When I see the insanity swirling around us – the chaos, the absurdity, the violence, the bad news, the societal troubles, the political dysfunction, the hatred and division… I stop and remind myself:

(Jesus said), “6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” – Matthew 24:6-8 (ESV)

Solomon wrote: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 (ESV)

And, while he is no theologian by any stretch of the imagination, Bob Dylan once sang, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”). While Dylan’s lyrics doesn’t quite carry the weight of Scripture (sarcastic understatement) I think this line is particularly apropos today, just as it was when he penned it in 1965.

(Dylan also wrote some nonsense about God and Abraham having a discussion as He sent the patriarch marching down Highway 61. Again, no theologian…)