Believe the Smallest Signs of Faith

Jeremiah 20:7  O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded;
You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
I am in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me.
8 For when I spoke, I cried out;
I shouted, “Violence and plunder!”
Because the word of the LORD was made to me
A reproach and a derision daily.
9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.
10 For I heard many mocking:
“Fear on every side!”
“Report,” they say, “and we will report it!”
All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying,
“Perhaps he can be induced;
Then we will prevail against him,
And we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.

Confusion is the accusation from heaven against those that do not understand the nature of prophetic warnings. We don't want to be confused in this moment of time.

Confusion, like offense, comes from expecting one thing to happen, but getting another thing. The Pharisees of Jesus' day were confused by the Messiah coming differently than they expected, even though they studied the scripture. The confusion allowed offense with Jesus.
The same will happen in our day. The return of Jesus will mostly be confusing:

Speaking of believers:

Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 “and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

Matthew 24:43 “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
44 “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The confusion of Jeremiah's day came from the 'normalcy' of the warnings unfolding. People still had to do each day. They still bought stuff, they still traveled, still raised children, still went to work, the store, gatherings with friends and families.

The same will be true in our day. If you are imagining a distopian reality and that is what will mark the 'end times' for you, you are greatly mistaken. It unfolds like a thief in the night.
The problem is that we are IN a distopian reality and few can see it. The worse it gets the harder mankind tries to convince itself everything is ok....it's always been this way.

If you are waiting for the moment you can't do anything but love Jesus and die for him, you will experience the same disappointment Peter did going from the Garden of Gethsemene into the high priests courtyard. Nothing turned out like Peter imagined. Jesus doesn't want you to love Him with everything as a last option...He wants it in the midst of options.... That defines real love.

Go the opposite direction. Assume that even as the book of Lamentations of our day is being written before your eyes, few will see it until it's too late. This will free you to believe the smallest signs in faith, not rule out even the largest signs because of doubt and arrogance. 

This what Jeremiah was warning about as they mocked him....the people around him just couldn't see the end of all these things. 

Can you?

Lamentations 2:14 Your prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.
15 All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day we have waited for;
We have found it, we have seen it!”
17 The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give your eyes no rest.
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”
20 “See, O LORD, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
Should the women eat their offspring,
The children they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “Young and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22 “You have invited as to a feast day
The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the LORD’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have destroyed.”