Ecclesiastes 7:13,14
13 Consider the work of God;
For who can make straight what He has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.
We’ve got a lot of problems these days. Morality is in decline while open sin abounds. Unspeakable crimes happen across our land. Our economy is struggling. The value of the dollar is down, and unemployment’s up. Most people for various reasons would say we’re experiencing a day of adversity, and everyone’s got a solution. This party says we need to do this while this party says the opposite. Fingers point here and there. “It’s their fault!” What I don’t find are fingers pointed in the opposite direction. No one’s saying, “It’s my fault!” And, where are the voices declaring, “God has appointed this day!”
In Deut 28:47-48, the Israelites were warned about the consequences of refusing to obey God. “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you…” The Lord will send them against you! We’ve enjoyed days of prosperity as a nation, but somewhere along the way, we forgot where that prosperity came from. We quit serving God with joy and thanksgiving “for the abundance of everything” He provided. Somewhere along the way, churches quit preaching messages that convicted men of sin. Some of them quit preaching altogether and became merely houses of entertainment. We became so politically correct, so concerned about offending, that we were like the prophets in the day of Judah’s captivity in Lam 2:14: “Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives…” If they had declared the truth, sin would have been exposed and the captives would have been released, but instead, they comforted the people, “Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there [was] no peace.” (Jer 8:11)
So, now we’re in a mess. Things that used to be straight have been made crooked, and we’re not going to be able to fix it because it is the work of God! We can’t legislate it! We can try to blame it on the present or past government, but have we forgotten Dan 4:17?
This decision is by the decree of the watchers,
And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,
Gives it to whomever He will,
And sets over it the lowest of men.
God’s in control! Until we realize that we can’t straighten what He’s made crooked (Ecc 1:15) and that only He can, we have no hope! What America needs is a heart of repentance toward the God that made her! What we need to do is examine our own hearts (2 Co 13:5), get in step with God ourselves, and faithfully declare His word in its entirety! God’s word is called “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” If we would faithfully declare the truth, it would be a light that would expose the hidden things in the darkness. Iniquity would be uncovered, and men would be released from their captivity because “the truth shall make you free!” (Jn 8:32). I pray that we will return the simplicity of declaring the word of God in a land that so desperately needs it. Our job’s not to explain God or make excuses for Him. It’s simply to be witnesses of who He truly is. Just tell them what He said! “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Ac 1:8)
In Christ’s love,
Jamie