Interpret the Times

Luke 12:56 - You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

I grew up on a farm in Colorado. I remember my father introducing me to a man who owned a farm not far from ours who had been farming for more than fifty years. My father explained to me how Hubert always knew what the weather would bring. Although much of Eastern Colorado weather was mysterious to the meteorologists, Hubert know when it would rain, snow, hail, or drought, and he farmed accordingly. That seemed mysterious to me as a young boy. “Is he supernaturally clairvoyant?”  I wondered. “No,” my father explained, “He has been watching the weather all those years, and he knows what the signs are that reveal what it will do.”

When you have honed your skills in a craft that deals with recurring events, you can predict what will happen because you have seen it happen before many times. One-time events are completely different. We can no longer trust our experiences. We have to look elsewhere for signs to be ready. That does not mean the signs are not there. We must look and discern differently.

This is Jesus’ warning to the crowds with him, especially those who were a part the old system who expected things to function as they always had. They were using their previous experiences and habits to try to figure Jesus out, and he did not fit their mental framework. They could no longer trust their old ways of looking at things. They needed to recognize that times were changing and something new and never seen before was taking place: the Savior of the World had come. They needed to believe and welcome him, but first they needed to recognize him using other signs like fulfilled biblical prophecy, his miracles, and his authority.

We, too, live in an ever-changing world in which we cannot always trust our prior experiences to give us proper direction. We need to develop new skills of understanding the times to respond correct rather than falling back on old habits. To do this most effectively, we need to embrace this Savior who is beyond all time. What are some ways you can discern what is happening in our times?