[Darris McNeely] Today's world overflows with tragedies. War creates refugees. We have to see on television the hunger that kills thousands of people in far-off areas of the world. We see suffering. We see school shootings and the tragedies that disrupt whole communities. We see a failed government that makes us angry and makes us want to see something done about it and even to the point of just finally turning off the television. 

Christ tells us in his word that we should be praying in a certain way, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That is a very direct teaching from Jesus Christ that we find in Matthew 6, as His disciples asked Christ to teach them how to pray. You know, we cannot really hide from today's problems, as much as we might wish to. We can sometimes ignore them. As I said, we can turn the television off but we really can't escape what's taking place in the world. We see it on the larger scale, and even when it begun...problems, social problems and other issues impact our own personal lives. We agonize about that and it becomes very direct and very real to us. 

So, we do think about it, and in one sense, God does want us to understand what is happening in today's world and to reflect upon it, and then in sense to, as one Scripture says, "Sigh and cry" for the sufferings that we do see (Ezekiel 9:4). And that in itself should make us, then, be more motivated to pray, "Thy kingdom come." There's a Scripture in Micah, the well-known verse that talks about a time when that kingdom will be brought to this earth. So, Micah 4:1, it says that "In the last days, Thy shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established on this earth and people will flow unto it." 

As I've said in the first of this series, God's kingdom is a literal kingdom that will be brought to this earth or it's nothing else. And that's what the Scripture says it will be. Micah here says that "It will be one day established and people will flow to understand and to come to know that." It goes on, "Many nations will come and say, 'Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord into the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways and the law will go forth from Zion and people will be taught the word of God from Jerusalem.'" And then it says, "Nation will not learn war any longer. They will not lift up sword against each other. The way of war will no longer be taught." (Micah 4:1-5)

That's a tremendous vision. It's told in four verses in the book of Micah. That's a vision that we have to keep our eyes on. When Christ told us to pray, "Thy kingdom come," we look around and we see that it's not here yet and we do sigh and cry for those problems. But we have to keep in mind the vision firm in our heart and in our mind that one day there will be a solution that God does hear and God does have a plan. And that's why, and another reason God tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come." But there's one more reason, and we'll talk about that next time.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.