As I was watching, this horn waged war against the holy ones and was prevailing over them until the Ancient of Days arrived and a judgment was given in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, for the time had come, and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom.   Daniel 7:21-22 HCSB

A few days ago, on my birthday, I had to take my mom to a doctor’s appointment. Now I am not complaining that I had to do this on my birthday, I will explain why that matters in just a moment. My mom had spent the night in the hospital with pneumonia about three weeks ago and I feared that she still had it as her condition had not improved since completing her round of antibiotics. We were sent for a chest x-ray and I ran into an old friend from high school. Now he didn’t know it was my birthday, but he was reminiscing about our high school days and all the fun that we had. Now with it being my birthday, I couldn’t help but be even a little more nostalgic and think back to what my birthday was like back in the good old days when I was in high school.

As I reminisce I can hear Styx’ The Best of Times playing through my head. Now that song was released in 1980, but became a popular song that was played during May when graduations were occurring and was popular still when I graduated in 1983.  The part that could bring a tear to my eye as I prepared for graduation were the lyrics that say, “Our memories of yesterday will last a lifetime, we’ll take the best, forget the rest and someday we’ll find these are the best of times.”

As we waited for them to do my mom’s x-ray, my friend and I discussed some of the good times we had during high school. We discussed a life when we were carefree and our parents footed the bill.  All we had to do was go to school, get good grades, keep up with our extracurricular activities, he was in band and I was a cheerleader. We both worked but still had plenty of time to enjoy hanging out with our friends. We worked not to earn a living, but just to have extra spending money and a sense of responsibility and autonomy. These were truly good times. We both referred to those as the good old days.

But as Christians we must remember that the best is yet to come.  There may be times when we feel as though the devil is winning, but the fight has just begun. If you read the end of the book (Revelation) then you will know that we win. In our scripture passage today, Daniel has had a vision of four beasts. But one of these beasts is much more terrifying than the others. He describes it as having iron teeth, bronze claws and trampling whatever was left with its feet. He describes this terrifying creature as having ten horns and another horn that came up before which three horns fell. The horn had eyes and an arrogant mouth and was more visible than the others. This horn waged war against the holy ones.

Let me say that I am not unhappy about my life now.  I have wonderful great nieces and nephews that I did not have when I was a teenager. I didn’t know my husband when I was a teenager, nor did I know my wonderful stepson or his fiancée. But I am saddened by the loss of my grandparents, my uncles, my aunt, and my dad. I am saddened by the fact that my mom is no longer healthy and vibrant.  I miss being in the loving and protective environment that my mom and dad provided. I miss my parents being healthy and vibrant and an active part of my life.

But praise God, I won’t miss this forever. While the devil may come against me and wage war against me this won’t last forever. My dad has already gone to heaven to be healed and made whole. My mom will someday be vibrant again. And if this world lasts long enough and I live long enough to see old age, at some point, I will be restored and made whole again as well. The evil one will not prevail against us down here or up there. There may be times when it seems as though he is getting the best of us, but God’s got this.

God also has a wonderful home in glory awaiting us. There God will wipe away every tear.  There will be no more death, crying, or pain because all these thing will have passed away (Revelation 21:4).  So while the good old days may seem to be a thing of the past, let me tell you my friend, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Have a great day!