On Some Ordinary Day
One summer morning several years ago, as I was driving to work through the countryside, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was a brilliant blue, and lovely white clouds floated along. “What a beautiful day for the Lord to come again,” I thought. As I glanced upward, I mused, “I wonder what it’s really going to be like when Jesus comes again?”
Immediately, without the thought going through my mind, my hand reached out and turned the radio knob. The radio stayed tuned to a gospel station, and the first sound I heard were the words to a song I had never heard before:
When I awoke this morning
And rose to meet the day
It seemed no different than the day before
Then I thought to read the verse
It’s recorded in God’s Word
On some ordinary day, like today
The Lord will come
On some ordinary day, like today
The Lord will come
To take His chosen people far away
When we hear the trumpet sound
Our feet will leave the ground
On some ordinary day, like today
The Lord will come
There’ll be no time to warn you
No time to mend your ways
So suddenly the Lord will come again
The trump of God will sound so loud
It will wake the sainted dead
On some ordinary day, like today
The Lord will come
That was such a quick and direct answer to my question, and it came in such an unusual way, I was stunned. Having never heard that song before, the words captivated me. Then I thought, “I wonder what the Scriptures have to say about that?” I could hardly wait to get to my desk and get out my Bible. The Holy Spirit led me to Luke 17:34-37 –
“I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto Him, Where, Lord? And He said unto them, wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
“Of course,” I thought, “Somewhere on this round globe called Earth, it’s going to be night when Jesus returns. Some will be engaged in ordinary activity – sleeping. Somewhere it’s going to be early morning. Somewhere women will be grinding corn, or grain, for meal to make the day’s bread – an ordinary activity. (I had only recently read where in some remote villages near one of China’s borders, women still go to a common mill for grinding grain.) Also, somewhere on this Earth it will be midday, and two men will be doing ordinary work in the field.”
All during the day, my mind would return to this experience and what the Holy Spirit was speaking about an ordinary day. On that fateful day when the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, no doubt the men arose to go to their merchandise or occupation, the children arose to go to school, and the women to their household duties. Ordinary people doing ordinary things. The day seemed to be no different than the day before. But what began as an ordinary day did not end in an ordinary manner. It ended in an extraordinary way.
Luke 17:28-30 says, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”
It seems that people of Lot’s day (and also of Noah’s day) were so occupied with ordinary activities of eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting and building, so absorbed with the cares of this life, that thoughts of God and eternity were crowded out and pushed aside. People of that generation were so convinced that the good times would keep rolling and there would be no payday for sin, that warnings from righteous people seemed to be but idle tales. Does that attitude remind you of our day and age? That’s the very spirit and attitude that Jesus said would be prevalent when He returns.
How is it with you, my friend? If your ordinary day were interrupted by Almighty God, how would you stand before Him? How would you react to His summons? Even if it happens not to be the day of the Lord’s returning, it could be the day He will call for us to leave this world and stand before Him. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
If you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Savior and trusted His blood to cleanse you from sin, you need have no fear. However, if you have never known Him, or have grown cold in relationship with Him, now is the time to seek Him with all your heart. Who knows when what begins as an another ordinary day might very well end in an extraordinary manner!
“Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:44).
– Charlene Gladney. [The song she heard is On Some Ordinary Day written by Tim Hicks.]