Hold Me Again

Sunday, April 03, 2011, 4:13 p.m. – I lay down to take a nap about an hour ago, but to no avail. I had one Christian song going through my mind after another. I sought the Lord if he wanted to speak with me about something to let me know. Then, this secular song from the 1950’s began playing in my mind:

In the Still of the Night / written by Fred Parris and recorded by his Five Satins

I remember
That night in May
The stars were bright above
I'll hope and I'll pray
To keep your precious love
Well before the light
Hold me again
With all of your might
In the still of the night
(In the still of the night)

Full lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/dirtydancing/inthestillofthenight.htm

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 2 Timothy 3:

Godlessness in the Last Days
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Paul’s Charge to Timothy
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

My Understanding: I prayerfully considered before the Lord for quite some time the purpose of this secular song and how it relates to this passage of scripture. My husband reminded me that the night is often spoken of in scripture with reference to the darkness and moral stupidity of sin, to the absence of the light of Jesus and of the light of the gospel in people’s lives, to the time of the Lord’s return when he will come as a thief in the night to those who are not watching, to a time of spiritual slumber, and to a time when Satan is at work and before the return of Christ (See Matt. 24:42-44; Rom. 13:11-13; I Thes. 5:1-3).

Then, as I considered the meaning of the “still of the night” in relation to this understanding of the word “night” from a Biblical perspective, the Lord led me to find this scripture:

“Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, or you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (I Thes. 5:1-3).

Here I saw the “still” of the night in relation to people saying “Peace and safety” during a time when Satan is hard at work in destroying the church, when unharnessed sin is rampant, when people are living in moral stupidity and are spiritually asleep, when the gospel message is being watered down at an enormous rate, and when false teachers are covering over the spiritual wounds (sins) of God’s people with Band-Aids, as though their “wounds” are not serious, but they are (See Jeremiah 6 and 8).

So, it is in this “still of the night” when people are saying “Peace and safety:”

Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues his own course
like a horse charging into battle (Jer. 8:5-6).

And, that is what this passage in 2 Timothy is about, too. I found it interesting that the Lord chose a song from 1954. I was four years old at the time. I read that in May of 1954 was when racial segregation was declared unconstitutional. I found this list of world events for the year 1954 - http://www.historycentral.com/dates/1954.html. I believe the Lord is showing me the Baby Boomer generation and subsequent generations as fitting in with this description of the last days in 2 Timothy 3. They will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. I definitely see how our present times are just like this and how pleasure has become so central in the lives of God’s people and even in the meetings of the church. Today’s church here in America has this “form of godliness,” but overall the institutional church in the USA denies the power of Almighty God.

So, rather than be found living in the darkness of the night with blinders on our eyes, bent on sin and rebellion while the church and its leaders water down the gospel message and do not, for the most part, preach the need for repentance, we need to be people of the day. We need to continue in what we have learned from the word of God, and we need to feed on the word of God (the Scriptures) which are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, instead of following the gospel of men, for all scripture is God-breathed, i.e. it is God’s living and active word that is useful in our lives to teach us, to rebuke us, to correct us and to train us in righteousness. We should become lovers of the word of God and of God himself rather than living for the pleasures of this world.

Going back to the words of this song, then, I believe what the Lord Jesus is showing me here is a prayer, literally, to God/Jesus that we keep his precious love well before the light, i.e. well before his return. It is a prayer to ask him to hold us again close to his heart and for us to hold him close to our hearts, even during this time of the night – the terrible times in the last days – when people are saying “Peace and safety” when there is no peace. It is a prayer of commitment to Jesus Christ to keep his love in our hearts even during these terrible times in which we live when people are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And, it is a prayer of renewal of our marriage vows to Jesus Christ so that we are ready when he returns and we are not caught unprepared and living among the rebellious.

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Rom. 13:11-14).