I am currently reading the classic Jules Verne novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. Growing up, my parents owned a black and white TV that provided two channels, and so I devoted my time to reading many of the classics like Call of the Wild, Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, and so on. That’s what I knew and enjoyed. Unfortunately, for the last two or three decades I have done very little reading of fiction. My primary reading has been devoted to historical and theological non-fiction works. However, this year I am determined to again be transported into other times and places through the creative minds of classic authors.
Which brings us back to Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. While I am only a few short chapters into the story, the adventure centers around a Victorian Era Englishman by the name of Phileas Fogg who makes a friendly, but substantial, financial wager, claiming he can circumvent the globe in 80 days. With Scotland Yard in pursuit and every minute of utmost importance, Fogg and his recently hired servant, Passepartout, must overcome various obstacles, delays, and challenges in an effort to return to London in time to win the wager and avoid ruin.
The urgency that unfolds in the fictional events described in Jules Verne’s classic grips the reader with the fervency in which Phileas Fogg tracks his journey and the determination in which he faces adversity. We can relate to Fogg’s zeal that propels him around the globe. We empathize with the desire of reaching goals and fulfilling dreams. To some degree, the events that unfold are fictional depictions of our own life, here and now. As believers, our desire is to worship God by obeying Him, making a difference for His kingdom, as well as knowing Him and making Him known. This desire to do great things is admirable, but it too demands perseverance and zeal.
As we read the events of the first few chapters of Ezra and see the adversity that rises in opposition to the obedience of God’s people, there are several truths to remember and find comfort in. First, obedience to God is always met with some form of adversity (1 Pet 5:8-9). Second, adversity or testing is a means by which God refines us, making us more like Christ (1 Pet 4:12-13). Third, God’s timing is always perfect circumstantial delays are always for our good. Even though we may rarely see the immediate resolution or product for which God allows hindrances, delays, and adversity into our life’s journey, He proves Himself faithful and can be trusted.
Isaiah 14:27 (HCSB) – “The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it; therefore, who can stand in its way? It is His hand that is outstretched, so who can turn it back?”