Today is a day of utmost importance for us who live in the United States, Father. I would pray for Your Sovereign will to be done. You will have Your way regardless and I place the entirety of my trust in You. Enable me to follow You no matter the outcome. Amen.
Luke 19:39-44 (<<click here to read the passage)
I enjoy historical “what-ifs”. Over the years I’ve read a few things that speculative historians have put forth regarding great events of the past. If this had gone this way or that way, if so-and-so had made this decision instead, and in the midst of it all, we realize that quite often outcomes are not what they could have been. Sometimes minute details had a greater impact on outcomes than anyone ever dreamed (see Don’t Forget the Nails from this past August).
There was a book put out in 2003 entitled, What Ifs? of American History. Here are just a couple of the questions asked in the seventeen essays dealing with counterfactual history regarding the United States.

    • What if the Mayflower had not set sail from England in 1620?
    • What if Robert E. Lee had succeeded in destroying the Army of the Potomac?
    • What if Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbor
    • What if President Kennedy had not been assassinated in 1963?

Interesting things (for some of us) to ponder.
Here’s one more to think about.

  • What if instead of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the Pharisees, and teachers of the Law had embraced Him for who He was?

Jesus wept over the pending fall of Jerusalem in today’s passage – and for inquiring minds, Jerusalem fell to the Romans about 40 years after Jesus spoke these words

“How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.” vs42-44

What if they had recognized it when God visited them?
God is most assuredly Sovereign, and His will will come to fruition. But we must understand, too, that we still have free will. God may know what we will decide but it is still our choice to do so.
If you are not a follower of Jesus, what would your life be like if you were?
If you are a follower of Jesus, but can’t seem to really put all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength into loving Him, what if you did?
Many things in our lives are water under the bridge but our decisions about our relationship with Jesus are never undoable. We can turn around and follow Him absolutely any time we want to…and He will be right there with arms wide open. What if you chose to follow?

Nov 3rd, 2020, Tues, 1:01 pm