Dumbfounded. Aghast. Grieved.
When I look around these days, I hardly recognize what I’m seeing.
Never have I empathized so much with the prophets of the Bible who had to watch Israel, God’s beloved, torn apart from the inside out by her sins and devastated by foreign enemies as a result.
While we are still a far-cry from that reality (thank God), all you have to do is open up to one of the biblical books of prophecy and it’s like reading a newspaper article of current events. It’s not just the history of ancient Israel. These are our issues. We’re living them.
Listen to what the prophet Micah has to say:
“Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion. But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand His plan, that He has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
Woe is me! The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe; and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus, they weave it together. The best of them is like a brier; the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; for the son treats the father with contempt; the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.”
-Micah 4:11-12; 7:1-6
If you’re not aware of how this connects to our society today, you’ve been asleep.
If you care about the nation you call home, if you have any desire for the glory of the Lord to be seen on this earth, I challenge you to wake up.
Everything in this scriptural passage is happening today. Right now. In America.
We’ve been lied to and we’ve played the fool, Christians among the rest.
We have chosen not to understand the ways of the Lord, floating along in the current of culture instead, believing the lie that relevance and tolerance is better than revelation and transformation. We’ve bound the character of the Lord to our own experience, falsely relegating His mighty works to the Bible days and refusing to step out in faith in our own lives to see what He will do with willing vessels in this age.
Our brothers and sisters lie in wait for each other as we speak. Men, women, and children are being killed in these shameful, staged protests and the misguided protesters are terrorizing our streets, robbing our people of their heritage by destroying monuments, and trying to lay waste to our roots—all because they are bound up in shame and rage, turning away from the redemption that is possible through Christ.
Our governors and mayors and judges are perverting justice, choosing instead to accept bribes under the table and use our taxes to line their own pockets while our towns and cities suffer. Our media has a disgustingly-clear agenda to destroy our president and is attempting to silence anyone who does not accept the narrative they want to feed us.
In a few short months, we have become a country that is afraid to go to church, afraid to gather publicly, afraid to get out and vote. In a land of so-called tolerance, where the benefits of diversity are being shoved down our throats, we have to watch what we say for fear of being labeled and marginalized. Pastors and spiritual leaders who are actually awake are being called the antichrist by FELLOW CHRISTIANS. Family and church relationships have been strained to the breaking point by political tensions and the pursuit of personal gain.
If anyone has read this far, I congratulate you. I’m hoping you’ve waded through all this sludge because you want to know what the solution is. As I do.
Even now, I’m shaking, on my knees, asking, “Lord, what can I do for my country?”
My mainstay, my comfort that steadies me in all the turmoil is this: the same God that was the Answer for Israel when Micah was written is our Answer today!
If we continue in Micah, we will find the Holy Spirit’s response to all the craziness in his world:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness/mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? The voice of the Lord cries to the city—and it is sound wisdom to fear your name.
But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the Light; I shall look upon His vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover the one who said to me, ‘Where is the Lord your God?’
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over sins for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn…”
-Micah 7:7-20
Because of God’s great mercy, these promises do not only apply to Israel, but to those of us who are children of God by faith in Jesus.
I am so thankful that even as I pray and write and vote and try to seek the welfare of my city and country, joining with others who are doing the same—it’s not about me.
Lasting change will not be brought about through Christians having a collective tantrum or rushing around trying to undo every mistake and fix society’s problems by sheer will. How can we expect to change the world if we don’t allow God to change us? If we don’t know His Heart and what He’s really saying? Can we say with conviction that we know what He really wants and that our desires match His?
Change will only come when we’re filled to overflowing with the One who transforms everything He touches.
Only the Spirit of Jesus Christ will tear these strongholds down and put the enemy to shame.
It is the Lord who will tread down the enemy. And the enemy He will tread down is not people who disagree with us or do us harm, but the real enemy who is inciting them to do these things, the enemy of souls who wants to tear this country apart and drag people away from God.
But as usual, the enemy has overplayed his hand. He’s a devious show-off, using people to rage against the One he can’t ever defeat. He’s not even close to knowing the thoughts and plans of God.
The King of the universe wants to show us marvelous things (Micah 7:15-16), as in the days of old when He brought Israel up out of Egypt.
It’s not over, friends. It’s just beginning. Step up and do whatever He has placed in your hand to do. This blog, this message is something I have been called to do. And each of you has something of your own. Be faithful with what God gives you. Take each step in obedient faith.
Rally yourselves and pray for this land, for God to restore us.
And above all, draw near to Him every day, every moment. Allow His Spirit to permeate every facet of your being, so that you are so full of His Light that you can carry it into the world.
In times of darkness, the Light shines brighter, so get closer to Him.
“And nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3).
Here’s to choosing Hope, because nothing’s going to stop our God.