These days there is absolute chaos in our government and in our culture....but if you go outside on a typical day....in my part of the country anyway....this being the middle of winter....the bare tree limbs are gently swaying.....automobiles are slowly cruising from stop sign to stop sign.....and people are carrying groceries in town and pushing their kids in strollers.....the hockey game or the basketball game will go on.... so what is the reality of all this?
The first thing is that I would ask you what it is you would expect....the trees to fall over as chaos envelops the government and society....cars to screech to a stop at every stop sign.....with people holed up in their houses? The very foundations of our country have been shaken....and this increasingly for decades now. There is nothing on a national level that can be considered conversation. Whatever one may think of President Trump....it cannot be denied that nothing is sure anymore. Every day is a half hour of news and tweets scripted into a national soap opera.
It's 1:30 in the morning as I type this in Western Pennsylvania. I can hear the wind howling. These two scenes....normal daily activities mixed in with chaos everywhere between Americans....means that we will not be able to discern the major storm that is brewing....for the former....the calm and normalcy....mitigates the latter....extreme volatility in that which is supposed to be a source of order....government and law.
To anyone detached from the fray enough to see what is going on it should shake them to the core. I have lived sixty-nine years and the America I grew up in is long gone. What this is today I don't even like to contemplate. Surely this is a time to gather....a time to pray....and a time to meditate on what may be ahead....but the sun will come up.....and the newspaper will arrive with the latest sports scores....and the stock market may go up today....and we all will sit back and somewhat enjoy the chaos....as if it were just a Survivor episode where upon it's conclusion we can sit back with a cup of tea and read the latest bestselling novel.
Whereas at various points in history in such dangerous times as what we are experiencing today....people would go to church on the Lord's Day....and the pastor would be somber....and all present would be somber....as evil seemed to be everywhere. They recognized that God's steady hand was needed more than anything that they had previous to the time of trouble spent their days in search of....but we don't have that blessing anymore that God designed for His people.....the discerning of the times.
Which means that unless our eyes are opened we will be caught napping as the storm bears down on us. How many times God's Word....in both Testaments....warns us to be sober and to be vigilant....and to be on guard! Folks this is not pessimism....I am the eternal optimist....in that God directs the ways of the nations for His glory....and that every single day that passes puts us one day closer to that shout....and that voice of the archangel....and that trumpet call of God.
The first thing is that I would ask you what it is you would expect....the trees to fall over as chaos envelops the government and society....cars to screech to a stop at every stop sign.....with people holed up in their houses? The very foundations of our country have been shaken....and this increasingly for decades now. There is nothing on a national level that can be considered conversation. Whatever one may think of President Trump....it cannot be denied that nothing is sure anymore. Every day is a half hour of news and tweets scripted into a national soap opera.
It's 1:30 in the morning as I type this in Western Pennsylvania. I can hear the wind howling. These two scenes....normal daily activities mixed in with chaos everywhere between Americans....means that we will not be able to discern the major storm that is brewing....for the former....the calm and normalcy....mitigates the latter....extreme volatility in that which is supposed to be a source of order....government and law.
To anyone detached from the fray enough to see what is going on it should shake them to the core. I have lived sixty-nine years and the America I grew up in is long gone. What this is today I don't even like to contemplate. Surely this is a time to gather....a time to pray....and a time to meditate on what may be ahead....but the sun will come up.....and the newspaper will arrive with the latest sports scores....and the stock market may go up today....and we all will sit back and somewhat enjoy the chaos....as if it were just a Survivor episode where upon it's conclusion we can sit back with a cup of tea and read the latest bestselling novel.
Whereas at various points in history in such dangerous times as what we are experiencing today....people would go to church on the Lord's Day....and the pastor would be somber....and all present would be somber....as evil seemed to be everywhere. They recognized that God's steady hand was needed more than anything that they had previous to the time of trouble spent their days in search of....but we don't have that blessing anymore that God designed for His people.....the discerning of the times.
Which means that unless our eyes are opened we will be caught napping as the storm bears down on us. How many times God's Word....in both Testaments....warns us to be sober and to be vigilant....and to be on guard! Folks this is not pessimism....I am the eternal optimist....in that God directs the ways of the nations for His glory....and that every single day that passes puts us one day closer to that shout....and that voice of the archangel....and that trumpet call of God.
