These troubling times. . . .

 

Many folks in North America are in a turmoil over tariffs, new laws, and the way governments are threatening each other. However, Christians need not get in a stew. Sooner or later, either in mercy or in wrath, God will make all men see and confess that “The most High rules.” Nothing happens apart from His will, even the tough stuff.

In the days of Daniel, the king Nebuchadnezzar thought he was invincible and yet God had another plan. This man was “driven from among men, and his dwelling was with the beasts of the field. He was made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time passed over him, until he knew that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” (Daniel 4:17-32) After this time of insanity, this proud king declared:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34–35)

In many cases, national leaders have little knowledge of God. Even these days, I’ve heard it said that while many Christians have biblical understanding that God is ruling, is totally sovereign, yet in practice they live like atheists. This does not always mean they are not really Christians, but that the full realization of this truth has not yet grabbed hold. The flesh still has not realized it is dead (separated from God) or the reality of fleshy action has not been recognized. If that is happening, some Christians run their own lives as if God is there only to forgive sin and take them to heaven.

This can be the result of inadequate teaching, or just a proud heart that does not see their need to diligently study the Word of God. Whatever the reason, God teaches us through trials. When trouble comes, the goal is to realize He can be trusted within the trial. For Nebuchadnezzar, God removed it. For some, the difficulty stays.

Either way, eventually all of us are terminal. What goes unlearned here will not benefit this life or give us the peace of knowing God is in charge. Far better is that “abundant life” Jesus promised to His sheep. We need to be able to say this about those who think they are in charge of things:  

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (Isaiah 40:21–25)

He also says this, and these words give me a calm heart:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2:1–6)

PRAY: Father, I am so glad that You are on the throne and that the rulers of this world are not greater, stronger, or in charge over You. I can pray and even protest their ideas if You want me to do that, or I can rest in Your care and trust You, learning what You want me to learn from all trials. Nothing happens to the lives of Your people that escapes Your power to use it for our good — which is to transform us into the image of Your Son Jesus.

A confusing world . . .

 

2 Kings 14; Psalms 120–122; Hosea 7; 2 Timothy 4

While the New Testament didn’t specifically point to the year 2020, some of the characteristics of this year fit some of the Bible’s predictions about the attitude of Joe Public toward the Word of God and truth. For instance:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

I’ve Christian friends who are listening to false teachers even though they know the teaching is not biblical. I am mystified and wonder why the attraction yet understand how fickle the human heart can be. Just looking in the mirror and rehearsing my own rebellions tells me that sin is sneaky and determined to have its way.

The OT is filled with examples. In 2 Kings 14, the story is told of two leaders, one who did what was right, not consistently, but he seemed a good man. However, his success went to his head and he wound up in a totally unnecessary war. He ruled twenty-nine years and was assassinated.

The other king “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” and yet was a competent administrator and military leader that God used to keep the Syrians at bay. He ruled forty-one years and died in peace.

As the devotional writer concludes, a good king may do bad and stupid things and a bad king may do good and important things. A more modern example: Hitler restored German confidence and created jobs. There also have been presidents who win wars and keep the economy going yet their moral life was in the gutter.

God knows and evaluates hearts. He’s had much experience with people who profess to follow Him but value other things more. In the time of Hosea, He said through the prophet:

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me. Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against me. They return, but not upward; they are like a treacherous bow; their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. (Hosea 7:13–16)

These were people who cried out to God, not because they wanted a deeper relationship with Him or to be more like He wanted them to be. Instead, they were wailing and cutting themselves like the pagans over the loss of their “good life” rather than being concerned about having a godly life.

These illustrations are mirrored in today’s world. We have leaders who do good things and at times act like idiots. We have leaders who are morally bankrupt yet convince people they will make their lives good. We have religious people more interested in financial prosperity than godliness with some of them masking their greed with furious preaching against evil. God’s Word predicts that good would be called evil and evil called good. This happens now today. People can put down Christians, even persecute them but It not okay for Christians to protest against the sin all around us.

APPLY: I’m sure there is a better application, but my first response to all this is weeping. I can pray and ask God why He is not doing something about it, yet perhaps He is saying, “I might ask you the same question.” As I seek His mercy and grace, and as I ask for specific instruction in even how to pray, my hope is that all the followers of Jesus Christ are dismayed over what is happening in our world and are praying for the will of God to prevail, first in our own lives but also in the lives of those around us and in those who lead us.