These are The Best of Times and the Worst of Times - Everyday!!
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
These words by Charles Dickens pretty much describe our lives daily. If you are a believer in Christ you have been given a different understanding and point of view about life and the world. The indwelling Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus open your eyes, mind, and soul. You like in Ecclestiasties understand that all of life is a vanity without God.
No amount of material possessions, success in life, or any rationale you can think up will cover the vanity and banality of life without God.
Every day even in the best of circumstances, we are experiencing the best and the worst of times. The Bible shows us that God has ordained, in his mercy, that often unbelieving people will wake up to his reality because of extreme pain, not because of its absence. we are all rebels and in our sinful nature, we will deny God.
The perverse nature of moral relativism in our post-modern age allows us to pridefully think that we can designate evil as good and good as evil. Lucifer began this sin in the past and we have taken up the cause. In doing so we reject God.
God's sovereignty and providence are present in all aspects of our lives and the world. He holds it together even with our spectacular sins of death and destruction. Fallen sinful humans like to claim that they know better and that science has proven there is no God as does the presence of evil. Yet that view will not hold up Biblically.
Matthew 10:29
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Our arrogance and hubris in the face of this reality will only lead to death. An eternal death we cannot imagine!
Acts 17:11
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Our understanding of life lies in Christ, the Gospel, and his Holy Word. No amount of "intelligence or intellect" will offset this reality. This is a personal and a historical reality. Instead of spending our precious time in denial or in disobedience looking to ignore or disprove God we must yield in obedience and fear him not because he is terrible but because he is all-powerful, merciful, just, and loving.