Homespun wisdom would propose something to the effect that, in terms of the objectively meaningful, some individuals play a role in what is happening; others primarily observe what is happening; while more than a few have little idea as to what is happening.
To no small degree, the latter characterization accords with Jesus' reference to a coming day wherein mankind's essential lack of discernment concerning the times will prove fatally ruinous - a state of loss finding prefiguration in the realities of Noah's day: "They knew not until the flood came and took them all away" (Matt. 24:39).
Scripture has more than a little to say in this regard. It has been to the Church's loss that requisite insight has, on occasion, been missed at this point; as such granting opportunity to the speculative and/or merely assumptive. Some will remember, for example, the widely promoted "countdown to the 'eighties" enthusiasm of the late 'seventies and subsequent 'eighties wherein Christ was to return, first in 1981 and, given that date's ultimate and obvious failure, 1988. The result, of course, was not only confusion but loss of credibility.
I Chronicles 12:32 describes "the sons of Issachar" as men who, in a crucial and defining hour, "understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do." That they should be so acknowledged within a lengthy listing of tribal militias denotes the significance of their perceptiveness.
A basic need within much of today's Church is for men and women of commitment and stability; in other words, those who are motivated by more than the merely conjectural, along with other self-defeating vulnerabilities such as sectarian impulsion, emotional stimulus, personal aggrandizement or self focused recognition - "religious" though such may be.
Answer here will necessitate, first of all, our "understanding the times" in terms of the need for revival, recommitment to Scripture, dedication to end time mission, and awareness of a coming hour of test.
Burl Ratzsch
