We, human children of God, struggle, at times, trying to read God’s mind. Why is God doing this or allowing that, we try to figure out. Leave it to us mortals to get it all backwards. God has not created and commanded us to read His mind. However, we are born and called to read, and live by, His heart.
Our world has strayed so far from God’s Word. Sodom and Gomorrah describe the cities we call home. “Luv” of fleeting sports and entertainment idols out rank the God who created us, redeemed us and eternally loves us. Where has human waywardness led? It has delivered us to plagues of sickness, wars and, most probably, vicious reckonings yet to come.
My spirit is not one of defeat and repeat. It is borne by God’s Word and promise to bring us back, not cut us off. “Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. They keep saying to me, ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it now be fulfilled!’ I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my life is open before you. Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.” Jeremiah 17: 13-17 (NIV)
For God to change our wayward course, He has to awaken us to how far we have strayed. Soft words and gentle nudging have failed to revise our direction and align our ways to God’s will. Have we left God any rebuke but unpleasant pain and destruction? When we fail to walk away from evil, then evil must be exposed, reined in and defeated in order to release its hold on us and to, once more, enable us to live where God reigns. Might not, today, our world be sitting under this determination? Hence, at this moment, from where does hope arise? Once more, God’s Word speaks. “…’Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 3:7 (NIV)
Rightfully so, our eyes, this day, are fixed on Israel; but our homeland, America, is, also, under evil’s attack. Thus, shouldn’t our souls be focused on God and interceding for God to cleanse us of our idolatries and retore His place in our lives, our society and our world?
We can fear the terror of the present; or we can rest in God’s power, knowing no evil can match its force or final outcome. With hope, let’s accept that God is upending evil, not ending His Fatherly relationship with us. May we seek protection under His wing.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.’ Surely, He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If I say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation’.” Psalm 91 (NIV)
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 