

Having said that, what do we take for granted in this life? As I stated, we often feel that nothing’s going to stop us now! But as people’s hearts grow cold and as new generations of Believers are rising up in South America, Africa, and Asia; the world could see a dramatic cultural, monetary, and religious shift away from the West. Are you ready for it? What would it take to get ready for it? It’s hard to know, isn’t it?

If you “keep short accounts” of your sin, continue to read the Bible and pray faithfully, you should be fine. That’s a few of the basic tenets of the Christian faith that has been practiced for the last 2000 years. Pray for the church that is rising to the occasion in those three continents. We see massive persecution in Africa and Asia, but I believe a great and mighty harvest will come as a direct result to the persecution. Instead of getting upset over the changes, we really should be doing what we can to support the Church outside our borders.

May the Church of Jesus Christ grow and be strong throughout the world!