Please consider the following saying from long ago: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
The above statement is a direct quote from the most famous book in the world, the Bible. The person who spoke it was none other than God himself through the pen and mind of Moses who wrote the book of Chronicles. This passage is 2 Chronicles 7:14
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalms 9:17 “The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.” Psalms 9:15
If you are of age 20 or perhaps even younger, it may have become all too clear the state of our nation and the many problems that plague our land. These problems are large and complex and the solutions are in some aspects beyond our human capacity. But even with all the adversity this nation of ours faces, trust me when I tell you that none of this has taken God by complete surprise. He did not look down from heaven one day and say, “Oh my goodness the United States is declining so rapidly into moral and economic decay. How did this happen on my watch? Or what can be done about it?”
In the above bible verse he gives us the exact antidote to the crisis this country is now facing, and it has nothing at all to do with a bailout package! The highlights are simple and are still as effective today as they were when first penned in the scriptures.
Why? It is because God does not change, we however do. His moral standards have not changed, ours has. So when you step back and take a look around at the slow steady downward moral trends that we have allowed for many years in this country, it could be that God is right and perhaps we are wrong. Just maybe there are consequences for the moral degradation of our society. OK, fine we accept that. Now how do we fix it?
Again I defer to the scripture referenced.
“If my people . . .” We the human race belong to him. “Who are called by my name . . .” Most of Americans consider themselves Christians. “Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face. . .” I do not know about you but I truly have failed in this area of my own personal life. Has prayer and seeking God diligently been a priority for you?
“Turn from their wicked ways,” This is where the rubber meets the road. Turning from sin requires acting against our sinful human nature. To do this successfully requires a new nature from the inside out; we call it being “born again” with a new mindset. “I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will HEAL THEIR land.”
Would you agree that the healing of the United States is what is needed at this critical hour? God is able to give our leaders and the president the wisdom to lead and direct our country, but it first starts with our country and the people in it, to comply in humble obedience to the above scripture. This can only be done one person at a time. I say let it begin with me, how about you? Even if the whole country is not changed, your life and circumstances will be.
I think it is time to recognize the individual call to duty and responsibility that God and our president has outlined. This is just me doing my small part in the fulfilling of that effort.
Now I know that things of God are highly unpopular in this country. I also recognized that we have declared ourselves to be wiser, liberated and would rather advocate constitutional rights over being morally right.
That being said however, I wonder if we as a society could step back for a moment, and see the impact our social decisions have had upon us. Are we too arrogant to think that just maybe, just maybe, we could use a little wisdom for the large complex problems that face us? What if God has some better answers and solutions? What if he is right and we are wrong? What if the better economy, and social trends we desire, are intertwined and intimately connected with his moral laws and individual responsibility to comply with those laws?
Furthermore, do we as a people want to have things both ways? Here is what I mean. We say we want total freedom and an anything goes society. OK, so if we get a anything goes type of society and culture, and start seeing unintended consequences that are not so pleasant, shouldn’t we accept those also?
My personal opinion is that, God is in fact very fair in giving us exactly what we asked for. Here are a few examples of what I mean.
We asked for unrestricted abortions, as a right. OK we got it. We asked for the right to live vastly alternative lifestyles, such as gay and lesbian and same sex marriage. OK we got that.
We asked that pornography have very little restrictions, and we asked that there be zero tolerance for censorship of any kind, via our major media etc. OK we got that.
We decided that we should set up our own justice system based on our own sense of fairness and punishments vs. righteousness. OK we got that.
I find it rather interesting that we live in a wonderful country with so much potential, and still we make decisions that hamper our ability to live to full capacity.
Do you find it rather odd that the brightest minds in the world seem powerless to come up with the ideas and solutions to these complex problems and still are not willing to perhaps consider a source of wisdom where these problems have been addressed?
Consider this, and tell me if this is fair or not. A source of wisdom i.e., God who has the ability to see the end result of our decisions both personally and nationally, has revealed before the fact what the outcome will be of our decisions.
Now it seems to me if the results have already been fully disclosed, that once I make the decision and start seeing those results, I cannot then complain about the results of what I asked for and actively sought.
Here is a real world example. Unprotected sex. If I have sex with a woman without using any form of birth control, and she becomes pregnant, I cannot complain nine months later about a baby being added to my household. I mean, I chose the action, and that also means I chose the consequences or guaranteed results. So it is with our country and culture.
I find it rather amazing that we seem perplexed over our big problems, instead of looking at the alternative solutions. Funny how we would counsel our kids to seek help from smarter and wiser adults, but we as adults seem to not seek help from a smarter and wiser, far more intelligent God.
I wonder, do we perhaps think that God lacks the wisdom and know how to run a government, a justice system, or a social program? Do you think he just might know something about how to fix the environment, that was part of his original creation in the first place?
So while we flounder and struggle with the complex things that plague us, I think we like a five year old who is having a fit, will not live up to our potential in this society and culture until we perhaps at least consider that there is someone who has some better answers and solutions. If we just at least recognize that, we are one step closer to solutions.
And for the record, yes I am a Christian and spiritual person, and no, I am not an extremist. But think about this, it has been said before. “If we keep doing what we have been doing, then we are going to keep getting what we are getting.” In that sense God is truly fair, because we have asked him not to intervene or interfere with our chosen way of life. And to that he says, “OK, have it your way!”
So as the years pass by and we do not see different results or outcomes, regarding people, crime, divorce, homosexuality, politicians, corruption, greed ect. When do we say that something we are doing is not working? Better still, when do we start asking for other solutions from someone who has better insight into what is going on in our world and our culture?
Will we let our pride and arrogance continue to keep us getting the same results we are now getting? What about for our personal lives? Are you and I willing to seek help and get better solutions to the problems we face from God? Or will we continue to say “I got this”. In the voice of Dr. Phil “So, how is that working out for you”?
God will BLESS, when we CONFESS!
Eugene Coghill