While the hurricane season is still in full swing, and there are prophetic indications that the gulf coast should continue to stay on alert, we in South Florida seem to have a bit of a respite (a soggy, rainy, humid respite, but a respite nonetheless). In the midst of this respite, the Lord gave us a not-so-happy word. I wanted to share it with you so that you understand what is happening when the events the Lord described begin to happen, and so that we can learn of his grace together.
When the Lord spoke to us, he directed our attention to Steve Irwin’s death. Steve died on September 4, 2006 when a stingray barb penetrated his chest while he was filming some shallow water video shots for a documentary. His death, and the freak nature of the accident, spread around the world. The world mourned with his family over his sudden and shocking passing.
The Lord did not stop at just directing our attention to Steve’s untimely and tragic passing, he then told us that there are a lot more stingrays out there.
What does that mean? I don’t believe the Lord is speaking about literal stingrays. Literal stingrays only impact those who choose to swim or boat around their environment. Instead of literal stingrays, we believe the Lord is showing us that we would see more shocking reports of notable people passing suddenly in unexpected ways. As Steve Irwin’s death shocked the world because of the sudden and freak nature of his demise, so we will be shocked again by other sudden deaths from unexpected causes.
So, why is the Lord telling us this? It could be that he wants us to pray that this type of thing does not happen. I would normally go with this interpretation and call for prayer, except that the Lord seemed to be telling us that these “stingray moments” would be sign posts that we needed to heed as we move forward with him.
What do these sign posts communicate? I believe that they show us that grace is lifting. There was a time that people could say and do whatever they wanted, living apart from the Lord and his grace, and it never really impacted their lives all that much. They still prospered outwardly, and they lived to a ripe old age. That is changing. We are once again going to be reminded that grace is necessary in our lives. There are a lot of stingrays out there. There are a lot of ways to die, and we need grace to avoid these stingrays. When grace lifts, the stingrays begin to win.
So, when we see these sign posts, we need to humble ourselves even more before the Lord. God gives grace to the humble, and we will need his grace on an even higher level in the days ahead. These particular sign posts will not release a lot of happiness at first. In fact, they will be tragic and sad. But they will remind us about human frailty and our need of God’s grace. In that way they will be good as they lead us toward a happy goal—but they won’t feel very good at the time.
Let’s humble ourselves now, and ask for God’s grace on all those around us. Let’s learn the lesson of the sign posts before they happen.
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Even as I write this, I do not want anyone to think that Steve’s death was one of these sign posts. The Lord did not tell us that it was. He told us that there would be deaths in the future that would be sign posts. He used Steve’s passing as an example because of the unexpected and shocking nature of it. I do not pretend to know what was going on in Steve Irwin’s life when he died. I also would not want to potentially add to his family’s grief by saying something about his death that the Lord did not say. The Lord showed us it was a tragedy. I agree, and the world is poorer because of his passing.
