Are Bed Bugs A Wake Up Call For A Nation Spiritually Asleep?

Every one of us needs to sort out how we believe God is involved in the world today. Many may not admit they are Deists: they believe in God, but they are unwilling to give him credit or blame for any direct involvement in the world today. This is a theology of a God who had hands-on connections back in the beginning, or in Bible days, but today is pretty silent, leaving us to ourselves.

What the Bible actually says is that all things are sustained by him (Colossians 1:17), at all times. Were God to lift his hand for a mere nanosecond, even molecules at the atomic level would instantly unravel.

God is not silent today; he is always communicating, always speaking, guiding, confirming, correcting and warning. The problem is many are not familiar with the sound of his voice and few are fluent in God’s language of choice: symbolism.

Symbolism is the language throughout the Bible: significant numbers, colors, creatures and circumstances. God has even used everyday things like coats or clay pots to communicate a message. Jesus taught his disciples to see the spiritual, symbolic meaning behind everyday events.

A number of years ago, I read Murray Dueck’s fascinating book called, “If It Were A Dream, What Would It Mean? Discovering the Spiritual Meaning Behind Everyday Events.” To be clear, greater meaning and significance is not to be milked out of every little news item. However, those with prophetic sense note that there are spiritual signs of something more in transpiring events. Those with eyes to see the signs and discern deeper spiritual significance are never able to prove it is indeed God speaking; they just have a sense to guide their prayers.

Because of Dueck’s book and his fascinating examples of God speaking to the world today, you can understand how my interest was piqued last fall with this headline: “Plague of Bed Bugs Found in Empire State Building.” The word “plague” triggered