Trusting vaguely

How will we fare in 2008? What disasters, like serpents eggs, are even now congealing that will hatch before year's end?

I received my "World Challenge" monthly newsletter from David Wilkerson's Times Square church. He writes: "Every Christian claims to trust the Lord. Yet in reality, many of God's children aren't ready to face the black storm coming upon the world."

My inmate correspondent Bubba says the reason "the five foolish virgins" of Matthew 25 didn't bring extra oil with them for the wedding banquet was because they didn't really believe the groom was coming. I had never thought of that.

The Friar in Romeo and Juliet warned Romeo that "vague confession yields vague absolution." Similarly, Wilkerson says many of us trust God vaguely: "Most Christians have a general trust in the Lord." That kind of trust won't do when the crunch comes, he says. We need to know the promises of God and claim them. The Puritans called it "suing for grace." Wilkerson says "every promise of the Lord is a holy argument."

A kind soul sent me a calendar for 2008, each day footnoting a specific promise of God. Heck, I didn't even know there were 365 promises in the Bible, did you?