Politics and Scripture

I cannot think of a time in my life when politics has been more divisive and even hateful as this season in the United States of America. And among those who call themselves Christian, the lines are being drawn, both sides citing Scripture and beliefs to back them up. “Political Correctness” is at an all time high and we “guilt” those who think differently than ourselves by name calling and putting words into their mouths.

I have been reading in Ecclesiastes, II Chronicles, and Lamentations – I know – all books we tend to avoid when reading Scripture because they are so depressing. I also have been reading the books of Luke, John and Revelation. So, I have been wondering…

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45 NLV What is filling our hearts? Are we seeking God with our whole heart, mind and strength? Is our relationship with the Lord filling us and informing us? Or is it the nightly news (conservative or liberal) that is informing us? Is it blogs written by people who may or may not be filled with the Spirit of God that inform our thinking?

Lamentations is a book of tears written by Jeremiah the prophet as Judah fell to first Egypt and then Babylonia. Judah didn’t fall because of a bad leader. Judah fell because the hearts of the people had wondered far from God and He pulled His protection from them. They were never strong in and of themselves. They had become a strong nation because the Lord fought for them and had prospered them. But now their religious leaders were more interested in what other countries were doing and forgot that they were to teach the people who God is and how to enter into His presence. From time to time, they even lost the "Book of the Law" that contained God's instructions for them. The hearts of the people were wanting to keep up with the other nations, offering prayers and sacrifices to foreign gods and reveling in their wealth. Status was more important to them than their relationship with the one true God. They forgot how they had gotten there y the hand of God and were full of pride and arrogance. 

I live in a country where people vote and elect the government. There are always political campaigns going on in the background and as election years draw near, they become louder and louder. But quite frankly, I am tired of “Christian” leaders and writers taking sides politically and “guilting” people into voting for their political party. I long for the day when the Christian leaders and writers are focused on teaching the people who God is and how He has led and protected His people in the past and is leading and protecting His people in the present. Jeremiah said, “Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him in prayer, pleading for your children, for in every street they are faint with hunger.” Lamentations 2:19 NLV

I long for the day that instead of political rantings, we hold prayer vigils – because we know the Lord and have a personal relationship with Him and because we desire change through hearts turning to God. It does not matter who is in power – “good king” or “bad king”. What matters is where the hearts of the people are. Are we praying? Are we offering help to the “refugees” we want to protect? Or are we just using them to promote our political views? Are we helping pregnancy crisis centers? Or are we just using pro-life rhetoric to promote our political views? Where our energy and our money go are the indicators of where our hearts are at. If our hearts are truly aligned with the Lord, then we will show fruit – not just words. How we live our lives will always demonstrate with what our hearts are truly filled.

Lord, please fill me with you. I want the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to be truly acceptable to You. I want to truly live in Your Presence and have You inform all that I am and all that I do. Make me generous and loving like You are. Cause me to be a light in the darkness and a good salt that flavors the earth with Your goodness. Amen

I Can Use That!

When our children were young, they loved doing crafts and we loved to recycle as much as we could, so we often made crafts out of “trash”. Our son would walk by the trash can and look in and pull out a paper towel or toilet paper roll or tuna can and say, “Don’t throw this away! I can use that!” And he did use much of it in very creative ways. 

When Joseph was young, he was a bit arrogant and his brothers were very irritated by him and by the fact that their father favored Joseph. When they had an opportunity, they sold Joseph into slavery. Joseph could have said, “Well, I guess that is the end of me. I think I’ll just kill myself rather than be a slave.” But he didn’t. He became the best slave a master could ever dream of having! Joseph didn’t blame God, but rather used the opportunity to learn as much as he could and was promoted to being in charge of his master’s entire household and property. 

When his master’s wife couldn’t get the attention from Joseph she wanted, she accused him of attempting to rape her and he was thrown into prison. Again, Joseph could have blamed God and just quit – given up and waited to die. But instead, he became the best prisoner any guard ever had to keep. He was promoted to a place of caring for the other prisoners. And when the time came, Joseph had been fully educated and trained for the position God had in mind for him – second only to Pharaoh in ruling over Egypt. He was released from prison and put in charge of the kingdom.

It is easy for us to read about Joseph in the Bible and not think about how difficult it was for him for many years because we focus on the end. But if we stop and ponder a bit, there were a lot of years between him being sold as a slave and him becoming a ruler in Egypt. And all those years, he was either a slave or a prisoner. He had been mistreated, lied about, betrayed, and left as trash. And God looked down and said, “I can use this!” Joseph saw in the end how God had used his circumstances for His purposes. He told his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God used it to save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20)

Sometimes we go through life and hit rocky places – difficult things that irritate or hold us back. We feel like trash – not good for anything or like we have been trashed. But God looks down and says, “I can use that,” and He uses the very things we think are hurting us or hindering us from reaching our goal to shape us – to make us into more useful, productive people for His Kingdom work.

Someone recently told me, “God is really changing me. I used to get upset whenever my car wouldn’t start and throw a fit, kick tires, slam doors, and mutter. Now I don’t feel like I need to do that anymore. I just get out, use the portable battery starter, hook it up and start the engine and go. I have way more patience now than I used to have.” It took several months of an unpredictable vehicle that started some days and not others and no one could determine the cause. So he had to frequently get cables and jump start his vehicle. In all of those many times of being detained and inconvenienced, he grew less and less impatient and angry and learned to be grateful that he had options and wasn’t left sitting without help. 

Yes, God can use the “trash” in our lives and do good things with it. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 NLT

Lord, help me to see when You are working to change me, calling my heart closer to You. I want to trust You to always be doing Your good work in me and through me no matter what I am going through. You sometimes do Your best work through the deepest suffering. Help me to keep it in that perspective and always be willing to suffer for the good You are doing and will do. There is nothing too big or painful that You cannot redeem and heal. I worship You and praise You for who You are and the work You are doing in me. Amen.

When Kings Go Out To War

David was a great king and continues through Scripture to teach us much about leadership. But this is the first time, in all my readings through the Bible, I saw that it was in his greatest failing that these truths come to light. For many years, I have assured people that God can redeem any of our past brokenness and use it for His glory. Well here is an example of this because there are profound truths that come to light if we are tuned in.

As I was reading in I Chronicles 20 this morning, it started with, “In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war…” And it hit me that II Samuel 11 begins the same way. But in the case of Samuel, it goes on to tell about David’s greatest moral failure when he committed adultery and murder for his own lust. In Chronicles, it talks about the winning of the war and David’s break from being a man after God’s own heart as he does his own thing and takes a census. 

As I look through the Scripture there, I see the “slippery slope” developing. First, David did not go to war with his army. He stayed back. It is the first clue that David may be getting a little full of himself. He is exempting himself from the front lines. Now we know from II Samuel what David was doing during that time. He was taking advantage of Bathsheba and sinning against one of his top military men by committing adultery with his wife. David was seeing himself as powerful and entitled in that situation. 

When Joab and his army finished the battle and won the war, David went and collected the 75-pound crown from the Ammonite king’s head and placed it on his own head. He cleaned up the spoils and returned with the army to Jerusalem, acting as though it was his great leadership that won the war. By putting that crown on his own head, David was beginning to believe in his own strength and leadership rather than that of the Lord, a big slide down the slippery slope.

Now David is quite full of himself and believing in his own leadership rather than that of the Lord which allows Satan a foothold and he incited David against God. David calls for a census. Until that point, he was content to go with whatever he had. If the Lord said go, he went. If the Lord said stay, he stayed. He knew that the battle belonged to the Lord and he gave the glory to the Lord. But here, he failed to listen to the Lord and did his own thing. He wanted to know how much military strength he had.

Two things changed here. In II Samuel, we find that the baby born out of the adultery died. But more than that, In Chronicles we find that because of the census, God spoke through the prophet Gad and gave David 3 choices: 3 years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword, or 3 days of severe plague. The famine would affect everyone and was a longer period of time. The destruction by the sword would be humiliating for him as king and he would be at the mercy of others. So David chose the 3 days of severe plague saying he would rather fall into the hands of a merciful God. At the end of those 3 days, David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap and fell face down. They humbled themselves before the Lord. David confessed his own wrongdoing and plead for the people who were “innocent as sheep” and had not done anything to deserve what was happening to them. He finally took responsibility for what he had done and for taking care of the people the Lord had given him to lead. 

So what did David teach us about leadership? Leadership is not about power and entitlement. Leadership is a responsibility to take care of others. When leaders taste power and authority over others, the human tendency is to feel like they are more special than others and entitled to privileges and even more power. But God puts leaders in place to take care of others. When leaders lose that perspective, they quit serving God’s purposes and begin serving their own purposes. Leaders don’t get consumed with themselves over night. Rather, it is a slippery slope. One decision at a time. It is a gradual mental change from serving others to receiving honor and having power over others. It is a change in focus from “God is leading the way and put me here to serve” to “I’m pretty smart and look what I have accomplished!”

“God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that He should make Jesus, through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.” Hebrews 2:10 NLT Like Jesus, if we are called to lead, we need to put away our own desires and agenda and keep the Lord and His agenda foremost in our hearts and minds. A leader is a servant, not a god! 

Lord, help me to keep my eyes fixed on You! When I am tempted to serve and honor myself, remind me who I have been asked to care for. Thank You for Your mercy that is new every morning and for Your presence that I so desperately need every day. I praise Your name and give You all the honor and glory. Amen.