A Dose of Reality

The impression I’ve gotten from the news this week is that the only thing going on in the universe is the USA Election.  So to help us see reality more clearly, let’s pause and look beyond our borders, and follow the trail of Bible texts showing God’s heart for all nations—for all tribes and languages and ethnic groups everywhere.  As you read, pray that God will give you (and us) his vision for the world:

God says to Abraham: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). *** A purpose for the crossing of the Red Sea: “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty” (Joshua 4:24). *** “God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:8). *** “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” (Psalm 57:1). *** “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!” (Psalm 117:1). *** God to Israel:  “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). *** “The Lord to Jonah:  “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11). *** “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). *** Jesus says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). *** “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). *** “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).