But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless. - 2 Peter 3:10-14.

Last week, a man received possibly the shock of his life when a 110-pound Saint Bernard suddenly landed on top of him. The dog was thrown out of a second story apartment window by the intoxicated owner. A police spokesperson, Grezegorz Wierzbicki said, "The dog had a soft landing because it fell on a man and the dog escaped with just a few scratches. The man was also more in a psychological state of shock than physically hurt." He is bruised but physically okay otherwise. Oskar, the dog, has been placed in an animal shelter and the police are investigating possible animal abuse.

Having a dog suddenly land on top of you would be a shock! I once wrote a devotional that included the story of a cow falling through the roof of a coffeehouse in Turkey and landing on top of a man. They both survived. There have been instances of meteorites slamming through the roofs of houses. I have lost track of how many times cars and trucks have plowed into and sometimes - through houses, usually in the middle of the night. Small planes have crashed into the roofs of houses. Countless items have fallen from planes onto houses, vehicles and even people. All of these incidents have at least one thing in common and that is that it would have been a shock to the person or persons that it happened to. You probably remember a shockingly unexpected thing or two that has happened in your life.

When I have had a shockingly unexpected thing occur in my life it has at the very least made me stop and think. Since I have been a Christian when something like that occurs, it has made me consider if there is something spiritual of which I should be aware. Is God trying to tell me something?

If you look at what is going on in the Middle East at this time we can probably agree that it occurred suddenly and was a shock for most of us - especially those living in the affected countries. Is there something going on here spiritually of which we should be aware?

Consider that Israel had ceased to exist for 1900 years until 1948 when it again became a country. It is a fulfillment of a prophecy by Ezekiel, "Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: "Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land… (Ezekiel 37:21-22a).'" The nation of Israel is a miracle of history that the nations of the world have observed and know that it is true. The point being that this prophecy is not the only prophecy of God that has come true and will come true.

The Lord has had great patience but the end will eventually arrive. The Day of the Lord will come as the apostle Peter says and "the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." Knowing what you know of the rapidly approaching fulfillment of prophecy, I will leave you with the same question the apostle Peter asked, "…what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?"