There's the disaster you see—and the disaster you don't see. I'll let you decide which is worse.
Walk with me down the cardo (main north-south street) of Beit She‘an, an ancient town at the intersection of the Jordan River and the Jezreel Valley. As the paver blocks are angled (not to mention ancient) do watch your step.
Notice the fluted stone columns and cornices. Clearly this place was at one-time a classy neighborhood. Then an earthquake in 679 AD all but leveled the town. Talk about disaster! But this city is also the site of another epic event, one that goes all the way back to the biblical era of King Saul.
Saul was a good guy.
- He dressed right.
- He talked right.
- He could sing the praise and worship choruses of his day with as much fervor as the next guy.
- He seemed like the real deal.
Yet time after time, he cut corners, spiritually. He failed to wait for a sacrifice. Failed to execute a king. Took spoils he had been forbidden. He murdered 85 priests! When faced with the ultimate Philistine invasion, rather than consulting God, King Saul consulted a medium—a witch.
The very next day, on Mount Gilboa, King Saul lost his life (along with his sons). The Philistines cut off his head and fastened his body to the walls of the city of Beit She'an. What a gruesome ending for someone who seemed to be God's man.
Standing at that ancient site, just yards away from where Saul's body would have been spiked gave me pause.
You and I attend church Sunday after Sunday with folks who look right, dress right and talk right. They sing all the worship choruses with gusto. Perhaps most of them are as they profess to be—truly born again. But some are not (the Bible tells us so).
What a horrible thing to reach the end of this life and the beginning of eternity—only to hear Jesus say, “Depart from me. I never knew you.”
That would be the ultimate disaster.