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Enjoy Life, Enjoy God


Dale Patterson

BOUNDARIES

November 25, 2009

Boundaries can be a political or geographic marker indicating a claim, possession or the like. But boundaries can also mark the limits, as in, it can go this far, but no father, not beyond.

And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months.
- Revelation 9:3-5 TNIV

Seventh Seal of John's vision is opened,and the angels' trumpets announce the havoc and suffering of a world in chaos and terror. Yet even in the midst of that tragic picture there are slim signs of hope, of the one who truly is in charge. There is suffering, but not without limits. In the bleak visions of suffering and terror throughout the apocalyptic vision of The Revelation, still they are marked by boundaries. "They were told not to harm the grass..." and "They were not allowed to kill them..."

In the midst of our personal anguish this may seem like a shallow glimmer of hope. But hope is fueled by knowing there is a limit, a boundary, and that the Almighty God we worship insists that the boundaries be honored, and kept in place. We can survive, because, we serve and worship the God who is in charge.

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson