Under God: One Nation

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Graeme Wilson in Freedom Fighters

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“And for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.” —  2 Chronicles 15:3-4 (NASB)

“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.’” And the soldiers gambled for His clothes by throwing dice.” (Luke 23:34) I look at this passage of Scripture a lot when a great wrong has occurred within our society. As Jesus Christ hangs on a Roman Cross, every evil thing that man has done, is doing, or is gonna do, is cast upon Him and yet He still intercedes on our behalf to His Father. He’s close to His own death but in that, He shows the world that is watching that He is second…and to this day, we still don’t get it. Whenever evil rears it’s ugly head among us, who thinks we’re doing pretty good for the most part, we will race to the front of the line, to throw ourselves on the altar, and ask El Elyon to please save us. But isn’t that just being human, all too human? Hmmm…

To quote 19th century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, “On the political sickbed a people is usually rejuvenated and rediscovers its spirit, after having gradually lost it seeking and preserving power.” Now Nietzsche (who wrote a book titled “Human, All Too Human”) was pretty much anti-Christianity and considered our concept of “Agápe” an irony of thinking but by looking at this quote we can see that Nietzsche understood the corruption and depravity of man’s heart. Now he simply could have opened a Bible, went to the Book of Jeremiah, turned to chapter 17, scrolled down the text and read, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” But hey, what do I know?

So…where am I going with this? Well, to start with, a part of the Bible that is one full of all kinds of political and religious unrest and has us meet Asa, the king of Judah. Asa is recorded as doing good and right in the sight of the LORD his God and for commanding the people of Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers. You can read about him in 2 Chronicles 14-16, where you can see him make nine mentions of “seeking the LORD”. You will also find a prophet named Azariah encouraging Asa to continue his reforms in bring the people of Judah back to God.

Azariah will remind Asa of the period of Judges, where the people only did “what was right in their own eyes” and the great turmoil that had its never-ending wars. He then will encourage Asa by saying, “But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work.” (2 Chron 15:7) Because of this, Asa would know 35 years of peace during his 41 years as king. Not Too Shabby!! But like all good things left unto man to take care of, this would come to an end and the chaos would eventually pick up where it left off. We could use an Asa right now, couldn’t we?

So, here we are in the 21st century with all the chaos and disorder that can be mustered up (it seems to become easier to do these days) and even though God’s Word is rich with politics, America would choose to turn a deaf ear to it and do “what was right in their own eyes.” Kinda makes Christians just wanna wash their hands of politics and be done with the whole thing and go live in a fortified, walled city…but that not what we were called to do.

We’ve got a great divide going on and if we choose to keep God on one side, politics on the other and try to ride down the middle we’re headed for certain adversity from an outside force. (Can someone say Assyria? Babylon? Russia?) As Bible believing Christians, we need to prove Nietzsche wrong, and apply what we read in 1 Peter 2:17, “Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.”

As I think about the verse (Luke 23:34) that I had opened with today, I see Jesus looking down, not just at a group of soldiers who don’t understand the folly of their actions, but I think Jesus is looking down at us all and seeing that we gamble away, so frivolously, those things of Kingdom matters. Our nation’s reverence of a mighty God is lost and we seem to behave as if it were the times before The Great Flood. This should be the motivation behind finding a way in making our Christian lives connect with our political position…without losing our “Agápe” for people, all for the glory of God. Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) is married (Kathy) with two adult children (Kevin and Karen) and has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.

The Daily Bible Reading: Numbers 11-13| You can download our 2017 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

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Daily Quote: “The closer God is to a society, the more ordered the society will be. The further God is from society, the more chaotic society will be. So, if you want an ordered society, keep God close.” — Tony Evans

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:
“For in You, O Lord, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God.” — Psalm 38:15

 

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